The Latest In Portland Arts News—Awards, Galas and Fellowships, Oh My!
This All Happened More or Less Photo Credit: Dan Kuitka; Regional Arts & Culture Council; and The Southeast Examinier
Three of Portland’s public art projects were among 31 projects to be nationally recognized this week, winning awards from Americans for the Arts. A Division Street project called This All Happened More Or Less, by Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis, Westmoreland Park Nature Play in which artist Adam Kuby worked with Greenworks Landscape Architects to design a nature-based children’s playground, and the Rippling Wall at Fire Station 21, by David Franklin, were the three local projects to be honored. All 31 of the public art works—chosen from more than 300—can be seen here.
Get gussied up, you downdressing Portlanders—Portland Opera has announced its 50th anniversary gala. Special guest Thomas Lauderdale will be joining Portland Opera soloists Jennifer Forni, Ryan MacPherson and Hannah Penn and BodyVox dance company to entertain attendees, while Poison Waters will act Mistress of Ceremonies at the Hampton Opera Center on Saturday, June 20. If the $300 price tag is a little outside your budget, you can get into the after party for the bargain price of $25. And that includes dessert.
The awesome, track-flanked North Coast Seed Building, a veritable treasure trove of artist studios, opens its doors on Saturday with more than fifty artists on hand to showcase their work. For this year's event, there'll be painting, photography, glass, design, mixed media, woodwork, ceramics, apparel, printmaking, scultpure, film, installation, architecture and performance to digest along with a tour through the spaces of some of the multi-floor building's resident artists. If that's not incentive enough, there's also live music, food, drinks and door prizes promised.
Are you a struggling writer trying to make ends meet in a garret (or equivalent) somewhere in the state? Oregon Literary Fellowships to the rescue, applications for which are due next Friday, June 26. Fellowships are awarded to Oregon writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and YA literature. In 2016, for the first time, Literary Arts is also offering a Writers of Color Fellowship, the goal of which is to promote perspectives from a variety of cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. And the best thing? You can apply to any of the fellowships free of charge, mailing your application or delivering it to the Literary Arts office at 925 SW Washington in Portland. Fellowships will be awarded in the amount of $3,000, wth the winners announced in January 2016.
In a coup for the local visual art scene, painter, conceptual artist, faculty member of the School of Art Institute of Chicago and a co-curator of the 2014 Whitney Biennal Michelle Grabner is to curate the Portland 2016 Biennal of Contemporary Art. Disjecta has been presenting this biennial survey of Oregon artists since 2010, and made the announcement about Grabner this week. She will be considering the work of more than 300 artists through studio visits and submissions as she makes her selections for the 2016 show.
Ever wondered what $1 million worth of pianos might look like? You’re in luck! This weekend, six super spendy grand pianos will take to the stage at Lewis & Clark College for Portland Piano International Summer Festival, kicking off today and running at various venues in the college until Sunday, June 21. We’re talking about a Yamaha CFX, two Bosendorfer 280s, two Steinways (one built in Hamburg, the other in New York City), and a Fazioli, in case you were interested, and they’ll be employed in 10 one-our concerts, with seven lectures, four films and three master classes also forming part of the festival
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