Black Artists of Oregon
Portland Art Museum
September 9, 2023 – March 17, 2024
Cosmic Woman, 1973
Wood panel sculpture, 25” x 14” x 14.5"
Collection of Patricia Soltys
Photographer: David Czuba
Mapping Coyote Black, textile, 2015, 10" x 10"
Courtesy of the Artist
Photographer, E.G. Schempf
Hue (Streat), 2021
Acrylic and One Shot on canvas, 50" x 50"
Photographer: Mario Gallucci
Mandiani, 2021
Acrylic, rubber, collage on wood panel 60" x 48"
Photographer: Penda Diakite
The exhibition Black Artists of Oregon, presented by the Portland Art Museum, highlights and celebrates the work of Black artists in Oregon over more than a century, exploring this history both through the lens of Black artists whose works are represented in the Museum’s collection as well as the works of influential artists who, historically, have not been exhibited or held in museum collections.
Considering both the presence and absence of Black artists is critical to understanding the breadth of Black artistic production in Oregon—even in the midst of historic exclusion—as well as how the impact of that history affects our understanding of American art history and the history of the Pacific Northwest. This exhibition serves to deepen the awareness of the talented artists who have shaped and inspired artists regionally and nationally, and it is the first of its kind to consider the work of Black artists collectively in Oregon.
Beginning in the 1880s and spanning through today, Black Artists of Oregon captures the Black diasporic experiences particular to the Pacific Northwest with 67 artists and over 200 objects. Artists represented in the exhibition includes Thelma Johnson Streat, Al Goldsby, Charlotte Lewis, Isaka Shamsud-Din, Ralph Chessé, Charles Tatum, Arvie Smith, Shedrich Williames, Harrison Branch, Bobby Fouther, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others. The exhibition and programming also include the works of contemporary and younger artists working now, functioning as bright threads and offering intergenerational conversation throughout the exhibition, including sidony o’neal, Jeremy Okai Davis, damali ayo, Sharita Towne, Melanie Stevens, Lisa Jarrett, Tristan Irving, Ebin Lee, and Jaleesa Johnston.
Untitled (Woman with daughter), from the series Kitchen Table, 1990
Gelatin silver prints
Gift of the Contemporary Art Council
© Carrie Mae Weems
Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York., 94.19a-c
Rock of Ages, 1976
Oil, gold leaf, and mirror on canvas
Gift of Roxie Schell and Damon Tempey
© Isaka Shamsud-Din, 2018.36.1
Monstro the Whale, 1940
Wool
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection,
U.S. General Services Administration.
New Deal Art Project, public domain, L42.32.1
Untitled, 1972
Gelatin silver print, image: 13 3/16 in x 10 3/8 in
sheet: 14 in x 10 15/16 in
Gift of Al Monner, 94.36.1
Mariconeo, 2022
Mineral silicate paint on ceramic, 82" x 20" x 16"
Courtesy of the artist
Photographer: Mario Gallucci
Through the narrative flow of the exhibition, visitors are experience work by Black artists across decades and generations. Particular attention is given to the works of Black artists who were producing work during the Black Arts Movement of the late 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s, such as Portland-based painter Isaka Shamsud-Din. The exhibition is also mark regional artistic connections with global movements for Black liberation, as seen in the work of Charlotte Lewis alongside Portlanders Organized for Southern African Freedom and artists like Sadé DuBoise, whose “Resistance” poster series contributed to Portland’s 2020 George Floyd protests. Without chronological constraints, the exhibition is grounded by the work of elder artists, intergenerational conversations, and live activation in the exhibition galleries.
Black Artists of Oregon builds upon guest curator Intisar Abioto’s original research since 2018 exploring the lineage and legacy of Black artists in Oregon. The exhibition continues Abioto’s research, which is grounded in Black American practices of listening, keeping, and passing on each others’ stories.
“Far from isolated or ancillary, Black arts and cultural production in Oregon has been in conversation and interchange with the world, and a part of its arts and cultural movements, all this time,” says Intisar Abioto. “Black Artists of Oregon is a heralding of Black presence, interchange, influence, and impact.”
Dem Golden Slippers, 2007
Oil on linen, Gift of Donna Hammar
© Arvie Smith, 2010.80
Untitled, Corvallis, Oregon, 1975
Gelatin silver print, image: 7 5/16 in x 9 1/2 in
sheet: 13 1/2 in x 15 3/4 in
Gift of the Photography Council, 2002.58.4
Egungun, 2013
Mixed media embellished fabric 32 x 36 inches
Collection of Adriene Cruz
Reflection II: Charles In Form, July 2023
Linocut print 22 x 30 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Wabi Sabi: Imperfect Beauty
Eucalyptus on marble base, 12 x 7 x 7 inches
Courtesy of the Artist
Artists featured in Black Artists of Oregon
manuel arturo abreu (b. 1991)
damali ayo (b. 1972)
Natalie Ball (b. 1980)
J.S. Bell (1882-1925)
Harrison Branch (b. 1947)
Nikesha Breeze (b. 1979)
Grafton Tyler Brown (1841-1918)
Richard Brown (b. 1939)
Iván Carmona Rosario (b. 1973)
David Ornette Cherry (1958-2022)
Ralph Chessé (1900-1991)
Robert Colescott (1925-2009)
Licity Collins (b. 1972)
Adriene Cruz (b. 1953)
Cleo Davis (b. 1974)
Jeremy Okai Davis (b. 1979)
Baba Wagué Diakité (b. 1961)
Penda Diakité (b. 1992)
Modou Dieng Yacine (b. 1970)
Sadé DuBoise (b. 1993)
Ray Eaglin (1941-2004)
Mo Fee (1969 – 2020)
Bobby Fouther (b. 1950)
Henry Frison (1940-2020)
Julian V.L. Gaines (b. 1991)
Al Goldsby (1930-2002)
Sherrian Haggar (1946-2019)
Elijah Hasan (b. 1966)
Patricia Herron (b. 1951)
Jason Hill (b. 1976)
Janice Ingersoll (b. 1949)
Tristan Irving (b. 1990)
Lisa Jarrett (b. 1977)
Jaleesa Johnston (b. 1989)
Nick Jones (b. 1945)
Arnold Kemp (b. 1968)
Rupert Kinnard (b. 1954)
ebin lee (b. 1989)
Charlotte Lewis (1934-1999)
Geeta Lewis (b. 1956)
Mark Little (b. 1948)
Willie Little (b. 1961)
Latoya Lovely (b. 1982)
Ivan McClellan (b. 1982)
Chris McMurry (b. 1970)
Christine Miller (b. 1990)
sidony o’neal (b. 1988)
Katherine Pennington (b. 1953)
Otis Quaicoe (b. 1988)
J.L. Quenton (b. 1953)
Philemon Reid (1945-2008)
Bill Rutherford (b. 1937)
Isaka Shamsud-Din (b. 1940)
Arvie Smith (b. 1938)
Melanie Stevens (b. 1979)
Thelma Johnson Streat (1911-1959)
Kayin Talton-Davis (b. 1980)
Charles Tatum (1937-2008)
Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971)
Sharita Towne (b. 1984)
Thomas Unthank (b. 1936)
Maya Vivas (b. 1990)
Samantha Wall (b. 1977)
Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953)
Shedrich Williames (b. 1934)
Tammy Jo Wilson (b. 1974)
Mosley Wotta (b. 1983)
Eatcho (b. 1980)
