AUGUST 4, 2016 // 21
Portland2016 Biennial to hold local receptions
CLATSKANIE and ASTORIA —
The Disjecta Contemporary
Art Center’s Portland2016
Biennial will host commu-
nity receptions in Clatskanie
and Astoria at three venues:
on Aug. 13. The receptions
will take place in the former
Hazen Hardware building
in Clatskanie, at Clatsop
Community College’s Royal
Nebeker Gallery in Astoria,
and in the lobby of the histor-
ic Astor Hotel in Astoria. The
receptions will be attended by
the artists and Disjecta board
and staff and are free and
open to the public.
Led by the curatorial
vision of Michelle Grabner,
Portland2016 features 34
artists selected to exhibit at
25 venues in 13 communities
throughout Oregon, making it
the most comprehensive sur-
vey of contemporary art in the
history of the state. Present-
ing 10 weeks of events and
concurrent exhibitions, “Port-
land2016: A Biennial of
Contemporary Art” opened on
July 9 and runs through Sept.
18.
“Portland2016 is a special
moment for the art commu-
nity,” says Disjecta Director
Bryan Suereth. “With Mi-
chelle Grabner at the helm of
this Biennial, it has attracted
national and international
press for Oregon artists — at-
tention they well deserve. And
with Portland2016’s expanded
geographical reach, we’re
excited to engage cultural
tourists as well as local audi-
ences in communities across
the state.”
The Biennial is presented
in some of Oregon’s most re-
spected arts venues, including
Ashland’s Schneider Museum
of Art, Crow’s Shadow Insti-
tute of the Arts on the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, and
White Box at the University
of Oregon in Portland. It also
activates some nontraditional
buildings in rural locations,
such as the former Christian
Science Church in Pendleton
and the Morin Print building
in The Dalles. Artists have
created new works inspired
by their assigned locations.
“The Portland2016
Biennial venues offer artists
the chance to consider new
contexts and new audiences,”
Grabner says. “It presents
exciting opportunities to expe-
rience Portland-based artists
engaging sites in La Grande,
Pendleton, Madras and The
Dalles, and likewise to see
work by artists from Pendle-
ton, Eugene and Corvallis in
Portland venues.”
Grabner’s curatorial vision
for Portland2016 investigates
regionalism, exploring the
ways in which artists’ works
relect a particular geography
or culture while also inter-
rogating the ways in which
local dynamics impact the
global art world in an era of
decentralization. The artists in
Portland2016, while not nec-
essarily linked by medium,
visual style or career levels,
all share an interest in creating
work informed by a theoreti-
cal and geographical distance
from larger commercial art
centers.
Hazen Hardware
Disjecta, in partnership
with the Oliva Family and
Hi School Pharmacy, will
host a reception for artist
Heidi Schwegler at the former
Hazen Hardware building,
located at 136 N. Nehalem St.
in Clatskanie from 1 to 4 p.m.
Aug. 13. Beverages will be
provided courtesy of spon-
sor Deschutes Brewery, and
Schwegler will be in atten-
dance to discuss her work and
answer questions along with
Disjecta Director Bryan Sue-
reth and board members. The
gallery is also open for view-
ing noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday
through Saturday.
Schwegler is drawn to the
peripheral ruin, modifying
discarded objects to give them
a new sense of purpose.
“I am interested in the
lives of objects and the trans-
ference of memory. In our day
to day, our memories ill the
spaces around us, they seep
into the carpet and become
crystallized in the objects
that bear witness to our lives.
Because of this, these partic-
ular things act upon us as we
forget, instigating memory,”
Schwegler says.
“My style as an artist is a
hybrid of conceptual art and
craft; it is important that the
objects I fabricate are well
made and at the same time
provocative and meaningful
... I am interested in making
beautiful objects that deal
with those private tragedies
that make us distressingly
aware of our own mortality.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Paintings by Jack Featherly
at the Royal Nebeker Gallery.
Royal Nebeker Gallery
The CCC Royal Nebeker
Gallery, located at 1799
Lexington Ave. in Astoria,
will host a reception from 5 to
7 p.m. Aug. 13. The Biennial
welcomes all members of the
greater Astoria community to
celebrate the work of artists
Jack Featherly and Julia
Oldham and will provide
beverages courtesy of De-
schutes Brewery. Both artists
will be present. The gallery is
also open for viewing noon
to 5 p.m. Thursday through
Saturday.
Featherly makes paintings
that are stylistically diverse
and avoid presenting an easy
read. His imagery begins in
traditions of gestural abstrac-
tion, product packaging, TV
graphics and ukiyo-e, but end
somewhere new. Oldham
combines live action video
with animation to create
narratives about science and
nature.
Thursday through Saturday.
“Bearing in mind a loca-
tion’s prior use, I create wall
drawings and/or paintings,
and repurpose and rearrange
functional objects to create
temporary installations on-
site,” Bawa says. “I gather
and compose industrial
products like brick, plywood
and concrete, simulating com-
mon gestures, such as sitting,
leaning, pulling and stacking.
These installations invite
the viewer to experience the
Life is c o a o l t m
h,
and sm s to
thank
es
Mr. Doobe
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Avantika Bawa, right, and Sean Barrow work on Bawa’s site-spe-
ciic installation, “Mineral Spirits” in the Astor Hotel.
crossroads between the utili-
tarian, historical, and aesthetic
qualities of each space.”
About the Biennial
Portland2016 continues
the tradition of the Oregon Bi-
ennial, begun by the Portland
Art Museum in 1949. With
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discoun t
Mr. Nice
Blue Bubba
Dirty Girl
Upstate
Ewok
Astor Hotel Lobby
In partnership with Paul
Caruana and the Astor Hotel,
Disjecta will host a reception
for Portland artist Avantika
Bawa from 7 to 9 p.m. Aug.
13. Beverages will be pro-
vided courtesy of Deschutes
Brewery. Bawa, along with
Suereth and board mem-
bers, will be in attendance to
discuss the work. The venue
is also open noon to 5 p.m.
the end of the museum’s Bi-
ennial in 2006, Oregon artists
lost a longstanding platform
for career advancement. In
2010, Disjecta Contemporary
Art Center reintroduced the
Biennial. More information
can be found at www.port-
landbiennial.org
All prices good un til supplies depleted or August 1, 2016