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The Maude Kerns Art Center is proud to present “Forever in Blue Jeans: A Mid-Career Retrospective of Hilary Pfeifer,” opening Friday, May 8, with a public reception from 5 – 7 pm. The exhibit traces Pfeifer’s roots in Eugene and her formative relationship with the Maude Kerns Art Center, where she first studied as a young artist, while surveying 25 years of her work. “Forever in Blue Jeans” positions Pfeifer at a reflective midpoint in her career: looking back at the community and landscape that shaped her, while debuting new work that responds to the ecological and social realities of the present. The exhibit is on view through Friday, June 5.
“Forever in Blue Jeans” also highlights eight artists – Deborah Dailey, Hannah Goldrich, Barbara Kensler, Marcia Macdonald, Terry McIlrath, Jerril Nilson, Lynn Peterson, and Greg Wilbur - who have been influential mentors and touchstones throughout Pfeifer’s career. Tributes to these artists with examples of their work are displayed in the Art Center’s Salon Gallery.
Pfeifer is an enormously talented multi-faceted artist whose work spans sculpture, collage, installation, and public art. Her work has been exhibited in group and solo shows in galleries and museums throughout the US, most recently in the “Birds in Art” exhibit at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin in 2025. Her public art commissions grace many sites in Portland and beyond, including in Eugene in the lobby of Huestis Hall at the University of Oregon. Here an installation of laser-cut panels and suspended sculptures called “Confluence” celebrates the site’s revolutionary zebrafish research lab. Pfeifer is the recipient of many grants and awards, including a grant from the Puffin Foundation which supports in part her godseye series on view in the Art Center’s retrospective. Pfeifer’s art has been featured in American Craft magazine and was recently profiled on Oregon Art Beat.
Two free Artist Talks are held in conjunction with “Forever in Blue Jeans.” On Saturday, May 9, from 1–2 pm, Pfeifer offers practical working artist advice while telling humorous and insightful tales of her journey to becoming an artist sought after for exhibitions and public art commissions. She gives homage to her mentors along the way. On Saturday, May 30, from 1–2 pm, she talks about the specific bodies of work displayed in the exhibit, including the conceptual basis behind their creation.
Pfeifer’s practice is grounded in a deep engagement with craft traditions, including ceramics, woodworking, metals, bookbinding, and soft sculpture. She frequently works with reclaimed and discarded materials, especially wood and industrial cast-offs. For “Forever in Blue Jeans,” Pfeifer exhibits a variety of two-dimensional and three-dimensional work, including mixed media sculptures and vinyl collages. In all her work, humor, play, and curiosity act as entry points into more serious reflections on environmental preservation and human intimacy.
At the heart of the exhibit, displayed on the Art Center’s main stage, is godseye (2024 – 2026), a new installation of 150 nest forms built from found materials. Each nest includes metal bristles shed by industrial street-sweeper brushes that Pfeifer has gathered from city gutters over the past quarter century. In addition, each nest holds a glass “eye,” suggesting a watchful presence that sees past, present, and future. The installation reflects on how birds increasingly weave human detritus into their homes and quietly urges viewers to consider their own role in waste, care, and habitat. Individual nests from “godseye” are available for purchase, with 10% of the artist’s proceeds donated to Mount Pisgah Arboretum.