Exhibition + Musical Performance
Exhibition | Stelo Arts
June 5th - July 12th | 12PM - 5PM, Thursday - Saturday
Performance | Patricia Reser Center For The Arts
June 21st, 7:30PM & June 22nd, 2PM
Oregon Origins Project in partnership with Stelo presents an epic new musical work and art exhibition depicting the dramatic events of Oregon’s geologic history. Join us for an artistic exploration of the state’s geologic origin stories, including Columbia River basalt flows, Basin and Range earthquakes, Cascade volcanoes, Missoula floods, and much more.
For the summer 2025 event, composer and Oregon Origins Project director/composer Matthew Packwood, is collaborating with a local geologist Ian Madin and conductor Ken Seldon to create an hourlong string orchestra work telling the geologic story of the creation of ancient Oregon. This work draws inspiration from many wild places across the state and the forces that shaped them. For this new collaboration Oregon Origins Project has commissioned ten Oregon-based visual artists to each create a work inspired by a major event in the state's geologic history, to be projected during the performance and shown in an accompanying exhibit at Stelo. The participating artists are Michael Boonstra, Claire Burbridge, Christine Bourdette, Juniper Harrower, James Lavadour, Daniela Naomi Molnar, Sidony O'Neal, Sara Siestreem, Amanda Triplett, and Leah Wilson.
Programming:
Soup Dreams: A Dialogue About Land, Ancestral History, and Our Imagined Past
June 14th, 2025, at 2:30 PM
Join us at Stelo Arts for a unique public program where we’ll share soup and explore deep conversations about land solidarity, ancestral histories, and the act of imagining who we were thousands of years ago. Come reflect, engage, and take part in an intimate dialogue about the relevance of past stories in the present day.
Oregon Origins Project VI: The Birth of Cascadia – Geology Talk with Ian Madin
July 1st, 2025, at 6:30 PM
Join us for an expanded version of the ten geologic stories that accompany the music performance. Beginning with a watermelon demonstration of plate tectonics, we’ll journey through each story with opportunities for audience interaction.
Oregon Origins Project Closing Panel
July 12th, 2025, at 2:30 PM
Join us for the Oregon Origins Project Closing Panel discussion. Hear directly from the artists, geologists, and project director as they share insights into the creative process behind bringing Oregon’s ancient origins to life through art and exploration.
Oregon Origins Project in an arts/culture initiative which explores the ancient origins of the state of Oregon through creative expression. Our fall events are devoted to lifting up indigenous culture bearers, and the spring events present new artistic work of a wide range of styles/disciplines.