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Participating Paintallica Members: Jesse Albrecht - Bozeman, MT, Josh Anderson - Milwaukee, WI, Dan Attoe – Portland, OR, Gordon Barnes - Portland, OR, Josh Black - Los Angeles, Jamie Boling - Iowa City, IA, Brandon Buckner - Chattanooga, TN, Bruce Conkle - Portland, OR, Shelby Davis - Portland, OR, Josh Doster - Iowa City, David Dunlap - Iowa City, IA, Lori Gilbert - Portland, OR, Ben Moore - Decora, IA, Ralph Pugay - Portland, OR, Jay Schmidt - Bozeman, MT, Bruce Tapola – Minneapolis, MN, Josh Wilichowski - Stillwater, MN
Three of Portland’s public art projects were among 31 projects to be nationally recognized this week, winning awards from Americans for the Arts. A Division Street project called This All Happened More Or Less, by Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis, Westmoreland Park Nature Play in which artist Adam Kuby worked with Greenworks Landscape Architects to design a nature-based children’s playground, and the Rippling Wall at Fire Station 21, by David Franklin, were the three local projects to be honored.
Eight recent art installations along the new Division Streetscape are a testament to the powers of observation and imagination.
To have art displayed in public is a significant achievement. To have an entire city call to display your art is an even greater honor. That honor was recently bestowed upon one Portland couple on Oct. 24, at the grand opening ceremony for This All Happened More or Less, a permanent sculpture installation by Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis.
Portland based artists Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis have completed a public art installation as part of the recent streetscape improvements for SE Division. The project was funded through the City of Portland’s 2% for Art ordinance. The works will be celebrated on Friday, October 24th, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Openfest, featuring music, a beer garden, and other activities and celebrations throughout the day. Ribbon cutting festivities will take place at 10:00 a.m. at SE 31st Avenue and Division Street.
Every month, the W+K Portland office opens its doors for the First Thursday crowds, and this month’s gallery exhibition is a true winter wonderland. Local artists Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis have brought unicorns, narwhals, winged wolves, owls and more under one roof. Tonight, you can see their magical creations and enjoy a cup of hot cocoa and a performance from PSU’s Chamber Choir.
I suspect that Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis’ West Coast Turnaround, may end up being for the casual visitor the most memorable icon of Portland2010. Like this full-scale drywall replica of a semi-truck, Portland2010 is fully loaded, barreling toward the head lit-bright future of this intimately sized city with outsized arts ambitions and talent.
There's a lot to dissect, luxuriate over and connect with in the exhibit at Disjecta'sNorth Portland space, works by five artists and artist teams that are part of the nonprofit's guerrilla take on the Oregon Biennial, "Portland 2010: A Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Art."
Shelby Davis received an MFA degree from Portland State University in 2008. He is a sculptor and multimedia artist from small town South Carolina, Pickens more specifically. He has shown with a variety of venues in the Southeast and Northwest including Redux Contemporary Art Center, The North Carolina Public Arts Commission , Jace Gace, Disjecta, and most recently for the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art as part of a collaborative effort called Paintallica. He also has pieces all over his parent's property. His outdoor sculptural installations are often based off dissecting photographic information or rearanging recycled stuff. Some are installed without permission. He is a practiced wood and metal worker but often welcomes challenges that come with new materials. He now resides in Portland, OR and is showing wherever possible selectively.
Immaterialized surveys various projects by artists exploring the indeterminacy of materials and content. The exhibition includes 6 artworks by 6 Portland-based artists/teams: Gordon Barnes & Shelby Davis, Ryan Burghard & Dean Spella, Justin Gorman, Damien Gilley, Rebecca Steele, and Makerlab (Paige Saez, Anselm Hook, Marlin Pohlman, Ben Foote). Five of these works are being exhibited for the first time.
“Is the cell stuff cool?” asked one student, looking like a kid in a candy store at the clean, tiny figures and hand-carved animals, plants and picture frames in Shelby Davis’ series of small, fantastic displays. “I don’t have a cell phone,” she said.
While Portland State’s MK Gallery has seen plenty of people coming and going on their way to and from classes before Davis’ MFA show opening this week, fewer have been stopping to take the guided tour accessible by cell phone.
Recently Jace Gace (a hybrid waffle house/gallery on Belmont) has become the newest place to see challenging art in Southeast Portland and openings have been packed despite the extensive condo construction next door. This installation art/waffle development would be more surprising if it hadn't been started by a bunch of MFA's from CCA and located in the Portland Art Center's smaller but wonderful old space when they were dedicated to installation art (2005).
I almost hate to write this, because it means that to a certain degree the surprise will be ruined for you, the rounding of the corner, the OH!-ness of it all -- and I have watched several people involuntarily open their mouths in wonder at the sight -- but in the back of Jace Gace, a waffle and beer spot on Southeast Belmont Street, sits a tank.
Redux Contemporary Art Center's latest show, (Re)Orientation (ending Friday), provides a chance to find out how inspired Redux's current crop of studio users are. Anyone's welcome to apply to rent out space at the center, with smaller rooms costing $160 a month. Successful applicants get 24-hour access to the resources they need, and it's not unusual for artists to rent a space mainly to get access to the printing equipment or the darkroom.