Local News
Photographer Julie Keefe Named Laureate’
The Skanner News’ longtime photogra-
pher Julie Keefe has been named as Port-
land’s first-ever Creative Laureate by
Mayor Sam Adams.
A photographer and youth arts advocate,
Keefe has run her own company, Julie
Keefe Photography, and also a joint venture
with her husband John Klicker, KeefeK-
licker Photography, in North Portland since
the late 1980s.
She has worked for the Skanner News
since 1990, and is currently curating a
selection of her photos for an exhibit at the
Oregon Historical Society in 2013.
At ceremonies Saturday, Adams said the
Creative Laureate is intended to be an
active advocate for the arts.
“I think Julie Keefe is a fantastic example
of the kind of artist that makes Portland a
national hub for culture and creativity,”
Adams said. “Julie’s work in community
building through ‘Hello Neighbor’ and her
teaching through the Right Brain initiative
and at the Portland Art Museum highlight
her commitment to the City of Portland.”
For The Skanner News, Keefe’s work has
focused on the local African and African
American communities, as well as North
and Northeast Portland in general.
However Keefe is also known as a chron-
icler of artists themselves, from actors to
poets and musicians; she photographed
many Portland bands’ album covers during
the decade of the 1990s.
Thirdly, Keefe has spent many, many
years photographing elected officials and
candidates for office.
The Skanner News Editor Lisa Loving
C
O
M
has worked with Keefe since the 1980s.
“Her trove of images – chronicling the
Black community, grunge bands and the
political kaleidoscope of elected officials,
stands as a pop history that shows why
Portland is a unique community,” Loving
says.
“What also needs to be said about Julie is
that she feels every image personally, each
picture she takes tells a complete story, and
her dedication to improving the lives of the
people she photographs is unmatched in
Oregon journalism.”
Keefe has spent years as a youth educator,
and helped launch the Caldera program for
at-risk youth which has grown into an
award-winning institution.
More recently Keefe combined photogra-
phy, arts education and social change with
her signature project on gentrification,
“Hello Neighbor!”
The award-winning “participatory art”
program invited underserved youth from
local communities hit hard by gentrification
to meet their new neighbors, take photos of
them and create giant banners of the art that
was then installed in those communities –
literally bringing new neighbors together in
public art.
“Hello Neighbor” earned Keefe national
recognition and eventually grew to include
towns across the state. It stands as the
largest public art project in Oregon history.
For that, Keefe was a finalist in the Pres-
ident’s Council on Arts and Humanity
‘Coming Up Taller’ Awards in 2009.
She now works with the Right Brain Ini-
tiative in area classrooms and the Portland
M
U
N
I
T
Seventh graders at Vestal School in Northeast Portland learned about the
art of interviewing and photography in a residency with The Right Brain
Initiative and local photographer Julie Keefe. By pairing off into groups of
two, students were asked to interview each other in order to find out more
about one another. With cameras in hand, they then went outside to do
portraits of their partner by referring back to what they had learned about
them during the interview process.
PHOTO BY MICHELE FIELD, COURTESY OF THE RIGHT BRAIN INITIATIVE
Art Museum in the Object Stories program.
“It is my hope that the position of Cre-
ative Laureate for the City of Portland will
afford me the opportunity to continue advo-
cating for the ideas I so strongly believe in
- that art creates conversation, conversation
creates community and everyone loves
poetry written by first graders reflecting on
their first photographs!” Keefe said last
Y
C
A
L
E
N
week.
Mayor Adams created the new Creative
Laureate program, administered by the
Regional Arts and Culture Council, to cre-
ate additional opportunities for creative
industry leadership and arts advocacy in the
local community.
The Creative Laureate will serve a one-
year term starting Jan. 1, 2013.
D
A
R
P ORTLAND 2012
B ULLETIN B OARD
Friday December 21
BRIDGE CITY COMICS: RELEASE PARTY
Free autograph-signing party to celebrate
release of new books by David Walker and
Jeremy Barlow. Set for 6pm - 9pm at Bridge City
Comics, 3725 N Mississippi Ave, Portland.
If you have an event you want to share
with the community, email it two weeks
in advance to The Skanner at
info@theskanner.com
Thursday December 20
CHRISTMAS SHIPS
Final two nights to catch the Christmas ships on
the Willamette River. On Thursday the fleet will
travel from Riverplace Marina to the Fremont
Bridge starting at 7 p.m. On Friday the fleet sails
between Riverplace Marina and Milwaukie.
JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CENTER FOOD
DRIVE
Dec. 20-22 Anyone who wants to help deliver
food (all are welcome to participate) on
Saturday, Dec. 22, or help prepare food boxes
on December 20 or 21, please contact the JHS
alumni office at 503-291-5414 or
alumni@jesuitportland.org.
FESTIVAL BRASS.
This seven piece brass ensemble plays your
favorite holiday music. 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. at
Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown
Portland.
Saturday December 22
OPEN DOOR GALLERY HOLIDAY GIFT BAZAAR
Handmade earrings, knit hats & selected artwork
by MR.B. Free entry from
3 – 6 p.m. Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 McCoy
Academy, 3802 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd,
Portland, Oregon
PEACE VIGIL
Bring flameless candles or flashlights to this open
forum where anyone can share their thoughts at
4 p.m. in front of the downtown courthouse at
the corner of S.W. Broadway and Yamhill St.For
more information call Julia Orsi, 503-288-2273
Sunday December 23
FREE HOLIDAY CONCERT
Page 2 The Portland Skanner
December 19, 2012
The Portland Gay Symphonic Band will perform a
free holiday concert on Sunday Dec. 23, 2-3p.m.
at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center Atrium, 501
N. Graham Portland. The 30 musicians will
perform holiday music in a variety of musical
styles ranging from classical to contemporary
and popular music. A symphonic band is a
group of wind and percussion instruments similar
to an orchestra without the string players.
JAM NIGHT
Jam Night is a friends and family night, featuring
local recording artists, sketch improv comedy
(family-friendly), Jam Night and free snacks. This
free event for the whole family starts at 7 p.m. at
New Columbia Community Center, 4625 N.
Trenton.
Tuesday December 25
CHRISTMAS MEAL
Union Gospel Mission is preparing to serve more
than 700 meals and to give away over 500 gift
bags containing gloves, hats, scarves and meal
gift cards on Christmas Day. The meal takes
place at Union Gospel Mission at 15 N.W. Third
Ave.
Wednesday December 26
BOOK SIGNING and Superhero Powers Awakening
with S. Renee Mitchell. Mitchell will unveil her
latest book, The Awakening of Sharyn, 6 p.m., at
the Matt Dishman Community Center, 77 N.E.