Tag Archives: Portland Art Museum

Rothko, “Red”, and a day away…

16 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , ,

Today we took a “vacation” day.  We went to a matinee at Portland Center stage….haven’t been there yet?  Do go…

we went to see “Red” a play by John Logan about the painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970).  The play was fascinating, mordant, funny…worth the trip up I-5…

and then on to the Portland Art Museum where there is a show of paintings by Mark Rothko.  Rothko and his family (the Rothkowiczs) came from Latvia to Portland in 1913.  Rothko attended Shattuck grade school and Lincoln High School before going on to Yale and New York, and the world beyond.  His story, not unlike the story of Manuel Izquierdo, fascinates me.  A kid, age 10 or 16, arrives in Portland from Spain or Latvia, speaking no English, and in 10 years is on a different path…a path to a mature body of art work fueled by a fierce determination and work ethic.

The show of Rothko’s paintings at PAM had some wonderful surprises for me…the earlier work that predates the famous “Mark Rothko” that we know so well.  (The new museum policy allowing photos…except for the painting Paul Allen owns…is brilliant for me.)

You’d better go take a look…

The Amazing Way Life Is…

15 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Sculpture

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

, ,

Still on the Manuel Izquierdo trail.  For MONTHS R has been searching for a sculpture that was at the Seattle World’s Fair “Century 21″ in 1962, which was called “Figure”.  He had a photocopy of a B&W photo showing the piece…

but nobody knew where it was.  Katrina at Laura Russo tried to track it down, to no avail.  Today a collector called Roger about a piece of Manuel’s they had that R might like to borrow for the show in 2013, and in conversation it came up that the collector owned another sculpture R might be interested in.  Though it is currently at his vacation home, he DID have a photo of it…an old photo from a PAM brochure celebrating PAM’s 75th anniversary in 1967.  I bet you can guess…WOOHOO!  (Thanks Marilyn!)

Gordon Gilkey, March 10, 2012

10 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

Gordon Gilkey gave us a lot.  He rounded up lost works in Europe after WW II, he taught a few generations of students at OSU, he curated prints at the Portland Art Museum from 1978 until his death in 2000.  Additionally he established the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey print Center at the Portland Art museum donating over 7000 prints from his personal collection.  Today is the 100th anniversary of his birth!  This photo came to light recently with Manuel Izquierdo on the left and Gordon Gilkey on the right, on the occasion of the opening on a show of Manuel’s sheperds in 1999 in the gallery at PNCA named for Manuel.  Happy birthday Gordon…

Eunice Parsons at Luke Dolkas

04 Saturday Dec 2010

Posted by in Art work, Art World, Artists, Coffee art, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

Eunice Parsons is a woman of such talent and focus it often takes my breath away.  I wrote about her in May 2009 and a studio visit R made to see her work.  Today a new show of small collages opens at Luke Dolkas art & framing (2707 SE Belmont) and I zoomed by Friday to take a look.  Really they are so beautiful…if you have a chance they are up until January 6th and WELL worth a visit.  The reception is today, the 4th, from 6-8.  After Seeing Eunice’s work I went to the Portland Art Museum to see the Lee Kelly show and 5 absolutely gorgeous small water colors by Thomas Moran of waterfalls here in the far west.  Of course the museum frowns on photos, but I did sneak ONE from the gift shop, where there are NO guards.  A quick coffee and then home we came.  I leave you with the images.

 

 

Living the Creative Life: George Johanson at PAM

09 Sunday Aug 2009

Posted by in Art work, Living the Creative Life, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

, ,

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the PNCA (Pacific NW College of Art–formerly the Museum School) George Johanson did a demonstration yesterday in the Museum.  There was jazz (a bass and a guitar) and George drawing for two hours.  Very mellow, very fun.  Here’s how it looked:

geo 1

George explains the excercise.

geo 2

the crowd pays close attention.

geo 3 ego 4

After two hours of watching and listening..voila!  Two nice drawings:

geo 6

geo 7

PNCA at 100

06 Saturday Jun 2009

Posted by in Art work, Artists, Celebrations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

Last night was the opening of a really beautiful new show at the Portland Art Museum.  Filling the big main floor galleries is a blockbuster collection of the work of the many talented teachers over the years from the Pacific NW College of Art–formerly the Museum School.  It gives these artists their due in a terrific way.  There are “conversations” between these paintings, and the hanging of the show encourages the “talk” to flow freely.  The event was so much fun because many of the painters were there as well as gallery owners and other Portland art world luminaries.  Of course they wouldn’t let me take a photo (I don’t know why guards always notice me trying to sneak one while Cary goes unnoticed…).  But, as you enter the show there is a terrific blown-up photo of the faculty in the 1950′s and the game of the evening was trying to identify the players.  As I stood there Eunice Parsons arrived and let me take her photo in front of the photo–in which the younger Eunice is right in the center:

Eunice

vent

If you are in Portland this summer, don’t miss this show.  It really makes a case for Portland painting being as good as it gets.

FANNY BLACK HULL/MARIE WATT

15 Monday Sep 2008

Posted by in Art work, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

Last winter Portland artist Marie Watt put out a call to men of her acquaintance to send her pictures of their mothers, or of a woman they thought needed to be remembered, for a piece she was working on.  Roger forwarded a photo of his mother holding him in a long ago train station.

Saturday we went to the PAM to see the last day of the show The Contemporary Northwest Art Awards.

The first piece we saw was Marie Watt’s big piece called “Forget-me-not: Mothers and Sons.”  “Oh–this might be the piece I sent the photo for,” said Roger.

We entered into the circle or remembrance, surrounded on all sides by embroidered pictures of mothers and sons and–we saw Fanny Black Hull right away.

Half of the photos are of mothers and remembered women, and the others are of Oregon men (and one woman) killed in Iraq.  Stark, beautiful, horrifying, good.  All in one.

Roger had written:  “Fanny Black Hull, 1914-1993

A New Yorker who moved to my father’s hometown in northern Idaho, never fully coming to terms with the Far West, though she made the best of it.  Established the first free public kindergarten on Idaho; raised six children; assisted my father in his law practice; known for her skills as hostess and cook.”

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 439 other followers