Portland Art Museum to open Black Art and Experiences gallery

Published 1:26 pm Tuesday, January 28, 2025

The Portland Art Museum will open a gallery space dedicated to Black experiences in tandem with its broader campus expansion and renovation project in late 2025.

The museum announced that programming for the Black Art and Experiences gallery will be funded through a five-year grant from the 1803 Fund, a local nonprofit organization committed to rebuilding and strengthening the historical Black community in North and Northeast Portland, on Jan. 22.

“We are deeply grateful to 1803 Fund for the support and recognition of PAM as a beacon for all of Portland’s diverse audiences and are thrilled for the opportunity to provide a platform for voices that have often been marginalized in the broader art world,” said Director Brian Ferriso. “Through this partnership, we want to continue to spotlight the ongoing growth and vitality of Portland’s Black artistic community, as well as nationally and internationally recognized Black artists, to create an inclusive and welcoming space that resonates with generations of visitors to come.”

According to the announcement, the coming gallery will be situated on the first floor of the museum’s Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art in the Mark Building on the South Park Blocks. It will also be visible to visitors through a transparent façade in a public community passageway, expanding the reach of its installations and contributing to the integration of cultural and public life in downtown Portland.

“Through this partnership, PAM will continue to build upon efforts to diversify its collection and exhibition programming and uplift historically underrepresented artists. With the creation of the Black Art and Experiences gallery, the Museum will have a dedicated space to showcase works by local, regional, and global Black artists and present exhibitions, performances, and programs that reflect the multitude of Black experiences,” the announcement said.

The 1803 Fund was launched in 2020 with funding provided by Phil and Penny Knight. It seeks to nurture collaboration, autonomy, and power in Black Portland through social and financial investment. The Fund centers culture as one of three key program areas, and supports projects that celebrate creativity and sustain the communal element of Black artistic life in the city.

“1803 Fund is excited to partner with the Portland Art Museum for Black Art and Experiences,” said Rukaiyah Adams, Chief Executive Officer of 1803 Fund. “This partnership is a meaningful evolution—moving from Black artists and audiences petitioning for admission into hushed, venerated spaces, and moving toward working in collaboration on dynamic places that uplift our collective creativity and highest aspirations. We are excited to become strategic partners to PAM.”

The inaugural presentation in Black Art and Experiences Gallery will include four exhibitions: Tenderhead, a solo exhibition featuring new works and a site-specific installation by Portland artist Lisa Jarrett; an exhibition of prints by Black artists drawn from the museum’s collection, including recent acquisitions of works by Derrick Adams, Robert Pruitt, Alison Saar, Gary Simmons, and others; “Do I Look Like a Lady?”(Comedians and Singers) (2016), a video installation by Mickalene Thomas; and “Conductions: Black Imaginings,” a series of performances with artists Noah Beckham, Miles Greenberg, and Bridgette Hickey.

The campus expansion and renovation project is intended to completely transform the existing museum and create a vital “cultural commons” in the heart of downtown Portland. Opening to the public in late 2025, it will add 100,000 square feet of new or upgraded public and gallery space, providing increased access to our exhibitions and programs, offering new ways to experience the robust collection, and adding new amenities that address the needs of more diverse audiences.

The centerpiece of the transformation is the construction of the Mark Rothko Pavilion, which will provide a central and welcoming “front door” to the museum. It will feature a glass facade opening onto a new public plaza and seamlessly connecting the museum’s two historic buildings. The Pavilion will be named in honor of renowned abstract artist Mark Rothko (1903–1970), who spent his childhood in Portland after his family immigrated from Latvia. Rothko attended Lincoln High School, took art classes at the museum, and even had his first exhibition there.