MANUF®ACTURED:
The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects
August 28, 2008-January 4, 2009

Guest curated by former ID Magazine editor Steven Skov Holt and art historian Mara Holt Skov, Manuf®acturede explores how artists and designers are using labor-intensive craft practices to craft new work from mass-produced objects and materials. Taking manufactured products apart and reconfiguring them in ways never previously seen, the artists in this exhibition are creating a new category of objects that operate between art, craft and design.

Image left: Dominic Wilcox, War Bowl, 2002; melted plastic army soldiers; approx. 17 x 4 inches; Image courtesy of the artist


THE CERAMICS OF GERTRUD AND OTTO NATZLER
August 2, 2008-January 25, 2009

Focusing on work from a local collection and several museums, this exhibition provides a sampling of ceramics by the late Gertrud and Otto Natzler. The Natzlers – who became internationally known for their distinct lava and crater glazes and elegant yet simple pots, bowls, vases and other hand-thrown vessels – produced over 25,000 works together out of their Los Angeles-based studio between 1935 and 1971. This exhibition celebrates the Natzlers' richly textured, colorful work and pays tribute to the lives of two important leaders in the history of modern ceramics.

Slideshow image: Gertrud and Otto Natzler, Untitled bowl, date unknown; Ceramic with crater glaze; Collection of Carol and Seymour Haber; Photo by Dan Kvitka

UNDER POLARIS by Cloud Eye Control,
with special guest Janet Pants
Sunday, October 19th at 2:30, 6:30 and 8:30 pm

Weaving seamlessly between performance, animation and theatre, artists Miwa Matreyek, Chi-wang Yang and Anna Oxygen bring you on a multi-media quest through expansive arctic landscapes, mythical creatures and the ethereal Aurora Borealis.

In a not so far off future, a woman embarks on a journey to preserve the finer elements of humanity by attempting to bury them in the ice of the north pole. Along the way she takes on animal characteristics to survive the environment and witnesses the mysterious landscape shifting around her. Exploring the nuances of acting on and being acted upon by a natural environment, the piece illuminates the mythological possibilities of unknown landscapes while addressing the tension between our primal nostalgia and a more modern and often incompatible human optimism.

Using original live music, multi-channel video projection, inventive staging and beautiful animation, the cloud eye controllers bring you into their world of floating horizons, mysterious animals, and ice caves.

Portland Art Dealers Association (PADA) includes the state's foremost contemporary art galleries committed to the highest standards of representation. One will find the region's leading artists exhibited alongside renowned national and international artists. PADA hosts city-wide public receptions on the first Thursday evening of every month.

Members are Augen Gallery, Beppu Wiarda Gallery, Blackfish Gallery, Bullseye Gallery, Butters Gallery Ltd, Froelick Gallery, Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, New American Art Union, PDX Contemporary Art, Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, Quintana Galleries, Laura Russo Gallery, and Mark Woolley Gallery.

Image: Elizabeth Leach Gallery; Mark Smith, "Sanctuary", 2008, acrylic and printed fabric, 58" x 42"

Richard Deacon
January 26, 2008 - May 11, 2008

A new monumental sculpture by internationally celebrated British artist Richard Deacon is the focus of the latest installment of the Museum’s contemporary art series. Constructed from twisted, square strips of oak joined end-to-end with stainless steel, Dead Leg is a complex, linear structure that winds and stretches across the gallery. Both playful and serious in spirit, Dead Leg redefines sculpture not as weighty mass, but as a silhouette that explores space as a flowing line.

Recipient of the Turner Prize in 1987, Deacon’s work has been featured internationally in exhibitions, including the Carnegie Biennial, Documenta, and The Venice Biennale, and in major solo museum exhibitions in Europe and the United States. He lives and works in London.


Image: Richard Deacon, Dead Leg, 2007, Oak and stainless steel, Copyright of the artist. Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA.

This exhibition is the eighth in an ongoing series of contemporary art exhibitions organized by Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and supported in part by the Miller Meigs Endowment for Contemporary Arts.

HOFFMAN GALLERY EXHIBITION SERIES

Studio School Juried Invitational Exhibition
December 4- December 21, 2008, with an opening reception on Thursday, December 4 from 4:00-7:00pm

Throughout the year, evening classes and weekend workshops taught by working professional artists are offered in the College’s Studio School continuing education program. This exhibition offers the public an opportunity to see new work created by these instructors who are working studio artists exhibiting both regionally and nationally.

Participating artists include: Abra Ancliffe, Shane Blitch, Pat Bognar, Inge Bruggeman, Janet Buskirk, Esque Studios, Judilee Fitzhugh, Helen Hiebert, Diane Jacobs, Allen Kinast, Cynthia Lahti, Jeannette DeNicolis Meyer, Rosalie Nielson, Miel Paredes, Rebecca Scheer, Micki Skudlarzyk, Mike Southern, Don Sprague, J.D. Perkins, and Marilyn Zornado.

Image: Diane Jacobs

Gallery Hours: 10:00am-5:00pm daily

Ahmadi & Zhang: Looking back
Feldman Gallery
November 6 - December 24
1st Thursday Opening: November 6, 6–9PM
Gallery Talk: Shiva Ahmadi | November 5 | 12:30 pm
Gallery Talk: Baochi Zhang | November 6 | 12:30 pm

Tony Fry: Where is the Love?
Project Space/Feldman Gallery
November 6 - December 24
1st Thursday Opening: November 6, 6–9PM

Exhibits
Ahmadi & Zhang - Looking back
Utilizing techniques learned while studying in their home countries, Iran and China respectively, Ahmadi & Zhang create works that infuse personal experiences into broader ethnic and political topics.

Tony Fry - Where is the Love?
Presented by Tony Fry, the exhibition "Where is the Love?" focuses on Arte Moris – a free art school in Timor-Leste run by volunteers, and what it hopes to become. In many ways the art school answers the question ‘where is the love?’ by actions that say: it is here!

Image: (Left) Shiva Ahmadi, "Bullets and Boots" detail, watercolor and gouache on paperv 28"X28". (Right) Baochi Zhang "Untitled", detail, oil on canvas, 24"x32"

suddenly: where we live now
August 26 - October 5, 2008

Inspired by the work of urban planner Thomas Sieverts, suddenly is a set of exhibitions, an annotated reader, and a series of public events that gives the lived landscape an independent identity in the imagination of its occupants. Participants include: Marc Joseph Berg, the Corridor Project, Zoe Crosher, Michael Damm, Molly Dilworth, Fritz Haeg, Frank Heath, Hadley+Maxwell, Shawn Records, Oscar Tuazon, Gary Wiseman, and others. Join us for an exhibition opening, Psychedelic Sprawl, September 2, 7 p.m., at the Cooley Gallery.

Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art
Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art
September 11 - December 7, 2008
Opening reception: September 11, 5 to 7 p.m.
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Balancing environmental, social, economic, and aesthetic concerns, sustainable design has the potential to transform everyday life and is reshaping the fields of architecture and product design. Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art explores the influence of this design philosophy on artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination, and display of art. The exhibition includes existing works, commissions, and previously presented work that has been “recycled,” spotlighting ways in which artists are building paths to new forms of practice. Many of the artists work collaboratively and leaven serious social aims with playful, off-the-grid spark. Their approaches range from the metaphorical to the pragmatic, sometimes serving as models for audience activism.

Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art brings together 13 artists and artists groups from North America and Europe in a traveling exhibition making its only appearance in the Northwest at the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery.

Image: paraSITE by Michael Rakowitz, 1998, vinyl, nylon, and attachment hardware. Michael Rakowitz's /ParaSITES/ provide the homeless with an unconventional living space. Using inflatable plastic structures, Rakowitz has created shelters that are inflated and heated with vented air from city buildings. Each /ParaSITE/ is built in collaboration with an individual homeless person and calls attention to the "lack of affordable housing" with their unique designs.