Oregonians have been asked to pause social gatherings to help curb the spike in COVID-19 cases across our state over the next two weeks. How can we step outside in our imaginations instead? Both the beauty found in this piece by Shima Tamami and the honking of geese and flitting of birds outside our windows… Read more
Tag: writing
During the month of November, Literary Arts celebrates authors and Portland’s community of readers through a virtual edition of their annual Portland Book Festival, presented by Bank of America. Literary Arts is a community-based nonprofit with a mission to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation with great literature. For the past five… Read more
Fall is deepening in the Northwest, and the natural world is letting go in preparation for winter. Amid the shifting social, political, racial, and economic hardships we are facing as a community, our seasons are shifting as well, offering us invitations to write and reflect on change. Childe Hassam’s New England Road captures this shifting… Read more
This Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020, is U.S. Election Day. We Oregonians fill out our ballots at home, return them by mail or by drop box, and then we wait. The results—the decisions we will have made collectively as communities and as a country—will likely have reverberations here at home, at our very own kitchen tables.… Read more
When was the last time you were able to sit still? The kind of still that allows you to unclench your jaw, let your mind wander, and really rest in the present moment? There is so much important work to do—in our lives, in our communities, and in our world. Alongside this work is the… Read more
Screens and our relationships to them continue to evolve and influence all facets of our lives—how we stay informed, how we work and learn and play, how we connect with one another, how we attempt civil discourse, even where in our spaces we spend our time. They can connect us across vast distances, and also… Read more
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
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
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
When crisis strikes, as it has in Oregon over these last weeks with wildfires ravaging communities and smoke blanketing the state, we are reminded of what is most important to us: family, friends, community, pets, items that hold memories and carry meaning, and more. This Comb Chest evokes this same feeling for us: of treasuring… Read more