Field Notes: Learning to See

Exhibition Dates: September 1 – October 15, 2026

Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 9 from 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Gallery Talk with Deirdre Murphey at 5:30 p.m.

Closing Reception: Thursday, October 15 from 5:30 – 7 p.m.
Gallery Talk with Yvonne Love at 6 p.m.
Closing Reception will also recognize MU student artworks created in response to Field Notes: Learning to See.

Exhibition Description: Field Notes features sculptures by Yvonne Love and paintings by Deirdre Murphy presented alongside a series of collages which were made in collaboration between the two artists, in response to over five decades of daily naturalist field notes kept by Yvonne’s parents, Naomi and Bill Murphy.

The Murphy’s were devoted birders and lifelong observers of the natural world. Through a shared practice of observation inherited from their scientist parents, Love and Murphy engaged in a call-and-response collaboration across disciplines, mediums, and generations. The resulting artworks are a sensorial exploration of environmental data, transformed through painting, cutting and collage.

The artists honor the rigor of citizen science and professional research alike, paying tribute to the power of attentive seeing. In this collaboration, Love and Murphy reimagine decades of bird counts, migration patterns, and handwritten logs as portals into larger conversations about environmental change, loss, and continuity.

Artists: Yvonne Murphy Love and Deirdre Murphy

Image: Yvonne Love and Deirdre Murphy, Pileated, 2025, mixed media on paper, 24 x 18 inches

I Like Your Work

Exhibition Dates: October 22 - December 10, 2026

Exhibition Description: I Like Your Work began as a podcast hosted by artist and curator Erika b. Hess in 2019 and expanded to include Studio Visit Artists and exhibitions. This robust online organization is dedicated to supporting artists, creating community, providing opportunities and resources. On the podcast, Hess interviews creative people from painters and artists to collectors and curators. I Like Your Work is a vibrant platform celebrating people pursuing a creative life and building community within the arts.

Eckert Art Gallery director, Heidi Leitzke, was invited to serve as guest curator for this installment of the I Like Your Work exhibition series. Exhibition will feature emerging and mid-career artists. Selected artists will be featured in a full-color printed catalog. 

Artists: Full list of artists coming soon.  

Of the Land

Exhibition Dates: January 28 – March 19, 2027

Exhibition Description: In the southwestern United States wide vistas are surrounded by mountains that guide the eye towards big skies. Here the land holds stories of generations in ancient fault lines, well-worn hiking paths and layers of strata. The artists in this exhibition were drawn to live and work in the desert and make art that tells the stories of the land.

Artists: Jane Culp, Tai Lipan, Rachel Rickert, and more.

Image: Jane Culp, Clark’s Dry Lake, 2025, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

Exhibition Coming Soon...

Exhibition Dates: March 25 – May 1, 2027

Exhibition Description: Coming Soon

Artists: 

Image: