Visual Arts

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

MFA:NW connects emerging artists and rural communities, this month at the Pendleton Center for the Arts

In its pilot year, a juried show of work by eight young artists explores issues of gender, sexuality, and being in the world as a physical body.

VizArts Monthly: Ethereal Summer

Is the beginning of summer the time to contemplate the nature of the universe? It certainly seems to be the focus of several June exhibitions.

Unpacking the Fairview Training Center

The multi-pronged project "Our Fairview..." is spearheaded by Bruce Burris, Jill Baker, and Paul Meuse. Art-making, workshops, research, and conversation all figure into the amorphous but ambitious undertaking.

Remembering Bob Dozono

The beloved artist, professor, and Blackfish Gallery member passed away in April. Fellow artist Rick True celebrates Dozono's artistic talent, community contributions, and generous heart.

Michelle Grabner: Elevating the familiar

In 'Underdone Potato', an expansive exhibition at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Grabner continues her meditations on craft and daily life. Ham tins, jam jars, and cereal boxes all make an appearance.

Trail’s End Art Association: In Gearhart, a fellowship of artists

The club, which offers an egalitarian welcome to artists ranging from painters to needleworkers to gourd-crafters, is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

‘Solito’ author Javier Zamora will speak Wednesday at Linfield University on migration, identity, and memory

The appearance by the poet and memoirist is part of the school's “Learning Across Boundaries” program, which also includes a literary and visual art display.

Identities and paper at The Reser

The artists in the group show 'Infinite Possibilities' use paper as a medium to explore complex ideas around family, memory, and history. The resulting works are as poignant as they are beautiful.

Peter Gallo: Divine sense and madness

The artist's West Coast debut, "Peter Gallo: Gods, Sluts & Martyrs" on view at Adams and Ollman, incorporates found materials, thickly painted impasto, and juxtaposed text to explore creativity and art's social framing.

VizArts Monthly: Exploring balance

Exhibitions on view in May tackle everything from past selves to Taiwanese snack logos. Whether you're in the mood for something contemplative, funky, or just plain mysterious - maybe all three? - VizArts Monthly has got you covered.

Every dog has its day in Jessica Poundstone’s new book, ‘Museum of Dogs’

The Portland artist and author will be at Powell’s Books on May 10, followed by visits to Cloud and Leaf in Manzanita, and A Sometimes Gallery in Portland.

Remembering veteran Portland painter William Park

The artist, who has died at 79, "loved all the ways of slathering and glopping and moving paint around on the palette and then onto painting surfaces.”

David Eckard, sculptor and performance artist, dies at 60

The multitalented, prolific Portland artist was an energetic collaborator and beloved professor at Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Transgressors: Crossing cultural boundaries as Indigiqueer and Two Spirit artists

An exhibit, curated by Anthony Hudson and Felix Furby, explores Indigenous history, identity, and cultural revitalization through the work of nine multidisciplinary artists, including Jeffrey Gibson and Geo Soctomah Neptune.

Kristie Strasen: A world not of this world

In the studio with the textile artist as she creates "River Stories," an abstract "map" in yarn of the Columbia River, set to open in June at the Columbia Gorge Museum.

In forests, Liza Faktor finds inspiration and consolation

The photographer and curator, half a world away from her native Russia, explores a deep, ongoing relationship with wilderness.

Dinh Q. Lê at Elizabeth Leach Gallery

Lê died unexpectedly at age 56 in 2024. The survey at the artist's long-time Portland gallery includes the artist's well-known photo-weavings along with sculptural and photographic work.

Rick Bartow Art Studio finds a new home at Yakona Nature Preserve & Learning Center

The tiny building when the beloved Newport artist worked will be reconstructed at the preserve, giving the arts program the home base it has lacked.

‘Hands of the Ancestors’: Kalapuya artist Stephanie Craig’s mix of past and present

Craig's woven basketry at the Linfield Art Gallery rekindles a fading heritage, blending contemporary methods with the traditions and meanings of ancestral ways.

Artistic wellspring: Trio of exhibits celebrates Arlene Schnitzer’s contributions

Three exhibitions, two at the Oregon Historical Society and one at the Schnitzer Collection, explore the ways Arlene Schnitzer and her Fountain Gallery have shaped Oregon's artistic landscape. The last installment of 'A Fountain of Creativity: Oregon's 20th Century Artists and the Legacy of Arlene Schnitzer' closes May 4th.

Donna Guardino, gallery owner and a force behind the Alberta Arts District, dies at age 81

A longtime icon in the Portland arts community, Guardino was known for championing the careers of new artists.

Steve Ehret: Here there be humors

Ehret's monster-filled compositions both represent demons and exorcise them. Patrick Collier reviews "Resting my Bones" at The Art Center in Corvallis.

Introducing the ‘Not on View’ project

Storage is often a repository for items that institutions or individuals would rather ignore. What can we learn about what we'd rather hide away?

Two Spirit and Third Gender: More than entertainment

An exhibit and performances in Monmouth are both drag show and protests in favor of Indigenous Queer acceptance and against the effects of climate change.

VizArts Monthly: Community

Weather in April weather may be a gamble but art exhibits are a sure bet. Here is a selected smattering of the month's art exhibits featuring everything from crackers to the apocalypse.

Water, smoke, and words: Patricia Vázquez Gómez’s ode to indigenous language

The Portland-based artist's immersive installation at Portland Institute of Contemporary art brings questions about the resilience of indigenous immigrant languages to the fore.

At the Japanese Garden, a world of contrasts and co-mingling

As visitors view the blooms of early spring, the garden unveils other forms of beauty: a wealth of ceramic and stenciled art echoing and expanding on the natural world.

Crossed wires at Mockingbird Gallery

A serendipitous meeting at the Bend gallery results in painter Richard Boyer's "Market Street" selling to the Market Street project's superintendent and field engineer.

MECCA used art supply store in Eugene encourages creativity through recycling

The nonprofit Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts, which offers workshops and provides free supplies to teachers, is a cross between a garage sale and an arts-and-crafts thrift shop.

Demons and twigs: The healing art of Debbie Baxter

The art of reclamation: A photographer builds nests of safety and solace. People who've been abused climb in, confront their demons, and emerge healthier and happier.