Visual Arts

Our visual arts coverage is made possible in part by support from The Ford Family Foundation’s Visual Arts Program.

For stories published before 2019, visit our archive site.

Chehalem Cultural Center goes for ‘A Walk in the Woods’

The show, at the Newberg center through March 13, features tree-themed art by Tabby Ivy, Rebecca Kiser, Elena and Trifon Markova, Karin Carter, and Linda Workman-Morelli.

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High Desert Museum Frank Matsura Portraits from the borderland Bend Oregon

Portraits by Jeremy Okai Davis add new faces to Oregon history

Commissioned as part of a "reimagining" process at the historic Bush House in Salem, the newly completed set of portraits of Oregon's Black ancestors offers new stories to celebrate and reflect upon.

Reclusive Washington artist Charles Swank subject of two-day show in Yachats

Local art appreciator Dan Stein brings a five-decade retrospective of his friend's work to Yachats Commons on Feb. 15 and 16.

Between treasure and trash at Oregon Contemporary

Maia Chao and Fred Schmidt-Arenales' "Waste Scenes" pulls its source material from a literal dump. The two-channel video installation is a compilation of the artists' experiments and performances inspired by their finds.

Art Center East in La Grande: Bringing art opportunities and access to Eastern Oregon

The nonprofit center serves a 10-county swath of the state with exhibitions, classes, and annual events, often engaging with the past in ways that speak to the present.

Brenda Mallory’s threads of time, family, culture, and nature at Hallie Ford Museum

In a show that began at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Portland artist's sculptures at the Salem museum call on influences ranging from her Cherokee heritage to the art of Marcel Duchamp.

VizArts Monthly: Love all around

There's plenty of art to love in Oregon this February. Raylee Heiden rounds up some standout options.

At the Portland Art Museum, a new gallery for Black art & expression is in the making

The museum and 1803 Fund team to provide a new home for Black art when PAM rolls out its rebuilt campus late this year. Also: PICA wins a $120,000 Warhol Foundation grant.

Nate Orton’s magnetic neighborhood

The works in the artist's current show at after/time gallery in downtown Portland celebrate the Northwest and the magical allure of everyday landscapes.

Angels and disruptions: Two young artists shake things up in Salem shows

The artists Peregrine, at Salem on the Edge, and EGOR, at Bush Barn Art Center, tell distinct yet similar tales of discovery.

Daniel Tankersley’s Unknown Unknowns

Creating mysteries: Tankersley's exhibition at Western Oregon University of manipulated digital photographic prints manipulates the perceptions of gallery viewers, too.

Woven, stitched, and recycled: Fiber Fest brings fabric art to the Newport Visual Arts Center    

The show opens Saturday in four galleries and includes quilts, Siletz basketry, weavings, and wearable art, as well as classes.

VizArts Monthly: New Eyes, Same Horizon

If your New Year's resolution is to see more art, we've got you covered! Raylee Heiden rounds up a smattering of January visual arts offerings around the state.

Ryan Hopper: Art from Arizona’s Diné reservation to Salem’s Bush Barn Annex

The printmaker and painter, who now lives in Salem, invests his art with memories of his grandmother's Navajo rug weaving, his childhood on a sheep camp, and the realities of his everyday life.

2024 in Review: In Oregon’s museums and galleries, a big boom of art

A baker's dozen stories highlight some of the best, brightest, most imaginative and thought-provoking work of the year on display by Northwest artists.

Meaningful play: Emily Counts at Oregon Contemporary

Counts' installation with its humanoid and animal sculptures is unabashedly feminine and whimsical. It equally defies easy categorization.

Phantasmagoria: On the collision of art and politics

As we enter a new era of deep cultural divide, old ideas of male dominance are on the rise, echoing ideas in traditional art. New art overlaid on the old can tell a more equitable social story.

Remembering Jay Backstrand

The beloved Salem-born and Portland-based artist passed away in December at the age of 90. He leaves behind a striking oeuvre and legacy of contributions to Oregon’s artistic community.

Painter Shirl Ireland: From the Adirondacks to Nehalem’s NCRD Gallery, by way of Yellowstone

The recent arrival to the North Coast has her first Oregon show, “Ode to Mother Nature,” at the gallery through Dec. 31.

Newport’s Pacific Maritime Heritage Center chronicles history of Black sailors

"Take Me to the Water," on display through Jan. 12, includes panels on Oregonians Louis Southworth and Alvin McCleary.

Yamhill County art galleries offer a bounty of gift ideas

From pastel drawings to ceramics to metal crafts, artsy options are plentiful in wine country.

VizArts Monthly: Cycles of Change

December's picks highlight cycles of change in everything from the natural world to drag festival fashion. Also featured this month are holiday market options - gifting is cyclical too!

Jason Hill’s superheroes of Afrofuturism

The Portland photographer's vibrant portraits of Oregon Black "superheroes" fill two galleries at Salem's Bush Barn Art Center and Bush Barn Museum and a third at Portland Center Stage.

‘Indie Folk’ at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art: Rethinking the line between fine art and craft, with a Northwest twist

The premise of the new exhibition at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, Indie Folk: New Art and Sounds from the Pacific Northwest, began formulating in curator Melissa…

Collaboration and community at Living Studios in Corvallis

Progressive art studios offer space and support for artists to create and thrive. Navigating the art world's power dynamics requires attention and care.

Laurie Danial at Froelick Gallery

The exhibition "Before my Very Eyes" features both large- and small-scale abstract compositions. Danial's deft handling of paint highlights her commitment to form and an artistic process that unfolds at its own speed.

Portland artist Eunice Parsons dies at 108

Parsons, known and admired for her collage work and her long teaching career at The Museum Art School, was active as an artist well into the 21st century.

A new chapel at Newberg’s George Fox University, filled with art

Murals by professor Tim Timmerman and stained glass by Bryant Stanton add color to the graceful space, where an open house on Thursday will welcome visitors.

Oregon State University’s PRAx showcases its first contemporary arts exhibition, ‘How to Carry Water’

Work by 14 artists sparks conversation on the human connection to water flowing through every aspect of our lives.

‘A Democracy of Multiples’:  Linfield University displays political works by Mullowney Printing

The show, running through Nov. 22, is a tribute to the power of ink on paper and how that power has functioned as a political tool — and still can.