Learning the Sea: For the Love of Cod: Photographs by Beth DuFault
Covert Gallery Exhibit, March - June 2026
In Learning the Sea: For the Love of Cod, Beth DuFault, PhD, Assistant Professor in the School of Business, documents seven years in a Newfoundland fishing village where the North Atlantic’s shifting weather, cold waters, and rugged terrain have shaped work and community for centuries. Although fishing plays a smaller role in many Newfoundlanders’ lives today, it still structures local knowledge and rhythms. This photographic exhibition grows from an ethnographic study of a social enterprise that teaches inshore fishing skills to youth, women, immigrants, and newcomers. Participants learn through hands-on work with boats, gear, fish handling and safety, developing judgment through repetition, observation, and shared responsibility. Attention to tides, weather, and seasonal limits is essential, as is care for people, tools, and place.
The photographs move between land and sea, showing harbors, fishing stages, nets, traps, and fish processing, alongside moments of instruction and community. Snow, wind, fog, rock, and sea remain constant forces, shaping what work is possible. Beauty and harshness coexist as conditions of everyday labor. Rather than highlighting individual stories, the exhibition emphasizes shared practices and environments that make fishing knowledge durable, presenting heritage as a lived skill and a collective way of belonging to Newfoundland.
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Más Allá: Photographs by Father Nik Guiney, C.S.C.
Covert Gallery Exhibit, January - March 2026
This body of work emerged from a pilgrimage of Mexico City, a place where the sacred and transcendent exist not as separate realms but as layers woven through everyday life. The images trace a path through religious sites and cultural landscapes, revealing how meaning is present in unexpected places. Each photograph invites viewers to look beyond the immediate to see what lies further and deeper than the initial glance permits.
Más Allá explores the transcendentals of beauty, truth, and goodness that shape our experiences that often hide in plain sight. By focusing on what is beyond or further, the viewer is invited to capture the interwovenness of the sacred and the mundane, demonstrating that profound encounters await us not only in designated holy spaces but everywhere we choose to truly see them. Mexico City, with its rich tapestry of faith and culture, becomes a meditation on presence and depth available in each moment when we look más allá (or beyond) with intention.
The Exploration of Mt. Hood: Artwork by Amanda Cardwell-Aiken
Covert Gallery Exhibit, October 2025 - December 2025
In The Exploration of Mt. Hood, Amanda Cardwell-Aiken, UP Theater Costume Shop Manager, explores the UP Core Habit of Aesthetics and Creativity through the embracement of multiple perspectives. Rather than aiming for a singular, realistic portrait, the series of watercolor paintings covers a range of styles, from loose impressionism and the abstract to more structured illustrative techniques. Inspired by the Bluff's view of Mt. Hood, the exhibit is less about representing Mt. Hood as it is and more about discovering how many ways it can be seen - through color, tone, emotion, curiosity, and the joy of seeing the familiar with fresh eyes.
UP Women's Basketball: A Look Back
Covert Gallery Exhibit, March 2025 - October 2025
Women's basketball has been the cornerstone of UP Athletics for four decades! Look back at some pivotal moments and stand-out players in the program. Visit the Dr. James T. Covert Gallery to enjoy images and artifacts from those decades, including the signed basketball from the 1994 West Coast Conference Championship win!
Holding: New Work by UP Ceramic Faculty
Covert Gallery Exhibit, November 2024 - March 2025
Visit the latest exhibit in the Dr. James T. Covert Gallery showcasing works by UP Ceramic faculty member Kowkie Durst and his predecessor, Victoria Christen. The exhibit, Holding: New Work by UP Ceramic Faculty, shows how the works of Durst and Christen are connected by their shared curiosity to locate ways in which bodies or objects hold the vestiges of relationships with others, both past and present.
Kowkie’s recent project, the rock bowls, is an exploration of how he holds emotions in his body. These objects, which are inspired by river rocks or the cells in the body, act as cradles or canyons for the memories we carry and store.
Victoria’s work in ceramics, fiber work, and paintings hold memories of her grandparents, parents, family and friends as well as the inherited knowledge and lessons they have bestowed. Together, they form a braid of memories and learning, symbolized by concrete objects such as the braided rugs (and rug making skills) passed on from one generation to the next, and by the repurposing and weaving together of inherited materials, ideas, and traditions.
Image: Bowl with Sky View, 2024 by Victoria Christen
University Emblems
Covert Gallery Exhibit, June - October 2024
The University’s dedication to Holy Cross values and our educational mission is woven into the very fabric and foundations of campus life at the University of Portland. The Cross and Anchor symbols ornamenting door frames and engraved in the cornerstones of residential and classroom buildings alike memorialize this dedication, while the sculptures that adorn our campus remind us to slow down and reflect. The symbols and art that make up this exhibit represent UP’s desire to bring our community together around shared values. We hope the photos inspire you to seek out and enjoy these objects on our beautiful campus.
Image: Cross & anchor symbol on Library plaza paver.