a person who looks to the future is well served by looking to the past. portland has never treated artists kindly in terms of work space. i moved here in the 1970's and old town ("the pearl") was many square blocks of unused warehouses that an artist couldn't get near. no owner wanted anything to do with the liability issues especially where high voltage (kilns, welding, etc) were concerned -- although, ironically, that's what many of the aforementioned warehouses were built for.
then, in the biggest plot twist of all, developers started developing "the pearl" and had the unmitigated gall to "design" and market them as artists lofts -- something they never were. in fact just prior to development i received several surveys in the mail rife with stupid questions like "if an artist lived in a loft what kind of kitchen cabinets would he/she prefer? choices: french provincial, country kitchen, etc. etc." the correct answer to that question (if the developers knew the first thing about artists) is that the artist would either design their own cabinetry or go down to ralph miles liquidators and find something funky but functional and have kitchen cabinets unlike anybody else's. that what makes art original. and if you look at other cities experience, run-down neighborhoods were happy to rent to artists. artists then brought the neighborhoods up and had the spaces sold out from under them and they would have to go looking for a new run-down neighborhood. portland was never even that smart.
so now "the pearl" is "the pearl". and alberta is coming up as is beaumont and other neighborhoods. so in what part of town are the newly-enlightened landlords going to offer their spaces to artists? sandy? zigzag? boring, perhaps?
i think portland has dug it's own grave in terms of nurturing artists. i would be happy to rent a CHEAP workspace, but i work at home -- and am happy to do so.
work/live
a person who looks to the future is well served by looking to the past. portland has never treated artists kindly in terms of work space. i moved here in the 1970's and old town ("the pearl") was many square blocks of unused warehouses that an artist couldn't get near. no owner wanted anything to do with the liability issues especially where high voltage (kilns, welding, etc) were concerned -- although, ironically, that's what many of the aforementioned warehouses were built for.
then, in the biggest plot twist of all, developers started developing "the pearl" and had the unmitigated gall to "design" and market them as artists lofts -- something they never were. in fact just prior to development i received several surveys in the mail rife with stupid questions like "if an artist lived in a loft what kind of kitchen cabinets would he/she prefer? choices: french provincial, country kitchen, etc. etc." the correct answer to that question (if the developers knew the first thing about artists) is that the artist would either design their own cabinetry or go down to ralph miles liquidators and find something funky but functional and have kitchen cabinets unlike anybody else's. that what makes art original. and if you look at other cities experience, run-down neighborhoods were happy to rent to artists. artists then brought the neighborhoods up and had the spaces sold out from under them and they would have to go looking for a new run-down neighborhood. portland was never even that smart.
so now "the pearl" is "the pearl". and alberta is coming up as is beaumont and other neighborhoods. so in what part of town are the newly-enlightened landlords going to offer their spaces to artists? sandy? zigzag? boring, perhaps?
i think portland has dug it's own grave in terms of nurturing artists. i would be happy to rent a CHEAP workspace, but i work at home -- and am happy to do so.