Art at Rock Creek
Art on campus
- View current and past art exhibitions at Rock Creek’s Helzer Gallery.
- Explore Rock Creek’s extensive art collection.
- Attend Rock Creek’s annual campus-wide Art Rock event.
The Rock Creek Campus sits amid farm and wetland on 256 acres and offers a comprehensive art program in a country setting. Situated about 12 miles west of downtown Portland the campus’ concrete and wood structures fit nicely into the rolling hill farmland, creating a pastoral study environment.
Art is an integral part of the texture of the Rock Creek Campus, from large exterior sculpture and paintings in major buildings to the intimate Rock Creek Gallery, with its changing monthly exhibitions. The permanent collection includes work by noted Northwest artists such as Lee Kelly, Frank Boyden, Bruce West, George Johanson, Richard Helzer, Lucinda Parker, and Rick Bartow to name only a few.
Facilities
Ceramic studio
A large studio comprised of a hand building room, wheel room, glazing studio with electric kilns as well as an exterior building housing two gas kilns and fenced raku area. Glass display cases in the mall area of building 3 allow for monthly shows of student and faculty work.
Drawing studio
Formerly a choral practice room, the drawing studio has a unique tiered floor that allows students to draw at various heights from their subject, either on easels or “horses.” The studio also includes a human skeleton model permanently housed in a display cabinet for study.
Painting studio
This newly remodeled studio is a spacious vaulted room with a unique tiered floor for working at various heights. A large critique wall allows for students to work on a very large scale.
Sculpture studio
The sculpture studio allows students to address stone and wood carving, clay modeling, welding, and assemblage. It can also be configured for life sculpture classes, where students work in the round from a model.
Printmaking studio
Shared with design, watercolor, and calligraphy, this studio includes a separate press room that contains a 26″ Tackash Etching press and drying racks. The studio is committed to non-toxic techniques for relief, monotype, drypoint, and copperplate etching. Courses focus on relief, intaglio, and other techniques from term to term.