PORTLAND, ORE – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is pleased to announce the addition of 17 new works to The Visual Chronicle of Portland collection. The new additions, all works-on-paper, represent 14 different Oregon artists and cover a wide variety of media—collage, watercolor, powdered pigment and wax, ink, graphite, charcoal, silkscreen and color photography.

Background: The Chronicle functions as a visual archive of prints, photographs, paintings and drawings that present artists’ views of Portland’s social and urban landscapes. The intent of the collection is to capture and preserve the zeitgeist, or spirit of the times, as our city evolves and changes. The City of Portland funds new additions to the Chronicle once a year in the amount of $10,000, which must cover both the purchase of new artwork and archival matting and framing. By tradition the Chronicle is restricted to works-on-paper of limited size to keep the cost of individual pieces modest and allow new purchases to represent multiple artists.

Since its beginning in 1985, this collection has grown to 320 pieces by 193 different artists and has established itself as an important archive of life in greater Portland. RACC oversees the day-to-day management of the Chronicle for the City and insures that the collection remains available to the public by hanging the works in publically accessible spaces in City and County buildings on a rotating basis. The collection strives to reflect a diversity of populations, artistic disciplines and points of view.

The new additions listed below were selected by a panel of an independent artists and curators who reviewed submissions by over 100 artists. As in the past, the final selections were made based on how well the work matched the purpose and spirit of the Chronicle. This year however, in an effort to better represent the uniquely textured quality of greater Portland, the selection panel encouraged submissions that focused on communities and landscapes that exist beyond downtown and outside of the mainstream.

On Display at RACC in November: Once these new works are matted and framed they will be displayed as a group in the RACC office before they are dispersed to City and County buildings. The RACC office is located at 411 NW Park Avenue, suite 101—visitors are welcome. Details of the entire collection can also be browsed online by going to www.racc.org/visualchronicle.  

Checklist – 2013 purchase for the Visual Chronicle of Portland:

Andrew Auble, Relationships, 2013, Collage, 18” x 28”
Andrew Auble, Kenton Club Choir, 2011, Collage, 14” x 21”

Shelley Chamberlin, Long Distance Communication, 2010, Acrylic and hand-stitching on paper, 21” x 29”

David Chelsea, Nine Minty Green Houses, 2013, Watercolor, 9.7” x 14.2”

Molly Cliff Hilts, Chinese Village, SE 82nd North, 2013, Powdered pigment, graphite, wax, lithographic ink,  28” x 21”

Sarah Ferguson,Tideman Johnson Overlook, 2010, Watercolor on paper, 11” x 14”

Joel Wellington Fisher, Oregon Lottery (Daniel Baldwin Crossing His Fingers) 2012, Archival inkjet print, Edition 1/5, 24” x 24”

Bruce Forster, Rodbusters at Portland Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge 2012, Photograph, 14” x 21”

Brian Foulkes, 2 Rides in Portland (Pink Bike), 2010, Ink jet print, 11” x 30”

George Kelly, TV Antenna, 2011, Color C-print, Edition of 5, Image 13” x 13”, sheet 16” x 20”
George Kelly, Wheel Barrow and Walker, 2011, Color C-print, Edition of 5, Image 13” x 13”, sheet 16” x 20”

Matthew Miller, Child Watching Community Bike Hub Construction: Design Build 2012 (2012), Color photograph, 14” x 21”

Roger Peet, Elementary, 2012, 4 Color silkscreen print, hand-cut from Rubylith, 20” x 16,” Edition 31/50

Veasna Sa, Visited My Friend, 2013, Magazines, newspapers, paper, glue on a paper, 22”x 28″

David Shratter, Duke’s Landing, SE Belmont, 2011, Pen and ink on rice paper, 5” x 7”

Samantha Wall, Gia, 2013, (From the portraits of multiracial women in U.S. cities series—Portland), Graphite and charcoal on paper, 22” x 30”
Samantha Wall, Nadia, 2013, (From the portraits of multiracial women in U.S. cities series—Portland), Graphite and ink on paper, 22” x 30”