Portland Grid Project | Presented by Blue Sky Gallery

The Portland Grid Project | Presented by Blue Sky Gallery

April 5 - 27
Main Gallery

The Portland Grid Project | Presented by Blue Sky Gallery
One city, 7 curators, 12 years, 21 photographers, 3000 prints
Exhibition is part of the Photolucida festival of photography

Opening Reception
First Thursday, April 5, 6-10pm

An exhibition of 3000 photographs of Portland made by 21 photographers over the last 12 years as part of one of the most ambitious efforts ever undertaken to document a city through the combined visions of a group of artists.

The Project
In October of 1995, local photographer Christopher Rauschenberg took a pair of scissors to a standard AAA map of Portland and cut that map into 98 pieces. A group of 12 of the city’s best photographers all photographed one randomly picked square each month, using a variety of films and formats. It took nine years for this group (which included 15 photographers by the end) to finish taking pictures in all 98 Grid Sections of the city, by which time they had shown each other over 20,000 images, taken in every part of Portland.

The Exhibition
The core of this exhibition combines 3000 work prints from the nine years of the first round and the first three years of the second round that will be displayed in the center of the gallery. In addition, there are three shows of prints curated by Kate Mellor & Charlie Meecham (photographers and founders of the offshoot Bradford Grid Project in Yorkshire, England), Clint Willour (Galveston Art Center Director), and Stephanie Snyder (Curator and Director of Reed College’s Cooley Gallery), as well as three sets of projections, curated by Jennifer Gately (Northwest Art Curator of the Portland Art Museum), Alison Nordström (Curator of Photography at the George Eastman House), and Ethan Seltzer (Director of the School of Urban Studies and Planning at PSU).

The Photographers
Blake Andrews, Mark Barnes, Tom Champion, Dawn-Starr Crowther, Deborah Dombrowski, Lisa Gidley, Barbara Gilson, Bruce Hall, Ann Hughes, Tom Kearcher, Ann Kendellen, David Potter, Doug Prior, Christopher Rauschenberg, Shawn Records, Rich Rollins, Faulkner Short, Patrick Stearns, Paul Sutinen, Bill Washburn and Bryan Wolf.

For more information or to see 3580 images from the Portland Grid Project, go to:
www.portlandgridproject.com
Christopher Rauschenberg
503-236-2931

This project is funded in part by:

2007 Photolucida Conference
April 12 – 15

A four day-long celebration of photography bringing together an international set of photographers and reviewers for portfolio reviews, lectures, and a portfolio walk.

Photolucida occurs very other Spring and promotes in-depth, informed, and supportive dialogue between photographers, gallery owners, publishers and pundits of various sorts, supporting the culture of photography and an increased understanding of the world through photography. Held at the Benson Hotel, an intensive four-day Portfolio Review lies at the heart of the festival.

Reviewers are selected for their experience, involvement, and commitment to advancing the work of emerging and mid-career artists. The majority represent small, mid-sized, and major venues or publishers devoted to photography as an artistic medium. Over the years many participants have made contacts that led directly to exhibitions, publications, and the sale of their work, in addition to receiving useful critiques leading to professional refinement.
Photographers at all levels of expertise are welcome and the event is currently sold out, with photographers attending from across the United States, as well as parts of Europe. In addition to the Portfolio Review sessions, a variety of events are planned, including lectures by participating photographers on Saturday, April 14, hosted by Blue Sky Gallery and a Portfolio Walk at Pacific Northwest College of Art the evening of Thursday, April 12.

For more information on the Conference:
laura@photolucida.org
www.photolucida.org