VizArts Monthly: Slowing Down

As we head into July, art offerings around Oregon offer opportunities to slow down and contemplate memories, ancestors, and landscapes (among other things). Raylee Heiden rounds up some strong options.

June 30, 2024

Raylee Heiden

Visual Art, VizArts Monthly

We are back once again with a new month full of exciting events! Now, is it just me or did June fly by? It felt like just yesterday it was the beginning of summer and now we are already in the midst of it (even with the capricious weather)! I feel like the world moves so fast sometimes and we are constantly running to catch up with it. Let us stop and take a moment and to breathe in the world around us. This month’s very casual theme is fitting for summer: July is the perfect time to take a break and slow down.

There is plenty to stop and look at this month all around Oregon. Start your journey of slowing down by visiting the Portland galleries including Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Chefas Projects, Carnation Contemporary, Multnomah Arts Center Gallery, The Oregon Historical Society, and Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. Continue your mindful wandering in Eugene at the Karin Clarke Gallery and Maude Kerns Art Center. Finally, finish by taking a moment in Bend at the High Desert Museum to see the natural beauty of the High Desert Region.

Robert Schlegel, image courtesy of Karin Clarke Gallery

Rural Sightings
Robert Schlegel
June 26- August 3
Karin Clarke Gallery
760 Willamette St, Eugene, OR 97401 (Wednesday-Friday 12pm-5:30pm, Saturday 10am-4pm)

Freshly framed works by Robert Schlegel are on display at Karin Clarke Gallery through August 3rd. Schlegel, a landscape and portrait artist from Banks, Oregon died in 2021. The paintings on view are from Schlegel’s later years when he turned his gaze to “balance and imbalanced” landscapes and figurative work. The works are not photographically realistic, rather they lean more towards a representational style that invokes the feeling and characteristic of the world he captures. The scenes feel familiar and recognizable but leave the viewer wanting to know more about the place and the stories behind it. Stop and take a moment to celebrate the life and career of Robert Schlegel and lose yourself in the mini worlds he created.

Lonnie Holley, image courtesy of Elizabeth Leach Gallery

The Movement of Thought: Paintings and Works on Paper
Lonnie Holley
July 11- 27
Elizabeth Leach Gallery
417 NW 9th, Portland, OR 97209 (Tuesday-Saturday 10:30am- 5:30pm)

Lonnie Holley’s third solo show at Elizabeth Leach Gallery features new works made with spray paint, oil sticks, gesso, and acrylic. Each of Holley’s featured artworks uses a labor-intensive stenciling technique to create optical illusions amidst highly detailed images. Each time the viewer looks at Holley’s work, new details appear. Engaging with these compositions forces the viewer to slow down and take in all the various images and worlds inside Holley’s detailed artworks. The other exhibit in the Elizabeth Leach Gallery, City of Apparitions by Matthew Picton, features six three-dimensional hand cut paper sculptural assemblages.

Emily Wise, Image courtesy of Chefas Projects

Hair of the Banshee
Emily Wise
June 14- July 13
Chefas Projects
134 SE Taylor St, Suite 203, Portland, OR 97214 (Wednesday- Saturday 1pm-6pm)

Sponsor

Emily Wise’s Hair of the Banshee covers the journey of three sisters exploring unworldly and surreal territory as they uncover the myth and questions surrounding the supernatural being, the banshee. Wise’s brightly hued paintings intertwine botanicals with the female form to explore myth, relationships, and the existence of a sacred feminine space. The images in Wise’s individual pieces overlap and intermingle, creating a dizzyingly detailed composition that leaves the viewer captivated and enveloped in the stories she creates.

Brittney Connelly, Image courtesy of Carnation Contemporary

Slipstream
Brittney Connelly
July 12- 28
Carnation Contemporary
8371 N Interstate Ave, Portland, OR 97217 (Saturday and Sunday 12pm-5pm)

This month’s offering at Carnation Contemporary by Brittney Connelly is more than just an exhibition, it is an immersive opportunity to slow down and connect with the surreal beauty of our collective world and journey. The installation features the mediums of light, sound, and water in the form of a 62-foot curtain of rain to portray the places in our memories that stay with us, while equally prodding us to think about the places that don’t. Similarly, it explores the mundane beauty of the everyday and forces us to think about the moments and memories- big and small- that determine who we are. Join Carnation Contemporary and Brittney Connelly for experimental dinners on July 12, 19, and 26.

Image courtesy of Multnomah Arts Center Gallery

Ancestors
Curated by Kanani Miyamoto and Steph Littlebird
June 21- July 27
Multnomah Arts Center Gallery
7688 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR 97219 (Monday- Thursday 9am-9:30pm, Friday/Saturday 9am-5pm)

Kanani Miyamoto and Steph Littlebird have co-curated a group exhibition on the theme of how ancestors influence and impact our identities. Featured artists include Amber Kay Ball, Anthony Hudson, amoqiix-araceli, Molly Alloy, marvin parra orozco, Arie Beston, Marybel Martin, Amie Pascal, Jerome Alexander Sloan, Nica Aquino and Christina Martin. Utilizing various mediums of art including painting, sculpture, and beadwork, the artists slow down and remember their ancestors, their connections to them, and communicate with them. The artists’ work invites us all to reflect on our own ancestors and the role their pasts play in our contemporary identities.

Hilda Morris, Image courtesy of Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation

A Foundation of Creativity: Oregon’s 20th Century Artists and the Legacy of Arlene Schnitzer
June 28- January 2
The Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97205 (Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 12pm-5pm)

A new exhibit at OHS celebrates the legacy of Arlene Schnitzer and her pivotal role in the Oregon arts community. In 1961, Arlene noticed the lack of opportunity for artists to sell their artwork in the Portland area and opened the Fountain Gallery. Arlene Schnitzer and her family have been integral in the thriving art community in Oregon and have contributed to public art access, art education, and art preservation. Notable artists on display include Louis Bunce, Carl Morris, Hilda Morris, Mike Russo, and Mel Katz, some works of which are on public display for the first time from the Schnitzer’s collection.

Sponsor

Kat Houseman, Image courtesy of the High Desert Museum

Art in the West
July 20- September 20
High Desert Museum
59800 US-97, Bend, OR 97702 (Monday- Sunday 9am-5pm)

High Desert Museum’s annual juried exhibition Art in the West is back this July with a silent auction featuring breathtaking artworks capturing the landscapes, wildlife, people, cultures, and history of the High Desert region. The notable winners of this year’s exhibition are the Jury’s Choice Award to Monte Yellow Bird Sr. and the Curators’ Choice Award to Analee Fuentes. Other artists featured include Jake Trujilo, Kat Houseman, Richard York, Shannon Schacht, Barbara Van Cleve, Stuart Breidenstein, and Ott Jones. Proceeds of this event will go towards the featured artists and support the science, art, history, and education programs in the High Desert region.

David Carmack Lewis, Image courtesy of Maude Kerns Art Center

Tell Me a Story
Jeff Leake and David Carmack Lewis
June 21- July 19
Maude Kerns Art Center
1910 East 15th Ave, Eugene, OR 97403 (Monday- Friday 10am- 5:30pm, Saturday 12pm-4pm)

Portland artists Jeff Leake and David Carmack Lewis show their narrative work in their exhibition Tell Me a Story at the Maude Kerns Art Center. Both artists explore the images of landscapes and the intersection of culture and nature in their artwork. They focus both on incorporating specific stories experienced in these real landscapes alongside imagined places and the stories associated with them. Also on view at Maude Kerns Art Center this July is In Full Bloom by California artist Jennifer Lugris which features the broad spectrum of the trials and tribulations to the joys of motherhood.

David Seymour, Image courtesy of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education

Chim: Between Devastation and Resurrection
David Seymour
July 7- September 15
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
724 NW Davis St, Portland, OR 97209 (Wednesday- Sunday 11am-4pm)

Take a moment this July and recognize the effects and unseen aftermath of the Holocaust with David Seymour’s exhibition Chim: Between Devastation and Resurrection at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. This photography exhibition features the postwar reconstruction in Europe and the hidden details of the reality of life after World War II. While the destruction of the war is present in Seymour’s work, his photographs are intimate, focusing on the lives of ordinary people. Seymour’s photographs show the reality behind the aftermath of war and destruction and call upon the viewer to stop and think. Also on exhibit is The Magic World of Leonora Carrington which features 17 prints of costume designs for a theater production called Dybbuk by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington.

Raylee Heiden

Raylee Heiden (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist and creative based in Portland, Oregon. Her art practice focuses on figurative oil painting and printmaking. She is a student at Pacific Northwest College of Art and lover of all things creative. She can be found strolling the various parks around Portland or enjoying a hot cup of tea.