PULLMAN, Wash. — The Washington State University Museum of Art begins the new year with “Collaborations: William Allan, Robert Hudson, William Wiley,” scheduled for exhibit Jan. 12-Feb. 23.
The exhibit features collaborative and individual works by the three artists who share a friendship going back to their high school days in Richland. Now residents of northern California, Allan, Hudson and Wiley grew up in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. The three became friends while students of art teacher Jim McGrath at Richland’s Columbia High School. Their friendship has endured for more than 40 years, while each has developed substantial careers as artists. They have come together from time to time to create mixed media collaborative artworks on paper and canvas.
Dyana Curreri-Ermatinger, newly named director of the WSU Museum of Art, will present the opening lecture Jan. 11 for the exhibit. Her 7:30 p.m. talk, “Bill, Bob and Bill: Sources and Process in the Collaborative Works of Allan, Hudson and Wiley,” will be presented in the Fine Arts Auditorium with a reception hosted by the Friends of the Museum of Art to follow in the Fine Arts Center lobby. Free parking in the Fine Arts Center parking structure will be available during the opening.
The exhibition features 44 paintings, drawings and sculptures created individually and collaboratively by the artists. The individual works, dated from 1984 to 1997, were chosen as points of reference and reflection for the collaborative pieces created in 1993. Although united by common cultural and environmental concerns, three distinct styles emerge from these complex and intriguing artworks: Allan’s meticulously rendered and meditative images commingle with Hudson’s colorful and dynamic geometric forms or with Wiley’s symbols and witty puns. The viewer is invited to explore and discover the puzzles of stylistic similarities and differences.
“Collaborations: William Allan, Robert Hudson, William Wiley” was co-curated by Palm Springs (California) Desert Museum staff members Katherine Plake Hough, director of collections/exhibitions, and Christine Giles, assistant curator for art. The exhibition was organized by the Palm Springs museum and funded in part by the City of Indian Wells, Calif.; the museum’s Contemporary Art Council and Artists Council; and the Walter N. Marks Memorial Fund.
In conjunction with the WSU exhibition, the Museum of Art will organize a smaller exhibition of recent works by Allan, Hudson and Wiley on the WSU Tri-Cities campus to celebrate the artists’ connection to the Richland community. “From Familiar Terrain: William Allan, Robert Hudson, William T. Wiley” will be on display Feb. 9-27. The exhibition is part of a larger plan to present Museum of Art programs at WSU’s branch campuses.
The WSU Museum of Art is funded in part by Washington State University and the Friends of the Museum of Art. A portion of the museum’s general operating funds for the fiscal year has been provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that offers operating support to the nation’s museums.
Museum exhibitions and programs are free and open to the public. The gallery is wheelchair accessible. The Museum of Art is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Tuesday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 1-5 p.m. The museum will be closed Jan. 18.
Weekday visitors may purchase parking permits at the Cougar Depot in downtown Pullman, or at WSU Parking Services, Wilson Road, directly uphill from the Fine Arts Center. Parking is available in the Fine Arts Center parking structure for an hourly fee on weekday evenings. Weekend parking is free.
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