Tender: Sarah Gilbert and Pato Hebert
September 13 - December 8, 2024
The Cooley Gallery, Reed College (Portland), and Ditch Projects (Springfield) present the exhibition Tender, part of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s 2024 Time-Based Art Festival
Public hours: Thursday – Sunday, noon to 5:00 pm, or by appointment: cooley@reed.edu
Opening party with the artists: Friday, September 13, 5 to 7 pm
Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College
Cooley / Ditch / PICA event: Sunday, September 15, 12 to 2 pm
PICA's 2024 Time-Based Art Festival tucks in at the Cooley. Join us on the lawn in front of the Reed library for music, picnic fare, and a conversation with artists Sarah Gilbert (Tender), Jess Perlitz (Reductions of Mountains*), exhibition curator Stephanie Snyder, and Mike Bray, Ditch Projects founder.—facilitated by Kristan Kennedy, Artistic Director & Curator of Visual Art at PICA.
Ditch Projects exhibition dates: October 19 – December 1, 2024
Opening party with the artists: October 19, 5 to 7 pm
About the exhibition
Tender is the nature of this dyadic exhibition comprised of newly commissioned installations and stochastic works by longtime educators and colleagues Sarah Gilbert and Pato Hebert.
For the artists, Tender is a healing endeavor. Both Gilbert and Hebert are in the process of negotiating their recovery from debilitating illness, injury, and the tragic loss of loved ones. Reading, listening, and touch are as essential to the exhibition as visual observation. Tender provides an opportunity for the artists to recount and transform their experiences—some caused or exacerbated by the pandemic—offering them with a desire for shared healing.
Hannah Arendt described her experience of philosophical thought as “. . . a palpating tenderness toward the things of the world.” The wild beauty of the installation springs from the artists’ emotional attunement, and their embrace of the natural world within their work. Gilbert and Hebert ritualize and play with the vulnerability that has reshaped their lives.
Ditch Projects
303 S 5th Street #165
Springfield, OR
ditchprojects.com/