What can happen in 24 hours? What can art reveal about the world around us? And what can music sound like when wildness takes the lead? This September, Linfield University invites you to find out. From exhibitions and performances to thought-provoking lectures and community gatherings, the month offers plenty of opportunities to experience something new, explore a fresh idea and connect with the Linfield community. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
Sept. 2-Oct. 1: “Easy Does It” exhibition by Edie Overturf
The Linfield Gallery opens its 2026-27 season with “Easy Does It,” an exhibition by Portland-based printmaking artist Edie Overturf, on display Sept. 2-Oct. 1 in the Miller Fine Arts Center.
The exhibition features relief printmaking, screen printing, sculpture and artist books that explore contemporary anxieties, social inequities and the ways people endure in a challenging world. In “Easy Does It,” Overturf uses tombstone imagery, irony and satire to explore modern-day death and mourning and elements of patriarchal society. She describes these works as “landscapes of endurance,” pairing weighty subject matter with joyful aesthetics, humor and visual play to remind viewers that they are not alone in the challenges they face.
An opening reception with Overturf takes place from 5-6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2 in the Linfield Gallery, with light refreshments and wine. A slide lecture with the artist follows at 6 p.m. in Delkin Recital Hall in the Vivian Bull Music Center.
Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and noon-5 p.m. Saturdays. The exhibition is sponsored by the Lacroute Arts Series and Department of Art. The Lacroute Arts Series at Linfield University is made possible by the generosity of arts benefactor Ronni Lacroute. The series, sponsored by the Lacroute Arts Fund at Linfield, is dedicated to helping the university present art events and activities for the campus and community. It provides programs featuring artists in the areas of music, art and theatre.
For more information on the exhibition, visit www.linfield.edu/arts.
Sept. 12: Linfield Theatre presents “The 24 Hour Plays”
Linfield Theatre’s 106th season begins with the third installment of “The 24 Hour Plays,” a fast-paced creative challenge that puts students on the clock to take an idea from inception to performance in just 24 hours. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, student playwrights, actors, directors and designers will gather to receive a writing prompt and begin creating new plays. By 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, the students’ work takes the stage for an audience. A second performance will begin at 9:30 p.m. Admission is free and seating is first-come, first-served. Performances will be held in Renshaw Hall, Room 100. Doors open 30 minutes before each performance.
“The 24 Hour Plays” is presented under license and with the participation of The 24 Hour Plays®.
Sept. 16: “Patterns of Wilderness” performance
The Linfield Collaborative Music Ensemble (LCME) celebrates the release of its first album, “Patterns of Wildness,” featuring seven world premiere recordings by four composers who have taught or studied at Linfield University. The album explores musical patterns drawn from living and weather-shaped phenomena, reflecting the tension between wildness and cultivation in the Willamette Valley.
A national finalist for The American Prize in Chamber Music Performance, LCME brings faculty, students and alumni together in a Pierrot-plus-percussion ensemble. The group will also serve as ensemble-in-residence for the Lacroute Composer Readings and Chamber Music Mentorship Program this semester, giving current Linfield students the opportunity to work alongside professional musicians and composer William Campbell as they create new works for the ensemble.
The album features music by William Campbell, Andrea Reinkemeyer, Zach Gulaboff Davis, Élana Gatien and Greg Steinke.
LCME performs “Patterns of Wilderness” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Delkin Recital Hall in the Vivian Bull Music Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, and no tickets are required.
Sept. 22: Delta Psi Delta Pancake Drive
Delta Psi Delta is hosting a pancake drive to raise funds for the See Ya Later Foundation, a nonprofit that organizes sports camps, scholarships and aid to families facing serious medical challenges. Guests can purchase pancakes made by Delta brothers from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on the patio between Riley Campus Center and Walker Hall.
Sept. 29: “Why Reconstruction Matters” by Gregory Downs
The Jonasson Endowed Special Anniversary Lecture features Gregory Downs, professor of history at UC Davis and distinguished lecturer with the Organization of American Historians. Downs will present “Why Reconstruction Matters,” an examination of the history of Reconstruction following the American Civil War and the end of slavery, and its relevance to both the past and present.
A light reception begins at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, in the Austin Reading Room of Nicholson Library, followed by the lecture at 5 p.m.
The event celebrates the 100th anniversary of Jonas A. “Steine” Jonasson’s graduation from Linfield. Jonasson was a longtime Linfield history professor and dean and a dedicated public servant in the McMinnville community, where he served on the City Council and as mayor.
The lecture is sponsored by the Jonas A. “Steine” Jonasson Endowed Lecture Series and the Department of History.
Continuing through Nov. 20: “Pueblo Traditions”
The Linfield Anthropology Museum presents “Pueblo Visions: Artistic Traditions of the American Southwest,” an exhibition exploring the intersection of Native American art, tourism and cultural identity.
The exhibition examines how the rise of automobile travel in the early 20th century brought non-Native visitors into closer contact with Pueblo communities and shaped perceptions of “authentic Southwest” art. It features pottery, textiles, jewelry and basketry collected by Linfield alumni John ’25 and Emma ’25 Dulin between the late 1930s and early 1980s, along with works acquired by former Linfield professor and alumnus Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds ’37.
“Pueblo Visions” is on display through Nov. 20 at the Linfield Anthropology Museum on the McMinnville campus. Admission is free and the museum is open to the public from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
See more Linfield events at linfield.edu/calendar.html or view the comprehensive athletic schedule of events at golinfieldwildcats.com/calendar.
