Art of the Pacific Northwest - The Art of Portland, Oregon and Other Regions

This is the second in the series. I must admit that I've stayed in Portland only once. It was a last-ditch effort to fly out of Portland for my honeymoon in the Caribbean when Seatac Airport was fogged in. We made our flight, but alas, and after all that effort, our plane landed in Seattle. Another time, on our way somewhere else, we stopped briefly in Portland to visit a huge fabric store. Of course, we also drive through the city on our way to California every year, stopping in Canyonville. Apparently, I missed a lot of great art!

Portland Metro Region

This post will delve into the art of the state of Oregon and its seven regions. We'll begin with the Portland Metro Region. Since I love sculpture and especially bronze statues, let's start with the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden in Portland's Grant Park. It's a fountain containing life-size statues created by Lee Hunt of three of Cleary's literary characters (Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Henry's dog Ribsy) splashing around in the water. Henry's cat, Nosy would never be found in a fountain! It's the city's homage to one of its local writers who was born in McMinnville, OR and grew up not far from the park. 

The Oregon Holocaust Memorial located in Portland's Washington Park dedicates and documents both the victims who died in extermination camps at hands of the Nazis during WWII and their surviving family members from Oregon and Southwest Washington. Besides the wall, there are bronze sculptures of everyday objects left behind by those who suffered this tragedy. The memorial is a collaboration of designers, writers, artists, and landscape architects and is owned by the American Jewish Committee. 

Many countries have erected memorials of the holocaust, including 31 states in the United States. On an excursion in Berlin during our Baltic cruise in June 2019, our bus drove by the rather stoic Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Though visually impressive and vast, the monument doesn't mention any of the names of the victims and never acknowledges any specifics of their extermination.

The Ox Cart (1885), Van Gogh

At the Portland Art Museum, you can see lots of iconic artworks by well-known artists -- Waterlilies by Claude Monet (1914-15), The Grand Canal, Venice by Thomas Moran (1899), Number 12 by Jackson Pollock (1950), The Seine at Argenteuil by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1874), and Charrette de Boeuf (The Ox Cart) by Vincent Van Gogh (1884). I enjoy discovering paintings by Van Gogh that I haven't seen before, and not in the two Van Gogh books that I own. The dark colors are similar to those of The Potato Eaters (1884).

Seattle has Jacob Lawrence and Portland has muralist, artist, and teacher, Isaka Shamsud-Din. His Rock of Ages exhibition runs through August 2021 at the Portland Art Museum. His 2019 Juneteenth Calendar is also available online.

I consider murals to be one of the best ways for public art to be displayed. I also appreciate bronze sculptures and statues commemorating local heroes and animal wildlife. On our road trip through Oregon in February 2020, I enjoyed spotting dragon and cattle sculptures along Interstate 5 near Yreka, California. While researching public art in various Oregon cities, I was surprised by how little art is being funded outside of private art galleries and art alliance groups. I included Portland (a much larger city) because of the diversity and breadth of its art, although it was difficult to downselect for my post.

My intention had been to look for art installations in small, quaint villages like Port Townsend, WA. Unfortunately, many of the smaller budget cities promote and commission art to decorate their traffic boxes on downtown streets and in neighborhoods. You'll also see many bus shelters with etched glass.

Mt. Hood & Columbia River Gorge

The nearby volcano in the Cascades Mountain Range is depicted in Mount Hood by Childe Hassam (1908). This is an example of the art of the Mt. Hood & Columbia River Gorge region.

Another painting of Mt Hood is this one by German-American artist, Albert Bierstadt. It may also be seen at the Portland Art Museum.

Oregon Coast

Central Plain (2020), Darren Orange

The Newport Visual Arts Center presents its Online Art Show, containing the works of local artists of the Oregon Coast, such as Darren Orange, who paints abstract landscapes that are also somewhat impressionistic.

Check it out! 

Willamette Valley

Here's some art from the Willamette Valley, Eastern, Central, and Southern Oregon. Jackie McCartin's paintings of vineyards are colorful landscapes celebrating the wine country of this beautiful valley. They are reminiscent of the paintings of Don Tiller, whose work I saw in his gallery on my recent visit to Port Townsend.

Eastern Oregon

Artist, Steve Henderson painted Shades of Turquoise, a painting of the Wallowa Mountains of Eastern Oregon. The colors and softness of his landscape are reminiscent of the artist, Arthur Wesley Dow, art teacher and mentor to Georgia O'Keefe.

Central Oregon

Bend, Oregon has a wonderful site called, Art In Public Places. Here are two of my favorites from this amazing collection of outdoor art in Central Oregon.

Southern Oregon

I found this watercolor entitled, Skywatchers by Southern Oregon Artist, Betty Barss. I hope you enjoyed this tour of art from Oregon. Stay tuned for more art from the Pacific Northwest and artists from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and finally British Columbia.