November’s member meeting was hosted by art educator extraordinaire Nathan Orosco, who runs the sculpture wing of the college’s multi-faceted art program. Tucked in a hollow amongst a forest and somewhat secluded from the rest of the sprawling campus, Mt. Hood Community College has been Nathan’s home away from home for the last 17 years. The sculpture program he inherited was focused around iron work and Nathan’s vision was to grow the program to include as many material avenues as he could manage. The result is a catacomb of connected work spaces, indoor and out that include a foundry, mold-making area, 3-d printing shop, ceramic shop, armature shop, lost wax area, kilns and more kilns etc.
Nathan generously led our members on a tour of the entire domain explaining how each area operated while a scattering of students worked on various projects. We ended the tour at the student/faculty gallery where we engaged in a heady discussion about the role that education plays in furthering the art process.
A community college serves society in a way in that makes it unique in education. It strives to serve our diverse community by offering a pathway to employment for the young and also provides workspace for older students who are lifetime learners and need studio space and the comeradery that a shared arts pace provides.
Nathan manages it all with the knowledge that the workload is much more manageable when older students act as mentors for the new. He teaches the value of self-exploration and offers his view that a sculpture is an elemental prayer and the studio is the church of creativity….amen!
Anyone looking for a place to do studio work with a wide variety of options at a killer price should go for a visit.
