A distinguished professor of landscape architecture presented one of his exhibitions to WSU students and faculty Monday night.

WSU’s School of Design and Construction welcomed Kenneth Helphand, Knight Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon, as their final lecturer in the Callison Distinguished Lecture fall series.

Helphand’s gallery, “Motion Pictures: Drawing While Moving,” opened Monday in the Carpenter Hall Gallery. The Callison lecture allowed Helphand to display and comment on some of his sketches from the gallery.

Jolie Kaytes, landscape architecture program coordinator and former student of Helphand, introduced the lecturer and called him “a force”

“Kenny compels students to seek out the far out and loop it into their work,” Kaytes said.

Sketches included various locations from around the world, including the Luxembourg gardens, a galleria in Milan, and hillsides in Tuscany.

Helphand said that he spends much of his time sketching the same scene multiple times in order to explore the variation of things.

“It is important to do something and do something again,” Helphand said, “it gives you a chance to look closer and understand the make-up of the place.”

He said that spending time with a particular scene allows you to think about it and capture the characteristics of the scene.

Helphand showed pictures of the Metolius River in Oregon where he often stays in a cabin. He said he challenged himself to draw the river and the forest that surrounds the cabin, attempting to capture the interaction of the rocks and the river. Sketching the area multiple times also helped him to understand the character of the forest; the trees, the landscape, and how the trees help frame the landscape.

Carrie Vielle, the school of design and architecture gallery manager, said anyone interested in sketching needs to see the exhibit. Getting up close and personal with Helphand’s sketches to see how the colors and the materials interact is a phenomenal experience, she said.

The gallery focuses on sketches Helphand created while traveling by train and airplane.

He said that as things are moving past, you have to make choices and pick what you think is important. Helphand admitted that none of his sketches claim accuracy or precision, but share the experience of witnessing the scenes at the time.

Sometimes he decided to look at particular aspects and give them specific focuses. In every instance, he said, what drawing does is encourage a focus on specific features.

He said that he stopped drawing for some time, but returned to it with a vengeance in the last decade. Help hand believes it is a basic human urge to draw.

And although most design has a digital aspect, he said pen and pencil sketching is not going away. In some cases, Helphand would even draw with dirt, charcoal, and flower petals in order to capture the essence of the scene.

“When you draw or take a picture you are constantly editing,” Helphand said, “sometimes it is much more interesting to be true to it and put those things in the picture.”

The gallery will be open from Oct. 27 until Nov. 6.