Patterns are everywhere – woven into our clothes, tiled across our floors, frequent in nature and hidden in plain sight. They are so familiar that they can often be overlooked.
The current exhibition at the Oakland University Art Gallery, “System and Sequence: Pattern and Ornament in Contemporary Art”, invites students and the community to gather and deliberate on these depictions. The artists on display transform patterns into vessels for storytelling through emotion and provide the audience with a thoughtful commentary on identity, harmony, contrast and the world around us.
“I hope [visitors] walk away with a better understanding of how pattern and ornament can be used as a communication tool even in contemporary life,” Leo Barnes, gallery manager, said. “It is not necessarily something that can only be used to decorate or make things look pretty.”
Walking through the gallery, visitors are met with a range of approaches. Each piece – from bold geometric arrangements, chaotic bursts of color and hanging woven intricacies – provides its own sense of rhythm but still fits together. At first glance, the works are visually striking. The longer one looks, the more they reveal: layers forming a lens into personal stories, cultural connections and universal narratives.
“This exhibition was slightly different in that it all really started with one artist,” Barnes said. “I really wanted to put together an exhibition including Jocelyn [Hobbie]’s artwork. This gave me a nice jumping off point in the search for other artists using pattern and ornament in their artwork. Before I knew it, I had gathered a great collection of artists, and the exhibition was off and running.”
Alongside Hobbie, the exhibition features the work of Lisa Corinne Davis, Tomory Dodge, Alia Ali, Mark Joshua Epstein, Matthew Craven, Alexa Guariglia, Ozioma Onuzulike, Anne Samat, Natasha Das, Antonio Santin, Craig Calderwood, Hassan Hajjaj, Spandita Malik and Rachel Perry. Collectively, the exhibition is a dialogue across cultures and mediums but bound together by the language of universal patterns.
Barnes said it is difficult to pick a favorite but indicated two standouts: Hobbie’s “Floating World”, the inspiration for the show, and Ali’s “Nautilus” from her “Glitch” series, which became the elaborate cover of the exhibition catalog.
“I feel that the work best represents the content of the entire exhibition,” Barnes said. “It truly is using pattern as its primary aesthetic and communication device.”
After seeing the entire exhibition, I also attempted to pick a favorite but was unsuccessful. Without any one of the unique yet interconnected pieces, the gallery simply would not be complete. The exhibition’s works differ in style but stand together, complimenting each other perfectly and supporting both the system and its sequence.
The exhibition runs through Nov. 23, 2025, from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free for OU students and the public. Students can support the Department of Art, Art History and Design through donation or by purchasing an exhibition catalog at the gallery front desk.
