Nightingale Gallery Celebrates EOU Student Artists in 2025-26 Season Finale

Nightingale Gallery Celebrates EOU Student Artists in 2025-26 Season Finale

Nightingale Gallery Celebrates EOU Student Artists in 2025-26 Season Finale

The Nightingale Gallery of Eastern Oregon University will close out our 2025-26 exhibition season with our annual celebration of student artists. The annual All-Campus Juried Student Exhibition will run from May 20 through June 12. The exhibit features work by EOU students from a variety of disciplines. There will be an opening reception on Wednesday, May 20, from 5-7 p.m. with presentation of awards at 5:30 p.m. Please note the day of the opening is on Wednesday for this particular exhibit, not our usual Friday opening reception.

Our juror this year is Katherine Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy is the Co-Founder and Curator of The Common Well. The Common Well is a dynamic community of artists and entrepreneurs who share space, collaborate, and network in an old factory located in Garden City, Idaho. Shaughnessy curates the dynamic gallery space located on the premises and is also an artist in her own right. She has had solo exhibitions in Chicago, Marfa, and Albuquerque, and her work has been in group shows at The Cleveland Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Boise Art Museum, Sun Valley Museum of Art and most recently, Maintenant in Marfa, Texas, in a spring 2026 show titled "What Are You Fighting For?"

Shaughnessy's artistic practice is rooted in her examination of the natural world and its awkward intersection with human demands and desires - from bioengineering and borders to bridges and climate change. Her work's medium and materiality shifts and responds to the concept she is investigating and includes painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, video, and installation. Shaughnessy thrives on the meditative process of art making, as well as its healing force, both personally and politically.

Shaughnessy will present a public talk on her curatorial and studio practices on Thursday, May 14, at 6 p.m. in Huber Auditorium, Badgley Hall. The presentation is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.

In addition to selecting works to include in the exhibit, Shaughnessy will select several works to be recognized with monetary awards. In addition to the juror's awards will be the presentation of the sixteenth annual Kathelene Galloway Memorial Scholarship and our seventeenth annual presentation of the Joseph Dickerson Memorial Award.

The Kathelene Galloway Memorial Scholarship is a $500 award presented to a sophomore or junior-level Art major who exhibits exemplary technical and conceptual skill. The award is made in memory of Kathelene Galloway, who was a professor of printmaking and drawing at EOU. Galloway, who passed away suddenly in December of 2009, was a highly dedicated and much-loved artist, teacher, and colleague. She was a passionate advocate for her students, art, artists, and EOU. She lived to share knowledge and the wonder that comes with discovery. Galloway exemplified the excellence to which we encourage our students to aspire.

The Joseph Dickerson Memorial Award is in memory of Joe Dickerson, an EOU freshman tragically killed in a 2009 auto accident. Following the loss of their son, Joe's parents, Doug and Kyla Dickerson, made a gift of funds to the EOU Art program. Joe was a model student whose creative energy and enthusiasm for learning were infectious. In light of this, the EOU Art Program chose to use the funds so generously given by the Dickerson family to endow an award in their son's name to be presented annually to a student who the Art faculty feels best exemplifies Joe's dedication, curiosity, and creative spirit.

All awards will be announced at the reception at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20. Please join us in celebrating the creativity of our EOU students.

The Nightingale Gallery is located in Loso Hall on the campus of Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, OR. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. For more information, follow the Nightingale Gallery on Facebook and Instagram.
To request images of artwork for publication or to schedule an interview with one or more of the artists, please contact Gallery Director Cory Peeke at [email protected].