Before The Pearl was The Pearl, it was a forgotten industrial district and home to many burgeoning Portland artists whose work would help transform that entire section of the city. Richard Melloy is one of those artists. Now calling Foster-Powell his home, Melloy continues to build on his decades-long career as a painter and commercial illustrator.

Join us on August 27 at 6 pm at Ford Gallery for Richard Melloy’s “Present In Time” an exhibit of new works by the artist as well as a collection of his most popular prints.

“Melloy is more than an accomplished painter—he is an inspiration for creative longevity,” PDX Magazine wrote of Melloy. “[He’s] bullheaded enough not to quit and smart enough to adapt throughout a long career.”

See the full article HERE.

And another article on last year’s “The Way I See It” exhibit HERE.

We will hold an artist tour at 7 p.m., and Melloy will join us that evening downstairs at the Mechanical event space for PDX Magazine’s Last Saturday Salon

The show will run from August 27 – September 17.

Jason Brown has dedicated so much of himself to supporting the Portland art scene recently as a gallerist/arts advocate at GoodFoot, Peoples Art of Portland, Po Boy Art, and elsewhere, that newcomers to Portland might not recognize this veteran’s work. To help remedy this, Ford Gallery has collected select works of Brown’s for this retrospective to celebrate the artist who has inspired so many others over the years.

Join us on Saturday, July 16, 2016 at 6 pm for an opening celebration. The show runs through August 13.

Jason Brown’s Artist Statement:

“Painting is my vessel of communication. Art becomes a social and personal dialectic for me aimed at resolving inner and public conflict while simultaneously celebrating humanity.

“Through irony, humor, bold and subtle imagery, I convey my vision to others. I place my characters in settings where the rooftops of society have been cut off and their idiosyncrasies become their vulnerabilities. By utilizing perspective, I place my characters into a realm that seems comfortable and inviting, but contains certain disjointed qualities. My characters explode out of their setting while remaining stoic, as though they are unaffected by their environment — a petty thief that steals the tip of a waitress left on the bar by a previous patron; the meat market patrons with their robust, crazed egos manipulating the masses with their decedent carnage.

“Some have suggested that my work has a masculine perspective, but I certainly do not represent or embody the masculine viewpoint. Ultimately, I paint individuals transfixed by their struggle, at times framing the daily lives of “Martyred Saints”, “Super humans” that have routines and transgressions just as anyone else. (The musician who forgets he is mortal for a brief second and the lightning bolt of god touches his forehead, knighting this saint a forbearer of humanity – the husband who goes into a strip bar for directions, and is coincidentally spotted by his wife.)

“I am intrigued by the situational moments that could be explained, but the individual finds himself trapped by the circumstances. Through observation and perspective I make an earnest attempt at painting the honesty of humanity.”

“Chance of Showers” is a collection of Chris Haberman’s latest work on display at the Ford Gallery April 30 – May 28.

Saturday, April 30, opening night, join us in the Ford Gallery from 6-8 pm and then downstairs at our underground lair “Mechanical” (Suite B27) from 8 onward for Last Saturday Salon featuring a reading by Chris Haberman.

Chris Haberman is a working painter, writer, muralist, curator and musician, native to Portland, Oregon. Aside from painting, he has published poetry, journalism and fiction; being awarded the Tom Doulis Fiction award, the Wilma Morrison award for excellence in journalism from Portland State University and is a lifetime member to the Academy of American Poets.

All of Chris Haberman’s artwork is created recycled objects, found material from the streets and alleyways of his hometown. A discarded cabinet door or table top quickly becomes the backdrop for an integrated puzzle-poem of figures and text, focusing on subjects like people, politics, the region, pop-culture, media, music, film and literature.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams said in 2009 that “Chris is the hardest working artist in Portland.” Chris’ first curatorship was a show for Adams in City Hall of Portland, Oregon, (Portland Pride, 2007). He has also shown art in hundreds of venues, including “Oregon Art Annual” and is a frequent contributor to local artwalks, school fairs and open studio tours. In July 2012, Chris recorded selling over 10,000 original works since 2001; and he was a feature artist for Oregon Art Beat on Oregon Public Broadcasting and awarded “Portland Artist of the Year” for Barfly Magazine. In Jan, 2011, he and fellow artist Jennifer Mercede won a national artist contest in Las Vegas, competing with artists’ from 10 other cities.

Besides making art, Chris is also a teacher and a fervent freelance curator and arts advocate, coordinating hundreds of Portland art exhibits with regional artists since 2001, founding first a non-profit (Portland City Art, 2009) and then Chris Haberman Presents and The People’s Art of Portland in Pioneer Place Mall (with fellow artist/curator/buddy, Jason Brown, The Goodfoot) both in 2010, to help local artists show their works.

In 2011, he illustrated a book with Oregon television icon, K.C. Cowan detailing a humorous selection of Catholic Saints. In the same year he also completed a 219 wood panel album reproduction for an office mural for record label Kill Rock Stars, and a 100 piece show of about the History of Oregon for Portland State University. In 2012/2013 he completed a 140 foot mural about “The History of Hawthorne Blvd.” for 50th SE Hawthorne on the Eagles Fraternal Lodge funded by a grant from Regional Arts and Culture Council; and currently is the Art Consultant/Curator/Art Department Staff for TV show Portlandia (Seasons 3, 4 and 5). In 2014, he helped present the 15th annual Oregon Art Beat exhibition of 350 artists with Oregon Public Broadcasting, and appeared as a working artist on Ovation channel’s reality show, “One Man’s Trash.” Summer 2015 Chris completed a large-scale outdoor mural for the City of Milwaukie, OR, in partnership with TriMet for the new Orange Line Train line.

Contact:
Email: [email protected]
www.facebook.com/chris.haberman

Ford Gallery presents Artcest, a collaborative group show with works by Ali Schlicting, Emily Bates, Christopher Creath, Jennifer Griffo, and Matt Schlosky. The show is curated by Ali Schlicting.

Opening celebration Saturday, March 26, 6-11 pm — 6-8 pm in the Gallery, 8-11 pm in Mechanical, suite B27

Show runs through April 23rd.

Christopher Creath

Ali Schlicting

Emily Bates

Matt Schlosky

Jennifer Griffo

This month, Ford Gallery is proud to exhibit works by artist Sam Klein. Klein’s pointillist work draws from his uniquely-curated appreciation of pop culture. The “points” in each of these pieces are Phillips head screws of varying size and color. The works are magnificent when viewed in person. Klein’s other paintings viewable in the slideshow below, are not hung in the gallery but are on site and can be viewed by appointment. Stop by before March 19.

Ford Gallery 2505 SE 11th Ave. For sales, contact Ross Blanchard at 503-449-3305 or [email protected]

Saber Rom unleashes new works at the Ford Gallery in January with an opening party at the gallery on January 16 at 6 pm that continues downstairs at PDX Magazine’s Mechanical venue in Suite B27 after 8 pm.

Yes, we’re off our last Saturday schedule again for art openings, but it’s Saber’s birthday, so what better reason to move up an opening. Come ready for a real celebration!

Saber’s latest work is a collection of paintings on oriented strand board (OSB) and many of the works feature wildlife. By depicting wildlife on this ubiquitous and inexpensive construction material, the artist asks the viewer to consider the delicate balance between the human need for shelter and nature’s need for suitable habitat.

From the artist:

“This current work is an attempt to explain, to poke fun, to shout out ‘order in the court!’ As our most asleep-at-the-wheel president left office on the eve of our next great depression, housing markets were imploding, banks teetered on collapse.

“Flash forward. We voted for Hope and then on was the next building/buying boom. In my neighborhood as well as yours, where one old rundown house once stood, four shot up in its place at six feet apart. These shotgun shack town homes promised ‘yours: new, dry, warm’. Enter Oriented Strand Board (OSB): lumber’s leavings pressed with glue and soaked in formaldehyde. This OSB board was something my eyes traced everyday across this same cityscape. We’ve cut down so many trees that we can’t build out of plywood anymore. I try to notice the evictions: the crows, squirrels, raccoons, hummingbirds must press on in search of that same dream we got sold: ‘your dry, warm home’.”

Show Dates: Jan 16 – Feb 19.

Ford Gallery | 2505 SE 11th Ave

For sales or more info, contact Ross Blanchard — [email protected], 503-449-3305

Ford Building artists are the focus of Ford Gallery’s next show. “The Ford Artists Winter Show” opens Saturday, November 28, 2015, with an art sale from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. The Ford Gallery is located at 2505 SE 11th Ave in Portland.

The artists represented in the show are Olinka Broadfoot, Annamieka Hopps-Davidson, Sue Friesz, Ken Sellen, Nicki Beiderman, Kay Henning Danley, Lisa Bauso, Arletha Ryan, and Ariel Zimman.

Olinka Broadfoot

Olinka Broadfoot, whose exhibition ran during the month of November at the Ford Gallery is a Czech-American sculptor and painter. She’s one of the original tenants of the Ford Building with her studio on the basement level. Broadfoot’s works include bronzes; clay sculptures; oil and acrylic paintings; and mixed media works.

Sue Friesz

Sue Friesz is a visual artist working in sculpture, assemblage, drawing and painting. She spent her formative years growing up in Central Missouri with a family passionate about nature and the environment. She uses shapes, contours, and patterns found in the plant world as well as the built world, putting them together in some degree of balance. Sometimes this balance falls nearer the organic side of the spectrum and other times it is closer to the mechanical end. It can also be a perfect balance of both but never one without the other.

Friesz’s work has been in solo as well as group exhibitions. It is included in corporate and private collections including Sprint Corporation. Her work has been included in New American Paintings Exhibition in Print, Boston, MA. She has won grants from the Avenue of the Arts Foundation and Public Arts Commission in Kansas City, MO., and she is a fellowship recipient of the Edwin Austin Abbey Memorial Fund, New York City.

Fries and her husband spent the latter part of the 1990s living in Asuncion, Paraguay; Curitiba, Brazil; and Beni Suef, Egypt. They moved to Portland in 2012 where Friesz maintains a working studio in the Ford Building in Suite B26.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from the University of Missouri, Kansas City and a Master of Arts in Studio Art from the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO. She is also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

You can visit Friesz’s studio in Suite B026 in the Ford Building.

Ken Sellen

Artist Ken Sellen captures people in astonishing detail in his portraits. Attempting to search out each subject’s inner self, while stripping away all artifice with empty backgrounds and posing each subject with no direction except to think inwardly about themselves and their own lives. He works in pastel pencil and oil. Sellen is available for commissions.

Nicki Beiderman

Nicki Beiderman’s art belongs to what was recently called by Laura Haptman, “atemporal painting” when she referred to a 2014-2015 MOMA exhibition. She was describing painting that is an amalgam of previous styles. The historical styles Beiderman integrates come from the Bauhaus, Abstract Expressionists and ColorField Painters.

She represent traditional painting on a two dimensional surface and is most interested in the traditional elements of painting: color, shape, texture, and composition.

“As an artist I try to capture my experiences and express them on canvas,” says Beiderman. “Sometimes the experience is an internal space such as dreams and feelings; at other times it is external – landscapes, photographs or people.

“Over time I have come to value an authenticity of expression, staying true to what is evoked within me. My hope is that viewers feel a resonance with their own life experiences.”

Beiderman received formal training at Cal State Northridge and California College of the Arts (CCA). Her studies continued with programs at Ox-bow through the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2009, she was awarded Ox-bow’s Loretta Grellner scholarship.

Beiderman’s artwork can be found in private collections across the country. She is currently represented online by Les Arts San Francisco; additional work can be seen at her website www.nbstudioart.com.

Beiderman’s studio is on the second floor of the Ford Building, Room 233. She’s frequently in her studio on Friday afternoons and on Saturdays. She can be reached at 503-477-7528.

Kay Henning Danley

From Kay Henning Danley’s artis bio:

“Manipulating paint allows infinite opportunity for visualizing my world both externally and internally. My painting is evocative rather than representative or literal. The decisions I must make about what imagery is brought to the surface and illuminated, and what is left hidden and in shadow, is a major part of my process. Painting the human figure, or other subjects or environments that I choose, allows me to explore and discover any number of visual responses. This process reveals myself: the fragility, the strength, the grace, and the parts of me that are as yet unfinished or raw, empty, lonely, tired, and of course, the joyful places also. I like the physicality of paint, the tools that apply it, and this energy becomes part of the vitality of the work. My paintings contain no story, anecdote, or literal representation. I want my work to be interesting enough for the viewer to discover new things with each viewing, to ponder meaning and connection to their world, and to question and wonder.”

studio hours: Suite 234 at the Ford Building: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10-4 or by appointment. http://kaydanley.com/

Lisa Bauso

Lisa Bauso began her photography career shooting for a weekly New Jersey newspaper while in high school. She went on to study fine art and documentary photography in college while publishing the fanzine Rock Exposure and has continued to shoot for national newspapers and magazines.

Her project “Bella’s Pockets” has evolved from a curious survey collecting and photographing the objects she found in her daughter’s pockets, to a traveling photography exhibit of pop art images on birch plywood panels, to a fine art book published by Simply Read Books.

Arletha Ryan

Arletha Ryan is painter and a printmaker. She works in oil paint, woodblock prints, and mono prints. Ryan earned a B.S. in Art and Architecture from the University of Oregon and has studied at Marylhurst College, Portland State University, and Pacific Northwest College of Art. In 1997 she was awarded a residency at The Vermont Studio Center.

You will find Arletha’s work at the City of Portland 1% of Art, The Gordon Gilkey Print Library PAM, Washington County 1% of Art, Portland Visual
Chronicle, and in the collections of numerous corporations and collectors.

A portfolio of her work can be found on her website:arlethamryan.com

Studio: Ford Building B-05
Available by appointment
Phone: 503 688:6415
e-mail: [email protected]

Ariel Zimman

Ariel Zimman is the owner, designer, and creator behind RELM Studios. With twenty years of experience as a sculptor and ceramic artist, her single-handed focus on the conception, production, and distribution of each piece affords a thoughtful and distinct aesthetic, as well as the flexibility to craft custom pieces and site-specific installations. Her training in classic ceramic techniques, experience in a high-volume production studio, exhibitions in galleries, work at museums, and coordinator of a pop-up shop has all informed her studio practice and creations.

Ariel fell in love with clay in 3rd grade while taking her first pottery class and has continued to work with the material ever since, incorporating techniques of hand building, slip casting and throwing on the pottery wheel into her creations. Her interests range from utilitarian design to life under the sea. Ariel graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts with a concentration in sculpture and ceramics from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston & Tufts University in 2009.

Work is available for sale or commission. Visit Ariel in Suite B022, or www.relmstudios.com