Portland's Converge 45 Triennial Features 28 Artists Across 16 Venues

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Portland's Converge 45 Triennial returns with its second edition, titled“Here, To You, Now,” opening on August 27 and running through the fall. The event, which highlights experiences that foster community around art, showcases 28 artists and features 17 new commissions across 16 venues.

These venues include Barn Radio, the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark College, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, Oregon Contemporary, the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Open Signal Community Access Network, Paragon Gallery at Portland Community College Cascade, Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, PLACE, North View Gallery at Portland Community College Sylvania, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland International Airport, Portland State University Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design, and SE Cooper Contemporary. The triennial was founded in 2016 by gallerist Elizabeth Leach and a group of arts and business leaders, initially aiming to bolster the Pacific Northwest's contemporary art scene.

This year's triennial is curated by Lumi Tan, a New York-based independent curator and writer. Tan has previously curated Frieze's Focus section for two consecutive years, served as curatorial director for Luna Luna, an art amusement park, and organized more than 100 exhibitions and performances as senior curator at The Kitchen. The exhibition title draws inspiration from Portland literary icon Ursula K. Le Guin, who resided in Portland from the 1960s until her death in 2008. Tan noted that Le Guin serves as an“important bridge between the local and the national.”

An essential curatorial reference point for this edition was the 2003 exhibition“Core Sample,” which was a self-organized response by Portland artists to their exclusion from the traveling survey“Baja to Vancouver.” Tan stated,“It addressed this feeling of being somewhat neglected in the Pacific Northwest.” Many themes and artists from“Core Sample” are present in the current Converge 45, with most participating artists hailing from Portland or the surrounding region, though notable exceptions include Trisha Baga, Lex Brown, Gerald Clarke, Amy Ruhl with Sophia Cleary and Lu Yim, and Rose Salane.

Amanda Donnan, Converge's executive director, explained that the organization is“spaceless” and operates through partnerships with arts organizations and non-traditional venues across Portland. She confirmed that the Northwest art community can sometimes feel isolated, located on the periphery of major national art centers. Donnan emphasized,“It's really about amplifying what is happening here, what our partners are doing and what Oregon artists are doing, while creating an exchange between Portland and the rest of the world.”

Donnan also noted that Portland is a“very experimental town” with significant interest in literature and music, pointing to the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's long-running Time-Based Art Festival, which began in the 1990s. The opening weekend for Converge 45 spans four days and includes receptions, artist talks, a workshop, and community picnics, aiming to make art accessible to a wide audience by bringing it to diverse neighborhoods and offering free admission.

Source: Observer Arts

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