Opening reception Date December 17th 5-7pm

Hours: WEEKDAYS 6:30AM-5PM WEEKENDS 7AM-5PM

"This show is a sharing of the things that bring me peace, ease, images, lines, textures that make me smile, a friend's son at play, my daughter dancing. This show is and was the process. The process of learning to make art. Termed by a dear friend and mentor to "try softer" and etched in a beautiful necklace another friend has made for me. I'm reminded to slow down, to let magic happen on its own, to engage deeply, but softly. That it is all a dance. The chair's angle's like the angles of the body. An old frame dancing with the lines and textures of one of my pieces. The image of an old friend and I dancing together, the memory of that divinity, the connection as our hands anchor us together.

This show is the dance of a tender, softer humanity. As Theodore Dreiser says, art is the "stored honey of the human soul". I recognize the privilege of making art when our world is as it is, but also know, when we are making art we are stronger individually and collectively, and when given art, our children thrive, DEEPLY.

Thank you for enjoying this work, and please reach out to share thoughts and questions on instagram @claireolberding I was born in Port Townsend, Washington, and raised in NE Portland. I am a dancer, choreographer, teacher and visual artist. I received my BFA from New York University, danced professionally in NYC, and have had a 16 year teaching career at daVinci Arts Middle School and Open Space in Portland, OR. My aesthetic life has been influenced deeply by my mentor of dance Tracey Durbin, and of art, Orly Avineri. During the pandemic I expanded from my artistic discipline of dance and movement, to creating visual art using multimedia. I am so honored to have my first solo show at Stumptown on Division, and so grateful for the help of Stumptown's art curator, Wendy Swartz."