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Photographs of Construction, Charts and Graphs to be Exhibited at The Art Gym at Marylhurst University
For Release: December 06, 2006Patrick Stearns, Portland Under Construction
Photographs from the Tunnel, Tram and Grid Projects
In Gallery 2: Portland Envisioned, Graphs and Charts
Preview Reception: Sunday, January 7, 3 to 5 p.m.
Exhibitions continue through February 14
Gallery talk with Patrick Stearns: Thursday, February 1, 12 noon
The Art Gym at Marylhurst University will open two exhibitions with preview receptions on Sunday, January 7, 2007 from 3 to 5 p.m. Patrick Stearns, Portland Under Construction – Photographs from the Tunnel, Tram and Grid Projects in the main space and Portland Envisioned, Graphs and Charts, in The Art Gym's Gallery 2. Additional photographs from the Portland Aerial Tram project will be presented concurrently in the Mayer Gallery at Marylhurst.
Patrick Stearns, Portland Under Construction – Photographs from the Tunnel, Tram and Grid Projects is an exhibition of more than 60 black and white photographs of construction projects in Portland, Oregon. Over the past 10 years, construction has been everywhere in Portland, much of it related to major transportation projects and the redevelopment of old light industrial and warehouse sections of the city to urban high-density residential neighborhoods. Patrick Stearns has photographed two major projects extensively – the Westside Light Rail Tunnel and the Portland Aerial Tram. In addition, as one of the photographers of the Portland Grid Project, Stearns has also chronicled construction in Portland's Pearl District, suburban neighborhoods, and occasionally noted the smaller scale remodels and repairs that are ongoing in the city's established neighborhoods. The Art Gym exhibition is the first comprehensive exhibition of Stearns' work.
Portland Envisioned, Graphs and Charts, in The Art Gym's Gallery 2, will present graphs, charts and other visual materials created by planners and architects affiliated with the City of Portland, Tri-Met, and Zimmer, Gunsul, Frasca Partnership. These materials were generated as part of the process of gathering, sorting and presenting information for city planning and transportation projects.
Both exhibitions will open with receptions at The Art Gym at Marylhurst University on Sunday, January 7 from 3 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Both exhibitions continue through February 14. Patrick Stearns will give a gallery talk in The Art Gym at 12 noon, Thursday, February 1.
Patrick Stearns' photographs have been exhibited by many institutions, including the Portland Art Museum, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the Oregon Governor's Office. Stearns received an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship Grant in 2002. The Portland Aerial Tram photography project is supported in part by a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Patrick Stearns received his BFA from Marylhurst University.
The Art Gym, Marylhurst University is located at 17600 Pacific Hwy (Hwy 43), Marylhurst, Oregon, 97036. The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 12 noon to 4 p.m. The Art Gym is located on the third floor of the B.P. John Building on the Marylhurst University campus, one mile south of Lake Oswego. Admission is free. (503-699-6243)
Founded in the fall of 1980, The Art Gym at Marylhurst University has a 26-year history of presenting work by hundreds of artists based in the Northwest. The Art Gym has published more than 50 exhibition catalogues and sponsored more than 100 conversations about art in the region. In 2004-2005, The Art Gym was a recipient of the Governor's Arts Award.
More About the Exhibition
From Patrick Stearns' artist statement:
"Few transportation systems in Portland's history have been more complex, controversial, or aroused as much public interest and opposition as the Westside Light Rail Tunnel and Portland Aerial Tram. These iconic building projects are in my opinion destined to become historical landmarks, and I feel privileged to have been involved as a photographer on these two projects.
"Machinery, especially tools designed for unique or unusual tasks, and the process of construction, including the phases and forms that a project takes throughout its course, hold a certain fascination for me. … The Tunnel Boring Machine, built in Vancouver, Washington and assembled at the tunnel site in Portland, resembled a giant metal mole that chewed through millennia-old basalt and earth, depositing mounds of rock and debris via a conveyor belt.
"On each construction site I have worked on thus far, I have observed a strong camaraderie between the work crews and a measure of lightheartedness in their interaction with one another. The tram provided fertile ground for this notion - especially among the Iron Workers. Humor and visual playfulness in photographs appeal to my sense of aesthetics, and I utilized this concept whenever a good opportunity presented itself."
The Grid Project
Conceived approximately 12 years ago by Portland photographer Christopher Rauschenberg, the Portland Grid Project comprises a group of several local artists who have photographed, and who are now re-photographing the entire city using an American Automobile Association map. Each month each photographer records whatever he or she wants within the boundaries (one square mile) of a randomly selected section of the map grid.