Portland, Or. The Portland Winter Light Festival (PDXWLF) presented by Portland General Electric featured over 100 artists in varied media such as video projection mapping, fire sculpture, and live performance. This was the fifth year for the festival and the theme was Into the Dreamscape. The festival weekend kicked off on February 6th and showcased installations like Mihaly’s Gate which was originally created for the Pacific Fire Gathering on the Oregon Coast.
Ring of Fire by Wildstone Arts.
Here’s a video about the festival:
Circus Luminescence is a local circus entertainment group performing at the festival.
Some special highlights included fire dancing, hoop performances, circus acts, a lantern parade, and an illuminated bike ride. It also had the Glow Bar featuring artisan cocktails and a Silent Disco dance party, pop-up art installations by local design and architecture firms, which includes an immersive 2,500 square foot “Light Forest” by Henry V.
Winter Light Festival 2018. Photo by Brooke Hoyer.
Below is another video showing some highlights from 2019 Winter Light Festival:
The Portland Winter Light Festival is an annual event of the Willamette Light Brigade, a non-profit arts organization. PDXWLF is presented to guests for free, and builds community by bringing art and technology to inclusive audiences while invigorating Portland in the winter. Our 5th year will take place February 6-8, 2020. If you would like to find out more, explore our website for information on artists, performer schedules, and to see full maps. Last year’s PDXWLF showcased over 114 illuminated art installations, over 60 vibrant performances and live events, educational programs, stunning kinetic fire sculptures throughout our city, and hosted over 150,000 guests. Our 2020 festival promises another year of magic and art.
The Willamette Light Brigade (WLB) founded PDXWLF in an effort to propel forward its mission of connecting community and enriching the public realm through artful lighting. The Festival began as a coalescence of ideas in 2016, and was propelled into existence by dedicated community members too numerous to mention. We are committed to keeping the Portland Winter Light Festival family-friendly, free to attend, and open to everyone. So bundle up and celebrate the power of light and community with us!
Portland, December 15th, 2013. Portland Jewish Academy’s Annual Auction was a huge success.. With a theme of Sunday Night Fever, attendees dressed up in afros, bright colored shirts and bell bottoms to show their spirit for the occasion; Stacy Barna, Carmen Borg, Jordan Schnitzer looked over the auction items. (Photo credit, Oolite Photography) The auction was filled with fabulous items including art created by the students themselves. The result: $555,000 raised for Scholarships and S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math). A big thanks to the Community Grand Patron Sponsors: Steve “Rosy” Rosenberg and Ellen Lippman as well as The Jay & Diane Zidell Charitable Foundation.
Portland, July 26, 2013. Creative fires are burning brightly at the busy Artists Repertory Theatre facility. Recent arrivals to the building are Profile Theatre, Polaris Dance Theatre, The Red Door Project and Traveling Lantern Theatre Company. Artists Repertory Theatre is continuing its relationship with Portland Shakespeare Project, Portland Revels and Portland Area Theatre Alliance. The big red building at the corner of SW 15th and Morrison has become a bustling arts campus, housing a diverse group of eight complementary arts organizations that now make their home within Artists Rep’s red walls.
Artists Repertory Theatre at the corner of SW 15th and Morrison.
Over the past two years the goal of turning Artist Rep’s building into an important hub for both emerging and long-established arts organizations and artists has come to fruition. Relationships and activities that began informally, from long-term administrative residencies to rotating art installations featured in the Morrison Stage Lobby, to hosting a wide variety of performances by guest producing entities in its two spaces, has resulted in nearly non-stop activity and opportunity for artists and audiences alike. The development of the facility as a shared home for the arts has been embraced as a core value by the organization’s board of directors and staff.
“It’s thrilling to see this facility become a true community resource for the arts,” said Sarah Horton, Managing Director, “and I know we’ll all be stronger organizations for it.”
Recently appointed Artistic Director Dámaso Rodriguez continues, “These residencies yield not only practical benefits and creative opportunities for our resident companies, but for Artists Rep. The leadership of each of these carefully chosen organizations values an emphasis on partnership, synergy and collaboration. Over time, I expect we’ll discover countless ways for our organizations to share resources and further our individual missions.”Recent arrivals to the building are Profile Theatre, Polaris Dance Theatre, The Red Door Project and Traveling Lantern Theatre Company. We are continuing our relationship with Portland Shakespeare Project, Portland Revels and Portland Area Theatre Alliance.
Performing at Artists Rep:
Portland Shakespeare Project celebrates its third summer season performing two plays in repertory at Artists Rep.
Profile Theatre has newly relocated administrative offices in the building and will begin its 16th season profiling the work of Sam Shepard on Artist Rep’s stages in January.
Traveling Lantern Theatre Company will begin weekly Saturday morning performances of interactive theatre for children in the Alder Lobby on August 17.
Administrative offices at Artists Rep:
Polaris Dance Theatre has recently moved its offices to Artists Rep, but will continue to perform right up the street at Polaris Contemporary Dance Center at SW 15th & Taylor.
Portland Revels, longtime tenant on the East side of the building, will remain and continue to produce at the Scottish Rite building across the street.
The Red Door Project is a recent office space addition to the facility’s growing community.
Artists Rep’s 80,000 square foot building takes up a city block nestled between downtown and Jeld-Wen field in the emerging Goose Hollow district.
About Artists Repertory Theatre
Founded in 1982, Artists Repertory Theatre is the longest-running professional theatre company in Portland. Artists Rep is committed to world-class acting, directing, design and stagecraft that support new playwriting and aspires to embody great literature, moving audiences to truly feel— to experience —storytelling in a way that only the best live theatre can.
Portland’s premiere mid-size regional theatre company is led by Artistic Director Dámaso Rodriguez and Managing Director Sarah Horton. For the 2013/14 season Artists Rep will offer nine bold and entertaining new plays written by internationally acclaimed playwrights, and guided by esteemed directors. Artists Rep productions will feature the work of a core group of accomplished Resident Artists, each with a shared history and a shorthand for collaboration, working alongside guest artists from Portland and beyond.
Resident Artists include: Kristeen Crosser (scenic & lighting designer), Michael Mendelson (actor/director & artistic associate), Vana O’Brien (actor & co-founder), Rodolfo Ortega (sound designer & composer), Allen Nause (actor/director & former artistic director), Jeff Seats (scenic designer) and Todd Van Voris (actor & artistic associate).
Portland, March 13th, 2013. The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) announced a line-up of nine new installations by local artists at the Portland Building Installation Space. Here’s information from RACC about what’s coming:
Over the next twelve months artists representing a wide range of approaches to art making will be featured in 4 week installments. Since 1994 RACC has managed the Installation Space in the Portland Building (located downtown at 1120 SW 5th Avenue) and has presented some of Portland’s best interactive and experimental media installations. At 13’wide by 8′ deep, this modestly sized venue is devoted exclusively to installation art. The space has developed a devout following over the years and competition for a spot on the roster is always spirited.
This year, 71 artists submitted proposals in the Professional Artist category, and 26 artists applied in the Student category. An independent selection panel reviewed all of the proposals, and ultimately selected nine site-specific works that are challenging, topical and diverse.
Portland Building Installation Space—2012/2013 Season Calendar and Project Descriptions:
Nicholas Norman March 25 – April 19, 2013
Jacob Sorenson April 29 – May 24, 2013
Patricia Vazquez Gomez & Betty Marin June 3 – June 28, 2013
Anthony Hudson July 8 – Aug 2, 2013
Michael Sell August 12 – September 6, 2013
Paula Rebsom & Grant Hottle September 16 – October 11, 2013
Ariana Jacob October 21 – November 15, 2013
Paul Clay and Zachary Krausnick January 13– February 7, 2014
Joseph Kucinski February 17 – March 14, 2014
Nicholas Norman (Student – PSU) March 25 – April 19, 2013
Waiting Room – Nicholas Norman’s work, which explores the meanings of places and how we understand them, kicks off the new season of installations at the Portland Building. Nicholas has a particular interest in waiting rooms: “Most of us are familiar with the experience of a waiting room, the uncomfortable seats, the horrible magazines, we know what it is…but what is the difference between a waiting room in an everyday doctor’s office versus a gallery?” Norman will create an artificial waiting room in the Installation Space to explore the difference between a fabrication and a room that is intentionally functional—is a fabricated space really any different if it can serve an identical purpose? Can a waiting room be anything other than a waiting room, or is its true meaning trapped within intention? Norman’s faux waiting room promises uncomfortable seating, dull magazines, a ticking clock, a potted plant, bad (but free) coffee, mediocre landscape paintings and the ubiquitous lost toy underneath the chair. Viewers are encouraged to bring their own interpretation to the installation, in this case however, they will be completely in control of the amount of time they decide to wait.
Jacob Sorenson April 29 – May 24, 2013
A Landscape – “Is Bigfoot real? I hope so. But I’m pessimistic.” This quote from Jacob Sorenson’s proposal might serve as a tagline for his installation. He’ll construct a nature-circus landscape in the space that embodies the human tendency to both ideologically and physically manipulate the environment. To the right picture a silhouette-like sculpture of a majestic tree-line, but with Las Vegas style chase-lights there to help better define the trees. To the left notice a sculpture that sets out to improve upon the beautiful sunset image we all hope for at the end of a day…only maybe with a few extra colors and a repeat cycle so we can enjoy it longer. And finally in the back, slightly obscured by the tree-line, look for that elusive silhouette of Bigfoot rumored to make periodic appearances.
Patricia Vazquez Gomez & Betty Marin (Students – PSU) June 3 – June 28, 201
Welcome – Welcome is intended to inform and expand the connection between a building that represents the City of Portland and the experiences of some of this city’s newer residents. Grounded in this artist team’s social-practice work serving the immigrant community, and in their own cultural roots, the project will explore the ways in which Spanish speaking immigrants feel both welcome and not welcome in Portland. The physical installation will consist of projected images of those interviewed by the team, and text from participants’ responses presented as a “wallpaper” backdrop. In honor of the exchange of hospitality, a small artesanal souvenir will be offered to visitors to take home.
Anthony Hudson (Student – PNCA) July 8 – Aug 2, 2013
Queering Portlandia – Despite her notoriety and our love for her, Portlandia is irrefutably rooted, by sculptural tradition and in concept, to Euro-centrism. The 35 foot high hammered copper statue that graces the façade of the Portland Building depicts the image of a classical female figure with European features. In that sense she represents only a portion our city’s diverse population. Artist and performer Anthony Hudson, who identifies as a “queer Portlander, a native Oregonian, and a Grand Ronde Indian,” will offer up a series of alternate Portlandias that embody the diversity that exists in Portland today. “Queering is essentially to make something queer, different, to make it anti-oppressive; queering here is to make Portlandia accessible again, giving an underprivileged audience a chance to recreate Portlandia in their own image.” The Installation Space will be transformed into a richly decorated photo booth/performance set complete with a selection of costumes and props and participants will be invited to perform on camera as their own version of Portlandia. In the artist’s words “Queering Portlandia will allow for a multitude of new Portlandias: Portlandia as a person of color, Portlandia as queer, Portlandia as a person with disabilities, Portlandia as a true, living Portlander. Queering Portlandia will demonstrate our community’s commitment to providing visibility, safety and opportunity to all its citizens.”
Michael Sell August 12 – September 6, 2013
Untitled (Photoswatch installation) – Photographer Michael Sell’s installation explores the point at which fine art intersects with décor, and investigates how the one supports and/or subverts the other. Sell will turn the Installation Space into a floor-to-ceiling grid of color, with the individual colors to be sourced from actual artwork hung inside the Portland Building. The project will function as a site-specific extension of his Photoswatch series that sampled and presented a single rectangular swatch of color from famous photographs—thus collapsing all visual elements and meaning within the photograph into one single color statement. The painted panels on the grid in the Installation Space will reference individual works of art that are hung throughout the building and each grid will be labeled with the title and location of the source work (for example: Purple Fields, 9th Floor). On the floor of the space Sell will place rows of small “sample sized” cans of paint—all mixed to match the grid colors. These will be offered to visitors to take home as souvenirs so they can ponder how much meaning travels home with them.
Paula Rebsom & Grant Hottle September 16 – October 11, 2013
Forecast – This site-specific project marks the first in a series of collaborations between Rebsom and Hottle. It combines painted and sculptural elements to suggest an impossible but thought provoking NW scene. Upon entering the building lobby the viewer will encounter a painted landscape on a stretched canvas that completely covers the front of the installation space. The scene, a typical Pacific Northwest landscape will physically screen off the entry to the space and will appear as a purpose-built covering…with the exception of an odd protrusion in the center of the painting that stretches the canvas (without puncturing it) and pokes out slightly into the lobby, creating an immediate desire to see what lies behind. As the viewer proceeds to the stairs (which offer a view behind the painting) they discover the cause of the protrusion that intrudes on the landscape and ultimately exposes its façade-like quality. The installation cleverly goads us into reconsidering our reflex definitions of “wild” or “natural” and suggests we consider those terms through a more complex lens.
Ariana Jacob October 21 – November 15, 2013
Working Title: As You Make Your Bed, So You Must Lie in It? – Social Practice artist Ariana Jacob has proposed an “artist-in-residence” installation designed to create an intimate, yet public setting where people will discuss thoughts and feelings about being both a single individual citizen as well as an element of the collective entity that is the United States. The space will be set up as a bedroom (an intimate space everyone is familiar with) with the U.S. Constitution printed on the bed spread. The Articles and Amendments to the Constitution will be screen printed on the pillowcases, the walls of the space will be transformed into chalk-boards on which different sections of the Constitution will be written. As the installation progresses the chalkboard text will be collaboratively edited as agreed upon by artist and participants. Jacob, a veteran of several successful conversation-based projects, will keep regularly scheduled hours and will focus the sessions on gaining a better sense of “American identity” by addressing the document that legally and symbolically binds us together as a people.
Ariana Jacob’s Conversation Station project from the 2009/2010; Jacob and eight other artists will present new a new set of installations at the Portland Building over the next 12 months.
Paul Clay and Zachary Krausnick January 13– February 7, 2014
Leda and the Swan – This team of I.T. savvy artists will present a fully interactive video interpretation of the classic “Leda and the Swan” story. In the darkened space a real-time digital projection will produce an image on the back wall of the installation space that is responsive to, and directed by, visitors’ body movements. As participants walk up to the opening of the space a projection of a swan will appear on the wall before them—the movements of the swan will mirror the movements of the participant as the viewer widens his/her arms, feathered wings will spread on the projected image, the swan’s feet will step and its neck will crane to match how the viewer orients his/her body. Ultimately the viewer will discover that faster, more violent movements will cause the feathers to fall off to reveal the figure of a woman (Leda). If the participant then returns to slower movements Leda will once again grow new feathers and transform back into the swan. The cycle continues on as long as there are participants willing to move.
Joseph Kucinski February 17 – March 14, 2014
The Tenacity of Change – Kucinski’s project is aimed at capturing a moment of wonderment and curious expectation. The installation will be composed of a custom garage door fit precisely into the space. With the viewer positioned “inside” the garage looking towards the outside, the door itself will be set so that the bottom edge hovers approximately two feet above the floor. A flood of mysterious colored light from under the door illuminates the darkened “garage” space. The piece is designed to create a sense of expectation and wonder as the viewer ponders what might lie ahead in the future if we are bold enough to (figuratively) open the door of the garage and move into the larger world, to look beyond the trepidation the future carries with it and think of it as an opportunity with infinite possibilities.
Viewing Hours & Location: 7 am to 6 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland.
For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space series including images, proposals and statements for all the installations since 1994, go to www.racc.org/installationspace. Chelsea, 2012. Nicholas Norman’s work, which explores the meanings of places and
how we understand them, kicks off a new season of installations at the Portland Building.
Ariana Jacob’s Conversation Station project from the 2009/2010; Jacob and eight other artists will present new a new set of installations at the Portland Building over the next 12 months.
Portland, August 10th. Six large scale mural projects are recently completed or underway in Portland this summer – all recipients of grant funding from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. RACC’s public art mural program, financed by the City of Portland, provides funding for community murals that reflect diversity in style and media and encourages artists from diverse backgrounds and range of experience to apply. In the photo above, Korean-American artist, Una Kim, has been feverishly working on a mural on the east wall of the Keller Auditorium with the assistance of students from Portland State University who enrolled in a class to specifically work on this project. The mural is located on the bottom half of the east facing wall of the Keller Auditorium along SW 2nd Street between SW Clay and SW Columbia. The design is influenced and inspired by such works as Degas’ ballerinas, Mary Cassatt’s At the Opera, and Dufy’s The Yellow Violin. Also included are a modern dancer, two musicians in an orchestra, and a jazz musician along with an acrobat to represent the large scope of the theater. A celebration is scheduled for Friday, August 17th, 6:00 – 8:00 PM (on SW 2nd);
Antwoine Thomas, mural designer, puts finishing touches on the Rosewood Initiative Mural, one of six new murals being created around Portland this summer. The Rosewood Mural will have an opening celebration this Saturday, August 11, 1-4pm at 16150 SE Stark.
Rosewood Initiative – Antwoine Thomas, Artist 16150 SE Stark St (south wall of Union 76 Gas Station); RACC Funding: $3,000
In developing this fantastical design for a mural in the Rosewood Neighborhood, Antwoine Thomas, with the assistance and support of Addie Boswell, began collaborating months ago with local residents through The Rosewood Initiative community meetings and activities like Youth Night to create a design that represents the positive change occurring in the neighborhood. Throughout the energetic mural one can identify recognizable elements from Rosewood including roses, community gardens, diversity, and local businesses. There are also elements that link the neighborhood to the greater Portland metro area, honoring some of the neighborhoods from which many residents have relocated. While the mural contains these true elements, the design is also highly detailed and fantastical, meant to entice the senses and invite the eye to linger and keep discovering.
The People’s History of Hawthorne – Artist, Chris Haberman Fraternal Order of Eagles, SE 50th & Hawthorne; RACC Funding $2,400;
Work continues on this ambitious mural that extends along the north and west walls of the building that serves as the Portland headquarters for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The mural’s theme, “The History of Hawthorne” – or the “people’s history” — celebrates this SE neighborhood, located between an extinct volcano (Mt. Tabor) and the 100 year old Hawthorne Bridge, both components of his design. Scattered throughout the mural are notable historical figures (such as Dr. Hawthorne), the asylum, pioneers, the street car line and the always changing figures that have been part of Hawthorne for 100 years. It is Haberman’s first mural grant and he is “very proud to have such a piece of art in public view and to have so much support for my crazy looking art in the city.” A celebration was held on July 1st. The west wall will be completed late summer/early fall.
Albina Maintenance Yard Building – Spacecraft Mission to the Arts 3150 N. Mississippi Ave.; RACC Funding: $10,000; 14’H x 177’L
Photo: Courtesy of SpaceCraft Mission to the Arts
Over the last several months, a mural has begun to take shape along the west side of the City’s Albina Yard Maintenance Building. Throughout the design development, community engagement has been the driving force—the Boise Neighborhood Association, community members, and the maintenance workers have all contributed their voices as to how they want themselves and their neighborhood depicted. More than a way to deter graffiti, it is a powerful, collaborative, self-reflective vision of the neighborhood created by those who live in it. The mural embraces a theme of “perpetual collaboration” through time. Community practices and industries that affected the local Portland-Albina neighborhood can be found among the local mountains, bridges, gardens, parks, icons of communities, and city workers behind the scenes that keep the city functioning. Included are symbols of the neighborhoods’ transitions of communities from the Native American, Volga German, Finn, Chinese, and African American communities. You can follow the project on https://www.facebook.com/spacecraft.missiontoarts.
Alberta Street Crossing – Loey Hargrove, Artist 4824 and 4905 NE 42nd Avenue; RACC Funding: $3,000; 11’H x 77’W and 13’H x 50’W
Photo: Courtesy of artist (proposed mural)
Finishing touches are underway on a pair of twin murals at NE 42nd & Alberta. Members of 42MSC began working on the project at the Alberta Court Crossing — one on the north-facing wall of the Morel Ink Building and another on the south-facing wall of Doggy Business. The murals aspire to invoke community through a “Tree of Life’ theme symbolizing process, change, the continuity and connectivity of life. Words submitted by members of the surrounding neighborhoods are being added to the mural and are intended to reinforce the symbiotic relationship between the commercial district and area residents.
Lutz Building – Mike Lawrence, Artist 4625-4639 SE Woodstock Blvd; RACC Funding: $6,000; 15’H x 60’L
Photo: Courtesy of artist (proposed mural)
This proposed mural is situated centrally in the Woodstock Neighborhood and is highly visible from the street. The mural aims to highlight the best of the neighborhood and instill a sense of community pride. Local artist Mike Lawrence designed a mural for the building’s west wall that celebrates commerce, education and the outdoors. The Lutz tavern wall that will host the mural is divided into three sections, as is the mural. A strong central figure grounds each section. Each figure is adorned with symbols of Greek Gods that represent the theme of each section. The project is still fundraising and hopes to begin the project next Spring.
For more information and a copy of the mural program guidelines, visit www.racc.org/public-art.
Story Submitted by Mary Bauer, Communications Associate, Regional Arts & Culture Council
NONPROFIT BENEFIT TICKET GIVEAWAYS!
Sign up for our free weekly highlights for the chance to win two tickets terrific nonprofit events! If you "like" us on facebook, or sign up for our weekly news highlights, you'll be entered to win! Sign up today!
Look for another ticket giveaway soon! Are you a nonprofit looking to bolster your publicity with facebook and tweets? Email us and we'll run a contest with tickets to your event! [email protected]
