Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Portland State University
January 20 - April 25, 2026

Featured Artists: Michael Boonstra, Enrique Chagoya, Epiphany Couch, Karen Hampton, Colin Ives, Brenda Mallory, Nathalie Miebach, Tatiana Parcero, Rick Silva, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Clarissa Tossin

For millennia, maps have been essential tools for understanding and navigating the world. While they often depict physical terrain, maps also have the capacity to chart any space, whether real or imagined, tangible or abstract. From the earth’s surface to its depths, and across conceptual or multidimensional systems, maps help us define boundaries, reveal relationships, and envision possibilities. Through their creation and use, they transform space into place, shaping political, cultural, and social understandings of the world around us.

This exhibition brings together artists who reinterpret and expand mapping practices to explore questions of place, identity, and power. Through diverse media and distinct approaches, these artists use the language of cartography to uncover personal histories, unearth collective narratives, and address pressing social and environmental concerns. Some interrogate the colonial legacies embedded in traditional maps, questioning who has the authority to define space. Others draw on scientific data to visualize the far-reaching impacts of climate change and natural disasters.

Collectively, their works invite viewers to reconsider what it means to map, to locate, and to belong. By transforming the conventions of cartography, these artists reveal how maps can serve not only as instruments of orientation, but also as tools for critical reflection and imagination—encouraging us to see, and think about, the world anew.

Mapping Familiar Territories, Charting New Paths is curated by Alexandra Terry, Head of Curatorial Affairs & Curator of Contemporary Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art. This exhibition is supported by The Ford Family Foundation, the Jackson Foundation, the Richard and Helen Phillips Charitable Fund, and the JSMA Exhibition Circle.

December, 2025
When the Walls Disappear

A commissioned project in historic Villard Hall. This work was part of the larger Heritage Project which renovated both Villard Hall (built in 1886) and University Hall (built in 1876), the two oldest buildings on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. This project was managed by the Oregon Arts Commission.

event/performances
Patricia Reser Center for the Arts|
June 21, 2025, 7:30pm
June 22, 2025, 2:00pm

recording of live performance
Oregon Origins Project VI: The Birth of CascadiaThe Reser

exhibition
Stelo
June 5-July 12, 2025
Thu-Sun 12:00-5:00pm

Oregon Origins Project
Birth of Cascadia
Oregon Origins Project in partnership with Stelo presents an epic new musical work and art exhibition depicting the dramatic events of Oregon’s geologic history. Join us for an artistic exploration of the state’s geologic origin stories, including Columbia River basalt flows, Basin and Range earthquakes, Cascade volcanoes, Missoula floods, and much more.

Espacio Vilches
UC Santiago
March 16 - 28, 2025
Reception: March 21 @ 1pm
Santiago, Chile

Artists and scholars Michael Boonstra and Andrew Myers will be present at the UC School of the Arts from Monday, March 17th to Friday, March 21st, holding a workshop and an collaborative studio at Espacio Vilches which will engage with the students of Professor Luis Prato.

The connection between Boonstra, Myers, and the UC School of the Arts dates back to 2022, when Professor Luis Prato completed a research and creative sabbatical at the College of Forestry at Oregon State University in Oregon, United States. During his stay, Prato connected with Professors Boonstra and Myers, who invited him to participate in their Creative Field Work course, held annually in a major forest reserve in Oregon. This course, which integrates contact with nature, observation, and the presence of prominent artists, inspired the idea of ​​creating a collaboration between the two educational institutions. Boonstra and Myers' visit to the UC School of Art marks the beginning of this creative exchange, with a view to future joint projects.

This exhibition was made possible with assistance from the Oregon Arts Commission and the Ford Family Fund.

The Arts Center
May 15 – July 5, 2025
Opening Reception + Panel Discussion: Thursday, May 15, 5:30 – 7 PM

The Arts Center is thrilled to exhibit the exceptional work created during the inaugural Wildfire + Water residency at Playa at Summer Lake. This timely exhibition explores environmental, spiritual and socio-political issues not only affecting the Chewaucan region, but the entire world.

With the work of 9 artists and over a dozen collaborators, Wildfire + Water may leave gallery visitors with more questions than answers, but by engaging with this exhibition, viewers will be confronted with complex, and at times controversial, perspectives that will require thoughtful consideration and empathy to fully understand.

The Arts Center invites everyone to take a slow deep look not only at the art created, but at the practical wisdom, theology and science that inspired the work.

PRAx
September 21-December 21, 2024
Stirek Gallery
Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

The exhibition How to Carry Water brings together contemporary visual artists and humanities scholars in shared observations and questions about watersheds. In this expanded conversation, the term “watershed” refers not only to ecological structures, but also to the spatial, temporal and cultural entities that catalyze collectivity and life alongside bodies of water. The exhibition considers how the lenses of history, philosophy and creative practice allow for alternative methods of witnessing the human relationship to water.

Curators: Ashley Stull Meyers, Mary Jones and Thomas Hart Horning Chief Curator of Art, Science, and Technology and Kelly Bosworth, Mary Jones and Thomas Hart Horning Assistant Professor of Public History and Ethnomusicology.

Reser Center for the Arts
March 15 – May 10, 2023
Beaverton, Oregon

Informed by environmental changes, artists Christine Bourdette and Michael Boonstra take a close look at the altered lands surrounding us. Instigated by radical events such as fire, erosion, or geologic fracturing, the artists focus on the earth’s metamorphosis, distortions, upheavals, and shifts. A metaphor for the human experience, the works explore fragility, loss, and memory as a path to gradual growth and regeneration.

Artist Talk with Michael Boonstra & Christine Bourdette
Wednesday, April 5 | 6:30 – 8 pm

Altered Terrain Opening Reception & First Friday
Friday, April 7 | 6 – 9 pm

July 7-30, 2022
Featured artists from the Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture Residency Program.
Pendleton Center for the Arts
Pendleton, Oregon

June, 2022
willamette river contours
A new commissioned work at the Lane County Farmers' Market Pavilion in downtown Eugene, Oregon.
Eugene Cultural Services.

March, 2022
perpetual processes
A commissioned series of works for the State of Oregon Treasury's Resiliency Building in Salem, Oregon.

September 18 – December 18, 2021
An exhibition curated by Jonathan Bucci at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, Oregon. More information about the exhibition can be found here.

November 2 - December 21, 2020
A Gray Space Project and Eugene Contemporary Art Collaboration.
Gray Space Project
ANTI-AESTHETIC
245 W 8th Ave., Eugene, OR

November, 2020
Solo show of new work.
Truckenbrod Gallery
517 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis, OR

June, 2020
44°37’19.668” N 124°2’43.86” W (for Charles)
A new commissioned work on the Oregon State University Hatfield campus in Newport, Oregon. OSU Marine Studies Building

Summer 2020
Group exhibition/reading room at ANTI-AESTHETIC
antiaesthetic.com
245 W 8th Ave, Eugene, OR

August 18, 2019
Gray Space Project and Signal Fire Collaboration
Fall Creek, Oregon

November 2 - December 29, 2018
Solo exhibition of recent work.
At Liberty Arts Collaborative
Source Weekly Review by Teafly Peterson
849 NW Wall Street
Bend, Oregon

December 8 - 16
Sisters, Oregon
Caldera Arts

November 2 - 25, 2018
An exhibition focused on the local and global issues facing our oceans featuring OSU faculty and student work.
Newport Visual Arts Center
Newport, Oregon

August 24 - September 6, 2018
Sisters, Oregon
roundhousefoundation.org

May 26 - June 28, 2018 - Gray Space Exhibition
May 26 - Vicki Amorose Performance + Tailgate Party 6-9pm
Slightly Coffee
Eugene, Oregon

July 2 - August 30, 2018
Fairbanks Gallery, Corvallis, Oregon.
liberalarts.oregonstate.edu

March 13-17, 2018
Collaborative exhibition with Amanda Salov, Dylan Beck, and Scott Klasek.
Artists Image Resource
Pittsburgh, PA

December 20 - January 15, 2018
CEI Artworks, Corvallis, OR
Outpost1000.com
Artist spotlight in the Gazette-Times

November 10 - December 30, 2017
At Liberty, Bend, Oregon
highdesertmuseum.org

Artist Lecture at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Free and open to the public.
art.wisc.edu

A PNW collective or artists examining place.
More information about the project can be found at:
grayspaceproject.com

June 17 - June 23, 2017
Southeastern Oregon Backpacking Outing
www.signalfirearts.org

May 5 - May 29, 2017
James May Gallery, Algoma, Wisconsin.
jamesmaygallery.com

April 13 - May 27, 2017
The Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
theartscenter.net/microbiomes-see-unsee…

January 4 - February 18, 2017
Chehalem Cultural Center, Newberg, Oregon.
www.chehalemculturalcenter.org

July 9 - September 18, 2016
Disjecta
Portland Biennial Site

Fairbanks Gallery
April 4-27, 2016
Corvallis, Oregon.

http://salemart.org
Salem, OR
May 6 - June 25, 2016

www.duplexgallery.com
November 5 - December 18
Portland, Oregon.

http://soilart.org
Seattle, WA
October 1- October 31, 2015

Collaborative project with Andy Myers in Harrisburg, Oregon.
theartscenter.net
August - December, 2015

http://www.playasummerlake.org
May 6 - June 25, 2016
Summer Lake, OR
September, 2015