Posts Tagged ‘ installation ’

Portland Paper City Opening at Disjecta

Portland Paper City is an installation collaborative showcasing abstract, figurative, and architectural representations of the City of Portland through the art of papercraft and paper sculpture. Spearheaded by designers, Marisa Green, Jessie Bazata, Sean Garrison, and Rory Phillips, Portland Paper City has united the community, as well as emerging and established artists in the Portland area, by inviting them to contribute work that represents their love of Portland.

Original papercraft templates including people, vehicles, and animals have been provided for the public to download, craft and submit to the installation at www.portlandpapercity.com. Area artists are also invited to contribute unique paper works that are inspired by Portland.
This exhibition was made possible by Disjecta, with support from Art Spark, a creative networking event put on by the Regional Arts and Culture Council. In March of 2010, Portland Paper City entered a proposal to show at Disjecta. The public voted and Portland Paper City won.

Portland Paper City, an all paper installation collaborative, is being exhibited at Disjecta from Saturday, March 5, 2011 through Saturday, March 26, 2011. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 5, 2011 from 6PM-9PM. Disjecta’s regular gallery hours are Fri-Sun 12pm-5pm.

The Beauty of Life

Portland Building Installation Space (sponsored by the Regional Arts and Culture Council)
October 12 – November 12, 2010
1120 SW 5th Avenue, Portland, OR
Building Hours: Monday-Friday 7am-6pm

This installation was inspired by the wallpaper and fabric patterns of Arts and Crafts designer William Morris and features hundreds of individually sculpted leaf, flower, fruit and bird forms, that form a three-dimensional wallpaper pattern that spans the space. The hand-crafted pieces are made from reclaimed materials—wood, ornate picture frames, rulers, decorative fruit, toys, cooking utensils, etc., combined in such a way that no one found-object is easily recognizable.

“Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or beautiful.”  —William Morris

In homage to this Morris concept, these finished pieces exist not only as sculpture, but also double as wearable art. For more information on the creation of this project please visit Hilary Pfeifer’s blog, where she shows the creation and installation of this over 800 piece show.

I Dream Animal — July 29 – August 21, 2010

Opening Reception: Saturday July 31st 5 – 8PM
Extended hours for last Thursday July 29th 4 – 9PM

Alicia Blue Gallery
1468 NE Alberta St. | Portland, OR 97211

Alicia Blue Gallery is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition, “I Dream Animal”, featuring Los Angeles artists: Christine Nguyen, Karen Florek and Caryn Baumgartner. These three artists’ works represent a deep reflection into the world of imagination and dream. Their work shares a common sensibility that feels akin to a floating dream state- familiar, as much as fleeting.

Caryn Baumgartner’s oil on canvases are richly painted with colors that, if imagined, were mined from terrestrial mineral and oxide veins- powdered and instinctively processed. Crowning the surface with heavy distress, these paintings become gentle phantoms. Her expertise as a painter is seen in her large works, where her simple approach to her canvas keeps an unspoiled feeling. In both “Stag” and “Fawn”, she abstracts the figure and leaves just an outline of the animal surrounded in rich color, a ghostly reminder of the perfection of nature.

Christine Nguyen’s experimental use of photography comes alive in her large-scale installations. One feels like they have passed into another world- deep in the nadir of ocean, discovering schools of undersea neons with a mineral-like frequency. Alternately traveling to outer space with crystalline frost growing outside your view and minimally scattered fragile hexagon colonies. The black backgrounds with nearly celestial light leaks are highlighted with brightly colored creatures and constellations stemming from her imagination. Her imagery draws on elegant science and imagination-provoking wonder.

Karen Florek’s series of lith prints are explorations of the internal world of the body. Her hand altered images made in the darkroom are mysterious. X-ray photon blacks and whites with glass like elements add to the scientific beauty of an almost unclassifiable, yet organic skeletal subject. The process of creating a lith print involves time and dedication; there is nothing instant about it. The visual outcome is unique with a grainy surface retaining dark shadows and soft delicate highlights. Different colors and hues can be achieved by chemical reaction as the developer begins to oxidize and age, which adds to the unpredictable effect.