RACC Blog

Cambia Health Solutions contributes $50,000 to Work for Art

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PORTLAND, ORE. — Work for Art, an annual campaign to raise money for arts and culture organizations in the Portland tri-county area, has received a $50,000 grant from Cambia Health Solutions. This is the largest corporate contribution in Work for Art’s eight-year history.
 
Angela Hult, the director of corporate philanthropy for Cambia Health Solutions, announced the contribution as a way to support the intersection between arts and health, including the documented effects that art and arts-related services have on wellness, therapy, grief and bereavement, cognitive function, and pain management.  

“Arts and culture play an important role in sustaining healthy individuals, families and communities,” said Hult. “Local arts organizations are doing exceptional work in this area, particularly through art therapy programs that help alleviate grief and bereavement. That is why Cambia Health Solutions is pleased to support Work for Art through employee giving and this corporate gift.” 

 

A full 100% of all donations to Work for Art, including the Cambia contribution, will be distributed to more than 100 local arts and culture organizations, including many who are actively involved in health and wellness programs. For example:

  • The Children’s Healing Art Project (CHAP) brings the healing power of art to children in crisis through a mobile team of teaching artists working in a partnership with hospitals, community organizations and schools. Nearly half of the nation’s health care centers provide arts programming for patients, families, and even staff. 78% of the directors of these centers report that arts programs provide healing benefits to patients: shorter hospital stays, better pain management, and reduced need for medication.  
  • Some say laughter is the best medicine – and the Stand Up for Mental Health Program in Clackamas County helps participants write and share their story of what it is like to live with a mental health challenge – using humor as a communication tool. For those with mental health challenges, these classes provide opportunities to gain confidence, speak in front of groups, and take risks – which in turn help them to lead more independent, productive lives. 
  • Oregon Repertory Singers share the power and inspiration of music through outreach to retirement homes in Multnomah and Washington Counties. Studies show that music can help boost mood, reduce stress and depression, and help with treatment for chronic health issues for seniors, including Alzheimer’s disease.

 “The arts add measurable value to our communities in so many ways, and this partnership with Cambia Health Solutions helps us draw special attention to important health and wellness benefits that some people might not be aware of,” said Eloise Damrosch, executive director of the Regional Arts & Culture Council. “We are tremendously grateful for the support, and we look forward to sharing Cambia’s generosity with arts organizations that are doing important work in this field.”
 
The 2013-14 Work for Art campaign began on July 1, 2013, and dozens of workplace giving campaigns have already taken place over the last several months – including a campaign at Cambia (although those figures are not yet available). This grant from Cambia Health Solutions will be applied to Work for Art’s matching challenge fund, and will be used to help encourage and match contributions from other donors at other companies over the next six months. With this gift, Work for Art is on track to raise a total of $775,000 by June 30, 2014.
 
For more information on Work for Art, including a complete list of participating companies and funded organizations, visit workforart.org.
 
Cambia Health Solutions is a nonprofit total health solutions company based in the Pacific Northwest/Intermountain region, serving consumers and communities for nearly 100 years.  Cambia companies provide a wide range of products and services, including healthcare information technology and software development, retail healthcare, health insurance plans that carry the Blue Cross and Blue Shield brand, life insurance, pharmacy benefit management, consumer engagement and wellness. For more information, please visit cambiahealthsolutions.com. 
 
Work for Art distributes 100% of all donations to more than 100 arts and culture organizations based in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties through a competitive grant application process. Now in its eighth year, the program has raised more than $4.7 million for services that arts and culture groups provide, including community outreach, arts education programs, and hundreds of performances and events. Donations are matched dollar-for-dollar by a Matching Challenge Fund, made possible by public and private partners, including Burgerville, Sunshine Dairy Foods, The Portland Timbers, The City of Portland, Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties, and now, Cambia Health Solutions. Donors who pledge $60 or more receive an Arts Card, which provides 2-for-1 tickets to performances for a full year. Read more at workforart.org.
 
The Regional Arts & Culture Council is the local arts agency for Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties. In addition to administering Work for Art and other advocacy programs, RACC provides grants for artists, schools and nonprofit organizations; presents workshops and other forms of technical assistance; provides printed and web-based resources for artists; and integrates art into public spaces. Read more at racc.org.

“all the art that fits” returns to the Portland Building Installation Space, November 20, 2013 – January 3, 2014

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PORTLAND, ORE. — On Wednesday, November 20th RACC will be opening the 17th annual City of Portland and Multnomah County employee art exhibit, all the art that fits. The “salon style” exhibit takes place in the Portland Building Installation Space and is a yearly favorite for both the artists and regular visitors. All types of 2-dimensional artworks are represented in the unique show, from quirky to thoughtful, from beautiful to amusingly odd.

RACC invites visitors to vote for their favorite artwork as part of the People’s Choice Award. This year’s winner will receive two Main Stage ticket vouchers for the Portland Center Stage, generously donated for this event. The exhibition will run through Friday, January 3rd, and the People’s Choice Award winner will be announced on January 6th.

Only original artwork created by current employees of the City or County is eligible. All the artwork submitted will be installed wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling. For those eligible and interested in participating, submissions must be dropped off Wednesday, November 20th, between 8:00 and 10:00 am, to the Portland Building lobby located at 1120 SW 5th Ave. between SW Main and SW Madison. For further information please see the guidelines.

Viewing Hours & Location: The exhibition is free and open to the public 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space series, including images, proposals and statements for all the installations since 1994, go to www.racc.org/installationspace.
 
 

Artists in residence at Portland Archives will discuss their project on October 24

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PORTLAND, ORE. — The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) has commissioned local artists Kaia Sand and Garrick Imatani for an artists-in-residence project with the City of Portland Archives & Records Center (PARC). In celebration of National Archives Month, the artists will discuss their work in progress on October 24th at 6:30pm, followed by a short reception.

Admission is free but seating is limited, and RSVPs are encouraged; please RSVP Ahmed Yusuf ayusuf@racc.orgwith “Archives Talk” in the subject line.

WHO: Kaia Sand and Garrick Imatani
WHAT: A discussion with artists-in-residence at the Portland Archives
WHEN: Thursday, October 24th at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: City of Portland Archives & Records Center (PARC), 1800 SW 6th Avenue, 5th floor

In exploring materials at PARC, the artists have titled their work The Watcher Files Project. For the past several months, they have been focusing on the surveillance files the Portland Police Bureau gathered on activist groups in the 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s. Much of their work centers around unheard voices and visual gaps in the official record, asking the questions “How would people who were surveilled talk back?” and “How do we find form for this?” This residency is a Percent for Art project funded through the building of PARC, administered by RACC.

The artists have collaborated with Sasha Burchuk to launch a website with progress reports based on their art, poetry and research. Each report includes a document or photograph from the files. The artists are also creating a limited edition loose-leaf notebook publication that will be built and delivered to subscribers in four installments. The first issue will include a sculpted binder designed by Garrick, poetry by Kaia, and various material works in collaboration with Katherine Ball, Jules Boykoff, Inge Bruggeman, and Lloyd Marbet. The publication can be purchased online.

The artists are providing some of the materials free of charge in electronic (PDF) format. Subscribe to the artists’ website to receive materials and occasional updates via email.

Ariana Jacob’s “As you make your bed, so must you lie in it?” at the Portland Building Installation Space

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PORTLAND, ORE – Beginning October 21st in the lobby of the Portland Building artist Ariana Jacob will present a new participatory installation to instigate conversations about what it means to be part of the United States. By presenting the U.S. Constitution as the bed we made for ourselves as a country, the artist will invite people to consider what lying on that foundation means in both poetic and practical terms—for themselves as individuals, and for the collective entity that is our country. Jacob will keep regular hours, inviting people to join her in bed to talk casually about who they are in relation to America’s foundational document and the realities and dreams those words evoke. As the installation progresses, the text of the Constitution will be collaboratively commented upon and edited on the walls of the exhibition through discussions between the artist and participants. Jacob, a veteran of conversation-based art, welcomes people to join her in contemplating American identity, addressing this document that legally and symbolically binds us together as a people.

“Our Constitution was created by individuals out of their ideals for how to best organize people to live together in a society, but it was created in a time that was very different than our present. This project explores both the possibility of renewing and making responsive this foundational document and the experience of having to live with it no matter what, whether we consciously consider it or not.”

Participate in the Installation: Meet the artist on-site Mondays from 11:30am-2:30pm, Thursdays from 2-5pm, or by appointment (contact publicwondering@gmail.com).   

About the Artist: After working as an assistant for noted artist and innovator Mierle Laderman Ukeles in New York, Portland artist Ariana Jacob received her MFA in Social Practice Art from Portland State University in 2010. She has exhibited and completed a number of projects on both coasts including her recently completed residencies for Artspace in New Haven, CT and Intersections/BCCTV here in Portland. She is a Regional Arts & Culture Council Project Grant recipient and has been both a planning committee member and panelist for the Open Engagement Conference at PSU.

Viewing Hours & Location:  The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday.  For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space series, including images, proposals and statements for all the installations since 1994, go to www.racc.org/installationspace.
 

RACC adds 17 new works to The Visual Chronicle of Portland

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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”
 
 

RACC workshop will help artists understand Portland’s mural application process

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PORTLAND, ORE – On October 12, the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) and the City of Portland will help artists and community members learn how to organize and navigate two different paths for creating murals in the City of Portland. The free workshop will be led by Peggy Kendellen, manager of RACC’s Public Art Murals Program, Jean Hester from the City’s Bureau of Development Services, and local artists Addie Boswell, Gage Hamilton, and Antwoine Thomas. 

There are two options for painting a mural on a wall in Portland: the City has an Original Art Mural Permit Program, which costs only $50, and RACC’s Public Art Murals Program, which is free, and approved projects may receive up to $10,000 in matching funds. The RACC process requires building owners to provide easements that allow the mural to be added to the city’s public art collection. The workshop is designed to help artists, property owners, business owners and community members understand the two options available for creating murals.

Participants will hear from artists Antwoine Thomas and Addie Boswell who (along with almost 100 community volunteers) created the community mural on SE 162nd & Stark. Also presenting will be Gage Hamilton, who, along with Hellion Gallery, organized the recent Forest For the Trees project using the City’s process to obtain permits for ten murals by 16 local and international artists.

The workshop is free but space is limited and RSVPs are required. To sign up, contact us at info@racc.org or call 503-823-5865.

Public Murals Application Workshop
Date: Saturday, October 12, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Place: Miracle Theater, 425 SE 6th Avenue in Portland

New public art for the Portland Streetcar will be dedicated on September 30th

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PORTLAND, ORE. — Portland’s newest public artwork, Jorge Pardo’s “Streetcar Stop for Portland,” will be dedicated on Monday, September 30 at 11:00 a.m. The sculpture is located on North Broadway at the triangle of Wheeler Avenue and Weidler Street. The artist will be present and available for interviews, and Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick will officiate.

RACC will also host a conversation with the artist later in the evening on September 30th at 6:00 p.m. at the Left Bank Annex, 101 N. Weidler. Both events are free and open to the public.

Fabricated of steel, wood and fiberglass, the new shelter measures 35’ long by 18’ wide by 16’ tall. The multi-faceted structure includes over 300 individual panels in vibrant shades of orange, yellow, red and grey.

Jorge Pardo was born in Havana, Cuba, and emigrated to the United States in 1969. He studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena from 1984-1988 and has exhibited globally since his first solo show in Los Angeles in 1988. In 2010 he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (see http://www.macfound.org/fellows/38/). Pardo lives and works between Merida, Mexico, Los Angeles and Long Island; currently his studio is in the Yucatan. This is his first municipal project in the United States.

Streetcar Stop for Portland was funded by a 2%-for-art set-aside for the Portland Streetcar east side expansion project. The shelter is a complement to another large scale project commissioned for the Portland Streetcar expansion, Lead Pencil Studio’s Inversion: Plus Minus which is a series of three sculptures located at SE Grand Avenue at Hawthorne and at Belmont. RACC manages all aspects of public art projects for the City of Portland and Multnomah County, including artist selection, design approval, fabrication, installation and maintenance.
 
 

Paula Rebsom and Grant Hottle present “Forecast” at the Portland Building Installation Space, 9/16-10/11

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Project Background: Forecast, which marks the first in a series of collaborations between installation artist Paula Rebsom and painter Grant Hottle, opens in the lobby of the Portland Building September 16th and runs through October 11th. These two artists work in very different ways but share a common interest in shifting perspectives, imagined realities and broken landscapes. Their joint project draws on the strengths of both by combining painted 2-D work with sculptural elements to build a thought provoking installation.

As the viewer approaches the piece they are confronted by a massive rectangular object (a painting?), nearly too large for the space. Inside the industrial blacks of the plastic-like surface, subtle blues and purples provide a visceral and atmospheric quality. The odd protrusions in the canvas become difficult to ignore. A view from the stairs offers a peek behind the painting, imposing a whole new set of questions rather than answers. Forecast is meant to be seen from two viewpoints—the lobby, where one sees the front of the industrial black painting, and the stairs, where the white light and poles causing the disruption in the canvas become visible. The physical tension in Forecast mirrors the conceptual tension between opposing forces—light and dark, hidden and revealed, intentional and accidental.

“We are two artists that improvehearingnaturally.com work in very different ways but share a common interest in shifting perspectives, imagined realities, and broken landscapes. We became interested in collaboration as a way to think about our work outside the context we have built for it over the years…It is in this space that we find the greatest potential for our ongoing collaborative endeavor. We are fashioning a new visual language based off of a simple foundation, adding complexity as we learn how the work speaks to others.”

About the Artists: Portland artists Grant Hottle and Paula Rebsom both received MFAs from the University of Oregon in Eugene, in 2007 and 2006 respectively. Individually they have shown widely on the West Coast and elsewhere in the U.S. Grant Hottle currently teaches at Clark College in Vancouver, WA, and at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. Paula Rebsom just completed a month long residency the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in Woodside, California and currently teaches at Marylhurst University south of Portland. 

Viewing Hours & Location: 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland. For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space series, including images, proposals and statements for all the installations since 1994, go to www.racc.org/installationspace.