PORTLAND, ORE – Andy Behrle’s installation, from there to here, is an arresting visual exploration of Portland’s water system. The artist has gathered and combined into a single composition, digital video footage from the origins of Portland’s drinking water in the Bull Run Watershed and the open storage reservoirs at Mount Tabor Park. In its simplest form this project celebrates the purity of the watershed and the ingenuity of the delivery system for this amazing natural resource. 

The Bull Run Watershed, which provides 85% of Portland’s drinking water, is 26 miles east of downtown, but it can be considered as much a part of the city as any park, street, river, or building. With the system’s inception over 120 years ago, waterborne illnesses and disease were almost completely eradicated, and today the water continues to flow freely to quench the thirst of nearly one million Portland Water Bureau customers.

Beyond trumpeting the wonders of the water system,  from there to here is an investigation into what a place is, how location plays a part in that determination, and how two places can be so interconnected physically as to be indistinguishable when separated. In essence, the watershed is captured and displaced into thousands of miles of pipes and tubes before filling bathtubs, bottles, toilets, and everything at the end of a pipe throughout the city.

At the Installation Space, two digital projectors will shine images of water captured from the open reservoirs in Mount Tabor Park and from the Bull Run Watershed. The projected light, ultimately bound to intersect and illuminate the gallery wall in the back of the space, passes through sheer fabric scrims on its way, causing images to float in space just off of the gallery floor. A map of the watershed and the city’s water delivery infrastructure also intercepts light and overlays a shadow of the system on the moving images dancing and intersecting on the back wall.

On this journey, light has been captured, displaced, filtered, and reflected. Locations trade places,  here is illuminated with light from there, what originates from the right moves to left, while left moves to the right. The images shot on location in the watershed are transposed onto the city and the footage collected in the city is transposed onto the watershed. They are separate, but become one. They were there and are now here.

About the Artist: Andy Behrle lives and works in Zillah, Washington and has shown and lectured on his work widely in the Northwest and greater U.S.  He received his MFA in sculpture from Arizona State University, Tempe, and holds a BA in Philosophy and Religion and Studio Art from Elmira College in Elmira, New York. Behrle was the Artist-in Residence at Tulane University’s A Studio in the Woods program in 2012, and this fall will commence a residency at the Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle; he has also been selected to serve as the Visiting Artist for Pacific University’s Art Experiment Workshop in 2016. 

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.  from there to here opens August 24th  and runs through September 18th, 2015.

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

PORTLAND, ORE — On July 15, the RACC board of directors approved funding for two new Public Art Mural projects: $13,500 for seven murals in partnership with Forest for the Trees Northwest, and $14,250 for a mural in partnership with the Wattles Boys & Girls Club in SE Portland.

• Forest for the Trees Northwest Murals: 

This year marks the third year of the Forest for the Trees Northwest (FFTT) event that brings together approximately 30 local and international artists for one week in August to paint large and small scale murals in Portland. FFTT’s goals are to improve the visual landscape of the city through quality artwork and provide opportunities to the creative community to participate in establishing Portland’s evolving visual identity. Painting will occur during the week of August 24^th.  Panel discussions will be part of the 2015 event and are scheduled for September, October and November at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.  For more information, visit forestforthetreesnw.com

Locations & artists: The FFTT murals partially funded by RACC will be in seven locations and include the following artists: Rustam Qbic; Gage Hamilton; Spencer Keeton Cunningham; Jaque Fragua; Michael Reeder; Low Bros; Troy Lovegates and Paige Wright; and Andrew Hem.  

• Wattle Boys & Girls Club Mural: 

The Boys & Girls Club (BGCP) facility in the Lents Neighborhood will feature a 90’W x 25’H mural created in collaboration between youth from BGCP, the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), as well as gang-affected youth from Latino Network and Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center, Inc. (POIC). The design  weaves the communities’ strengths into a cohesive composition and showcases the strength of our differences and interdependence. A community-wide celebration will be part of the unveiling event.

Location & artists: The mural will be on the east facing wall of the Wattle Boys & Girls Club, 9330 SE Harold with artist Rodolfo Serna as lead, assisted by Jesus Torralba.  

In addition, several other RACC-funded murals have been recently completed or are still in progress:

• Artists Eatcho and Jeremy Nichols are collaborating on a 20’H x 95’W mural for the Black United Fund at 2828 NE Alberta Street. The mural portrays black women leaders (Coretta Scott King, Ruby Bridges, Ruby Dee, Angela Davis and Maya Angelou) against a background of Jeremy Nichols’ energetic landscape. (Funding: $11,350.)
• Gary Hirsch has been feverishly working on completing four Big Bot murals in SE Portland. Each site poses a question and the photos and answers can be shared by visiting #botjoy and #botpdx on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The interactive “street art experiment” is designed for visitors and residents to share their inspirations, motivations and ideas. Visit one or all of them. More information at botjoy.com. (Funding: $5,390.)
  • The Relationship Wall, 3050 SE Division
  • The Dreams Wall, 1006 SE Salmon
  • The Joy Wall, 1205 SE Stark Ave
  • The Curiosity Wall, 1037 SE Ash (late August/early September)
• Souther Salazar recently completed a mural for the Creamery Building at 240 SE 2^nd Avenue. The 13’4”H x 11’W mural is an abstract interpretation of an energetic nucleus reflecting the diverse energy and activity of the Central Eastside Industrial District. (Funding: $3,713.)
• AriseRawk put the finishing touches on Love, Peace and Unity, a mural for Brentwood Park in SE Portland that was designed and painted in collaboration with students during Spring 2015 as part of their Camp Fire Columbia Middle School program at Lane MS. (Funding: $1,500)

The City of Portland’s Public Art Murals Program is administered by RACC as part of its Public Art Program. The program provides funding for murals that reflect diversity in style and media and encourages artists from diverse backgrounds and range of experience to apply. All building owners must sign an Art Easement form that will be recorded with Multnomah County. Murals approved through this program become part of the City’s public art collection for as long as an Art Easement remains in effect. Visit racc.org/murals or racc.org/public-art/mural-program.   

PORTLAND, ORE – Joshua Pew and Molly Eno believe that the construct of human organization is structured around a rather over-evolved sense of importance and power. As a wry comment on such, they will create a single large sculpture for the exhibition space in the Portland Building lobby—a handmade, life sized, stuffed gorilla-esque figure on an ersatz, but deftly crafted, plywood throne. Bored with Power sums up the feeling the pair have towards governments, corporations, and the general state of the Western world.

“As a team, Molly and I are playing to our strengths—much of her work involves using fiber and making animal forms, while mine is in wood construction. The use of fiber and plywood are intentional as symbols as well, both of which are considered more for utilitarian purposes than aesthetic. We hope that this elevates the feeling of approachability in the piece as well as curiosity and a sense of amusement.” –Joshua Pew

About the Artists:  Molly Eno currently lives and works as a fiber artist in Portland. Her work deals with the psychological through animal totems using soft sculpture. While at Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) Molly provided technical support for both the Fiber Studio and the Ceramics Studio and was awarded the President’s Scholarship and the Jean Vollum Scholarship.

Inspired by the philosophies of William Morris and the work of Joseph Albers, Portland artist/designer Joshua Pew’s work ranges from woodworking to weaving and 2-D design. His process focuses on simplifying forms found in nature to function as analogies for people. In addition to projects like Bored with Power, he has completed multiple commercial furniture commissions as well. Both Joshua and Molly received their BFAs from OCAC this year.

About the Installation Space:  Each year the Portland Building Installation Space series reserves several exhibition opportunities for students engaged in creative study at the university level. The format and presentation requirements for the “student” installations are identical to those for established professional artists, the Regional Arts & Culture Council created this separate eligibility category to help introduce emerging talents to the world of public art. 

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.  Bored with Power opens July 20th and runs through August 14th, 2015.

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

PORTLAND, ORE — Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, recently honored 31 of the most outstanding public art projects in the country last year, including three projects from Portland administered by the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC).  The awards were announced in Chicago, Illinois on June 11 and were chosen from more than 300 works completed in 2014.

The honored projects include:

• This All Happened More or Less by Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davison SE Division Street
• Westmoreland Nature Play, in which artist  Adam Kuby worked with Greenworks Landscape Architects
• The Rippling Wall by artist David Franklin at Portland Fire Station 21
  

  The Rippling Wall

All 31 public art works that received honors can be seen here. The awards were selected by AFTA’s Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review program, the only national program that recognizes the nation’s most compelling public art.

Westmoreland Nature Play

“The best of public art can challenge, delight, educate and illuminate. Most of all, public art creates a sense of civic vitality in the cities, towns, and communities we inhabit and visit,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “As these selections illustrate, public art has the power to enhance our lives on a scale that little else can. I congratulate the artists and commissioning groups for these community treasures, and I look forward to honoring more great works in the years to come.”

The Public Art Network (PAN), a program of Americans for the Arts, is designed to provide services to the diverse field of public art and to develop strategies and tools to improve communities through public art. The network’s constituents are public art professionals, visual artists, design professionals, and communities and organizations planning public art projects and programs.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, it has a record of more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

PORTLAND, ORE – Inspired by the 1966 sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage, in which miniaturized scientists enter a living human body on a medical rescue mission, artist Alanna Risse has created an installation that invites viewers to make believe they are inside a whimsical reconstruction of the human heart. While still remaining roughly anatomically correct, the overall form and use of everyday re-purposed materials, such as recycled cardboard, rivets, old curtains and fabric remnants, miscellaneous nuts and bolts, etc., also allows the work will to function like a kid’s fort.  

“As a latch-key kid, growing up in the Silicon Valley in the 1970s and 80s, with no personal sense of cultural identity, my identity was formed from a saturation of imagery from the technology and media that pervaded my life. As my surrogate parent, television, music, and movies shaped aspects of my personality indelibly. My current body of work explores this relationship by drawing inspiration from the electronic sources that inspired me.”

-Alanna Risse

The interior of the heart forms a cave-like refuge bathed in red light and filled with red and white blood platelets—in the form of appropriately shaped red and white floor pillows. Risse also takes advantage of the existing architecture of the Portland Building by incorporating round apertures (or “arterial entry points”) into the roof and side of the heart’s exterior that offer a sneak-peek inside as one ascends the staircase adjacent to the exhibition space. While the installation is playful and invites young and old to enter and investigate, it also offers a deeper level of engagement that asks visitors to examine their perceptions of body, mortality, and fragility.

About the Artist: Alanna Risse is a graduate candidate at Pacific Northwest Collage of Art’s MFA in Visual Studies program.  She completed her BFA in Painting and Drawing at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and has shown at multiple venues in Portland and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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. Lub Dub opens June 8th and runs through July 10th, 2015.

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

PORTLAND, ORE — The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) will present “Painting BIG,” two hands-on mural painting workshops on Sunday, May 3 and Saturday, May 9. The May 3rd workshop will focus on using brushes, grids and projectors, while the May 9th workshop will cover spray paint, stencils and projection. Both workshops are from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Rosewood Initiative, 16126 SE Stark Avenue in Portland.

Local artists Robin Corbo and The Lost Cause will lead the workshops and share their knowledge, techniques and insights for creating large scale paintings. Each workshop costs $30, or individuals can sign up for both for $50. All painting materials will be provided. For more information, visit www.racc.org.   

Since 2005, the Public Art Murals Program, administered by the RACC, has provided matching funds for over fifty mural projects. Artists, curators, neighborhood associations, citizen-based groups, and private developers are eligible to apply. Guidelines and application forms can be downloaded at racc.org/public-art/mural-program.

In 2009, a second process for approving murals was implemented by the City: artists can obtain a $50 Original Art Mural Permit from the City of Portland without having their mural reviewed by RACC. No funding is available through this permitting process. Visit http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/50737  for more information.

Since the establishment of these programs, the city has seen a resurgence of murals around the city. These workshops provide an opportunity to learn practical skills to execute murals indoors and outdoors.

Robin Corbo painted her first mural in Portland for the Community Cycling Center on Alberta Street in 2006 with the assistance of nearly fifty volunteers.  Through her experience, she has learned “best practices” and “worst mistakes” and spoken to schools, organizations and individuals about ways to create murals. In 2011, she wrote “One Million Brush Strokes: The Making of a Mural,” the story behind the conception and creation of the Bark mural at SE 46th and Powell.

The Lost Cause loves to paint on things. Details and line work define his style which is riddled with hidden messages and patterns inspired by day to day life. Cartoons have also been an inspiration for his work and have influenced him since childhood.  Locally, his work can be seen at Music Millennium at 31st and Burnside.  He also has worked in cities throughout the U.S.

For more information, contact Peggy Kendellen, Public Art Manager, at 503.823.4196, pkendellen@racc.org.
 
 

PORTLAND, ORE – While she was on vacation a while back, artist Brittany Powell lost her camera. Her husband said, “You should just paint all of our photos.” He was kidding, but she did—80 of them. In doing so she noticed something interesting about the process:

“Through painting the scenes, I became actively involved in the memory and gave the images more weight and value—two snow cones became a beautiful exploration of color, a jungle scene turned abstract, and a cityscape transformed into a study of shapes and patterns. Since then I began offering my services to paint other people’s vacations; I use their photos as source material, but the paintings are my interpretation of their experiences.”

-Brittany Powell

For her project at the Portland Building Powell will push this idea further and offer to paint photos from the cell phones of building users and passers-by. Our lives are now more documented than ever, but most of us rarely do more than transfer our cell phone photos to a hard-drive somewhere, or post them on social media, but these are the images that illustrate our daily existence, some of them deserve that extra weight and value Powell speaks of.

After setting up a small, table-sized work station in the Installation Space, the artist will hold “studio hours” (Monday – Thursday between 2pm & 5pm) when visitors can stop by to request a painting. Once selected, the photo will be texted from the participant’s phone to the artist’s phone and painting will commence. Each completed painting will be placed on display for the duration of the project. Participants can retrieve their photos during the final days of the exhibition, hopefully with a new appreciation for the images we take daily without a second thought.

About the Artist: Brittany Powell lives and works in Portland, Oregon. She has an MFA from California College of the Arts, San Francisco, and a BFA from Oregon State University, Corvallis. She has shown widely in the western U.S., completed a Caldera Residency in Sisters, Oregon in 2011, a Djerassi Residency in Woodside, California in 2013, and was awarded a Ford Family Foundation Fellowship in 2013.

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.  Cell Phone Photo Paintings: Free opens May 4th and runs through May 29th, 2015. Studio hours will be held by the artists 2 pm to 5 pm, Monday – Thursday (excluding Memorial Day).

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

PORTLAND, ORE – Artists Lou Watson and Michele McCall Wallace are taking over the Portland Building Installation Space with an exhibition called In Celebration of Pigpens; The “Sties” the Limit? The installation is in response to the oft reprinted quote by Portland Building architect Michael Graves. When Graves was asked recently what changes he’d like to see implemented at the Portland Building his suggestion, alongside adding clear glass and retail units, was “clean out the lobby, make it a great deal smarter than it is now. It’s a pigpen in there now.”

Watson and McCall Wallace are making a literal (and absurd) response to this with an “all things pigpen” themed show. Apart from the obvious perennially scruffy Peanuts character, and the slightly less ubiquitous, but still scruffy musician “Pigpen” (a.k.a. Ron McKernan) of The Grateful Dead, there will be pigpens only a few will have heard of, but the artists promise that, by thinking outside the sty, our knowledge of pigpens will be pleasantly increased. There will even be a comfy straw bale to sit on whilst contemplating the show.

About the Artists: Lou Watson is currently completing her BFA at the Pacific Northwest College of Art (where she is the three time recipient of the Intermedia Merit Scholarship and Interdisciplinary Artist Merit Awards). Last year Watson was a fellow with the Oregon Heritage Society producing the artist-as-researcher project; Roadside Attraction: Situational Aesthetics and Place-Identity of NE Sandy Boulevard (57th to 82nd), Portland, Oregon, and her film of NE Sandy Boulevard, commute, won the “John Cage Award for Synesthesia” at the 41st NW Filmmakers Festival. Watson’s work is about transposing the everyday environment by bringing attention to simple moments and prosaic functions. Previous to returning to school she was raising 3 children, working as registrar at a clown college in California, and playing in a band with fellow artist Michele McCall Wallace. 

Michele McCall Wallace is both an artist and educator. She has a BFA in Painting and Sculpture from The Academy of Art College in San Francisco and a MA in Sculpture from Humboldt State University. Currently she teaches at Humboldt State University and manages the Reese Bullen Gallery and the Goudi’ni Native American Art Gallery. Motivated by memory of personal experience; how it is formed, catalogued, and subconsciously acts upon our conscious choices, McCall Wallace’s current work is primarily in mixed media sculpture, installation, and conceptual play. She uses traditional art media combined and manipulated with chosen non-traditional objects, words, and textures in the finished piece to evoke thought. McCall Wallace is also the mayor of Blue Lake, California.

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.  In Celebration of Pigpens; The “Sties” the Limit? opens March 30th and runs through April 24th, 2015.

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

Kicking off the 21st Season at the Installation Space:  As the Regional Arts & Culture Council enters its 21stseason of presenting installations at the Portland Building we are pleased to announce a line-up of seven new intriguing installations to follow In Celebration of Pigpens. Over the next twelve months artists representing a wide range of approaches to art making will be featured in month-long installments. Since 1994 RACC has presented some of Portland’s best conceptual, interactive and experimental media installations at the Portland Building. An independent selection panel of artists, curators, and City employee representatives reviews proposal submissions each fall with an eye towards selecting projects that are site-specific, challenging, topical and diverse.  A calendar and a synopsis of projects scheduled for the new season follows:

Portland Building Installation Space — New season schedule and project descriptions:

A preliminary mock-up of the Ephemeral Portland map artists Erinn Kathryn & Tyler Corbett will create for the Portland Building Installation Space. Their installation, along with seven others, is part of the new season of exhibitions at the Portland Building.

Lou Watson & Michele McCall Wallace  March 30 – April 24, 2015

In Celebration of Pigpens; The “Sties” the Limit? – See description above.

Brittany Powell   May 4 – May, 29, 2015
I’ll Paint your Cell Phone Photo – While on vacation Brittany Powell lost her camera; jokingly her husband said, “You should just paint all our photos.” So she did—80 of them. For the Portland Building Powell will push this idea further and offer to paint photos from the cell your pharmacies phones of passers-by. A small table-sized studio will be set up in the space and “studio hours” will be held each afternoon when visitors can request their painting.

Alanna Risse (PNCA-MFA program)  June 8 – July 10, 2015

Untitled (Fantastic Voyage) – Inspired by the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage in which miniaturized scientists enter a human body on a medical rescue mission, Alanna Risse has created an installation that invites viewers to make believe they are inside a human heart. While still remaining anatomically correct, the overall form and use of everyday materials like cardboard, rivets, and curtains allows the work to function like a kid’s fort. While the installation is playful and invites young and old viewers alike to enter and investigate, it also offers a deeper level of engagement that asks us to examine our perceptions of body, mortality, and fragility.

Joshua Pew & Molly Eno (OCAC-BFA program)  July 20 – August 14, 2015

Bored with Power – Joshua Pew and Molly Eno believe that the construct of human organization is built upon a rather evolved sense of importance and power. As a wry comment on such, they propose to create a single large sculpture that engages the exhibition space—a handmade, life sized, stuffed gorilla sitting on an ornate guided throne. The title of the piece relates to the feeling the pair have towards governments, corporations, and the general state of the Western world.

Andy Behrle  August 24 – September 18, 2015

from there to here – Andy Behrle employs video to capture light and texture from nature, most often from bodies of water. For this installation he will draw on the history and geography of the complex system that delivers water from Bull Run Lake to Portland. Color, texture, and movement of light on the surface of the lake will serve as source material for a set of dual, overlapping projections aimed at the main wall of the space. As the projections filter through scrims Behrle has hung in the space, air currents will flutter the fabric and add shimmer to the images on the wall. Behrle’s goal is to poetically illustrate how our constructed infrastructure is inherently interconnected with, and dependent on, the natural world.

Deanna Pindell  September 28 – October 23, 2015

Apothecary for the Anthropocene – To help illustrate and explore where we stand as a species—in, or out of harmony with the environment that sustains us—this allegorical apothecary presents the viewer with a set of riddles held within 108 mason jars. The jars contain the relics of some of the small decisions our society has decided to make, a jar full of GMO corn seeds, a tiny bird skull, coupons from Walmart. As it provides additional background for each of the enigmatic specimens, the installation also offers us clues that lead towards possible answers.

Travis Neel & Erin Charpentier  January 11 – February 5, 2016

Accounting for Public Interest – An installation centered on a playful poll that examines the relationship between Portland residents and their ideal city. The project engages visitors in a game of critical thinking as it guides participants through a series of questions which compare and contrast Portland of the past, the present, and the future. Voting booths and ballot boxes populate the installation during off-hours, the artists “perform” as pollsters and conduct surveys in person during on-hours. Through the process of voting, participants will be prompted to reexamine their impression of the city they live in and consider the city they’d like to see in the future. At the end of the installation the poll results will be compiled and printed on the wall of the space.

Tyler Corbett and Erinn Kathryn  February 16 – March 11, 2016

Ephemeral Portland – Picture a large scale map-based installation (with the Portland Building as the focal point) made entirely from tiny scraps of inorganic matter collected from the sidewalks of Portland. In advance of the installation the artists will systematically scour local sidewalks to gather this material. The brightly colored plastic detritus they collect, meticulously cataloged with regard to exactly where it was picked up, will then be assembled into a massive composite map with the “trash” pieces used to form a network of meandering trails that cover the walls. The location the trash populates on the map will match the actual location that material was found on the street. The project is designed to heighten our innate desire to explore our surroundings and to unveil the universe of overlooked content, clues, and souvenirs the pathways beneath our feet contain.