The latest exhibition in the Mayer/Reed Gallery features the work of Charles “Chuck” Hayden (1927–2024), an advertising illustrator, educator and artist—and relative and early inspiration to Mayer/Reed Associate Debbie Shaw.

“I knew him as my mom’s crazy cousin from New York, but we called him Uncle Chuck,” says Shaw. “Always the unconformist, stepping out of line, testing the boundaries, trying to squeeze a tasty bit of life out of every moment, Chuck wrote his own story and inspired us to do the same.”

The three-part series presents selections from the countless sketchbooks Chuck filled throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The pages were not intended as finished works, but as quick studies of composition, light, color and figures that could later inform paintings and illustrations. The exhibition explores three recurring themes in his life and work: his Western roots and love of cowboys and horses, his career in the New York advertising industry and his lifelong practice of figure drawing.

Through these sketchbook pages, the series offers a glimpse into the curiosity, creativity and unconventional spirit that defined Chuck’s life and work.  

Our in-studio gallery recently featured works by Mayer/Reed designer, Fred Stiber. This sculptural series represents an early chapter in Fred’s experience as an artist. Created during the summer after his graduation from Duke University where he focused on art and sculpture, these inventive pieces explore form, material and the space around them.

While working for a professor in the sculpture studio, Fred spent his free time creating art of his own from the studio’s discarded materials. He combined and modified steel, wood and acrylic using welding and bolts, sometimes painting the finished pieces and other times leaving the materials in their raw state. The three works displayed are titled: Summer of ’95, The One with a Tail and I-beam of Genie.

More than three decades later, Fred credits this early exploration of three-dimensional composition and construction as an important influence on his current work in signage design.

Our rotating art gallery recently featured the energetic work of Delphina Seeger, a student at Ida B. Wells High School and daughter of our marketing manager.

Selected from Delphina’s junior year AP art portfolio, four oil paintings featuring a coyote, great blue heron, river otters and mallard ducks each portray a delightful scene from the ecosystems of our region. Her technique explores color and stylization through animal subjects. “I used vibrant underpaintings,” she shares, “and experimented with naturalistic and expressive color palettes.”

Delphina will attend Oregon State University this fall, majoring in zoology with a minor in studio art.

Our in-studio gallery recently featured the three-dimensional work of Mayer/Reed Landscape Architect and Associate Anne Samuel. The suspended installation plays with light, shadow and subtle movement.

Composed of found materials, the untitled piece uses red acrylic, painted wood, monofilament and small beads in a study of balance and luminosity. A scrap of acrylic led to this exploration of possibility. “I wondered what I could make out of it,” Anne reflects. “I was most interested to see how the light cast on the wall would become part of the art, moving throughout the day with changing light conditions.”

Anne’s artistic pursuits have long embraced the act of making and building, spanning beading, jewelry, sculpture and furniture. Unconcerned with assigning meaning to her creations, she is guided instead by material curiosity and the physical process of formation. With training in theater and physics before earning her Master of Landscape Architecture, she is an artist equally attuned to art and science. “I am constantly trying something new in my art,” she says, “often dictated by a self-imposed challenge to create with the materials at hand.” A palette limited to cast-off materials makes the process more intriguing to Anne and reflects her commitment to sustainable design.