Conversation with Artists & Curators

JSMA at PSU is thrilled to host featured artists Heidi Schwegler and Joshua Sin in conversation with curators Nancy Downes-Le Guin and Theo Downes-Le Guin. Starting at 4:00 PM, the artists will discuss their art practice and its connection to play. Both Schwegler and Sin employ discarded consumer goods, which they elevate to a position of beauty and spirituality, exploring cycles of deconstruction and reconstruction as an alternative to our current ways of being. A reception will follow the talk where both artists' work is on view!

Heidi Schwegler was born in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, and lives and works in Yucca Valley, California. Schwegler creates beauty from messy subject matter: the “haphazardly disused scraps from the bowels of the megalopolis,” as she puts it. Her artworks draw attention to the difference between an object’s appearance, how it has been used and abused, and the ideas and narrative surrounding it.

Joshua Sin was born in Toronto in 1987 and lives and works in Portland. Sin’s reflections on consumer culture, high technology, and nationalist tropes are informed by his experience as a designer, elite gymnast, and concert pianist—pursuits requiring precision, repetition, and technique.

Please contact or (503) 725-6238 two weeks in advance of the program to request accommodations for a disability or ask questions about physical access.

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Just Playin’ Around is curated by Nancy Downes-Le Guin and Theo Downes-Le Guin. This exhibition is supported by The Ford Family Foundation, The Reser Family Foundation, the Jackson Foundation, Elements Roofing, the Richard and Helen Phillips Charitable Fund, and the JSMA Exhibition Circle.

Image Credit 1: Joshua Sin, Power Up (detail), 2024, Reclaimed cotton, polyester fiber, wool, batting, wood, 96 x 48 x 36 inches, Courtesy of the artist

Image Credit 2: Heidi Schwegler, They are all equal now (detail), 2024, Resin, rubber, wood, metal, mini projector, 72 x 72 x 31 inches, Courtesy of the artist

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University, 1855 Southwest Broadway, Portland, United States