Marion Ady

Marion Ady, Cactus, 1953, Watercolor on paper, Courtesy of the permanent collection.

Marion Ady was a professor of art at SOU and an artist local to the Rogue Valley. She was hired as the first female faculty member in the art department in the 1930s and started work as a professor before the women’s rights movement had taken off. She was given a lot of pressure and responsibility, having to teach 5 classes a day, daily, in a variety of subjects. It is important to note that this was not the treatment that her male colleagues received. Despite this, she was known to be very responsible and devoted to all of her students during her time at SOU. She respected and cared for her students greatly, regardless of their artistic skill. She retired as a professor in 1964, after serving as the head of the art department. Ady was succeeded by Betty LaDuke, a local artist who became the second female art professor at the university. LaDuke's art can be found around the SOU Campus, namely in the Hannon Library in her collection, "Children of the World".

Emeritus SOU Art Professor, Marion Ady, from the SOC Alumni Magazine.

"She loved living things—most of all her students, rarely expressing even slight impatience with them. A few special young men she often singled out from the rest and labeled her “secretsorrows.” She was never happier than when surrounded by them sipping a “coke” or devouring a chocolate sundae. She adored all animals, her parakeet, her dog, and most of all, her cat, even when it caught the wild birds which she fed." - SOC Alumni Magazine

Currently in the Entry Gallery, Marion Ady's watercolor painting Cactus (1953) is on display. Cactus is a part of the Schneiders' permanent collection, which is truly a gift, because Ady was not known to display her artwork publicly very often. According to those who knew her, she had a lot of self-criticism about her artwork, which led her to destroy most of her work. Cactus is a beautiful naturalist image of the titular plant, its green body highlighted by pink, yellow, and red from the light of the desert. It shows the artist's reverence for nature well, as she was said to have a love for all things alive. Visit the Entry Gallery to see this special piece by an artist whose memory lives on through the Marion Ady Art building, right next to our museum location, where students in the art department show their work.

Cody Bustamante

Cody Bustamante, Untitled, 1990, Lithograph, Courtesy of the permanent collection.

SOU Emeritus professor and visual artist Cody Bustamante is a first-generation Mexican American, an identity that has been a crucial influence over his artwork throughout the years. After receiving his MFA from UC Irvine, Bustamante relocated to Oregon and joined the art department faculty at Southern Oregon University. He has been exhibiting his artwork professionally since 1979, and his work is found in numerous collections on the West Coast, including the University of Oregon. Cody Bustamante's art explores how common mythologies and archetypes influence us and our understanding of the world. He does this using symbols such as birds, fish, mermen, puppets, ghosts, rocket ships, and submarines, to name a few. When his work is not symbolic, it is fully abstract, and he explores different shades and tones. Currently in the Entry Gallery, a piece by Bustamante is on view. It is an untitled work that was created as a part of a collaborative printmaking calendar project that was headed by Pinkham Press in Phoenix, OR. It depicts a bird in flight, its wings outstretched as though it were being studied by a 19th-century naturalist. These were a group of biologists who were focused on studying the natural world in order to define biology as a theory-based science. The simple form of the bird is still evocative, being a strong focal point in the sea of abstract black ink that surrounds it. Since the artist is local, he was able to provide information about this piece, which is a part of the Schneiders' permanent collection. He stated that the bird acts as a sort of character, emerging through the murky space that, for him, seems poetically charged. This print was gifted to former Printmaking professor Lyle Matoush, who was a friend and contemporary of Bustamante. This is made clear by the note, "For my pal Lyle", which is found towards the bottom of the paper. Since the artwork in the Entry Gallery is always rotating, this work will only be on view for a limited time. Come check out Untitled by Cody Bustamante, and discover more of the artist's work at the link below!

https://www.codyabustamante.com/

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