Portland: Project Illumination

When I was visiting the Portland Winter Light Festival, I did not know it yet, but some of the lights I noticed were actually up for Project Illumination, meaning that they will be up until April.

This included the Star Installations and the pink and purple trees of Pretty In Pink around Director Park. ,

However, my first hint that there was something going on was the day we went to the Oregon Historical Society and encountered the Disco Ball Canopy Installation.

Disco balls tend to stand out anyway, even though it was not lit at the time. Then, a bit beyond that I saw the Sunflower, and thought I remembered Helianthus Enorme from last year's Winter Light Festival.

A little bit of research located the first article on Project Illumination, but there is a fuller article with a complete map available now.

https://downtownportland.org/project-illumination-in-downtown-portland-has-kicked-off/

The Park Blocks are where the most obviously installation-like art resides, and perhaps that makes sense. You have sculptures in front of the Portland Art Museum, and reasons to sing and dance behind the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.

I am not only referring to the giant disco ball (which does make me feel like dancing), but also the Singing Tree, which responds to the sound around it.

I was not really feeling bold enough to just start belting out a tune, but I quietly sang a bit of "Blue Bayou" to the tree, and the bulbs turned more blue. Coincidence? Probably.

You will also find expanded tree lighting this year, including some trees in NW Portland, which is new. There are stars and sunbursts in multiple locations.

My favorite was the array of sunbursts between SW 4th and 3rd, from Salmon to Madison. I know the pictures don't do it justice, but it was just beautiful.

They take on different appearances when they first go on at dusk, and then as it gets darker, and all the way dark, so are worth viewing at different times.

Plus the large installations change color.

Those patterns will keep adjusting until they disappear with the spring.

I am in favor of beauty.

Accessibility: Not only does everything have flat, smooth access, and the installations are large enough that even fairly severely visually impaired people should be able to see something, but also sites are near MAX lines, bus lines, and Streetcar.

COVID: All outside, and this should even be safer than the Winter Light Festival, which does create some crowded areas. It should be easy to maintain distancing.

Of course, it may also be cold and snowy, but that's part of what makes a change in the scenery so nice.

https://downtownportland.org/project-illumination-in-downtown-portland-has-kicked-off/

Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe at the Portland Art Museum

I thought the Oscar Howe exhibit was really well curated. 

The title, "Dakota Modern" indicates the direction that he will go, but tracing the path of how he got there is where the insight comes in. It starts with some of his early, traditional work. 

You see that he is skilled in that style, and then you start to see subtle changes.

You also read of the influence his grandmother's storytelling had on him, so you know what the roots are, but you can see innovation and the abstraction grows.

And then it fools you. One of the last paintings displayed appears to be an abstract, but it depicts a couple under a blanket, a courtship practice, and so is both traditional and more literally representative.

As part of the retrospective, there are photos of his public works, as on the Corn Palace and the Carnegie Library in Mitchell South Dakota.

The painting that struck me most was this:

Without getting closer and reading I viscerally knew it represented Wounded Knee.

Some works are more abstract, and some more representative, but they meet the needs of the work.

Howe rejected being called a cubist, and yet he was rejected from an art contest as not meeting the criteria for the "traditional" Indian style. 

His letter of protest not only expressed his own feelings but influenced other artists. 

It makes sense that he spend some time teaching as an artist in residence. I appreciated the inclusion of this explanation, stated as a poem, from Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, one of the painters who learned from him.

Divide and fill the space

The problem is space
he said,
I have studied space.
How do you study space?
You take a piece of paper.
You study the paper.
The paper is space.
What he was saying
is that the space itself
is the important part of the painting.
The actual drawing and coloring
divides and fills the space.
Almost as in a religious ceremony.
That is the Howe method
of teaching.
 

"Dakota Modern" will be at the Portland Art Museum through May 14th.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/dakota-modern/

 
I just treated these last week, but for anyone who missed it...

Accessibility: There are elevators and there is an entrance that can be used by wheelchairs and other mobility devices, but they require significant detour. I believe there is room for improvement here.

Also, I am more aware of how prohibitive the $25 admission can be. There are some programs in place, and I went on a free day, but here is more room for improvement.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/plan-your-visit/admission-access-programs/

COVID: There were some masks, but it was not strictly enforced. Distancing has to do a lot of the work these days.

Also, if you go, make sure to check out the Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe, through May 14th. I will be posting about it next week.

https://portlandartmuseum.org

Jeffrey Gibson at the Portland Art Museum

There are currently two exhibitions by Jeffrey Gibbons at the Portland Art Museum. That includes decoration and a timeline added to the front of the museum.

As you enter, the first thing you will encounter is "They Come From Fire".

However, "To Name An Other" is only on display through February 26th, which is why I need to get this post up now.

"They Come From Fire" will be on exhibit through April 30th.

I don't want to give the wrong impression about Gibson, because he does do paintings and sculpture: visual art that can be easily displayed in museums.

What I noted about these two exhibits is how much they are out of and beyond the museum.

There is a display for "To Name An Other". There are fifty tunics and fifty drums. Then there is a couch where you can watch video segments of the performances in which these have been used.

For this ongoing performance art project, Gibson works with members of the queer community and community of color. They wear tunics coordinated with their drums, and present their phrase in turn.

I had looked over the words on the drums and tunics, but after watching the video, they hit me differently, especially "They Choose Their Family". I first read it as affirmatively prioritizing my family, but then seeing people who were queer and trans, perhaps they have had to choose families after being rejected by families of origin. 

There is room for both to be right, even combined, but it is good to take some time going deeper.

The other thing that made me think differently was a video segment found through Gibson's site, "one becomes the other": https://www.jeffreygibson.net/video--/1/1

It heightened how these brightly colored, easily read, very much of the present tunics and drums connect with the intricate bead work and detail on traditional regalia. You see much more elaborate, but also presumably older items being taken out of closed archives and worn and danced in, then hidden away in archives.

"I feel like there's still so much I can learn from you."

There is a lot to think about regarding collections of Native American artifacts and requests for repatriation, but perhaps another part of that -- beyond simple respect -- can also be the point where preservation becomes suffocation. 

"They Come From Fire" is grounded firmly in the present and future.

Using the bases of temporarily absent monuments, Gibson photographed artists, leaders, and community members coming from queer, indigenous, and other people of color.

The portraits are then arrayed in a collage, with color splashed along giving the effect of stained glass in a cathedral. The previously shown glass panels are suspended across from the photos, though I do not believe they are the source of the colors.

There are some great pictures, showing joy and exuberance.

There is also so much, that extends so far, that it is easy for individuals to get lost in the whole.

(I might just be saying that because I knew one of the participants and completely missed her, even after reading the names.)

Regardless, remember that even this very white city (and its expanded Metro area) is full of dynamic, vital individuals whose identities might be marginalized, and should not be.

"I want the overall work to point to narratives that may not be popularly known outside of these local communities and to celebrate the photographed individuals as leaders and innovators in the world today." -- Jeffrey Gibson

Yes, in the museum. Yes, perhaps showing performances and photos that are past, but also in the world today.

Accessibility: There are elevators and there is an entrance that can be used by wheelchairs and other mobility devices, but they require significant detour. I believe there is room for improvement here.

Also, I am more aware of how prohibitive the $25 admission can be. There are some programs in place, and I went on a free day, but here is more room for improvement.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/plan-your-visit/admission-access-programs/

COVID: There were some masks, but it was not strictly enforced. Distancing has to do a lot of the work these days.

Also, if you go, make sure to check out the Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe, through May 14th. I will be posting about it next week.

https://www.jeffreygibson.net/

https://portlandartmuseum.org/