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Write Around PAM: Carrie Mae Weems

Untitled (Woman with daughter) from the series Kitchen Table, Carrie Mae Weems, each image 27 ¼ x 27 ¼ inches, gelatin silver prints. A series of three black-and-white photographs, positioned side by side, featuring a young Black girl and a Black woman in a room at a large table. The first photo shows the woman with short, dark hair and a dark dress seated at the end of a long, wooden table under a triangular overhead light. She looks down at an open book with her hand at left resting on her cheek and her arm at right resting on the thick book. Beside her to the left sit a notepad and pens. On the right side of the table is a notebook, pen, and a glass of dark liquid. To the left and behind the woman, stands a young girl in a light dress with shoulder straps, her hair up in pigtails. She stands with her arms folded and looks towards the book on the table. At right is a closed door and there are two chairs on either side of the table. The second photo shows the same setting with the woman now standing on the right side of the table leaning forward with her hands on the table. She looks directly at the girl now standing at left with hands clasped and resting on the table. The two stare intensely at each other. The third photo shows the woman back in her seat at the end of the table, left hand on her forehead, a pen in her other hand while she looks down at her book. The child is now seated at the right side of the table and is drawing in the notebook.
Carrie Mae Weems (American, born 1953), Untitled, from the series Kitchen Table, 1990, gelatin silver prints, each image/sheet: 27 1/4 in x 27 1/4 in, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council. Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, 94.19a-c

Writing continues to be an important way to process, explore, and gain new understanding in these times of upheaval. As fall continues on and communities navigate an especially unusual school year, we were drawn to this piece by Carrie Mae Weems. We imagine that kitchen tables like this one have taken on new roles as…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Lynda Benglis

Omega. Lynda Benglis, 33 x 17 x 11 ¼ inches, acrylic, enamel, glitter and gesso on plaster and cotton bunting over aluminum mesh. 1. A photo of a sculpture having a similar look to a thick rope knotted into the rough shape of a long oval with an end protruding at top right. The knot is splattered with aqua, red, yellow, black and purple paint and metallic glitter. The texture of the cotton bunting is visible beneath some areas of the paint and gesso. The area at the tip of the protruding end is without paint showing the bare bunting and plaster structure.

“When you visit the second-floor of the modern and contemporary galleries, you’ll find a group of works by women artists: Judy Chicago’s Pasadena Lifesaver Blue, Judy Pfaff’s Untitled, Dorothea Rockburne’s Saqqarah, and Lynda Benglis’s Omega. One of the many sparkle knots Benglis created in the early 1970s, Omega is often described as a feminist send-up…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: James Lavadour

Mandatory, James Lavadour, 17 ¾ x 13 1/8, color monotype on paper. A vertical rectangular print showing a red, armless figure, just right of center, against a background of smudged, scraped and blended earth tones. The figure has the suggestion of a head, its outline incised in the paint revealing the cream-colored base below. The ribs, torso, pelvis, and the legs are covered in a sheer wash of the red color that fades away at the bottom along with the lower legs and feet of the figure. The red color arcs from the figure’s head to the left becoming a muddier brown and continues off the work. The figure is placed on a background of earthy brown paint tones which look as if they have been scraped, moved, and manipulated by palette knives and brushes. The effect is sharper, harsher, and darker at the bottom of the monotype and more blended, softer, and lighter at the top half. The right edge of the print from top right to lower right darkens to very deep brownish black.

“Those familiar with the work of renowned Oregon artist James Lavadour (Walla Walla, b. 1951) may be surprised to encounter this expressive and figurative monotype. Lavadour is best known for his passionate and richly hued paintings, drawn from his experience of the lands near his home on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Yoshida Fujio

Nasturtium, Yoshida Fujio, 14 ¾ x 9 5/8, color woodblock print on paper. A vertical, rectangular print depicting an abstract, closeup view of a nasturtium flower’s petals. Undulating swirls of reds, rusts, yellows and green over a white background fill the print. Starting at top, a large petal folds over itself from the left towards the center. The petal is composed of stripes of yellows, peach, and rust that meet at a point toward the center leaving a large white teardrop shape and a crescent shape in white. At right, a large petal bows towards the center of the print in deep peach and red hues. Its shape is mirrored at left with another petal meeting the other at center in similar colors. Another large teardrop shape is positioned at bottom center. The overall effect is one of swirling, organic shapes and colors

As young children we are often asked what our favorite color is. Colors are some of the first words we learn and they help us describe the world around us. And while we may no longer commit to a “favorite” color, we recognize when we’re drawn to hues and how they make us feel. Colors…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Honorable George Rossman

Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Carnation, Adrien Ysenbrandt, 18 7/8 x 12 1/8 inches, oil on panel. A vertical, rectangular portrait of a young, white man shown in three quarter view from the waist up, holding a red carnation in his hand at left and a pair of tan gloves in his hand at right. He wears a dark hat with a wide upturned brim, shoulder length brown hair, a coat with a leopard fur trimmed collar and two gold rings with dark center stones on the pinky of his hand at right. He looks off to the left with a solemn expression. His pale face and hands almost seem illuminated against the dark clothing and almost black background.

“Ysenbrandt’s painting is one of the finest portraits in the collection and I would like to pay tribute to the distinguished Oregonian who gave it to the Museum. The Honorable George Rossman (1885–1967) was the longest-serving justice on the Oregon Supreme Court (1927 to 1965). Justice Rossman was born in Chicago but grew up in…  Read more

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Create More Resilience

Join five artists on a creative journey to discover, celebrate, and share the amazing, unique, powerful, and lovable you. Portland Art Museum is excited to partner once again with Create More, Fear Less and artists from many backgrounds and disciplines to provide video workshops for youth on how to build emotional resilience through creative practices.…  Read more

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Dail Art Moment: Robert Pruitt

Meteorite, Robert Pruitt, conte and charcoal on dyed paper, rendered walkie-talkie with audio component. A vertical, rectangular portrait of a seated Black woman in profile wearing a long, burnt orange colored dress with a walkie-talkie in her lap, against a reddish background. The woman sits on the edge of a folding chair and is turned slightly to the left with her hands resting on her knees. Her head is turned to the left and her hair is swept up into a bun on top. Her expression is neutral. Her face and hair are rendered in careful detail in tones of gray and black with the reddish background showing through in areas. Soft white highlights touch her cheekbone, temple and lips. She wears a long sleeve, high necked dress with a U-shaped ruffle on the upper bodice. The dress is characterized by simple lines with less detail than the head of the woman. Her hands reflect the wash of reddish pigment that also unevenly fills the background of the portrait. In her lap sits a walkie-talkie, a black and silver rectangular device with a long antenna that extends out from the woman’s lap beyond the edge of the work. The folding chair seen partially right is sheer gray with the reddish background again showing through.

“I look forward to sharing Robert Pruitt’s drawing ‘Meteorite’ with our audiences this fall in an installation of contemporary artworks that are new to the collection. This multimedia piece pairs a large-scale drawing with an old-fashioned walkie-talkie sitting on a pedestal. Pruitt brings the drawing’s fictional world into our real-time and space: the actual radio…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Vincent Hamel

Prussian Blue, Vincent Hamel, 11 7/8 x 8 ½ inches, wax crayon on handmade paper. A vertical rectangular work composed entirely of a field of deep blue. Vertical lines create texture in the shape of variegated shades of deep blues with flecks and streaks of white throughout. The edges of the work are uneven and the nature of the crayon work reveals itself in scratchy, jagged borders

“When the news becomes overwhelming, as it often has in 2020, I escape into pure color. Prussian Blue by Dutch artist Vincent Hamel offers a calming retreat. Hamel limits himself to a modest scale and materials, yet he produces captivating work that exhibits his deep love for color and tactility. In Prussian Blue, he used…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Lillian Pitt

Dancing in the Wind, Lillian Pitt, 14 ¾ x 5 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches, clay, beads, wood, and wire. A photo of a sculpture composed of three main parts: a body, a base, and a finial. The pale-beige clay body is shaped like a vertical rectangle with rounded corners and is highly textured with imprinted patterns. The bottom right corner is rounded off further than the other corners. The imprinted patterns appear to have been made with shells and form concentric semicircles similar to how the bands of a rainbow are arranged. A row each of scallop and nautilus shell imprints form arcs on their sides starting at the top and ending at the bottom. The balance of the body is dotted with the indentations of shell markings overall. Protruding irregularly from the right side of the body are bent copper wires with amber colored beads at the ends. Each wire is bent differently. The body is attached to a thick, chunky wood base by a short, metal rod. The blond wood of the base is traversed with thin dark lines that seem to outline the grain. At top, the finial is connected to the body by clay and is an irregular spherical shape with metal rods radiating out at 9, 12, 2, and 3 o’clock. At 10 o’clock, a copper wire curves into a spiral.

Lillian Pitt, Dancing in the Wind, 1998, clay, beads, wood, and wire, Gift of Allan and Lenore Sindler, © Lillian L. Pitt, 2006.54.4 Even in its stillness, this piece by Lillian Pitt feels alive, full of movement, ready to dance. Our words can also carry motion, inviting us into imaginative spaces where we are floating,…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Iwami Reika

“Iwami Reika passed away earlier this year, at the age of 93. I’ve been reflecting on her body of work for several months, and with rain pouring down in Portland today, the memory of wildfire smoke still fresh, her ‘Song of Water’ feels like an appropriate celebration of the drips and sloshes and susurrations. Iwami…  Read more