Write Around PAM - Portland Art Museum

Write Around PAM: María Izquierdo

Sam Miller — Mon, 30 May 2022 03:06:51 +0000

Change is truly the only constant in our lives. We are tied to endless cycles: the sun rises and sets, seasons are reflected in the weather, we appease our appetites only to have hunger return, the seeds we plant mature and wither. Even the pandemic, which has dominated our lives for the last two years, has taken us on a ride of swells and descents, asking us to change our routines and adopt new habits.

Often change or transformation is a process much faster or slower than we would choose. When we look at María Izquierdo’s painting Living Still Life, these words come to mind: community, readiness, vulnerability, barriers. Izquierdo is one of several powerful women artists whose work is featured alongside Frida Kahlo’s in the Mexican Modernism exhibition, on view through June 5.

Take a few moments to look at this work yourself—on the screen or in person. Which words come to the surface for you? What feelings or ideas press forward and what do you sense below the surface? Hold those thoughts as you shift to the page and consider the prompts below. As always, you can use one, both, or neither. Just set a timer for 5–10 minutes and see what comes through.

We gather together…. / It is different now….

As both PAM and Write Around Portland focus on transitioning back to in-person engagement after two years of program disruption, we find ourselves in a time of rich assessment: What have we learned and where do we go from here? This will be our last post for now in the series as we pause, reflect, and regroup. Write Around PAM will exist as a resource on the Museum’s blog, inviting you to continue exploring the connection between stunning visual images and the process of writing. Please share it with friends, family, and educators who may be interested in these unique writing prompts. Look for occasional Write Around PAM posts in the future, particularly around the Portland Book Festival in November.

We are grateful for the ongoing collaboration between our organizations and for being in community with you, dear writers. We look forward to seeing you in the galleries, pencil and notebook in hand, and hope you’ll continue to allow visual art to inspire you to write wherever you are. Please share your work with us!

#RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM

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Write Around PAM: Robert Goodnough, Grey Development, 1969

Sam Miller — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 18:53:56 +0000

Robert Goodnough was an American abstract expressionist painter and part of the New York School of artists in the 1950s and ‘60s. “Goodnough’s gatherings of floating, overlapping planes fluctuate between suggestive figuration and abstraction, between tight-knit clusters of crisp, geometric shapes and loose accumulations of gestural swipes,” wrote former curator, Bruce Guenther, in the catalogue of the Museum’s Clement Greenberg Collection. As we move into these longer spring days, the painting Grey Development, with its warm colors and evocative forms, feels like a great place to spend some time noticing and drawing inspiration for writing.

We have two prompts to help you get started. As always, you can use one, both, or neither. Just set a timer for 15 minutes and see what comes.

When I looked up… / In the sunlight…

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past posts and look for continuing posts on alternate Sundays. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM

[Image description: Grey Development. Robert Goodnough. 1969. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 38 x 66 in. Large rectangular canvas covered fully in apricot colored paint. There are variations in the density of the paint with a few lighter vertical strokes that radiate from the center of the bottom of the canvas upward and outward like sun rays. A triangular formation made of several small white and tan geometric shapes begins in the top left corner and continues along the top of the painting stopping just short of the right edge. The formation comes to an end in the middle of the painting with a flat edge instead of a tip. Each geometric shape resembles paper, some edges seemingly cut straight while others appear ripped. The shapes are placed closely together, sometimes touching. The arrangement gives the illusion that some of the shapes are about to float off the canvas. It is framed in a simple frame with a thin silver strip which is bordered by a thin golden strip.]

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Write Around PAM: Jason Hill

michaelsmith — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 18:26:22 +0000

Jason Hill is an artist and educator currently living in Portland, Oregon. He took this photo in winter 2019, during a day in Eugene with the off-Broadway cast of The Lion King. “I am most amazed by the discipline, momentum, and grace of dancers,” he says. “These images are a testament to the power and beauty that these artists possess.” You can see his body of work, titled In My Skin, at the AUX/MUTE Gallery presented by The Numberz FM and the Portland Art Museum through February 27.

Let’s explore how our words can convey the same energy of movement and grace that Hill’s image does. We have two prompts to help you get started. As always, you can choose one, both, or write whatever else comes to mind. Set a timer for 12 minutes and just keep your pen or pencil moving.

Together we leapt… / Reaching higher…

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Write Around PAM: Dan Flavin

michaelsmith — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Artist Dan Flavin used only fluorescent tube lights arranged to create light, color, and space. He explained, “One might not think of light as a matter of fact, but I do. And it is, as I said, as plain and open and direct an art as you will ever find.” untitled (to Donna) 2 illuminates a corner on the second floor of the Modern and Contemporary Wing, where it has been a long-time visitor favorite. Its interplay of pink, blue, and yellow invites us to stay for a while and notice what light does to the surrounding walls, floor, and spaces. As days lengthen, but winter holds on, this work invites us to contemplate light and its effects. Notice how the energy of this piece might enter the energy of your pen on paper.

We have two prompts to help you get started. As always, you can use one, both or neither. Just set a timer for 11 minutes and see what comes.

Between the lights… / Beyond the frame…

View the work in our online collections

Dan Flavin, untitled (to Donna) 2, 1971, fluorescent light, Museum Purchase: National Endowment for the Arts Purchase Plan Grant, with matching funds provided by the Contemporary Art Council, © 2016 Stephen Flavin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 81.53

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Write Around PAM: Zhang Hongtu

michaelsmith — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 17:17:32 +0000

Zhang Hongtu’s Ongoing Shan Shui series explores categories of “East” and “West” in a distinctive way, reflecting his own life lived in two cultures. Here, he reimagines an album leaf by the great seventeenth-century artist Shitao—a small work in ink on paper—in the brilliant colors and brushwork of the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.

Take a look at this landscape, and then close your eyes and take a deep breath. What do you notice in your body? What part of this painting can you still see in your mind? Does this image remind you of another place you’ve been? As you write, hold the energy and vivid beauty of this painting and this place in mind.

We have two prompts to help you get started. Set a timer for 12 minutes, try to keep your pen or pencil moving, and see what comes.

A bend in the river… / The mountains rose…

View the work in our online collections

Zhang Hongtu, After Shitao’s Landscape Album: Shitao–Van Gogh, from the series Ongoing Shan Shui, 2002, oil on canvas, Gift of Judith B. Anderson, © Zhang Hongtu, 2017.31.1

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Write Around PAM: Jeppe Hein

michaelsmith — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 16:00:00 +0000

We are venturing into a new year, and while our resolutions may not last, our intentions can, especially with the help of a pen and paper. Danish artist Jeppe Hein is known for creating playful, interactive works. His Please Participate feels like a great place to start.

Take a moment to sit with this piece. Notice which words or phrases you are drawn to. Write them at the top of your page and incorporate at least one into the prompts below. Set a timer for 8 minutes, choose a prompt, keep your pen or pencil moving and see what comes.

Please ________… / This year, I will _________…

View the work in our online Collections

Jeppe Hein (Danish, born 1974), Please Participate, 2015, neon tubes and transformers, Museum Purchase: Funds provided by the Contemporary Collectors Circle of the Portland Art Museum, © Jeppe Hein, Courtesy 303 Gallery, New York, 2017.39.1

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past Sunday posts and look for continuing posts through the year. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM @jeppehein

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Write Around PAM: Maurice Denis

michaelsmith — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000

As many of us gather this weekend with our households, extended family and friends, or even just our furry companions, we will center time together, and may even take a moment to sing, play games, watch a movie, or go for a walk. This piece by Maurice Denis, featured in the current exhibition, Private Lives, offers a glimpse of a tradition in many households of playing music together. We invite you to spend some time today writing about the ways you gather and celebrate with your loved ones, and the traditions that you all carry forward together.

We have two prompts to help you get started. Choose one, both, or write whatever else comes. Set a timer for 12 minutes and just keep your pen or pencil moving.

We always play… / Gathered together…

BONUS WRITE!

Private Lives features a recorded piano piece as part of the exhibition. Come and listen, and see what new energy being in the space and hearing the music offers to these prompts.

View the work in our online collection

Maurice Denis, Cover for music score: Concerts du Petit Frère et de la Petite Soeur (Concerts for a Young Brother and Sister), 1903, color lithograph on paper, Museum Purchase: Print Acquisition Fund, © artist or other rights holder, 2015.86.1a-c

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past Sunday posts and look for continuing posts every other week in the new year. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM

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Write Around PAM: Anne Truitt

michaelsmith — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000

As we officially welcome winter with the solstice this week, we invite you to spend some time with Bonne by Anne Truitt. This sculpture carries the energy and colors of this season—the smooth blue of an ice-covered pond, the deep blues of a winter storm, the white blanket of freshly fallen snow. We encourage you to devote some time today to writing about welcoming wintertime, and all the gifts and challenges the season affords.

We have two prompts to help you get started. Choose one, both, or write whatever else comes. Set a timer for 10 minutes and just keep your pen or pencil moving.

The sound of rain… / After the storm…

View to work in our online collection

Anne Truitt (American, 1921–2004), Bonne, 1963, acrylic on wood, The Clement Greenberg Collection; Museum Purchase: Funds provided by Tom and Gretchen Holce, © 1963 Anne Truitt/Courtesy of Danese, New York, NY, 2001.1.148

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past Sunday posts and look for continuing weekly posts through the year. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM

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Write Around PAM: Frank Okada

michaelsmith — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 16:00:00 +0000

As we enter winter, the days shorten, and at least here in the Pacific Northwest, the cloud cover grows. Soaking up moments of light and sun feels even more important for our mental health. We’re appreciating this painting by Frank Okada, on view in the Hoffman Lobby. The work evokes such a strong feeling of the warmth of sitting in the sun. We invite you to spend some time today capturing this warmth in your writing, so that you can revisit it again on a cloudy day.

We have two prompts to help you get started. As always, you can choose one, both, or write whatever else comes. Set a timer for 9 minutes and just keep your pen or pencil moving.

In the sunlight… / I’m holding onto…

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past Sunday posts and look for continuing weekly posts through the year. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM

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Write Around PAM: Dyani White Hawk

michaelsmith — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:20:00 +0000

Dyani White Hawk’s suite Takes Care of Them was inspired by the Lakota practice of four veterans being asked to stand and face each of the four cardinal directions during the wabléniča ceremony, a ritual welcoming adoptees and formerly fostered individuals back into the tribal community. In many Native cultures, veterans are revered as modern-day warriors, including women who serve to lead and protect their community, but who also act as creators and nurturers. White Hawk wanted to recognize all the women in her life who embodied these qualities and taught her to be a good member of a family and community. “As a suite, these works speak to the importance of kinship roles and tribal structures that emphasize the necessity of extended family, tribal, and communal ties as meaningful and significant relationships necessary for the rearing of healthy and happy individuals and communities.”

For the first part of this year, the brilliant yellow print Wókaǧe | Create was on view in the 2nd floor Native American art galleries and inspired a Write Around PAM prompt. It’s now been replaced by the dark blue Wówahokuŋkiya | Lead, as we rotate through the entire suite.

Think about the four words in White Hawk’s series:

lead, create, protect, nurture.

Then, write for 5 minutes about a time in your life when you felt called on to do one or more of these things. (It could be very small or quite big.)

Finally, write for 5 minutes about a time when someone else played one of these roles for you.

Learn more about the creation of the series Takes Care of Them in this video.

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past Sunday posts and look for continuing weekly posts through the year. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM @dwhitehawk

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Write Around PAM: Pierre Bonnard

michaelsmith — Sun, 28 Nov 2021 16:00:00 +0000

As the current Private Lives exhibition makes clear, the Nabis artists loved depicting children. Not only were they part of the artists’ intimate family circles, but children also offered an example of how to view the world with a fresh perspective. Drawing inspiration from Pierre Bonnard’s Family Scene, we invite you to write from the perspective of your younger self, or the young people in your life, and consider the question, how do children experience the world?

We have two prompts to help you get started. Choose one, both, or write whatever else comes. Set a timer for 15 minutes and just keep your pen or pencil moving.

My earliest memory… / When I was 3 (or 5 or 12, etc)…

Discover the many, delightful babies and children of the Nabis artists when you visit Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889–1900.

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past Sunday posts and look for continuing weekly posts through the year. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM

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Write Around PAM: Marie Watt

michaelsmith — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Seneca artist Marie Watt created Companion Species: Ferocious Mother and Canis Familiaris with the help of over 200 people who participated in two sewing circles. These collective efforts generated a powerful piece filled with energy and hope. The holiday season can be a time of collective joy and togetherness; it can also be a painful reminder of systemic and familial hurts. We invite you to spend some time reflecting and writing about this season and how it impacts you, using this artwork as a starting point. If you are with others this weekend, we encourage you to write together around a table and share your work!

First, find five words from Companion Species that you feel connected to. They could be words that hold significant meaning for you, or just the first five words you see. Write them down at the top of your page.

Now, set a timer for 6 minutes and start to write, using one of the prompts below as a starting point. Each minute, incorporate one of the words on your list into your piece. Notice how these words shape and change your story.

Here are two prompts to get you started. As always, you can choose one, both, or write whatever else comes.

Around this table… / From our pens…

BONUS write: After the initial 6 minutes end, keep writing, incorporating a new word from this piece into your writing. See just how long you can keep going!

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with us by visiting the Portland Art Museum’s Native American art permanent collection in the main building and the new special exhibition Mesh in the modern and contemporary wing. Learn more about Marie Watt’s work at mariewattstudio.com.

View the work in our online collection

Marie Watt (American and Seneca), Companion Species: Ferocious Mother and Canis Familiaris, 2017, reclaimed wool blankets, embroidery floss, and thread, Museum Purchase: Funds provided by The Ford Family Foundation and Dr. Loren Lipson, © Marie Watt, 2017.106.1

Writing in community is powerful. We are grateful to our longtime partner Write Around Portland for the writing prompts and inspiration. You can revisit past Sunday posts and look for continuing weekly posts through the year. Please share your work with us! @writearoundpdx @portlandartmuseum #RespectWritingCommunity #WriteAroundPAM @marie_watt_studio

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