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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 2016)
September 28, 2016 Minority & Small Business Week Page 9 Mural Artist Rises to Top of Profession Race and culture rooted in Arvie Smith’s works C ervante p ope t he p ortland o bserver Full time Portland artist and social justice advocate Arvie Smith uses his creative skill in painting to translate his heritage and racially-based social con- structs into beautiful works of art. Born in 1938, Smith lived with his grandparents and great grandmother, a former slave, in the Jim Crow South, and pulls inspiration from his childhood home as well as the racial- ly-based riots he witnessed fol- lowing his relocation to Watts in south central Los Angeles. Smith’s works depict vari- ous facets of historical African American strife-ridden culture, like Ku Klux Klan lynchings (“Strange Fruit,” 1992), the journey of black slaves on ships to the United States (“Trail of Tears,” 2006) and even a redux of the infamous Edvard Munch work “The Scream,” featuring a characterization of the original Buckwheat from the Little Ras- cals (We Be Lovin’ It, 2009). Using vivid colors and smooth, continuous brush strokes reminiscent of 18th century French painters and Ba- roque styling, Smith fearless- ly tackles taboo topics like the intimate relationships between whites and persons of color by portraying females as sexual- ized objects, much like they by photo by C hloe d ietz Mural Artist Arvie Smith works with juveniles at the Donald E. Long Juvenile Center to create five murals for a Multnomah County art collection called Project Hope. The Portland artist has built a career for creating works that depict various facets of historical African American culture. were during slave times. Smith has had his work shown in many of the world’s top cities for art, among them New York, New Orleans and Florence, Italy. As the Profes- sor Emeritus of Painting at Pa- cific Northwest College of Art as well as teaching the subject at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, and University of Oregon, Smith has cultivated creative outputs for countless of students and other youth and even immortalized his connec- tion to justice through mural art. For two years, Smith worked All-Industry Job Fair Set Clackamas Community College says local employ- ers will be on site hiring for open positions when it hosts a Harvest Job Fair on Wednes- day, Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Gregory Forum at 19600 Molalla Ave. in Ore- gon City. Touted as an all-industry job fair, where employers with full-time, part-time and internship opportunities con- nect with students, alumni and local job seekers, the free event is open to the public. More than 50 employers are scheduled to participate, including Target, USDA For- est Service, PDX Pipeline, Helping Hands Home Care, New Seasons Market, FedEx, Leupold & Stevens Inc., Cre- ative Minds Learning Cen- ters, Mt. Hood Skibowl, Cas- cadia Behavioral Healthcare and Albertina Kerr. Some of the industries and careers to be represent- ed health care, manufactur- ing and production, business, logistics and transportation, construction, parks, recre- ation and leisure, warehouse, shipping and receiving, ad- ministrative and office, edu- cation, human services and retail. View a full list of employ- ers and to register to attend, visit at clackamas.edu/career- fair. with men and women being held in pre-trial detention under Measure 11 crimes at the Don- ald E. Long Juvenile Center to create five murals for a Mult- nomah County art collection called Project Hope. The works are in part based on the youth’s interpretations but also rely on Smith’s analysis of conversa- tions he had with the young prisoners. Multnomah County Courthouse houses four of these 8 by 15 foot murals and another is located in the detention cen- ter. Smith is set to begin another community mural project on the future home of a Natural Foods Market which is slated for con- struction later this year at the in- tersection of Northeast Alberta Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
