May 13, 2015
Page A5
Curator to Explore Race and Art Black Male
Women in
Art series
goes outside
mainstream
Portland Community College is
bringing in an internationally rec-
ognized art expert and educator to
Portland who is known for bring-
ing many historical and contem-
porary African-American artists
into the cannon of American Art.
Leslie King-Hammond is set to
speak at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May
21, in the Performing Arts Center
on the PCC Sylvania Campus,
12000 S.W. 49th Ave.
King-Hammond’s talk, “An
Odyssey of Opportunities: My
Life in the Art World,” will ad-
dress her multifaceted career,
whose roots stretch back to her
childhood in New York City,
where she first discovered her love
of archaeology and art.
Admission is free and the pub-
lic is welcome. Parking is also free
at the campus.
The lecture series, which was
founded in 2010, focuses on pio-
neering feminist artists and wom-
en significant in the fields of art
and art history.
“My fascination has been with
those aspects of America that
Achievement Hire
Leslie King-Hammond, an expert on art history and the contribu-
tions of black artists, will visit Portland Community College, Thurs-
day, May 21 as part of the Portland Women in Art Lecture Series.
have not been perceived as part
of the mainstream art world,”
King-Hammond said. “Portland
has always had its own sense of
identity and artistic richness. It
will be a joy to share my experi-
ences and learn more about the
wonders of Portland.”
King-Hammond received her
bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts
from City University of New
York, Queens College. In 1969,
she moved to Baltimore to attend
Johns Hopkins University, receiv-
ing her doctorate in art history in
1976. She is founding director of
the Center for Race and Culture at
Maryland Institute College of Art.
C.J. Robbins has joined Port-
land’s Office of Equity and Hu-
man Rights as Program Coordina-
tor for Black Male Achievement
Portland.
Robbins comes to office with
a wealth of experience in law, so-
cial work, and racial equity. As a
Certified Law Student, he gained
courtroom experience where he
tried cases as a public defender
and later clerked for Multnomah
County Circuit Court Judge Ken
Walker. During that time, Robbins
says he saw a lack of equity in
our justice system, especially for
young black men.
Later in his career, he joined
Portland Opportunities Industri-
alization Center to perform social
work focused on black youth as
part of the Community Healing
Initiative.
“I learned a lot about myself
during that time and realized my
skills were better suited for equi-
ty policy work and for affecting
change on a broader scale,” he
said.
Spending time as a stay-at-
home parent gave Robbins a
different perspective on life and
community, and he said that that
C. J. Robbins
experience improved his patience,
communication, and listening
skills.
He hopes to lead “the effort
to allow black men and boys in
Portland to realize a wealth of un-
tapped potential.”