An incredible opportunity has been presented to all folks sculpturally oriented in the Portland/Vancouver area. The recently opened community arts center located in what was previously the municipal library and is appropriately called “The ARTScentered“, is located near downtown Vancouver at 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd. The director has reached out to me asking if PNWS members might be interested in being involved in a celebration of sculpture event planned for this May/June. The proposed event(s) would include a 6 week showing of sculpture in gallery space (this includes two First Friday events on May 1 and June 5th), and educational opportunities for sharing and demonstrating all things sculptural with the general public. Since this event so clearly aligns with PNWS’s educational goals I felt confident telling her that I was pretty sure we could count on a number of members being involved, but the proposed timeframe has the event starting directly after the Gathering of the Guilds show at the end of April, so I could not predict how many folks would go for it. Rather than look at this as a time crunch, I am thinking it could work as an positive to have members who are showing work at The Gathering of the Guilds transport unsold sculpture to The ARTScentered for a 6 week continuance.
I will be working with Christine Richards, the director on this proposal and our first step is to reach out to the greater arts community and get a sense of how many different groups or individual artists would be willing to commit. Here is what I imagine “commitment” would look like:
- Level 1 commitment: SHOW YOUR WORK-This would be a non-juried show, so basically it is a chance to get sculptural work out in front of the public. Participating in the Gallery showing would require that you transport or arrange to have transported your work to The ARTScentered by April 29 or 30th, and pick up sometime (TBE) around the second week in June.
- Level 2 commitment: SHARE YOUR WORK- showing is not telling so there will be a number of opportunities to demonstrate your process, speak to your experiences or to do community-based workshops for hands on education. Being on hand for the two First Friday events to speak to your work would be desirable. We could have additional opportunities to speak during the celebration. I am planning to do several workshops during that time (large classroom spaces available), and look at this as a way to solicit interested folks to learn more.
The space: There is a decent sized gallery space available and a modest response to our outreach might suit a modest showing of sculpture allowing for one or two sculptures per participant. A robust response from artists or organizations opens up an entirely unique opportunity. Potentially, there is no limit on the available space to show sculpture. There is currently an Asian Art Exhibit being held in the entire1st floor space of the building that is massive, (thousands of square feet) and includes sculpture, paintings, dioramas installations etc. Our vision of a celebration of sculpture would be to fill the space similarly, and would include groupings from organizations, schools or individual artists that want to commit to showing a large body of work.
Sales: This, of course, is an educational, not a sales gallery opportunity. but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t make a sale personally or leave a card or QR code to allow folks to contact you for purchases.
We will be making more concrete plans based on responses to our outreach efforts. Please drop me a line on email to let me know if you are interested in participating: brussellford@gmail.com
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