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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2004)
aprii 16.2004 PHOTO BY MABTY DAVIS Continued from Page 2 7 to the show so that the exhibit has a unifying theme or style. The kids are given 90 percent of the sale price of their work, while the professional artists get 50 percent of their slightly higher tags. The rest goes to keeping the program going. Other financial support comes from individual donations, corporations, founda tions, small businesses and fund-raisers. (See sidebar.) Many are monetary contributions, but p:ear also receives in-kind donations. “We are able to function on a pretty small cash budget because we have this kind of sup port,” says Bums. It is through the gallery that p:ear has con structed a bridge between homeless youth, who generally feel alienated by society, and society itself. “P:ear is a raw, direct route for the commu nity to give back to these youth through a non profit,” says Arend. Plus, she says, “It supports the idea that yuppies are people, too, which is a huge step in the life of a punk teen-ager.” Arend also notes that a kid’s name can be a good way to keep track of his esteem and progress. “When they start retorming they sometimes say: ‘You can call me Mike again. My name is Mike.’ ” At hitman's table, Odessa is surrounded by photos, writing implements and stick-on alpha bet letters. She adds an occasional well-directed comment to the conversation but is otherwise engrossed in her collage. Adrian wipes off the canvas he varnished the previous day. Sitting between them, Tuesday eats her lunch, donated by a Portland eatery. (In a show of remarkable community support for p:ear’s mission, some of the city’s best restaurants donate breakfast and lunch daily.) The youths’ conversation turns to everyday matters: where the best trash bins are (Haight Street in San Francisco, where someone once found a full set of Wizard, of Oz figurines), meet ing T.S. Eliot’s grandson, reading Saul Williams’ poetry aloud on the bus, disappointment that a friend skipped town with a girl (“I really wanted to see him go to college,” laments Tuesday). A Fragile Blossoming Adrian, with 100 bucks in his pocket as evi dence, offers to take me to the adjacent gallery rend, Bums and Cartier have gone space to show me the two paintings he sold in unpaid since p:ear’s inception. the last show. We walk from the main room “There was one point when we had through the back room, which houses all the $1.57 between the three of us,” says Cartier. donated art supplies. Easels, paint tubes, pas The women cite “strange streams of good tels, paper, canvases, glitter, glue and markers luck” as what helps them get by. When asked litter the area, a pigmented free-for-all. The how they manage to devote their lives to a job kids have unrestricted access to the supplies— a that provides them with no income, scrappy decidedly different approach from other pro ingenuity and a sense of humor seem to be the grams where almost everything is under lock answers. Bums points to a hole in her Chuck and key. The p:ear directors believe art supplies Taylors and laughs. aren’t half as valuable as the autonomy and “See this sweater?” says Cartier. “I got it sense of responsibility instilled in kids who can from one of the kids.” use them freely. During the downtown art world’s First Thursday gallery walk, p:ear exhibits work by p:ear youth alongside work by visiting artists such as Henk Pander, Lauren Mante cón, Benjamin Alexander Clark and Nicholas Walk er. These artists often conduct workshops with the youth during “ Contentment” by Lauryn, a p:ear youth, is on display at the gallery and is a the month prior steal at $55 Beth Burns checks out the latest creation by p:ear youth Ameh P:ear hasn’t always gotten the recognition it be dead...definitely,” says Odessa. “They liter deserves, in large part because it doesn’t mea ally pushed me back from the brink of destruc sure success in the standard charts and numbers. tion. They have done things for me that I will Arend, Bums and Cartier don’t spend time por never forget.” | H ing over statistics about how many of their kids get GEDs (a lot), how many find housing J.B. R abin is a Portland free-lance wnter. (many) or how many land jobs (quite a few). “1 was thinking about a guy I’ve been working with since he was 15 who is now 23,” says Cartier. “Does this person still use drugs? No. Is he still homeless? Yes. Any closer to rom 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. May 1, p:ear raises the finding a job? No. Would I consider rafters at Holocene, 1001 S.E. Morrison St., in cel that a positive outcome? Yes, ebration of two years of bringing art to homeless because that person isn’t dead.” youth in Portland. The event is inspired by the growth For the participants at p:ear, suc and aspirations of the organization and the youth it serves. cess is made up of many intangibles. A series o f dance performances will begin on the “These women have instilled ground and move up into the air above the audience. more integrity in me than even Highlights include dynamic dance by Argentina’s Tango my parents. They do things for us Twins, plus excerpts from “ten tiny dances” by Mike Bar that they’re not supposed to do, ber and aerial audacity by Portland’s own Aviator. Other but they do,” says Odessa. Tl\e performers include Anne Furfey, Gabriela on the Trapeze p:ear directors took a couple of and The Atlas DJs. .road trips to visit Odessa while The performance starts at 6:30 p.m. Food (provided by she was in prison. Gretchen’s Kitchen, William’s on 12th and Pazzo Ris- The outlook for homeless kids torante), drink (with or without olives) and DJ grooves can be grim once they “age out” of will be served up at 9:30 p.m., with a special appearance the system: Some will successfully by the March Fourth! stilts-bound marching band. re-enter society, but many will be Tickets for the whole shebang cost $60 each or $100 incarcerated and a few will die. for a pair. Those entering at 9:30 p.m. pay $10. “If it weren’t for Pippa Arend, For more information call 503-228-6677 or e-mail Beth Bums and Joy Cartier I would info@pearmentor.ofg. JH p:ear blossoms II— growing upward F a When one o f a kind is important... EVERY B O O K O F GAY EROTICA ALWAYS IN ST O C K ! QTT) \fr Big. 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