City Hall 1st Thursday 2007

By Pollyanne Birge

Our third year of hosting the 1st Thursdays Art Shows was full of local creative talent and brought over 4000 people into City Hall! These informal, fun events provide a great opportunity to see local art work while encouraging community members to learn more about their city government.

Bottoms Up

JANUARY--From the Bottoms Up: Voices and Vision: A Gulf Coast Visual Arts Perspective

We kicked off the year focused on issues and art beyond our region. From the Bottoms Up--is a a local non-profit that focuses on the intersections of art and sustainable building practices in Portland and the New Orleans area. Voices and Vision: A Gulf Coast Visual Arts Perspective is a visual arts exhibit to benefit a multimedia project positioned to extend green building initiatives from the NW region to the Gulf Coast. Read more about the show: Portland Tribune

Henry Frison--Rosa Parks

FEBRUARY--'Generations': Black Heritage Art Show at City Hall. The second annual Black Heritage Art Show combined visual art and performance to create an event focused on the strong multi-generational fabric of local artists and leaders.

This event was both art show and craft fair and many local vendors came to sell their art pieces. Special performance by the No Kidding Choir and Bobby Fouther and sculptural art by 7th & 8th graders at Ockley Green Magnet School

City Council was also proud to honor two deserved local leaders Kenneth Berry from the World Arts Foundation Inc and Brent Stewart from United Way. Read the Skanner coverage.

Minature Masks--Lillian PittMARCH-A Celebration of Survival: Personal Histories of Genocide

Tragedy, loss, and grief are all outcomes of war and political instability, but this show deliberately focused on the survival of the cultures and people who suffer from genocide. A collaboration with the Portland Awareness Genocide Coalition who says the purpose of the event was: "To remember our history, to speak out our truth, and TO PREVENT THOSE ACTS NOW AND IN THE FUTURE."

Colleen CooverAPRIL--Comics Take Over City Hall: and Everyone is Laughing!

Portlanders are so very lucky! Our town is busting at the seam with top-notch illustrators and comic creators. We were excited to highlight these hip Portland artists and their amazing work right here at City Hall.

The Oregon Potter's Association also showed works in the lower atrium as a sneak peak of pieces from the 2007 Oregon Potters' Ceramic Showcase in May.

For Willamette Week Coverage

Clement McAleerMAY Belfast Art and the Heart Gallery

2007 marked a major development in healing political divides in Northern Ireland. A mix of both impressionistic and modern works, Portland City Hall was overjoyed to mark the occasion by hosting Belfast artists from Queen Street Studios.

This show was also in collaboration with the Heart Gallery. The Heart Gallery is a child adoption and fostering advocacy organization whose goal is to place children in healthy homes. They work with professional photographers to take photos of the children as a way to talk more generally about adoption and fostering, in addition to creating an opportunity for community members to learn about specific children up for adoption.

Chris Haberman--AviationJUNE--2nd Annual Pride Art Show

City Hall was excited about hosting the 2nd annual Pride Art show celebrating the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Queer community. Building from the momentum of last year's show--this lively event will focus on both established and emerging queer artists. We were excited to partner with great GBLTQ organizations: Basic Rights Oregon (BRO), Senior Housing and Retirement Enterprises (SHARE), and Gay Lesbian Staight Education Network (GLSN). Check out Just Out's coverage of the event.

Nancy Watterson ScharfJULY--Keep Portland Green!: City Hall First Thursday Sustainable Art show

We all know Portland is being recognized for being Eco-friendly. In July, City Hall celebrated our GREEN city by featuring great local art and craft focused on sustainability. This interactive event offered local organic food, 'green' demonstrations, music, and recycled art work! We worked had great partners on this event: ORLO, Cracked Pots, Portland Office of Sustainable Development, Muddy Boot Festival, and SCRAP.

Bryce Kanights

AUGUST--Board of Art: a Historical Perspective of Stumptown Skate

What a fun way to highlight the long standing Portland skate scene from Burnside to Glenhaven! The show featured a good cross section of local talent and was rousing mix of Skate Art: photographs, painting, collage and pieces made out of recycled boards! An unlikey sight to many, attendees also enjoyed a ½ pipe skate ramp built right in front of City Hall! This a great collaboration with Adidas, AST Dew Tour and special thanks to Ben Wixon and Shrunken Head Skates for all their hard work.

Hey Lover--Jason QuigelySEPTEMBER--Rock of Ages: 75 Years of Portland Music

Through generations and genres, we assembled a rare and diverse show of photos, posters, and artifacts from the last 75 years of Portland music! The show was a unique glimpse into the ages of P-town's bands, scenes, and venues.

Pepe MoscosoOCTOBER--City Hall Celebrates Latino/a Art

City Hall celebrated the diverse and talented Latino/a artists in Portland with music, food, and art! The show was a great mix of paintings, collage, photographs and sculpture and was highlighted by the music and local cuisine from ChaChaChas!

Peter Schutte--Calf Creek FallsNOVEMBER--Through Many Lenses: a History of our Region

A diverse grouping of artistic visions, we gathered a great mix of paintings and photos for the November show. This show was in collaboration with ART UP's Look Up, a local non-profit who works with teens to paint portraits of local women leaders.

Portland PrintsDECEMBER--Portland Prints: City Hall Art and Gift show

This show was a great mix of local print makers including: couture stationary, illustration prints, letterpress & silk screen prints and graphic novels.

The event was a fun way to get accessibly prices, locally handcrafted art pieces into the hands of holiday shoppers. Buy Local!