Clark College Announces Fall Programs At Archer Gallery (Photo) - 10/02/26
The public is invited to attend free art events, including the opening reception of Archer Gallery's upcoming exhibit by award-winning artist Roger Allan Cleeves
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Archer Gallery at Clark College is hosting a new exhibit and an exciting lineup of public programs. All events are free and open to the public, and they will take place on Clark’s main campus at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way. Art Talks will be located in the Penguin Union Building (PUB), room 161. Light refreshments will be provided. Directions and maps are available online.
Located on Clark’s main campus, Archer Gallery serves the students and community by exhibiting contemporary art in a not-for-profit educational setting. Archer Gallery exhibits work by nationally and internationally renowned artists and connects the Clark College community with accessible and diverse perspectives from the contemporary art world.
Clark Art Talks hosts an art lecture series throughout the academic year for students and the community. Distinguished artists and art scholars from around the country share their experiences related to their art practices and provide unique insights into their varied career paths and artistic techniques. For more information about Archer Gallery’s exhibitions and art talks, and to watch videos of past art talks, visit archergallery.space.
UPCOMING EXHIBIT: ROGER ALLAN CLEAVES, PATH TO PROGRESS
Opening Reception: Tuesday, October 12, 2–5 p.m. at Archer Gallery
Art Talk: Thursday, October 22, 11 a.m. –12 p.m. in PUB 161
Artist Website: https://www.rogerallancleaves.com/
Path to Progress represents a chapter in Roger Allan Cleaves’s ongoing narrative universe, Forget Me Nots Land — a world where history, folklore, popular culture, and imagined futures come together. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Cleaves brings a perspective shaped outside the Pacific Northwest to Archer Gallery. He will join us for the exhibition opening and an artist talk, giving students and visitors an opportunity to hear directly about the ideas, stories, and visual references behind his work. Cleaves’s practice is deeply connected to Afrofuturism, a movement that brings together Black history, African traditions, fantasy, technology, and science fiction to imagine new possibilities for the future. Afrofuturist art matters because imagination can be a form of agency. By envisioning Black people as protagonists, explorers, inventors, and creators of future worlds, artists can challenge histories of exclusion and imagine futures in which Black life can thrive. This idea is at the heart of Forget Me Nots Land and its central character, Bookie, a young Black protagonist navigating an ever-expanding, otherworldly universe.
For Archer Gallery, Path to Progress offers an opportunity to consider how contemporary artists can engage with art history as something alive and changeable. Cleaves invites us to recognize familiar images, look at them differently, and consider who gets to shape the stories of the future. As one chapter of Forget Me Nots Land, the exhibition remains open-ended — an invitation to imagine new stories, new protagonists, and new futures.
Cleaves was born in Memphis, Tennessee, where he currently lives and works. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Memphis. During his tenure at the University of Memphis, he was one of fifteen undergraduate students selected from across the country to participate in the Yale Norfolk Summer program for the arts. Cleaves went on to study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned his MFA.
Cleaves’ exhibit will be at Archer Gallery from October 1 through December 4, 2026.
CLARK ART TALKS, LECTURES, AND WORKSHOPS
Orlando Almanza Art Talk: October 26, 2–3 p.m. in PUB 161
Artist’s website: https://www.orlandoalmanza.com/
Orlando Almanza (b.1989, Las Tunas, Cuba) pulls us into his dreamworld of memory, myth and loss with ethereal landscapes, portraits and storytelling. His stories take place in the natural world where figures are intertwined with plants, animals, and light. The interconnectedness of his work points to the artist's deep dedication to nature and the unique way it connects with myths and storytelling across cultures. Each painting invites us in, to search for meaning and truth. Almanza received his B.A. in printmaking from the Institute of Superior Arts in Havana, Cuba.
Tentacle Tribe (Montreal) Lecture Demonstration: October 28, 2–3 p.m. in Archer Gallery
Artist’s website: https://www.tentacletribe.com/
Clark College Foundation Presents and Archer Gallery welcome "conceptual hip hop" dance company Tentacle Tribe (Montreal) for a Lecture Demonstration, including performance excerpts. This free public event will feature internationally renowned dancers sharing their unique vision for melding street and contemporary dance forms.
Steve Gardner Artist Workshop: October 29, 1–4 p.m. at Frost Art Center, Ceramics Lab
Artist’s Website: https://gardnerart.com/
Seattle artist Steve Gardner studied art and biology at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, then received his M.F.A. in ceramic sculpture from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. He sculpts his three-dimensional work in architectural terra cotta, using traditional techniques with new innovations in surface color. Both his gallery work and his architectural commissions focus on the human figure, surface pattern, and a sense of story. Recent architectural commissions have taken the form of large murals in cast glass and metal. Installations of his sculptures can be seen at SeaTac International Airport (Seattle, WA); The LaSalle Building (Baton Rouge, LA); the Snohomish Library (Snohomish, WA); the Vancouver School for the Blind (Vancouver, WA); the Denali Lodge (Denali, AK); and the Oregon Zoo (Portland, OR). He lives with his family in Ballard, Seattle, WA, USA.
Laura Ross-Paul Art Talk: November 3, 11 a.m. –12 p.m. in PUB 161
Artist’s Website: https://www.lauraross-paul.com/
Laura Ross-Paul has been painting professionally for over four decades. During that time she has been represented by nine West-Coast rallies from Seattle to LA, with solo exhibits at the Portland Art Museum, Oregon, The Column Gallery, Colorado College, Colorado: The Art Gym, Portland, Oregon; and important exhibits at the Arnot Museum, Elmira, New York; Palm Springs Art Museum,; Seattle Art Museum; Tacoma Art; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Eugene), The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Portland), and The Schnitzer Family Collection.
Among her many awards, Ross-Paul has received the Bonnie Bronson Visual Arts Fellowship, an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship, and the Susan Cooley Gilliom Artist and Teaching Residency in Roseville, California. Her art has been singled out for prizes in regional biennials at the Portland Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museums, and Turtle Bay Museum in Redding, California; featured in the cable TV film Spy (1989); and appears on book covers including fiction by Charles Spaeth (2011) and Barbara Wilson (1993) and poetry by Judith Barrington (2015).
Diego Mancilla Art Talk: November 5, 11 a.m. –12 p.m. in PUB 161
Artist’s Website: https://di-nation.com/
Born in Mexico City, raised in Portland, Oregon — Mancilla is a creative spirit. From the moment he drew on MacPaint in 1998, all he wanted to do was design. Today, he focuses on working with companies and individuals to create design solutions through the use of typography, layout, color mashups, and a splash of creativity. He is a Digital and Graphic Designer.
Palmarin Merges Art Talk: November 16, 11 a.m. –12 p.m. in PUB 161
Artist’s Website: https://www.palmarinmerges.com/
Palmarin Merges is a Filipina American artist whose work draws from the desire to become more sustainable by re-using materials close at hand and by adapting restriction as a generative force for creation. Trained as a Printmaker, she now works primarily in mixed media, especially household waste - plastic, cardboard, etc. These common materials taken from the fabric of her daily life are processed and then transformed into pattern, collage and concrete poetry.
Raised in Hawaii and California, she left Oregon in Dec. 2019 with her husband to return to Japan, this time to Tokyo. Her adventures now include exploring a variety of traditional crafts and wandering the areas in and around the Yamanote Line.
Palmarin Merges holds an MFA Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute and has exhibited in Japan, the Philippines, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. She has previously taught Relief, Screenprint and drawing at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Marylhurst University and Pacific University.
About Clark College
Founded in 1933, Clark College is Southwest Washington’s largest public institution of higher education. Clark College provides residents of Southwest Washington with affordable, high-quality academic and technical education. This public community college offers more than 100 degree and certificate programs, including bachelor’s and associate degrees; professional certificates; high school diplomas and GED preparation; and non-credit community and continuing education. Clark serves almost 10,000 students including high school students, veterans, displaced workers, multilingual and mature learners. About three-quarters of its students are the first in their families to attend college.
Clark’s Fine Arts Program
Clark’s Art/Fine Arts program invites students to explore creative expression through a wide range of artistic media. Taught by professional artists and instructors with advanced degrees, courses provide a supportive environment for students to develop their skills and pursue their artistic ambitions. Whether students are beginning their journey or expanding their talents, students can choose from courses in painting, drawing, ceramics, photographic, and graphic design.
Learn more about Clark’s Art/Fine Arts program here.
All Are Welcome: Clark College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution. Learn more at www.clark.edu/nds.
Clark College expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, perceived or actual physical or mental disability, pregnancy, genetic information, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, creed, religion, honorably discharged veteran or military status, citizenship, immigration status, or use of a trained guide dog or service animal in its programs and activities. Learn more at www.clark.edu/nds.
Accommodations: If you need an accommodation due to a disability to participate in this event, please contact the Office of People and Culture, Melody Williams, at MWilliams@clark.edu or (360) 992-2432. Please make requests as early as possible to ensure appropriate arrangements can be made.
