Portland City Council is facing a $21.5 million shortfall in 2013-14, and looking to cut costs. Every city bureau, and also RACC, are prepared for a standard cut of 10%, but some have suggested that RACC should be cut even further – as much as $1 million (15%) more.

Learn more about what you can do TODAY in ONE HOT MINUTE to support the mechanism that 62% of PDX voters approved in November.

http://www.racc.org/action

Payments are due on April 15th. The Revenue Bureau estimates that nearly 400,000 Portland residents will be eligible to pay this $35 local income tax along with their state and federal returns this year. While the Revenue Bureau has developed a comprehensive collections plan including multiple mailings and an online payment method through www.artstax.net, they have made it clear that the more residents who pay online and pay early, the less money they will have to spend on collections. And every dollar saved will directly support the arts.

As supporters of Ballot Measure 26-146 and the Creative Advocacy Network, you all know that the arts improve our schools, shape our neighborhoods, fuel our economy and improve the livability of this city that we love. And now, with a simple annual $35 tax payment, we can ensure that every Portland resident has access to our city’s cultural and creative riches.

Pay early. Pay online. And bring the arts to life for every Portland classroom and community.

Nationally, 12 Major League Soccer teams are unveiling new jerseys in February during “Jersey Week.” Art is the theme of all of the new kits making the Alberta Arts District’s Last Thursday the natural venue to unveil the Portland Timbers’ new kits.

Talisman Gallery (1476 NE Alberta St) and The Best Art Gallery in Portland (1468 NE Alberta St) will host the unveiling along with full shows featuring Timbers pieces by local artists. Additionally, attendees can participate in a paint-by-numbers mural that will be displayed at JELD-WEN Field and Art on Alberta’s Red Rover will debut a Timbers installation in front of Talisman Gallery. The show will open on Thursday February 28th, 6 – 9 PM and run through Sunday, March 24, 2013.

Guardino Gallery (2939 NE Alberta St), Six Days Art Co-op (2724 NE Alberta St), The Make House (1732 NE Alberta St), Antler (1722 NE Alberta St), and Screaming Sky Gallery (1416 NE Alberta St) will all feature one Timbers inspired piece each in addition to their regular shows. The Portland Timbers are providing pedicab transportation between galleries.

A percentage of sales will be donated to The Portland Timbers Community Fund, supporting youth education, sports, health and fitness, and environmental awareness, and activism.

Local artist Chris Haberman (The Peoples Art of Portland Gallery) is curating the show. Our very own Red Rover will showcase an amazing Timbers inspired installation created by artistic dynamic duo Peggy Pfenninger and Diane Pinsonault. (We think it’s our best installation – EVER.)

Join us for Last Thursday on Alberta Street! Party and raffle at Barista, too. Find more deets on FB.

Nationally, 83% of public elementary schools provide visual arts education compared to just 18% in Portland.

Today in Portland there are 11,596 children attending schools that do not have any art, dance, drama, and music instruction. The rate of decline for arts education in Portland has been shockingly steep. In the last five years Parkrose and Centennial School Districts have cut their arts and music teaching staff by half, while Portland Public Schools has dropped all arts instruction in 22 schools in just two years.

With the Arts Education and Access Fund, the City of Portland will restore arts and music education to every elementary school in Portland’s six school districts by providing stable, long-term funding for certified arts and music teachers and grants for arts access programs. This fund will also support established arts organizations city-wide to bring arts, culture and creativity to life for every Portland resident.

In less than 70 days, the Art on Alberta team and other Portland residents will receive their November ballot and with it, the opportunity to approve the Arts Education and Access Fund. Together we can VOTE YES! to restore arts and music teachers to every Portland elementary school, fund the arts city-wide and increase access to the arts for every Portland classroom and community.

If you haven’t yet joined the Schools & Arts Together campaign to help us get out the vote – it’s time! More information can be found at http://schoolsartstogether.com.

 

CLICK HERE for more info!

Abigail’s work explores the capabilities of paper as a medium for artistic expression: “Humble paper, as it stands alone without surface treatment – part sculptural object and part drawing. The work is a record of its own making, a long undoing of blank paper into an elaborate geometric skeleton. Through avid endeavors to truly know the materials I work with, patterns arise. Repetitive action unravels a conversation between the medium and myself.” As her hand guides her, Abigail transforms the simplistic medium of plain paper into a complex series of microcosmic and macrocosmic structures. These structures don’t just stand alone, but create a dialogue with the space they occupy. The current installation featured in our RED ROVER art gallery was specifically designed and created by the artist to interact with this unique space.

This installation debuted Alberta Street’s Last Thursday and will be on public display at the Vagabond Circus lot on Northeast 19^th Avenue and Alberta Street. RED ROVER will also make an appearance at the Alberta Street Fair on August 11^th alongside our dedicated board members who will host a family-friendly table for papercut art projects (more info on our events page).

More information about Abigail McNamara’s work can be found on her website at: www.abigailrosemcnamara.com.

To download AoA’s official August press release, click HERE.

Jackie Avery’s work has been seen at various Portland venues such as the Secret Society Lounge, Suzette Creperie, as well as Antler Art Gallery. Her work—influenced by quirky photographs and old books—is meant to spark the viewer’s imagination, and consists primarily of acrylic on wood ‘boxes’. The RED ROVER installation, Swan Boat, highlights the “sweet tacky beauty and intense summer fun feel” of this water-bound avian vessel. While researching this subject, Jackie found that individuals make variations of the swan-shaped boat all over the world, which can be seen in Ireland, Vietnam, Japan, Slovenia, Boston, China, and India. This
installation is meant to create a “little dream of summer fairytale frolicking on dry land” in our very own RED ROVER gallery.

More information about Jackie Avery can be found on www.hipkissavery.com. Get to know the artist and her work!

For more photos of this installation, check out our FACEBOOK PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/artonalberta.

That’s right, all! Kicking off the new year, Elly Baldwin will host RED ROVER’s first installation of 2012 with her series Self Portraits, No. 1 – 105. 

Eleanor Baldwin received her B.A. from Lewis & Clark College, where she was awarded the Barbara Bartholomew Scholarship at the recommendation of her department. Elly will be presenting a collection of self-portraits painted consecutively over a period of 125 days. By utilizing the mirror as a space for self-reflection, she used her works to meditate on the ever-shifting nature of identity and the ways in which we choose the aspects of ourselves to be seen by the world. In addition to revealing Elly’s daily self-interpretation, this series also explores the medium of painting itself by experimenting with the application of material, from acrylic and oil paint to coffee grounds and plastic bubble wrap.

The RED ROVER gallery may be seen on Thursday, December 29^th, 2011 through January 19^th, 2012 on Northeast 21^st Avenue between Sumner and Emerson Streets.

On Friday, December 2, 2011, Art on Alberta and RED ROVER made a special appearance at the Live Wire! Radio show at the Alberta Rose Theater. 

This event was facilitated by our very own kickass board members, and featured top notch performers such as Tom Kenny, the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, Viva Voce, and Telekinesis. Live Wire is a weekly radio variety show recorded in front of a live audience in Portland, Oregon and airing in Oregon and on stations throughout the country. Featuring live music, illuminating conversations and original sketch comedy, Live Wire delivers old school variety with a modern twist.

For more information, check out our Events page.

Every year, families and art lovers are invited to celebrate the season with their favorite Alberta Street merchants. Northeast Alberta Street will again be alive and bustling with festive lights, gallery openings, and plenty of restaurants serving some of the best food in town. Tannenbaum Madness happens from 4:00 to 8:00 pm on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Art on Alberta will be collaborating with Alberta Main Street– a local organization dedicated to developing Alberta Street as a vibrant, creative, and sustainable commercial district serving residents and visitors to our community. We will be hosting a decorating table at Alberta Main Street’s office at 1722 Northeast Alberta Street, where ornament-making materials will be provided for kids and adults to decorate Alberta’s DIY (Decorate It Yourself) Tree on display in the front window of Alberta Main Street. There will be plenty of materials to create ornaments to take home, too! Special thanks to SCRAP for helping us provide materials for this event!

Our mobile art gallery, RED ROVER, will be festively transformed into an enormous ornament for the occasion. This trailer is used as an installation space, a gallery, a tool for art education, and a vehicle for bringing art to the community in an unconventional way. The gallery may be seen in front of Alberta Main Street on Friday, November 25, 2011 from 4:00 to 8:00 pm. Thereafter, it will be located on Northeast 19th Avenue between Going and Wygant Streets until December 28th.

For more information about Tannenbaum Madness, visit: http://albertamainst.org/tannenbaum-madness.