The UMVA Gallery @ Portland Media Center is well into its 2019 schedule of engaging exhibitions.
Rabee Kiwan, “Sunday Morning Paper”
The April show “Portland City: Re-Imagined” was a successful exhibit organized by artists Bob Riemann and Rabee Kiwan featuring Bob’s striking, colorful photographs and Rabee’s extraordinary oil paintings. The show was very well received with several pieces sold.The May exhibition of Norajean Ferris was yet another engaging exhibit: “Into the Nation.” During the opening, as with the other exhibitions this year, visitors – artists and art lovers – were involved in intense conversations about provocative work. Norajean’s paintings focused on the ethnic and racial diversity enriching our lives. Her paintings shimmer with life and compelled viewers to plumb the depths of who we are.
The “UMVA Members’ Summer Show” is now open. The work is a fascinating experience with artists’ commentary accompanying each work. Visitors will find the show quite stimulating and beautifully curated by Liz Prescott.
Other initiatives by the Portland chapter include electing an “executive committee” to manage the affairs of UMVA-Portland. The plan is to streamline the chapter’s work and elevate its presence in the Portland art scene. Here is the list of “officers” and their roles: co-chairpersons (John Ripton and Jen Joaquin), secretary/scribe (nominations appreciated), treasurer and gallery manager (Gregg Harper). The Portland chapter continues to seek nominations/volunteers for the secretary/scribe position. Contact John Ripton with questions about volunteering for the position or nominating a fellow UMVA-Portland member.
The UMVA-Portland chapter is proceeding with plans to reconstruct the UMVA website. In the interim Ann Tracy has established a blogspot:
https://umvaportlandgallery.blogspot.com/2019/06/umva-members-spring-exhibition-2019.html
Calls for proposals for the 2020 UMVA Gallery exhibitions go out in June and are due by September 1. Several UMVA-Portland members represented the membership at the Creative Portland “Art and Culture Summit” on June 18: https://www.creativeportland.com/summit-2019
At the recent UMVA Board meeting, we voted to discontinue our current website when a new website using the Weebly DIY system is in place. Gregg Harper has agreed to set this new site up and train “page managers” to keep it up-to-date.
The Weebly system does not require any knowledge of computer coding. We can keep adding information/media so that current and past info will be readily accessible to anyone visiting the site. Page managers will be given the password to open the editing site in order to add content as often as necessary. We ae asking for recruits that Gregg will train. Artist Pages will be added later in 2019 when the initial site is up and running.
The UMVA Board is pleased to announce that Janice Moore will be the new Vice-President.
umva portlandgofigure
Image at top of page: Lesley MacVane, “Cuba”