Happy summer! At last, we have warm weather and sunny skies (and it’s here to stay)! Lately, life has been feeling very ethereal. From the perfectly warm weather, the sun dappled sidewalks, the wind gently rustling the leaves, and an overall feeling of lightness and tranquility, everything around me is touched by a delicate light and air. The beginning of summer always feels light and airy like this, with soft colors seen in the dreamy blue sky, the carefree attitude, a surplus of freetime, the desire to lounge around in the nice weather, and the flowy fabrics that seem to be everywhere. The exhibitions this month lean into the otherworldly feeling that summer brings. They focus on the beautiful natural world, spirituality and the ethereal nature behind the universe and cosmos, abstraction, soft and airy colors, and various types of loose fabrics.

As you make your exciting summer plans, reserve some time to spend with the newest ethereal exhibitions this June. In Washington, Elise Wagner explores the otherworldly with her encaustic paintings of the unseen forces in the cosmos. On a similar note, in Portland, explore the balance of the universe through sacred geometry with PDX Contemporary and discover the celestial origins of Oregon with Oregon Origins at Stelo. Ethereal paintings are on full display at Elizabeth Leach Gallery with Jinie Park’s Exotic Animal. If your summer peregrinations take you out to the coast, you can uncover the beautiful ways in which found materials are upcycled into fine art with Newport Visual Arts Center. 

Art for a new Consciousness
Christian Abusaid 
June 4- 28
PDX Contemporary 
1881 NW Vaughn Street, Portland, OR 97209

Art for a new Consciousness is Colombian artist Christian Abusaid’s first exhibition in the United States. The compositions feature geometric shapes made from thickly layered pigments on raw linen. At the heart of Abausaid’s work is the belief that everything is intrinsically interwoven into a universal tapestry. Sacred proportions provide the otherworldly blueprint of beauty and balance. Living according to this sacred geometry allows us to connect harmoniously with others and the world around us.

I Will Not Hurt Myself/I Will Not Hurt Others 
Michele Thompson 
June 7- 30 
Franklin Foto 
8953 N Lombard St, Portland, OR 97203

Thompson layers text onto traditional abstract photographs in I Will Not Hurt Myself/I Will Not Hurt Others. Thompson explores the experience of adulthood in which one is freed of personal history and equally filled with both passion and unease for the future. At what point is one considered a “real” adult? Is holding onto one’s inner child so bad? This exhibition features photography from Thompson’s book of the same name that explores the fragile experiences of growing up. 

Sponsor

The Heart Catches The Hand
Ellen George 
June 5 -28 
Nine Gallery 
122 NW 8th Ave, Portland OR 97209

Ellen George displays twenty-five curvilinear thin wooden panels altered by silverpoint, casein, ink, and pyrography at Nine Gallery this month. George’s inspiration for the installation is her daily Tai Chi practice with its accompanying focus on expansion, circularity, and balance. During this spiritual practice, George listens first then moves and works from within herself. This practice results in beautiful, light and airy colored wooden panels composed of delicate shapes, gestures, and lines. The panels’ edges have been rounded and take the form of various shapes and sizes which adds to the soft ethereal feeling her work produces.

Exotic Animal 
Jinie Park 
June 5- July 12
Elizabeth Leach Gallery 
417 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR 97209

Ethereal also strikes me as the best way to describe Jinie Park’s paintings in Exotic Animal. This exhibition is a continuation of her Windows series first exhibited in 2021 which focused on the material exploration of exposed stretcher bars and openings to reveal the structural elements of the canvas. Contrast, surface, and space are used to create planned but uncontrollable fields of color. Park exaggerates the exotic elements in her paintings through the contrast of painted and unpainted areas, sections that have been completely cut out, and the elusiveness of the size, materials, shapes, and colors. The ethereal exposed openings in the canvas and stretcher bars speak to Park’s inspiration from the “gaps” in architectural spaces that leave room for light to peek through. Also on display are Pat Boas’ Script paintings which explore embodied language and gesture in the form of abstraction. 

Oregon Origins Project VI: The Birth of Cascadia
Group Show 
June 5- July 12
Oregon Origins, Stelo
412 NW 8th Ave, Portland, OR 97209 

The ancient origins of the state of Oregon are at the forefront of Oregon Origins Project as an innovative arts and culture initiative. In partnership with Stelo Arts, Oregon Origins Project VI: The Birth of Cascadia is a continuation of the Oregon Origins Project that started in 2022 with the intent to bring people together to learn and celebrate the origins of Oregon. This event is a musical work and exhibition that explores the dramatic events of Oregon’s geologic history. The musical portion of this project is tied to a projected piece of visual artwork and references specific geologic events. The live musical performance will be hosted at Patricia Reser Center for the Arts on June 21 and 22. Explore the seemingly otherworldly nature of geology and get a glimpse into the physical history of Oregon. 

Ass, Cash, and Grass
Ellen O’Shea and Will Zeng 
June 7- 29
Well Well Projects 
8371 N Interstate Ave #1, Portland, OR 97217

Sponsor

Ellen O’Shea and Will Zeng discuss the politics of desire, gendered socialization and conditioning, and consumer identity through car culture. O’Shea and Zeng explore the nature of reflective surfaces, vanity plates, car paraphernalia, and patterning. Objects and bodies merge through their ethereal sculptural works and paintings. Together, these two artists discover how desire and objecthood function in relation to gender and identity.

Nature, Paper, Fiber, Found
Cheri Aldrich 
May 30- July 27
Newport Visual Arts Center 
777 NW Beach Dr, Newport, OR 97365

In Nature, Paper, Fiber, Found, Cheri Aldrich takes sticks, stones, fibers, driftwood, and other found materials and upcycles them to create unique pieces of mixed media art. Works on display take a range of forms including jewelry, basketry, clay, gourds, sea kelp, paper and book arts, and mixed media. Nature’s variability seems to inspire Aldrich’s love of textures and vice versa. Uncover how found materials from both natural and manmade sources overlap to create beautifully dream-like assemblages.

Emily Pratt & Fired with Pride
Emily Pratt and Queer Cat friends
June 5- 28
Sidestreet Arts
140 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97214

In collaboration with Queer Cat, a community based ceramic art program dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community in Portland, Sidestreet Arts presents Fired with Pride. This exhibition features a collection of ceramic works from queer wood-fire artists from throughout the country and the Queer Cat artists. Also on display are local artist Emily Pratt’s metal-collage assemblages made from found metals and weathered objects. Pratt creates these 2-D metal artworks by nailing them onto wood with tiny nails that form a sort of metal-scape. Explore the ethereality of weathered objects and organic shapes that have taken on a new form and life. 

Willy-Nilly
Kyle Adam Kalev Peets 
June 7- 29
Carnation Contemporary 
8371 N Interstate Ave, Portland, OR 97217 

Estonia was one of the last countries to be converted to Christianity in the 13th century and remains one of the least religious countries in Europe to this day. Willy-Nilly is Kyle Adam Kalev Peets’ slow return to their Estonian roots to embrace pre-Christian magic, wonder, and awe. The title of the show comes from the name of the unique print technique (“willy nilly”) that values intuition, failure, and chance over logic and reason. By layering multiple photographs and repeating marks, Peets creates hypnotic and dream-like rhythms that relate to ancient spiritual technologies, challenge logical thinking and offer an alternative method to reveal the hidden otherworldly. 

Sponsor

Celestial Currents
Elise Wagner 
June 2- July 31
Maryhill Museum of Art
35 Maryhill Museum Dr, Goldendale, WA 98620

If you’re interested in a summer road trip, the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington features Elise Wagner’s Celestial Currents which is inspired by her engagement with the universe and the forces that shape the cosmos and human experience. Wagner employs encaustic painting and mixed media to investigate the invisible architecture of the universe by layering and fusing wax, pigment, and drawing together. In her work, Wagner overlaps the realms of art, science, and the natural world by exploring magnetic fields, atmospheric patterns, planetary motion, and quantum energy. The analysis of these ethereal and otherworldly phenomenons take the form of star maps, shifting tectonics, soft colors, and fluid mark making on the panel.