May 1, 2019
Page 7
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Photo by a aron
r obinson / Courtesy P ortlanD ’5
Portland’5 Center for the Arts presents Portland artist Hobbs Waters, the youngest
artist ever to be featured at the downtown performing arts venue. The 12-year-old
is a dedicated ballet dancer who also draws paintings and t-shirts to generate
sales to pay for his continuing dance education. An artist reception with Waters
will kick off the month long exhibit on Thursday, May 2 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Hobbs Waters on Empowerment
Exhibit features
works by young
dancer and artist
Portland’5 Centers for the Arts is proud
to feature Portland artist Hobbs Waters
in a new month long exhibit,” Empower-
ment is the Passage to Freedom.” At 12
years old, Hobbs is the youngest artist
ever to be featured at the performing arts
venue, located at 1111 S.W. Broadway.
Hobbs is a dedicated dancer, having
recently been accepted to—and receiving
full merit scholarships for—both the San
Francisco Ballet’s summer dance inten-
sive training and the Kaleidoscope Dance
Theatre’s 28th Annual New York Dance
Festival. His primary focus is ballet, but
he also studies contemporary, fusion,
modern and jazz styles. Earlier this year,
he attended the International Association
of Blacks in Dance conference in Dallas,
Texas.
Photo by aJ-m C C reary / Courtesy P ortanD ’5
Hobbs Waters’ “Empowerment is the Passage to Freedom” exhibit at
the Portland’5 Center for the Arts, 1111 S.W. Broadway, expands on the
young artist’s social justice themes, from abstract paintings to pen and ink
illustrations.
Waters also flexes his artistic muscles
in a number of other disciplines: Cello,
trumpet, and a variety of visual mediums.
In the last year alone, he has exhibited
work at The Q Center, Milieu PDX, Tiny
Moreso, Basic Space Gallery, and Luke’s
Frame Shop, among others. He also start-
ed his own t-shirt line at citytroll.com to
help fund his continuing dance education.
His exhibit “Empowerment is the Pas-
sage to Freedom” contains a breadth of
mixed-media works from abstract paint-
ing to pen and ink illustration that follow
and expand upon the social justice themes
in Waters’ previous exhibits, with the goal
of embracing differences and representing
and celebrating diversity.
An opening reception will be held
during First Thursday, May 2, from 5
p.m. to 8 p.m. with live performance and
refreshments in the rotunda of Antoinette
Hatfield Hall.
Art exhibits and opening receptions are
always free and open to the public. All are
welcome.