Happy December and happy holidays! How has the weather been treating you? The sun feels practically nonexistent now everyday it seems it’s only getting colder. Those early sunsets make me so dreary sometimes, so I have decided to bundle up and brave the cold in search for the perfect holiday gifts for my loved ones. Thankfully, there are a few holiday art sales and shows that are perfect for finding the ultimate gift.  

The holidays and the weather aren’t the only thing that comes to mind this month. December marks the end of the year which reminds me that all things must come to an end. While endings are typically seen in a negative light, temporality is not always bad. Impermanence births new beginnings, ideas, creations, and life. This month, I want to focus on the temporality in our lives, the beauty that comes from it, and how artists navigate an inevitable reality. 

Blackfish Gallery addresses the temporality of mortality with Mae Al-Jiboori’s expressive paintings and features two holiday art sales that offer the opportunity to give back to community members in need. Well Well Projects proves hardships are temporary with Claire Frances Spaulding’s soft sculptures. Paragon Arts Gallery is on theme with their exhibition all about death and transition titled, Thanatopsis: A Meditation on Death, Grief, and Transition.

4th Floor to Mildness 
Pipilotti Rist
November 20- January 29
Portland Art Museum 
1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR

One of Portland Art Museum’s new exhibition spaces is transformed into a soft, aquatically simulated environment in Pipilotti Rist’s 4th Floor to Mildness. Rist creates installations for visitors to connect in unconventional ways with the aim of better understanding of one another, our interrelationships, our own bodies, and nature. Two organically shaped screens hang from the ceiling and play an underwater film accompanied by a musical score by experimental musician, Soap&Skin/Anja Plaschg. Dreams, themes of love, and memory float through the ambience as two projected light circles dance around the room. Beds lay under the projections, offering a place to rest together and participate in a social unity. This unique installation is temporarily on display, but the experiences, memories, and connections visitors leave with are long lasting.

Settling In
Mae Al-Jiboori 
December 3- 27
Blackfish Gallery
938 NW Everett St, Portland, OR 97209

Mae Al-Jiboori confronts the temporality and instability of being human in his latest exhibition at Blackfish Gallery. This emotionally raw show features figurative and gestural paintings on repurposed wooden planks. Al-Jiboori’s bold and expressive mark making navigates the power of vulnerability and questions surrounding purpose and emotional dependency. Settling In communicates Al-Jiboori’s desire to challenge and remake himself through art. Also on display this month is Pomegranate Doyle’s confrontation of oppressive social forces and response to threats of facism through the use of narrative oil paintings in her new show, Imaginary Friends. 

Sponsor

In addition, Blackfish Gallery is hosting their annual Holiday Benefit Exhibition. With all proceeds going to the Oregon Food Bank, this show features a wide variety of affordably priced artwork by gallery artists, a perfect way to give back while shopping for holiday gifts. On December 6th, the gallery will host a special pop-up event with the Native American Art Market in collaboration with NAYA Family Center. Beautiful textiles, jewelry, prints, and ceramics made from local Indigenous artisans can be purchased at this special event. Support your local community members and artists this holiday season with Blackfish’s art sales.

Such a Cliché
Claire Frances Spaulding
December 6- 28
Well Well Projects
8371 N Interstate Ave #1, Portland, OR 97217

Such a Cliché is a coming-of-age story that proves even the hardest nights of insomnia, anxiety, and self-doubt are temporary. Claire Frances Spaulding explores insecurities, restless nights, and tropes of trepidation through feminine aesthetics and garish intentions. Comebacks whispered in the dark and thoughts that dwell on what could have been are shown through hand-stitched soft sculptural forms that feature a balance of high and low technique and material. 

Holiday Group Show
Various Artists
December 4- 20 
Russo Lee Gallery 
805 NW 21st Ave, Portland, OR 97209

Paintings, sculptures, and works on paper are on display at Russo Lee Gallery for their annual Holiday Group Show. Over forty gallery and guest artists are both featured in the show, highlighting established and emerging artists and their captivating work. This show emphasizes the variety of mediums, materials, and styles that each artist uses in their own unique way and invites viewers to consider new perspectives and ways of seeing.

Rest is Smoke
Munro Galloway 
December 4- January 10
Elizabeth Leach Gallery 
417 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR 97209

The shifting landscape and climate of the American West Coast, art history, transmutation and personal memories are the heart of Munro Galloway’s exhibition, Rest is Smoke. The title is inspired by Andrea Mantegna’s inscription on his 1506 painting of Saint Sebastian, “Nothing is stable except the divine, the rest is smoke,” and the heat, wind, rain, and smoke conditions of California. Galloway reproduces smoke and cloud effects in his work which create a contrast between lightness and density, and temperature differences. The featured paintings are made from a process of building and removing multiple layers of paint which speak to the notion that nothing truly is stable in this exhibition. Temporality is prominent in this exhibition, to act is to remain, and to rest is to disappear. 

Mark Makers: Rick Bartow and Seiichi Hiroshima, Moon and Dog Press
Rick Bartow and Seiichi Hiroshima
December 3- January 31 
Froelick Gallery 
714 NW Davis St, Portland, OR 97209

Sponsor

A two person exhibit honoring the nineteen years of collaborative printmaking between Rick Bartow and Seiichi Hiroshima is on display at Froelick Gallery this month! In 1992, Bartow and Hiroshima met during Bartow’s show in Niigata, Japan. When Bartow returned to Japan in 1997 for an exhibit at Hiroshima’s gallery, they established their friendship and collaboration and founded the Moon and Dog Press which remained strong until Bartow’s passing in 2016. While Bartow and Hiroshima both had widely different mediums and styles, they bonded over their love of mark making. Together, they combined Bartow’s themes and Hiroshima’s expertise in printmaking and created and produced 191 editioned drypoint prints and nearly 300 monotypes, a selection of which are on display. Bartow’s time in Japan and his friendship with Hiroshima is proof that temporary travels and situations can result in longstanding effects and connections.

The PushPin Show
Group Show
December 7- January 4 
Newport Visual Arts Center
777 NW Beach Dr, Newport, OR 97365

This month marks the 35th anniversary of Newport Visual Arts Center’s community-based group show called The PushPin Show. This show brings together community members to highlight their artistic talents throughout Lincoln county by providing a space to display their work. There are no limits to age or experience level and all community members are encouraged to participate. This year, the gallery has expanded past just displaying work on walls, and now offers a space for artists to display their three-dimensional works on pedestals. Don’t miss this temporary opportunity to see the artistic brilliance among the Lincoln county residents and even enter your own masterpiece!

Uncertainty Surrounds the Holdings of Things
Group exhibition co-curated by Bella Feinstein & Olivia Miller
November 14- December 21
after/time
735 SW 9th Ave #110, Portland, OR 97205

Sixteen artists are featured in after/time’s newest exhibition, Uncertainty Surrounds the Holdings of Things. This exhibition is centered around object and materiality. In the modern age of convenience, immediacy, and possession, this show explores the vitality of materials. Objects become actors of movement, change, and agency. Permanence, duration, material reinvention are common themes. How do the lives of objects persist and transform? How are we responsible for these objects? What stories do they hold? The featured artworks offer a reminder that objects and the material world are temporary and alive in uncertainty. 

Very Merry Cash & Carry: Holiday Sale
Various Artists
December 4- 28
Sidestreet Arts
140 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97214

Sidestreet Arts presents their annual holiday sale and exhibition titled, Very Merry Cash & Carry! While this is a festive exhibition, the artwork displayed goes beyond just holiday themes and features a variety of artworks. There is a wide range of styles and mediums of work from fun, eye-catching Christmas ornaments made of glass to beautifully detailed paintings.

Thanatopsis: A Meditation on Death, Grief, and Transition
Shelly Chamberlin, Marne Lucas, and Dardinelle Troen
December 4- February 15th 
Paragon Arts Gallery 
815 N. Killingsworth St. Portland, Oregon 97217

Sponsor

As the year comes to the end, I’m reminded that all things must come to an end. Thanatopsis: A Meditation on Death, Grief, and Transition is a three-person exhibition that revolves around the themes of death, the grief that comes from it, and discusses transformation beyond a physical form and the impermanence of life. Artists Shelly Chamberlin, Marne Lucas, and Dardinelle Troen have found community with each other from shared experiences with grief, loss, and transformation. Chamberlin draws upon images of her body in the aftermath of the death of her father, documenting the raw and unfiltered experiences of grief as it moves throughout the body. Lucas’ practice as a death Doula informs her heat-sensitive infrared video to capture the inspiring yet invisible energy of humanity. Troen, enamored with the idea of impermanence and transformation, uses Biochar, a material with more biomatter than charcoal, to create artwork that is intended to eventually disappear back into the earth to sustain new life. This exhibition provides space for tangible feelings, moments of sublime beauty, to honor the memories of those who have passed, and the opportunity to heal together as a community.