Portland-based artist Jennifer Gillia Cutshall is using a residency at The Arts Center to explore the relationship between people, rivers, and a changing climate.
(Photos via Jennifer Gillia Cutshall)
Cutshall will open her studio to the public during a free event titled “Water as Self: River as Humanity” from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at The Arts Center, 700 SW Madison Ave.
The open studio will give attendees an opportunity to see what Cutshall has been creating. Guests will also be given the chance to ask questions about her process and participate in a hands-on art activity. Participants can create a small memento inspired by the interconnected life of rivers and forests.
During the residency, Cutshall has focused on the riparian zone, the area where land meets a river or stream. There is a lot of that here. “Rivers gather, collect, and carry signs of our changing climate,” The Arts Center said in announcing the event.
Cutshall is a painter, sculptor, muralist, and curator whose work often blends natural landscapes with memory, dreams, and environmental concerns. Most importantly, she is an artist, dedicating some of her time to Corvallis. She has created hundreds of large-scale murals and public art projects and founded Portland’s Verum Ultimum Art Gallery in 2013.
Her 2025 installation, “Ghost of the Flame: Hanging in the Balance,” used dead and fire-altered trees to create what Portland arts organization Building 5 described as a “transformative forest of inquiry.” The installation invited visitors to consider environmental destruction, home, and individual responsibility.
Cutshall has said that experimentation and the creative process are central to her work.
“The ideas and the process, rather than the outcome, hold the greatest rewards for me,” Cutshall said in a 2025 interview with VoyageRaleigh.
The residency is part of The Arts Center’s RIVER program, which stands for Residencies Inspiring Vitality, Engagement, and Renewal. The program provides artists with free studio space for sustained creative exploration while asking them to share part of that process with the town.
Participating artists may use the residency to develop a larger project, experiment with a new direction, or reconnect with central themes in their work. It’s also an opportunity for us to connect with an artist.
“Art isn’t just decorative, it changes the way we see the world and our potential for grace within the world,” Cutshall said in the 2025 interview.
The open studio will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at The Arts Center, 700 SW Madison Ave. The event is free and open to the public. More information is available on the RIVER Residency Program webpage.
This article was written by K. Hewlitt at The Corvallis Inquirer. Feel free to send us your stories or articles to publish at: editor@corvallisnow.com
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