Rarely do students have the opportunity to learn from a professor currently working in their field of study. Sure, the faculty member may perform research here and there, submit to a scientific journal or exhibit their work at a coffee shop their neighbor owns, but only on the very rare occasion does the instructor have a buzz about their work and a future that is gaining prominence.
Reminding ourselves of a not so distant life
Rarely do students have the opportunity to learn from a professor currently working in their field of study. Sure, the faculty member may perform research here and there, submit to a scientific journal or exhibit their work at a coffee shop their neighbor owns, but only on the very rare occasion does the instructor have a buzz about their work and a future that is gaining prominence.
For all the budding photographers out there, I’m talking about adjunct assistant professor Holly Andres. Andres teaches part time at Portland State and at the Pacific Northwest College of Art as a video and photography instructor. Brewed just west of the continental divide in Missoula, Mont., Andres took up creative hobbies early on while living amongst her 10 older siblings.
Photography was not her first love as an artist, focusing first on architecture and illustration at the Art Institute in Seattle, Wash., then heading back home to study painting at the University of Montana. Andres credits her time at Portland State obtaining her Master of Fine Arts degree as the catalyst to her current love and career as a professional photographer.
Andres’ work is gaining momentum nationally, with her work being acknowledged in EXIT magazine, Art in America, ARTnews, Artforum, Elle magazine, the Los Angeles Times, art ltd. and local publications such as the Portland Mercury and PDX Magazine. Her work has also been on view in galleries all around the country.
Her current exhibition is a selection of photos from two different shows that have previously been on display in galleries from New York, N.Y., to Paris, France. Titled Short Street and Sparrow Lane, the collection is made up of photos that tell her “unique experience of growing up as the youngest of 10 children,” and also depicts the curiosity of a child as metaphors, which Andres claims tell the “precarious transition from girl to woman.”
The photos are mostly all heavily staged and set to a 1970s backdrop. Andres brings a level of authenticity to the scene that looks and feels so genuine that you can almost feel the shag carpet underneath your heels and the sound of ABBA blaring on the car radio.
Sparrow Lane is a collection of photos that were in part inspired by the covers of original Nancy Drew books. You know, the kind with Nancy searching, pondering and lurking around either an object or a slightly creepy local. Even the titles are similarly named: “The Missing Bird,” “The Lost Mitten” or “The Discarded Photograph.”
The images, according to Andres, are meant to “ponder the brevity of childhood, the fleeting nature of memory and female introspection,” whether it be those few short years that you spent exploring the woods behind your grandparents’ house, convinced that you were an explorer on pursuit of new and uncharted territory, or watching your dad pack the minivan before a family vacation.
Whatever those moments were, Andres’ collection of images will remind you of the life that you once lived, and the child that you used to be.
Selections of work from Sparrow Lane and Short Street
North View Gallery
PCC Sylvania Campus
12000 SW 49th Ave.
Mon through Fri, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Runs through March 19
Artist talk with Holly Andres
12:30 p.m. to 2:30pm
Free
