{"id":5109,"global_id":"portlandartmuseum.org?id=5109","global_id_lineage":["portlandartmuseum.org?id=5109"],"author":"15","status":"publish","date":"2023-06-08 11:11:12","date_utc":"2023-06-08 18:11:12","modified":"2024-07-11 14:29:07","modified_utc":"2024-07-11 21:29:07","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/event\/black-artists-of-oregon\/","rest_url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/events\/5109","title":"Black Artists of Oregon","description":"

Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Considering both the presence and absence of Black artists is critical to understanding the breadth of Black artistic production in Oregon\u2014even in the midst of historic exclusion\u2014as well as how the impact of that history affects our understanding of American art history and the history of the Pacific Northwest. This exhibition serves to deepen our awareness of the talented artists who have shaped and inspired artists regionally and nationally, and it will be the first of its kind to consider the work of Black artists collectively in Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning in the 1880s and spanning through today, Black Artists of Oregon<\/em> captures the Black diasporic experiences particular to the Pacific Northwest with 69 artists and over 200 objects. Artists represented in the exhibition will include Thelma Johnson Streat, Al Goldsby, Charlotte Lewis, Isaka Shamsud-Din, Ralph Chess\u00e9, Charles Tatum, Arvie Smith, Shedrich Williames, Harrison Branch, Bobby Fouther, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others. The exhibition and programming will also include the works of contemporary and younger artists working now, functioning as bright threads and offering intergenerational conversation throughout the exhibition, including sidony o\u2019neal, Jeremy Okai Davis, damali ayo, Sharita Towne, Melanie Stevens, Lisa Jarrett, Tristan Irving, Ebin Lee, and Jaleesa Johnston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t“An intergenerational exhibit featuring 67 Black artists all cut from remarkably unique cloths, creating a metaphorical (or spiritual) quilt that is as diverse as it is dynamic as it is impactful as it is stunning.”\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tBrianna Wheeler, Willamette Week<\/em><\/a>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Through the narrative flow of the exhibition, visitors will experience work by Black artists across decades and generations. Particular attention is given to the works of Black artists who were producing work during the Black Arts Movement of the late 1960s, \u201970s, and early \u201980s, such as Portland-based painter Isaka Shamsud-Din. The exhibition will also mark regional artistic connections with global movements for Black liberation, as seen in the work of Charlotte Lewis alongside Portlanders Organized for Southern African Freedom and artists like Sad\u00e9 DuBoise, whose \u201cResistance\u201d poster series contributed to Portland\u2019s 2020 George Floyd protests. Without chronological constraints, the exhibition is grounded by the work of elder artists, intergenerational conversations, and live activation in the exhibition galleries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t“Walking through Black Artists of Oregon<\/em>, the ambitious exhibition currently on display at the Portland Art Museum, it\u2019s impossible not to be impressed by the range and power of the work\u201d\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tKristi Turnquist, The Oregonian<\/em><\/a>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Black Artists of Oregon<\/em> builds upon exhibition curator Intisar Abioto\u2019s original research since 2018 exploring the lineage and legacy of Black artists in Oregon. The exhibition will continue Abioto\u2019s research, which is grounded in Black American practices of listening, keeping, and passing on each others\u2019 stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFar from isolated or ancillary, Black arts and cultural production in Oregon has been in conversation and interchange with the world, and a part of its arts and cultural movements, all this time,\u201d says Abioto. \u201cBlack Artists of Oregon<\/em> is a heralding of Black presence, interchange, influence, and impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Painting
Isaka Shamsud-Din,\u00a0Rock of Ages<\/em><\/strong>, 1976, oil, gold leaf, and mirror on canvas, Gift of Roxie Schell and Damon Tempey, \u00a9 Isaka Shamsud-Din, 2018.36.1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Black
Harrison Branch (American, born 1947), Untitled, Corvallis, Oregon<\/strong>, 1975, gelatin silver print, image: 7 5\/16 in x 9 1\/2 in; sheet: 13 1\/2 in x 15 3\/4 in, Gift of the Photography Council, \u00a9 unknown, research required, 2002.58.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Black
Shedrich Williames (American, born 1934), Untitled<\/strong>, 1972, gelatin silver print, image: 13 3\/16 in x 10 3\/8 in; sheet: 14 in x 10 15\/16 in, Gift of Al Monner, \u00a9unknown, research required, 94.36.1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Black Artists of Oregon podcast<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Museum is proud to collaborate on this Black Artists of Oregon<\/em> podcast through its ongoing community partnership with The Numberz FM.  Interviews and conversations were recorded and published throughout the run of the exhibition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n