Sixth Annual Recycled Rain Project

Ford Gallery is proud to host the Recycled Rain Project’s 2017 Exhibition.

Opening Reception
June 3rd
6 PM – 9 PM

The Recycled Rain Project is a Pacific NW based invitational art show creating original works using rainwater to raise awareness of water issues. Since its founding in 2011, The Recycled Rain Project has been dedicated to its mission to increase awareness of local artists and to engage and educate the community on water issues.

A portion of the sale of all works from RR2017 will be donated to WaterWatch of Oregon. For 30 years, WaterWatch has protected and restored water to Oregon’s rivers, streams and lakes for fish, wildlife and people. Their goal is to ensure a legacy of healthy rivers in Oregon.

Join us for food, drink & art works from a bevy of talented local artists, all created using recycled rain water!

Enjoy the RAINDROPS GALLERY painted by kids at Sellwood Community Center, and make your own raindrop at our Recycled Rain Painting Station!

2017 Featured Artists

Roberta Aylward
Shawn Demarest
Nate Ethington
Candace Primack
Barbara Rawls

PLUS new works by our veteran Recycled Rain Artists!

Theresa Andreas-O’Leary, Betsy Bustamonte, Jane Levy Campbell, Bradley Clark, Kindra Crick, Nicole Curcio, Jason Edward Davis, Jenn Feeney, Kristen Hamilton, Kristy Heltne, Kia Metzler Holden, Karl Kaiser, Jody Katopothis, Thérèse Murdza, Jesse Narens, Dan Ness, Spike Palmer, Hilary Pfeifer, Di Pinsonault, Amy Ponteri, Sara Sjol, David Slader, Fred Swan, Quin Sweetman, Consu Tolosa, Nanette Wallace, Karen WippichJon Wippich

We are also pleased to welcome back student artists from Beaverton Arts and Communications Academy‘s National Arts Honor Society.

On view at Ford Gallery
June 3rd – July 8th

www.therecycledrainproject.org
facebook.com/therecycledrainproject
instagram.com/therecycledrainproject

 

Jesse Narens: The Ghost Of Things That Have Been Sitting For A Long Time

Join us for a solo exhibition of new large-scale works & altars by artist Jesse Narens.

Opening Reception

April 29th
6-10 PM

Jesse Narens is a self-taught, intuitive artist living in the Pacific Northwest.

“My art lives in a state of constant transition, growing and decomposing, reflecting my thoughts on life and nature. I hope that my art will act as a reminder of the magical and important place that nature is, and that it is a real place we should all take time to reconnect with.”

http://jessenarens.com
@jessenarens

On View: 
April 29th – May 27th

Collecting Sticks For A Nest
36"x36"x3" pencil, acrylic & oil pastel on wood

Sleepy Crow Napping In The Dirt Says Goodnight
48"x72" pencil & acrylic on wood

Lunar Eclipse - Glow In The Moonlight
24"x24" pencil, acrylic, oil pastel, paper on wood

Dead Things Bloom In The Woods
48" x 72" pencil, acrylic, oil pastel on wood

The Ghost Of Things That Have Been Sitting For A Long Time
48"x72" pencil & acrylic on wood

Uproot
48"x72" pencil & acrylic on wood

Walking On Wolves Heads, Free From My Roots, Collecting Sticks In My Lap
24" x 48" acrylic, oil pastel, pencil, paper on wood

PSA: Provides Support through Art

Ford Gallery presents PSA, a community exhibition, curated by Lindsey Oldani.
PSA is a Public Service Announcement that Provides Support through Art.

Opening Reception

March 25th
6 – 10 PM
Live Music (TBA/TBD), Silent Auction + Spoken Word Performance

PSA is a Public Service Announcement that Provides Support through Art. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness month and in response to recent federal action to defund the Violence Against Women Act, this group exhibition is our way of acknowledging this major social issue. PSA provides a showcase for local artists who believe in the importance of a community that actively addresses sexual violence, while also raising money for a local organization that serves survivors daily.

The event will include a community showcase and art exhibition by local women, spoken word performances from our rich community of oral artists, and the 10×10 donation project. Our #10x10Project supports the Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC Oregon), a local nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote social justice by eliminating sexual violence in our community through education, support, and advocacy. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of each 10″ by 10″ piece will go directly to SARC.

Wisdom and Light
by Quire 2015 24”x40” Acrylic enamel paint on canvas, Plexiglass and birch panel

I Thought I’d Be Taller
by Amy Ponteri 2014 42” x 30” Acrylic + ink on unprimed canvas

All Roads Lead to You
by Amy Ponteri 2014 52” x 34” Acrylic + ink on unprimed canvas

Anne Marie
by Nicole Williford 2016 60”x60” Oil on wood

Spring Mandala
by Aimee Skaer 2015 26"x 32" Acrylic and Screen print collage on Canvas

Summer Mandala
by Aimee Skaer 2015 26"x 32" Acrylic and Screen print collage on Canvas

Fall Mandala
by Aimee Skaer 2015 24"x 24" Acrylic and Screen print collage on Canvas

Winter Mandala
by Aimee Skaer 2015 28"x 28" Acrylic and Screen print collage on Canvas

Tales in the Dog Park

Saturday, March 18th
1 – 3 PM

Join us for this storytelling event about the dogs that have curled up in our hearts and meet some of the artists of the Dog Park show.

The Ford Gallery is hosting an early afternoon gathering of listening and storytelling. We’re inviting you to see the Dog Park show and join us with a story about a dog that wags its tail around your house or in your memories. Stories should be 3 – 5 minutes in length and child friendly. Though an informal event, please try to arrive near the beginning.

Dog Park

They put leashes on our hearts, walk our spirits, and run down the paths and sidewalks of our memories.

Join us in this visual celebration of the dogs that have curled up in our lives and that have contributed so much to our laughter and tears.

Fred Swan & Stan Peterson join forces to bring us – Dog Park – a gathering of nearly eighty pieces of work by 30+ Portland artists. Art, videos, stories, laughter, food, and fun. Come. Sit. Wag your imaginations and memories while we fetch your spirits back from the brink.


Tales in the Dog Park

Saturday, March 18th
1 – 3 PM

Join us for this storytelling event about the dogs that have curled up in our hearts and meet some of the artists of the Dog Park show.

The Ford Gallery is hosting an early afternoon gathering of listening and storytelling. We’re inviting you to see the Dog Park show and join us with a story about a dog that wags its tail around your house or in your memories. Stories should be 3 – 5 minutes in length and child friendly. Though an informal event, please try to arrive near the beginning.


Opening Reception

Saturday, February 25th
6 – 10 PM
Ford Gallery
2505 SE 11th Ave, Portland

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Alea Ahwahnee Bone
Alison O’Donoghue
Amy McLain
Brian Vegter
Chris Haberman
Denise Baker
Dennis Anderson
Diane Pinsonalt
Dianne Swan
Donald Brown
Fred Swan
Jacqlyn Sickler
Jennifer Feeney
Jennifer Griffo
Jill Mayberg
Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley
Karen Wippich
Ken Sellen
Kim Murton
Leslie Wood Kamman
Linda Robertson
Lisa Laser
Liz McDonald
Mavis Leahy
Mayfair
Nanette Wallace
Pauline Zonneveld
Peggy Pfenninger Reed
Robin Phillips Occhipinti
Robyn Lee Williams
Samyak Yamauchi
Sara Swink
Sophia Rock
Stan Peterson
Stephani S. Brockway
Sue Clancy

UPDATE

Well, the gallery is ready, but the fickle Gods of Winter Weather are not! : ( Due to safety concerns we have decided to cancel tonight’s opening reception for Divided We Stand.

But don’t worry! We will be hosting an Inauguration Day event on the 20th, in collaboration with Ford Food & Drink! With “Not our President: Women Writers Against Trump”, and more live performances & activities by our fantastic artists! So keep an eye out for details soon!

And in the mean time, the show awaits…

Around Corners – New Works by Paul Rutz

Opening January 28, 6-10 pm
With special opening night performances by
Rachel Mann Band and Free Thought Takeover
Show runs Jan 28 – Feb 25

Please donate $10 to help us cover opening night bands.




We have an extraordinary exhibit coming to the Ford Gallery at the end of January by Paul Rutz as well as special opening night performances by Rachel Mann Band and Free Thought Takeover. Below, artist Paul Rutz describes Around Corners and his vision for the opening.

—————–

Around Corners is a maze-like gallery installation that uses the physical heft of paintings to revel in the fact that when we view, we do it moving. Our hearts beat, lungs expand, and our eyes make continuous saccades, seeing not in single points of view, but in paths of attention that add memory and prediction to our sense of an unfolding now. We see with our feet as much as our eyes. How can painting celebrate that?

Since mid-2014, I have been working on several large, highly detailed paintings designed to be hung from the Ford Gallery’s ceiling. Each picture depicts one live model who moved between two poses in the studio—back and forth for months—while I constantly changed my point of view and measured every body part and prop, painting them at exactly life size. I call these canvases documentary motion pictures, and I’ll present them in a way that invites the audience to move, too. We’ll hang the paintings in the middle of the gallery at various angles, using the paintings a bit like shoji, Japanese paper room dividers. To see the full show, viewers will have to move around the paintings’ corners, encountering their material qualities, their heavy wood frames, copper nails and the shadow figures on semi-opaque stretched canvas—a focus on the craftsmanship that makes the image possible.

For the exhibit’s opening, I have invited performing artists Rachel Mann Band and Free Thought Takeover to perform an experiment. On January 28, these two Portland bands will each stage a musical set from inside the installation. The paintings will wall off each performer in his or her own little space, and I look forward to seeing how they choose to play with that problem. In the same way that revealing the backs of the paintings is an invitation to explore craftsmanship itself, I expect breaking up the band spatially might become a powerful way to reveal the band. With choreography and improvisation around and through the installation, Rachel Mann’s dulcet harmonies will set up Free Thought Takeover’s dance-inducing brass funk. To see the performance, the audience will be invited to move around in it, too.

Using the motions people are always doing anyway, we aim to shake up the viewing and listening habits that otherwise go unnoticed on a night out.

— Paul Rutz

 

About the artist

Paul X. Rutz received his Ph.D. in Theory and Cultural Studies from Purdue University in 2011 after writing a dissertation on combat art and the Iraq war. That year Rutz took his portrait painting practice to Portland, OR, where he works with live models to develop life-size oil paintings. His work has been featured on the TV show Portlandia, and recent exhibitions include solo shows at Gay Street Gallery, Washington, VA, and Jupiter Gallery, as well as group shows at Mark Woolley Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution. His series of dual-media portraits of combat veterans, titled Between Here and There, has traveled to galleries in Portland, Vashon Island, WA, and the Oregon Military Museum. Rutz also writes about visual culture, with recent publications in the Huffington Post, On Patrol, Military History Magazine and many others.

www.paulrutz.com

 

About The Performers

Rachel Mann Band

Portland based singer-songwriter brings a special blend of old-time, country and folk.

www.rachelmannmusic.com 

Free Thought Takeover has been taking over Portland since March 2015. This lineup is stacked with professional musicians from across the country (New York, Chicago, Honolulu, Boston, Miami) bringing Portland a unique blend of a dynamic horn section, tight rhythm section, and exciting vocal artists.

Free Thought Takeover has taken over venues such as Holocene, Alhambra Theater, Hawthorne Theater, Kelly’s Olympian, Star Theater, Graffitti Fest, Green Valley Music Fest, and many more.

They’ve been setting up stage with local Portland acts such as Glenn Waco, Elton Crey, Speaker Minds, The Sindicate & Dear Drummer, just to name a few.

Free Thought Takeover isn’t just a band name. The group has made notable efforts to enlighten and donate to causes concerning free speech, human rights, and media censorship. Eighty percent of the world does not have access to free press. All the news they read is altered. Free Thought Takeover wants to change that.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/freethoughttakeover/about/?ref=page_internal

 

Plates: A Documentary Motion Picture
Oil on canvas stretched over recycled church organ pipes 2014 48" x 72"

Playing Cards: A Documentary Motion Picture
Oil on canvas stretched over recycled church organ pipes 2015 48" x 72"

Sheet: A Documentary Motion Picture
Oil on canvas stretched over recycled church organ pipes 2016 48" x 72"

She Castles: A Documentary Motion Picture
Oil on canvas stretched over recycled church organ pipes 2016 48" x 72"

Party Cups: A Documentary Motion Picture
Oil on canvas stretched over recycled church organ pipes 2016 48" x 72"

Two Chairs and a Headstand: A Documentary Motion Picture
Oil on canvas stretched over recycled church organ pipes 2016 48" x 72"

Divided We Stand – Portland Artists React to Post-Election America

 

Now that the shock of this unprecedented election has subsided, many of us are left with feelings of uncertainty and doubt. And while some of us would like nothing more than to curl into a ball and hope that the world continues to go on around us, others are gearing up for a fight.

Now we must decide what is truly worth fighting for. When those freedoms we hold most dear are threatened, how do we come together to protect those directly impacted by their loss, and to preserve those freedoms, not just for ourselves & our loved ones, but for ALL OF US?

Many of us no longer feel safe, now that the floodgates of racism & bigotry have been thrown wide. Civil rights, women’s rights, trans rights, marriage equality, immigration. Income inequality, health care, education, global warming. These are what’s at stake.

Let this be our rallying cry. Let us show them our hopes and our fears for the future of this country. Let us show them why we fight.

Featuring Works By
ACE TROY
ALEA BONE
BONNIE MELTZER
BRENT WEAR
CHRIS HABERMAN
CHRISTIAN HOOKER
CONSU TOLOSA
DAFNA STEINBERG
FRED SWAN
GARY HOUSTON
JIM LOMMASSON
JON WIPPICH
KAREN WIPPICH
LIZ MCDONALD
NANETTE WALLACE
REMEDIOS RAPOPORT
RYAN MCABERY
‘Love Trumps Hate Prayer Flags’ a collaborative project by SHU-JU WANG
Plus Live Music by THE FROGS

Join us and these dedicated local artists for an evening of solidarity & community, here at Ford Gallery!

January 20th from 6-10 PM

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
~Thomas Jefferson

—–

PLUS:
Ford Food & Drink will also be hosting Not Our President: Women Writers Against Trump from 7 – 9 PM!

“Now, more than ever, it is crucial that women come together and make our voices heard. When women join in solidarity and support one another, we create change. So please, come join us on Inauguration evening, the night before the Women’s March on Portland, as several of Portland’s finest women writers light up this dark, dark day and take a stand against Trump and the misogyny and oppression he represents. Of course, all forms of gender and genitalia are warmly welcome!”

https://www.facebook.com/events/358911947821326/

—–

Catching The Big One
by Dafna Steinberg

Rising to the Challenge
by Nanette Wallace

Acro-Thinking
By Remedios Rapoport

Very Convincing
by Dafna Steinberg

For All the Courageous Hearts
by Elizabeth McDonald

Tweet Twit
by Christian Hooker

Gentle Revolution Mobile
By Remedios Rapoport

Who's Pulling Your Strings
by Elizabeth McDonald

Con Artist
by Christian Hooker

Dilatation and Evacuation (I Heart Congress)
by Dafna Steinberg

by Ace Troy

I'm Lovin' It
by Christian Hooker

Tax the Rich / Live Love
by Remedios Rapaport

Pussy Power
by Karen Wippich

Love Trumps Hate Prayer Flags
A collaborative Project by Shu-Ju Wang

Love Trumps Hate Prayer Flags
A collaborative Project by Shu-Ju Wang

Calling All Nasty Women!
by Nanette Wallace

NO / "O"
by Nanette Wallace

¡RESIST!
by Gary Houston

Trump Noir
by Jon Wippich

9th Annual Big 500 Show

$40 Original ART Benefit

500 + regional artists create ART on 8″x8″ wood panels. 5000 + works of ART on display, a mere $40/piece!!!!! CASH/CREDIT/CARRY.

Event begins SHARP at 2pm, Saturday, December 10, 2016.
First Come/First Serve. NO ART will be SOLD before 2pm this day. Show runs through December 23, at Ford Gallery, the main floor of the Ford Building/SE Division.

Gallery hours Dec 11-23, 9am-6pm DAILY.

A portion of the proceeds benefits the Oregon Food Bank. FREE entry with non-perishable food items/Can Food. Proudly, this is our 9th year for this show, which has moved to this location from its high rise galleries at Pioneer Place (2009-2015).

Big 500 is a trademarked show by Chris Haberman Presents, produced by Chris Haberman and Jason Brown (duo of Peoples Art), hosted by Ford Gallery (guest partner, Ross Blanchard), sponsored by Oregon Food Bank, Pabst Brewing, Burnside Brewing, Ford Building, Portland Mercury, KBOO, Hardwood Industries, PoBoy ART frame shop and Chris Haberman Presents. Thank you in advance to the hardworking and dedicated artists, collectors and community of our beloved Portland, Oregon, and its devout appreciation for the creative culture. Go Big 500!! #big500artshow

Don’t forget to join & share our Facebook Event!video

Video by Danielle Kirby and Adam Bailey

Aesthetic Dysfunction – The Art of Karen Wippich

Ford Gallery is proud to present the work of Karen Wippich!

Karen’s new acrylic works incorporate elements of mixed media collage, creating her own unique stories from bits of found text and imagery.

Join us on November 5th to see Karen’s latest creations and enjoy some light refreshments. Karen’s work will be on view at Ford Gallery from November 5th – December 3rd.

Karen was recently featured on Oregon Art Beat:
http://www.opb.org/television/programs/artbeat/segment/artist-karen-wippich/

Artist Bio

Karen Wippich grew up moving across the US, spending time alone creating characters and fantasies. Most of her adult life has been spent working as a graphic designer. Her design work has been widely published in the US and internationally. A few years ago her focus changed to something she dreamed about as a child, to be a working artist.

Karen’s expressionist acrylic paintings show her graphic influence with figures inhabiting and blending into abstract environments, their bodies breaking into geometric shapes, incised by lines. Her paintings have been shown extensively in Oregon galleries as well as shows in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington State and Washington DC.

Artist Statement

I have often heard that an artist has to have a good story to go with their work. My paintings tell their own story. They are rich in history. Layers of images. Every viewer sees something, their own story, a relative, a friend and that is what I think attracts them to my paintings. If someone asks me what one of my paintings is about, I say, “you tell me”. When I paint I feel alive and free. For a few hours nothing else matters. My hope is that my paintings can make the viewer feel that way too, if even for a moment.

Auxha
Karen Wippich Acrylic / Mixed Media 16"x12"

Chaos in the Streets
Karen Wippich Acrylic / Mixed Media 30”x18”

With These Clowns
Karen Wippich Acrylic / Mixed Media 36”x48”

Peace
Karen Wippich Acrylic / Mixed Media 24"x16"

Whipper Snapper
Karen Wippich Acrylic / Mixed Media 12”x24”

Runner
Karen Wippich Acrylic / Mixed Media 30”x30”

Swingtown USA
Karen Wippich Acrylic / Mixed Media 46”x36”

Happy At Anchor
Jon Wippich! Acrylic on Board 24”x18”