March IZ, 2010
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s^ca Art Hop Returns to its Roots
by L ee
P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
The 1J th annual Alberta Art Hop
is returning to its roots as an Arts
event and will feature five new mu­
rals with community connections.
Plans for the May 15 celebration
will also salute Kathe Swaback, whose
Art Up non-profit has been a key
contributor to diversity on Alberta
with multicultural mentoring oppor­
tunities to several young students.
At an Art Hop kickoff event at the
0101
Acadian Ballroom last month, Art
ART ON ALBERTA
on Alberta director Hilary Pfeiffer,
fOUIH ART SCHOLARSHIP PUND
participating artists and others pre­
DATE 0 2 -1 7 -1 0
sented plans for neighborhood
Mome Bowles, Alesha Johnson and Sade Beasley
murals, all on the theme o f “Art
Builds Community.”
h°USaMd Slx “ “ »¿red Ninety Five 00, l00 $ 2 6 O5 OO
Adrienne Cruz, will adorn the ________
__________
vclopme'nt C om Ca M 4 8 8 t5N E
M ° n A lberta Youth S cholarship re c ip ie n ts A lesha Johnson (fro n t row, from left), S ade B e a s ie y tM l
Alberta St. Another artist. Rodolfo
X an m
S
a
to'ctoff e v e n t
Serna, will work with teams of young
people from the House o f Umoja,
George School SUN program, and
Girls, Inc. to both conceive and paint
murals on the walls o f each o f three
Sabin CDC affordable housing
projects. A fifth mural by Esteban
Art Up Mentor Moves On
Art on Alberta mentor Kathe the portrait o f Street, has been
Swaback is saying goodbye while accepted at Xavier University
supporting the local teenagers she and is awaiting word on her ap-
helped.
plication to the San Francisco
Swaback and her non-profit Art Institute.
Art Up have been features o f Art
The sale “means we can go to
Hop for the short two plus years college with a little more cash in our
she has lived here. Her Women pockets,” Bowles said,
of Honor project recruited nine
One o f the Women o f Honor,
students o f color to develop former state Sen. Avel Gordly,
larger-than-life portraits o f 12 purchased her own portrait and
prom inent African-Am erican then donated it to the Avel
women.
Gordly Head Start Center for
The project helped educate the permanent display,
young women about
these heroines for the
first time. The artwork
was displayed at Art
Hop and other venues,
including the walls of
City Hall. Last year, Art
Up and Art Hop exhib­
ited the works of the
late artist and dancer
Thelma Johnson Street
whose lived and
worked in Portland be­
fore enjoying national
prominence.
Now, Swaback is
selling many of the Art
Up portraits with the
proceeds going to the
young a rtists who Teenage artist Antoinette Myers with
painted them, helping “Divine Inspiration ” honoring damali ayo,
finance their ongoing Dr. Ethel Simon-McWilliams, Kathryn Hall
educatio n . M onie Bogle, S. Renee Mitchell, Senator Avel
Bowles, who painted Gordly, and Willie Mae Hart.
JaCkS° n
Camacho Steffensen will go on the
walls o f the Community Energy
Project at 422 N.E. Alberta St.
than seven entertainment stages.
Siren Nation, Bink’s, Bitch Media
and D.I.Y. will each sponsor a stage.
Painting on all five murals will
occur during the Art Hop celebra-
tion which takes into the Alberta
Street corridor from Northeast 12th
te 30th Avenues. In the case o f
Steffensen’s work, passers-by will
be invited to help fill in the colors,
As usual, Art on Alberta has
space for 250 street vendors selling
wares o f all kinds. For those who
would like to participate, contact
Carrie Locke at 503-235-5025 or
carrie@ com bustible-m edia.com .
And as it has been for several years
now, Northeast Alberta Street will
be closed for the festivities.
The festival’s art is not confined
to the visual. There will be no fewer
Colleen Flanigan will provide infor-
mation and interactive opportuni-
ties about the world’s threatened
coral reefs. Two additional commu­
nity stages will be available for local
people to do whatever they want,
with the caveat that they must re-
serv e tim es in advance; v isit
artonalberta.org.
All o f this costs money and par-
tially for this reason, the festival has
let one annual feature — its parade—
go this year. Organizers are also
seeking additional monies in a vari-
ety o f ways. There have been sev-
eral benefit nights at local venues.
A costume ball is planned April 17
at the Radio Room, 1101 N.E. Alberta
w w w
St. The theme will be “Black and
White and Outrageously Bright”;
participants are expected to wear
clothes that are essentially either
black or white, but with some ex­
tremely bright and colorful feature
or accessory. The festival is also
offering sponsorships to major do­
nors, for cash and in-kind contribu­
tions.
Cruz, whose art work has been
exhibited internationally and is part
o f the collections o f the Smithsonian
American Art Museum and New
York City Public Library, was bom
in New York and moved to Portland
in 1983. She told the kickoff audi­
ence that her new installation will be
“some sort ofbrilliantly-colored fab­
ric design.” She added, “It’s great
when the comm unity’s involved.”
Steffenson was bom in Costa
Rica, moved to Eugene in the year
2000, and later came to Portland to
study at the Pacific Northwest Col­
lege o f Art. “I ’m hoping to create a
m ural to inspire people about
sustainability,” he said.
Originally from Chicago, Serna
received a Bachelor o f Fine Arts
degree from Portland State Univer­
sity. Since 2005 he has painted eight
major murals, most o f them in col­
laboration with youth groups.
“ M y w o rk is a b o u t yo u n g
people’s creativity, and fostering a
sense o f community,” he told the
kickoff audience. “When art is done
by youths, it gives them a sense o f
ownership; they can point to it and
say, ‘This is m ine.’ I made a major
shift from doing things individually
to only doing collaborative work
now. I’m getting the kids thirsty for
this opportunity.”
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