The Latest

Our ✨Must-see✨ art exhibitions in Portland Newsletter went out yesterday! Everything you need to know about Portland art this July 🧨 Always free to subscribe 🔗artandaboutpdx.com/newsletter Let us know in the comments what exhibitions you saw or want to see about in #Portland #Seattle this month! #artandaboutpdx

El Retorn, Ros Vila 📍The Writer’s Block, 818 NW Flanders St., Portland ⏳ Hours: Mon-Fri 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. or by appt 🗓️ July, 3rd - 15th, 2025 🎟️ Free to the public Ros Vila is a Catalan visual and multidisciplinary artist who lives between Portland and Barcelona. Since moving abroad in 1999, her work continually revisits the concept of “home” represented in painting, fine art photography, and mixed media. In “El Retorn” Ros presents a retrospective of works from different periods and mediums, while highlighting her more recent focus on ceramics, primarily working with porcelain and experimenting with horsehair raku techniques. Her artistic career is a continuous work in progress, always evolving and exploring new forms of expression. In her porcelain sculptures she draws inspiration from artists like Richard Serra, for the way his sculptures defy gravity, and Noguchi, for his forms. Always seeking new media and forms of expression, Ros finds a common thread in the idea of Return. Living between two cities enriches her perspective and her work. “El Retorn” features the recurring theme of home -its absence, presence, memories and longings. About Ros Vila studied fashion design and marketing in Barcelona, and graduated from Dawson College, Montreal, DEC, with a major in Professional Photography. Her artistic career began to take shape while living in Mexico, where she discovered new photographic techniques and her passion for art. Throughout her career, she has exhibited work in galleries spanning multiple countries. #thewritersblock #northparkblocks #rosvila #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelportland #artistsupportartists #ceramics

i can hear these sounds just as closely as you can, Dylan Hester 📍after/time collective, 735 SW 9th #110, Portland ⏳Hours: Tues & Thurs, 6-8 p.m. + Sat, 12-5 p.m. 🗓️ July 3-30, 2025 🎟️ Free to the public Coming full circle from the rush of new beginnings at the establishment of after / time in 2020 as a project of anti-Capital imagination and concretization of multiple artistic visionings, the probity of process that after / time has always cherished and upheld in the artists and their respective work had its initial inspiration in Dylan’s insight that art is “long” not only in temporal-historical duration and development but in what it takes for art to even happen at all. Thus after / time, as co-created by Dylan at its genesis, was intended to create the conditions for the possibility where art could be “long”, and be finally free from the determinations of what Hegel termed “universal permanent Capital” and from which Marx schematized a way to surpass its shackles and impasses that it imposed on all generations to come. Being and doing what is possible continues to be key for Dylan and their practice. In i can hear these sounds just as closely as you can, by utilizing an archive of original field recordings, they have created intricate sound works punctuated with piano, synth, and voice. Dylan works within strict parameters and form, using sound from simple devices to create immersive, textural, and melodic pieces which are equally composed and improvised. They also include original photography and text in their work, exploring world-building and storytelling across longer narrative arcs as mentioned above. Their project, “A Sharpened Whisper,” is a performance moniker and self publishing label for music and writing. Dylan Hester is a sound artist, writer, & performer based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They received a B.A. in English Literature & Language from the University of Minnesota. (This exhibition was made possible through the generous support from @regionalarts @prosperportland @fordfamilyfound #artandaboutpdx #portlandartscene #firstthursdayportland

PPUBLIC CURATOR-LED TOUR OF BERLIN: A JEWISH ODE TO THE METROPOLIS 📍Oregon Jewish Museum, 724 NW Davis St., Portland ⏳Hours: Wed-Sun 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. 🗓️ Dates: July 10, Aug 8, Sept 12 🎟️ : Included with admission, free for members. RSVP preferred but not required. Tickets (Adults: $10, Seniors: $6, Students: $5, Members & Children under 12: Free) Portland-based artist Jason Langer will lead a tour of his exhibit: Berlin: A Jewish Ode to the Metropolis which showcases photography by Langer. The project is deeply personal to Langer, a reconciliation of impressions of the Holocaust that were seeded in him as a 10-year-old living on a kibbutz in Israel. Join for an intimate tour of the exhibition led by Langer, who also curated the exhibition. #artandaboutpdx #ojmche #jewishart #jewishartists #germany #berlin

Heart and Mind, Blood and Nerves, by Maria Lux 📍Carnation Contemporary, 8371 N Interstate Ave #3, Portland ⏳Hours: Sat-Sun 12-5 p.m. 🗓️ July 5 - July 27, 2025 🎟️ Free to the public This installation of new work by Maria Lux looks at venomous snakes—bringers of health and death, and linking our distant past with modern knowledge. Snakes have a persistent association with both healing and harm. Their venom contains risk and remedy, pain and potential. From antidotes made out of venom itself, to modern bioprospectors searching for the next billion-dollar drug—snakes and their venom have been used as healing agents for millenia—and cause hundreds of thousands of human deaths each year. Since the beginning, our intertwined relationship with snakes has been marked by a quest for knowledge, whether it’s the evolutionary theory that the avoidance of venomous snakes was instrumental in the development of human intelligence itself, or studies that show our fears and preconscious reactions to snakes are uniquely built into our very DNA. Recently, news outlets reported on the promising story of a snake-enthusiast who methodically allowed himself to be bitten by venomous snakes over 200 times in the hope that his own blood would create a universal anti-venom, but he is just one person in a long line who have sought invincibility to venoms through self-immunization. Whether these sacrifices and experiments lead to life-saving drugs or not, scientists all over the world look to the complexity and mystery of venom to unlock new understandings of medicine, immunology, physiology, and pharmacology. True to their many legends, snakes today can still be seen as guardians of ancient knowledge as well as yet-undiscovered secrets, and teach us things about who they and we are. Heart and Mind, Blood and Nerves considers the convergence of myth and medicine, storytelling and science, and caution and curiosity coiled around snakes. #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #snakes

Unexpected Focus, by Lisa Ellis, Marianna Copene 📍Waterstone Gallery, 124 NW 9th Ave., Portland ⏳ Hours: Wed-Sat 11 a.m. -5:30 p.m., Sun 11-4 🗓️ July 2-August 3, 2025 🎟️ Free to the public Unexpected Focus, is a collection of paintings by new member Lisa Ellis. Developed in the field over the last six seasons, these works are rooted in observation — not only of what is seen, but also what is felt and heard in the landscape. Ellis describes her process as one of quiet attention. Before she begins a painting, she waits for a spark — “an area will often send out a wave saying hello,” she says. It’s rarely the most obvious part of a landscape that draws her in. Instead, as she slows down and listens, an unexpected focus will come into view. With Unexpected Focus, we hope you too will take a moment to pause and look more closely — allowing space for the unexpected to reveal itself and to feel a new sense of connection to the natural world around you. Since 2019, Ellis has met weekly with a group of fellow plein air artists, and this practice helped her overcome what she calls a “20-year procrastination hump.” Returning to the same places season after season, Ellis finds joy in watching the land transform. Her work, inspired by color, shape, light, and place, speaks to a sense of connection with the natural world and to the playful exchange between human and non-human companions. Sculptor Mariana Copene will be showing alongside Ellis. Copene’s living, floral installations immerse us in the steady beauty of Lisa’s landscapes. Inspired by her close bond with nature, Copene’s works invite viewers to experience quiet rhythms and deepen their connection to the land. #waterstonegallery #artandaboutpdx #portlandartscene #pearldistrictgallery #padaoregon #soloshow #contemporaryartist #pnwartist #pdxartscene #pdxartevents #pearldistrictportland #pearldistrictartwalk #pnwpainter #lanscaperpainter #pleinairpainter #nwlandscapepainter #paintingoutdoors

Well Well Well…Look who’s showing together 📍Well Well Projects, 8371 N Interstate Ave. #1, Portland ⏳Hours: Sat-Sun 12-5 p.m. 🗓️ July 5-July 26, 2025 💫Closing Reception 5:00–9:00 pm on Saturday, July 26, 2025 with event 🪐Cosmic Bingo: 6:30 pm 🎟️ Free to the public This summer, Well Well Projects presents our member exhibition: a gathering of artists who, despite working across different mediums, themes, and sensibilities, share a bond of being in this thing together. It’s not a manifesto, a movement, or even a neat conversation. It’s a group show. But not just any group show. This one is a bit like opening the group chat in physical form: everyone brings something different, there are pleasant surprises, and somehow it all comes together. The title, Well Well Well…, is part greeting, part side-eye, part existential pause. It’s what you say when you’re surprised, curious, maybe a little impressed. This exhibition marks another chapter in the ongoing project of being artists in public, together, and on our own terms. Participating Artists: Andrea Alonge, Erik Geschke, Hyun Jung Jung, Colin Kippen, Jeremy Le Grand, Ondrea Bell Levey, Pete Hoffecker Mejia, Anthony Roberto, Claire Frances Spaulding, Katherine Spinella, Tyler Stoll, Jessie Rose Vala, Kelda Van Patten, John Whitten #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelportland #artistsupportartists

Summer Group Show 📍PDX Contemporary Art, 1881 NW Vaughn St., Portland ⏳Hours: Tues-Sat 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 🗓️ Date: July 2 - August 23, 2025 ✨Opening reception: August 2, 2025 from 3 - 5 p.m. 🎟️ Free to the public! PDX CONTEMPORARY ART annual summer group show 🌼 (this exhibition always has new discoveries for collectors!) Featuring work by represented and invited artists: Christian Abusaid, Nick Blosser, Iván Carmona, Heloise De Mil, Marjorie Dial, Bean Finneran, Ellen George, Johannes Girardoni, Shanti Grandhi, Victoria Haven, Justin L’Amie, Yamamoto Masao, D.E. May, Kristen Miller, Jeffry Mitchell, Jenene Nagy, Joe Rudko, Tad Savinar, Susan Seubert, Adam Sorensen, Barbara Stafford, Storm Tharp, Nell Warren, Heather Watkins, and Marie Watt. Featured work: 1. Storm Tharp, 2. Ellen George, 3. Adam Sorensen, 4. Jenene Nagy #pdxcontemporaryart #summergroupshow #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #artgallery #travelportland #artistsupportartists #stormtharp #ellengeorge #adamsorensen #jenenenagy

What is your Ancestral Performance Art? 📕 Book Launch 📕 📍Bishop & Wilde Books, 2601 NW Thurman St, 97210 ✨Opening reception: July 1st ONLY, 7-9pm ✨ 🎟️Free to the public In celebration of our new book Ancestral Performance Art, Impeller Press is bringing PO$TER CHYLDE and their ancestral drag burlesque to Portland’s Bishop & Wilde Books. In this nothing-but-ordinary book launch, author Alissa Schwartz guides us in an interactive reading and performance that includes an ancestral drag piece by her persona PO$TER CHYLDE, engaging in accessible ritual to connect with our ancestors, and discussing how we each can remember, reimagine, and speculate about our ancestors in service to social transformation. The practice of Ancestral Performance Art utilizes familial and ancestral history for the purpose of communal thriving and liberation. It is the examination of family stories told and retold, and the surfacing of ones never recounted. In Ancestral Performance Art, Schwartz shares the intimate work of witnessing and holding space with a dying parent; uncovering and re-interpreting racist and separatist practices within her white Jewish family; and the twinning and untwinning and twinning again she experiences with her mother, all in the service of equitable culture-building. @patrickbarber @alissaorgperformanceart @continuumcultureandarts #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelportland #artistsupportartists

The vibes are immaculate at @hideandseekgallery 🌟 thank you @benskiba for having us over. Featured show: Leave the Porchlight Work by @vessel.garden @libbyrosa @nicknow99 #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #alternativeartspace #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #travelportland #artistsupportartists #ceramics #lamps #drawing

Check out the details in Jinie Park’s “Exotic Animal” and Pat Boas’ “Scripts.” 🎨 Both exhibitions are on view through July 12, 2025. But why wait? 👀 Stop by the gallery today to see them in person—we’re open until 5:30 pm! Art & About x ELG Collab 💙💚💛🩷 #ArtAndAboutPDX #ElizabethLeachGallery #JiniePark #PatBoas #ContemporaryArt #PortlandArt

Last weekend to see @triciafrenchart “earth and her stories” a collection of original works and prints. pop up gallery in NW at the Slabtown Square building 2070 NW Quimby St Suite #163 Find her work on the ground floor on the backside of the building facing NW 20th Ave on Saturday & Sunday 12-5 pm! #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelportland #artistsupportartists

🌕Artist Talk🌕 @springbreak.jake ✨Friday, June 27, 2025 at 6 PM at📍 @thepurpledoorpdx in conjunction with his solo show 🍃NIGHT LIFE 🍃 🗓️ On view until 07/21/2025 ⏳ Gallery Hours: Wed, Thurs: 2pm - 6pm | Friday, Sat: 2pm - 8pm | Sunday: 2pm - 6pm 🎟️Free to the public Spring Break Jake (b. 1989, Jacob Jerome Kenobi) Spring Break Jake is a self-taught painter & mixed media artist born & raised in Minneapolis, MN, currently based in Bend, OR. His work has been shown throughout the West Coast, including solo shows in Bend, Portland, & Encinitas, group shows in Bend, San Francisco, & Los Angeles, and juried art fairs in Seattle, San Francisco, & LA. He was selected as one of the first Artists-in-Residence with Scalehouse Arts in Bend and has participated in speaking engagements such as a panel discussion on the impact of art on health & well-being at the Reno Tahoe International Art Show, guest speaking at Oregon State University, and leading an art workshop in collaboration with the High Desert Museum. Jake’s work has also been featured in print publications such as Vanity Fair UK, British GQ, House & Garden, and Create! Magazine. #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelportland #artistsupportartists

✨Artists you should know✨Chiura Obata Years Active : 1899–1975 As a teenager Obata trained in Western and Japanese art. When he was 17, he moved to US and started working as a illustrator for newspapers. He studied art in Seattle and later in Paris before settling in San Francisco. He is most known for landscape watercolors of California; many of them of the Sierras and Yosemite. He was a key artist in introducing and sharing Japanese techniques and applications in contemporary art with his peers and students. Obata’s approach and style are associated with the artist movement known as the “California Watercolor School” which was initially a regional art movement that began in the 1930’s, that emphasized depictions of nature and every day life, often using bold and vivid colors. Featured works: 🔥 Setting Sun of Sacramento Valley, 1922 🪨 El Capitan, 1930 🌄 Evening Glow at Mono Lake, from Mono Mills, 1930 #artandaboutpdx #arthistory #artistsyoushouldknow #chiuraobata #californiawatercolor #watercolor #nature #landscape

@lydiarosenberg__ at @societysocietysociety ✨grand opening✨ on June 7, 2025. #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelportland #artistsupportartists

Highlights from a recent visit to @petergronquist studio 🌲✨🪨🌲 Thanks for having us over! A beautiful evening of art and conversation. 🪐 #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdx #portland #portlandoregon #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artistsupportartists #studioparty #openstudio #petergronquist

Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, A Place I Call Home 📍Russo Lee Gallery 🗓️June 5 – 28, 2025 an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, marking the artist’s first solo show in Portland, Oregon. Quaicoe delves deeply into themes of empowerment, intimacy, and identity, set against the vibrant backdrop of Portland, Oregon, where he lives and works. Through luminous and emotive portraiture, Quaicoe invites viewers into the personal worlds of his subjects—friends and collaborators—capturing the warmth of their connections and the character of their shared home state. This new body of work includes large-scale paintings and smaller still lifes, unified by a vivid color palette inspired by Oregon’s diverse natural environment, as well as charcoal drawings that not only reflect each subject’s individuality but also reveal Quaicoe’s own perspective and personal bond with them. #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #pdxart #artinpdx #artinportland#pdx #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #pdxartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelportland #artistsupportartists

@jiniepark details 🔎 ~ on view @elizabethleachgallery #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #contemporaryart #painting #textile #abstractart #color #jiniepark

The Abstract Now is a group exhibition featuring nine contemporary artists who explore abstraction in their own ways. 📍studio e gallery 🗓️June 14 – July 26, 2025. ✨ Opening events on Saturday, June 14, 2025✨ 🎤 Poetry reading with Jeanne Heuving & Barry Schwabsky at 4 p.m. 🧑🏻‍🎨 Artist reception from 5-7 p.m To kick off the summer, studio e is thrilled to partner with Scott Malbaurn of the Schneider Museum of Art to present The Abstract Now, a group exhibition of nine contemporary artists dealing with abstraction in their own ways. ARTISTS: Colleen RJC Bratton (Seattle, WA) Von Coffin (Seattle, WA) Rebekah Goldstein (San Francisco, CA) Ken Kelly (Seattle, WA) Marc Mitchell (Fayetteville, AR) Mel Prest (San Fancisco CA) Petra Sairanen (Portland, OR) Mark Sengbusch (Brooklyn, NY) Jason Stopa (Brooklyn, NY) #artandaboutpdx #onviewpdx #portlandartscene #seattleartsource #seattleartscene #contemporaryart #seaart #artinseattle #seattle #portland #portlandoregon #pnw #pacificnorthwest #whattodothisweekendpdx #seattleartgalleries #discoverart #artblog #artplatform #arthappenings #artgallery #artgallerypdx #travelseattle #abstract #artistsupportartists