An Artist Talk for the artists featured in Maude Kerns Art Center's exhibit "Witness: Earth & Sky" will be held on Saturday, April 4, from 1 – 2 pm. The public is invited to hear the artists share their visions at this free event.

“Witness: Earth & Sky,” which is in the Art Center's Main Gallery, features the work of Rich Bergeman and Amanda Thomas. Both artists focus on landscape, with Bergeman emphasizing the appropriation of the land and Thomas its despoliation.

Corvallis artist Rich Bergeman has been exhibiting his fine art photography throughout the Northwest and beyond for 40 years. His current work is inspired by the land acknowledgement movement, and particularly the traveling exhibit, “This IS Kalapuya Land.” Through infrared photography, Bergeman explores the Willamette Valley’s tribal homelands to transport viewers to a land devoid of post-colonial marks. He hopes his infrared photography “imbues the work with a sense of disquiet and other worldliness … suggesting a presence beyond the present.”

Mt. Shasta, California artist Amanda Thomas works in a variety of visual media and teaches at the College of the Siskiyous. In “Witness: Earth & Sky,” she documents abandoned mining sites, displaying both 2- and 3-dimensional art. Her sculptures, which are glazed with acid mine drainage and soil samples from mining sites, call to mind rock formations and ancient artifacts, and her black and white photographs support the ceramic pieces by providing a sense of place. She says of her work: “I hope to spark conversations about mining’s environmental impact, the role of mining in society, and our overarching issues of consumption, profit, and waste.”