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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Portland artist Brittany Powell will speak at Oregon State University on Thursday, Feb. 10, in Memorial Union 109.

The free, public talk starts at 7 p.m. An artist's reception will be held at 6 p.m. The talk is presented by the OSU Department of Art's Visiting Artist and Scholars Program.

Powell graduated from OSU in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in art and received her master of fine arts degree from the California College of the Arts in 2004. Since then Powell has been active showing her artwork in galleries and museums throughout the United States. Her work was featured in Portland Art Museum's Oregon Biennial in 2006.

Powell's recent focus has been contact paper (or shelf lining paper) cut-out installations that depict mundane daily life. The life size cut-out shapes such as shelves, drawers or fences mimic real objects attached on or placed in front of a wall. The simple cartoon-like flat images often maintain some kind of humor, satire or wry.

Another medium Powell frequently employs is quilting. She uses sheets of fabric like drawing paper and embroiders them with colorful threads.

Recently, Powell created a series of two color relief prints called "Nautical Linocut Prints." The set includes four different types of ship/boats. These prints will be given to patrons of OSU's Norma Seibert Printmaking Patron Program in May.