Portland Center Stage at the Armory Nassim Portland Oregon

Photo First: An Open-air Museum

As the "real" museums shut down. K.B. Dixon tours the city's murals and discovers a free exhibit on the streets.

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PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT BY K.B. DIXON


The local galleries are closed, the Art Museum is closed, but the streets of Portland are open and there is plenty to see thanks to the guild of talented muralists among us. Using the exterior walls of every sort of building, they have over the years cobbled together a sort of open-air museum—one you can visit today from the contagion-free confines of your car. (All photographs are from 2020)


NORTHWEST TWENTY-FIFTH AVENUE AND LOVEJOY STREET


Artist: Paola Delfin

SOUTHWEST ELEVENTH AVENUE AND HARVEY MILK STREET


Artist: Michael Reeder

SOUTHWEST TWELFTH AVENUE AND HARVEY MILK STREET


Artists: Troy Lovegates and Paige Wright

SOUTHEAST SECOND AVENUE AND STARK STREET


Artists: ERAS and Raskoe

NORTHWEST NINTH AVENUE AND HOYT STREET

Sponsor


Artist: Ashley Montague

SOUTHWEST MADISON STREET AND BROADWAY


Artist: Dan Cohen

SOUTHWEST TWELFTH AVENUE AND WASHINGTON STREET


Artist: Rone

SOUTHEAST NINTH AVENUE AND HAWTHORNE BOULEVARD


Artist: Diana Bama

SOUTHEAST TENTH AVENUE AND WASHINGTON STREET


Artists: Ernesto Marajnje and Suhaib Attar

NORTHEAST TWENTY-NINTH AVENUE AND ALBERTA STREET


Artists: Eatcho and Jeremy Nichols

NORTHEAST OREGON STREET AND TWENTY-FIRST AVENUE


Artists: Jeremy Nichols and Raskoe

NORTHEAST FOURTEENTH AVENUE AND ALBERTA STREET

Sponsor

Portland Playhouse Passing Strange Portland Oregon


Artist Unknown

NORTHEAST SEVENTEENTH AVENUE AND ALBERTA STREET


Artist: Robin Corbo

SOUTHEAST TENTH AVENUE AND DIVISION STREET


Artist: Fin Dach

NORTHEAST TWENTY-NINTH AVENUE AND ALBERTA STREET


Artists: Eatcho and Jeremy Nichols 

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Photo Joe Cantrell

K.B. Dixon’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, and journals. His most recent collection of stories, Artifacts: Irregular Stories (Small, Medium, and Large), was published in Summer 2022. The recipient of an OAC Individual Artist Fellowship Award, he is the winner of both the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Eric Hoffer Book Award. He is the author of seven novels: The Sum of His SyndromesAndrew (A to Z)A Painter’s LifeThe Ingram InterviewThe Photo AlbumNovel Ideas, and Notes as well as the essay collection Too True, Essays on Photography, and the short story collection, My Desk and I. Examples of his photographic work may be found in private collections, juried exhibitions, online galleries, and at K.B. Dixon Images.

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