Page 4
July 19, 2000
•< Focus >-
(Ulfe JlorUanb ©bsrruer
ONDA: art with a voice
Art
by
D anny B ell
ONDA art gallery, located at 2215
NE Alberta, offers art that traverses
a terrain from eclectic furniture to
wood paintings o f Ecuadorian folk
art o f rural Indians. Allan Oliver, a
form er o rd ain ed m in ister and
missionary, has brought a unique
perspective to A lberta Street -
which is experiencing an emergence
o f art galleries, restaurants and other
commercial enterprises.
O liv e r,
w h o se
v o c a tio n a l
background is in graphic design
and fabric, says he focuses on the
c o n te m p o ra ry . H e w ent into
discussion about commercial art
being “m odem ” which shares a
commonality with popular art. His
idea is that art may also be an
investment economically and have
broad appeal and yet be more on the
cutting edge o f how art is rendered.
These are the kinds o f pieces he
seeks out.
Drawing on his experience as a
missionary based in Latin America,
Oliver often utilizes his contacts
th e re to e x h ib it L a tin o and
sometimes Cuban work. In June, he
had a showing o f Ecuadorian wood
paintings at very affordable prices.
Another point o f interest is that
Oliver exhibits a lot o f functional
art such as beds, coffee and cocktail
tables, pottery, and room divider
screens. The screens in many cases
are his own work in fabric. Recently,
O liver has moved more toward
showing paintings. He recently
exhibited a group by a young artist,
Kam Piana, which made powerful
social and emotional statements.
Oliver observed that, even though
there is an evolution o f enterprise
on A lb e rta , he hopes the
n e ig h b o rh o o d can re ta in its
indigenous flavor similar to that o f
the Hawthorne area or the Alberta
neighborhood o f40 years ago. True
composition. ONDA and Oliver
communicate through art a message
that man does not live on bread
alone, that the em otional and
spiritual aspects in our lives also
play parts in our well-being.
A complete service salon
with a...
Owner, Allan Oliver with a Junctional artwork clock - one o f many
items o f artistic expression in his gallery.
to his socially conscious roots, he
would like to see basically what is
Calling it “a way to share the spirit
ofnative peoples,” theConfederated
Tribes o f Grand Ronde announced
that it will donate $500,000 to the
Portland Art Museum through its
Spirit Mountain Community Fund.
The recent gift, and an earlier one
for $500,000, is being used to create
the museum ’s new Grand Ronde
Center for Native American Art,
which is part o f the museum ’s two-
year renovation o f the Hoffman
Wing. The center will providemore
than 7,000 square feet o f exhibition
sp ace
an d
s ta te -o f-th e -a rt
installations so museum visitors for
the first time will gain a true sense
o f the scope and importance o f the
m u se u m ’s N a tiv e A m e ric a n
Collection.
“Art tells us so much about the
people who came before us,” said
Kathryn Harrison, chair o f the Grand
Ronde Tribal Council. “This is a
wonderful way to share the spirit o f
n a tiv e p e o p le s. S in ce the
termination o f our Tribe in 1954,
Tribal members have been working
hard to reclaim and reconnect with
our unique past. We welcome the
chance to be partners with the
talented people at the Portland Art
Museum who also are committed to
sharing the stories o f native people.
The Grand Ronde Center is part of
the museum ’ s two-year “Project for
the M illennium,” which includes a
new Center for Northwest Art, new
education, including major gifts to
the Oregon Children’sFoundation’s
SMART reading program, Oregon
P u b lic B ro a d c a stin g , O M S I,
Western Oregon University
and Young A udiences. A
C o m m u n ity F u n d g ra n t
a llo w e d L ife F lig h t to
purchase a guidance system
and build weather stations so
it could answer emergency
c a lls d u rin g in c le m e n t
w eather. In addition, the
Com m unity Fund recently
gave $ 2 7 0 ,0 0 0 to help
Raphael House in Portland
d ram atically in crease its
capac ity to provide shelter for
abused w om en and their
children. The Confederated
Tribes o f Grand Ronde is a
confederation o f the tribes that
in h a b ite d the v a lle y s o f
Western Oregon from what is
now the California border to
presen t-d ay P ortland. Its
p rin c ip a l trib e s are the
Kalapuya, Molalla, Chasta,
Umpqua and Rogue River,
with several other smaller
bands and trib e s. T he
Confederated Tribes were
formed in the winter o f 1856
when the federal government
forced member tribes to code
their ancestral lands and
relocate to a 60,000-acre
reservation inO regon’sCoast
Range. The G rand Ronde
reservation was decreased
over the years until the U.S.
"
evolving - a community that is
re fle c tiv e o f an in te rn a tio n a l
Grand Ronde Tribes’ gift to Portland Art Museum
galleries for special exhibitions, a
community education center, a state-
of-the-art auditorium , a newly
renovated outdoor sculpture garden
an d an in c re a se d o p e ra tin g
endowment. A Community Grand
Opening Celebration is planned for
August 19-20. A Community Day
to celebrate the Grand Ronde Center
for Native American Art will be
held Saturday, August 26.
The Grand Ronde Center forNative
American Art will feature exhibition
space and installations conceived
byCuratorBill Mercer and designed
by Clifford Lafontaine. It occupies
the entire second floor o f the new
wing, along with part o f the third.
Some 375 works o f art, drawn from
virtually every major cultural group
in North America, will be placed on
view. Two galleries will feature
pieces from the tribes that lived
along the Oregon and Washington
coast, the Willamette Valley and
along the Columbia River. Plaques
will acknowledge all o f Oregon’s
federally recognized tribes.
The Confederated Tribes o f Grand
Ronde created the Spirit Mountain
Community Fund in 1997 as a way
for Tribal members to practice their
age-old traditions o f sharing and
g iv in g back. E ach y e a r, the
Com m unity Fund distributes 6
percent o f the profits from Spirit
M o u n tain C asin o . S ince its
inception, the Community Fund has
given more than $9 million to a
variety o f non-profit organizations.
The fund has given $2.4 million to
S T
government terminated the Tribe in
1954. Through the hard work o f
Tribal members, federal recognition
was restored in 1983.
Call:
ZZ8-6510
305 N.E. Wygant
Portland. OR. 97211
Live M usk Nightly
Ilearty Pub Fare
Spirits Available in M any Forms
B56 North Russell S ired, Portland, Oregon
(>()3)282-6810
tvtvn.iiK nienamins.t mn