Press

Portland, OR—March 3, 2015—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents 503/971, the inaugural juried undergraduate exhibition in its new home, the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design. For the first time, PNCA has opened the exhibition to undergraduate art students from colleges and universities throughout Portland including Portland State University, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Lewis and Clark College, Reed College, and Oregon College of Art and Craft. Organized by two students, Joseph McGehee and Joseph Greer, 503/971 is juried by three of the city’s top contemporary curators, Kristan Kennedy (Portland Institute for Contemporary Art), Robert Snowden (Yale Union), Libby Werbel (Portland Museum of Modern Art). 503/971 opens April 2, 2015 in PNCA’s New Commons and runs through April 29, 2015. An opening reception is scheduled for April 2, 6-9pm.

Portland, OR—February 10, 2015—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes all of Portland to its first First Thursday, March 5, 2015 from 6-9pm, in its new campus flagship, the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design. PNCA will be filled with art, and the College will welcome the public in to see the historic federal building with its dramatic renovation designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture.

Portland, OR—January 27, 2015—From its new campus on Portland’s North Park Blocks, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) announces 2015 programming in its main galleries and exhibition spaces including the inaugural exhibition in PNCA’s flagship 511 Gallery in the recently completed Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design and at PNCA’s Museum of Contemporary Craft.

Portland, OR, November 25, 2014 —Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) hosts the Holiday Art Sale on December 4 through December 6, 2014 from 6-9pm each day featuring one-­of-­a-­kind gifts made by PNCA students. The sale is a great opportunity to get exquisite items ranging from fine art prints, paintings, and sculpture to handcrafted adornments. The PNCA Commons is completely transformed into a showcase of outstanding art. It is a wonderful opportunity to see what is “hot off the press” from PNCA student artists and to pick up a collectible piece at a great price. All proceeds directly benefit the artist.

Portland, OR, October 23, 2014 — The Philip Feldman Gallery + Project Space at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents Breaking Banality: The Dysfunction of Remediation, an exhibition by Eva and Franco Mattes, opening with a reception on First Thursday, November 6, 2014 and running through January 10, 2015. For the exhibition, whose title was created by an online random exhibition title generator, the Brooklyn-based Italian duo will present ten reiterations of one performance from their series “BEFNOED – By Everyone, For No One, Every Day,” for which they commission anonymous workers to realize webcam performances. The Mattes’ hire performers through online crowdsourcing services and post the resulting videos to many of the more obscure social networks around the world. The artists regularly post links to new videos at befnoed.tumblr.com. These works are in the lineage of Fluxus event scores and more recently Hans Ulrich Obrist’s instruction-based project, “Do It.” For this exhibition, to view the videos, visitors will be forced in awkward positions, becoming themselves, if just for a few seconds, performers, and underlying how the act of viewing is in itself performative.

Portland, OR, September 29, 2014 — Pacific Northwest College of Art is pleased to announce its new Board of Governors Chair Aric Wood, CEO of XPLANE. The Board also welcomes a new governor, Norman J. Smith, former President of the Ford Family Foundation. Wood brings years of experience in guiding global companies through transformative change. Smith provides a highly informed perspective on investing in Oregon and its cultural flagships, both through the Ford Family Foundation and as member of the Oregon House of Representatives.

Portland, OR, September 18, 2014—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is proud to announce that John Summerson, a senior in the Media Arts major with a concentration in Animated Arts, has been awarded the Grand Prize in LG Electronics USA’s Art of the Pixel competition. The prize comes with an award of $5,000 for Summerson and a grant of $50,000 for PNCA to support arts education.

Portland, OR, September 11, 2014—In conjunction with the exhibition, SuperTrash, at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), the College presents SuperTrash Symposium on October 11, 2014 in the Commons at PNCA, 1241 NW Johnson. Organized by Feldman Gallery curator Mack McFarland and SuperTrash curator and author Jacques Boyreau, the symposium explores the psychology of gender in terms of the SuperTrash exhibition’s glaring male gaze and examples of high- and low-culture interpenetration such as the silent film era’s first depictions of gender; the psychology of super-heroes in 1940’s comic books; feminist revisions of exploitation narratives; and the image in the age of the internet.

Portland, OR, September 3, 2014 —Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) has been awarded a $700,000 top-off grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust toward its CREATIVITY WORKS HERE Capital Campaign for campus expansion to Portland’s North Park Blocks.

Portland, OR, July 18, 2014 — The Philip Feldman Gallery + Project Space at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents, Borderlander’s Outfitter, a solo exhibition of work by Abigail Anne Newbold opening September 4, 2014 and running through October 24, 2014. Borderlander’s Outfitter is an exhibition and backcountry instructional retreat that explore the skills required to live self-sufficiently through the use of traditional craft combined with modern materials. Curated by Sarah Margolis-Pineo, Associate Curator at Museum of Contemporary Craft, Borderlander’s Outfitter cultivates designs for the self-sufficient life by speculating on a holistic model for individual survival regardless of existing socio-economic systems.

Portland, OR, June 16, 2014 — Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents a solo exhibition of a work by Jesse Hayward entitled ROUGH PATCH in PNCA’s Swigert Commons. The exhibition is set to open Friday, June 20 and run through Sunday, July 20 with a reception for the artist on First Thursday, July 3.

PORTLAND, OR—June 3, 2014—The Pacific Northwest College of Art annual Gala, held at Vigor Industrial shipyard on Swan Island, drew more than 600 attendees, selling out and raising more than $650,000. The total surpassed the event’s half-million-dollar goal, making it the most successful Gala in the College’s 105-year history. The signature fundraising event benefits PNCA students, faculty, and programs and celebrates the importance of creative practice in Portland and the world.

Portland, OR—May 12, 2014—The Feldman Gallery + Project Space at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is pleased to present Quantum Shirley, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles–based artist Shirley Tse opening June 19 and running through August 10, 2014 with an opening reception on July 3 for First Thursday. Tse is an artist-in-residence with PNCA’s Low Residence MFA in Visual Studies program.

Portland, OR—May 12, 2014—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) proudly presents students in PNCA’s undergraduate Studio Arts, Media Arts, and Design Arts programs and three of the graduate programs of PNCA’s Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies—MFA in Visual Studies, MFA in Collaborative Design, and MFA in Applied Craft and Design—for Commencement on May 25.

Portland, OR – April 10, 2014 – Pacific Northwest College of Art President Tom Manley announced today that Namita Gupta Wiggers is stepping down as Director and Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Craft, operated in partnership with PNCA. Wiggers served for 10 years at the Museum, including overseeing its move to the North Park Blocks and facilitating its partnership with PNCA.

Portland, OR—March 18, 2014—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents A Painted Lens, an exhibition of works by San Francisco-based painter Edmund Wyss opening April 3, 2014 and running through May 2, 2014. The exhibition brings together several of Wyss’ detailed renderings of photographic equipment in PNCA’s Swigert Commons. Wyss’s perspectives are idealized, resulting in a shallow depth of field and producing exploded views of mechanical cameras and lenses that might be seen in a more romantic version of a technical manual. The works are painted without a trace of narrative and resist classification as still life. The images call to be viewed from multiple angles, from afar to perceive the image’s painted form and up close to appreciate the meticulous and active brushwork.

“A first glimpse inside PNCA’s Schnitzer Center for Art & Design”, Portland Architecture, 20 January 2015

PNCA Starts Transformation, Portland Tribune, 13 February 2014

PNCA passes $11M fundraising mark as construction begins on its new campus, Portland Business Journal, 03 February 2014

Pacific Northwest College of Art begins work on new HQ, set to open in January 2015, The Oregonian, 01 February 2014

Portland Development Commission approves $20 million loan package for Pacific Northwest College of Art headquarters, The Oregonian, 13 November 2013

How PNCA’s ArtHouse repurposed its Powell’s past (Photos), Sustainable Business Oregon, 09 September 2013

Arts campus rises from creative thinking, Portland Tribune, 05 September 2013

PNCA’s ArtHouse and a new era for the North Park Blocks, Portland Architecture, 29 August 2013

PNCA displays the art of fixing the North Park Blocks, The Oregonian, 27 August 2013

PNCA student housing building on Park Blocks complete [photos], Daily Journal of Commerce, 27 August 2013

Q&A: PNCA offers new post office plan, Portland Business Journal, 09 August 2013

PNCA readies Old Town post office for big move, Portland Business Journal, 02 August 2013

Reflecting on a quarter-century of growth in Portland’s performing arts scene , The Oregonian, 06 January 2013

North Park Blocks welcomes Lee Kelly sculpture on future PNCA courtyard entrance, The Oregonian, 19 October 2012

Painting a Broader Canvas, Portland Monthly, 23 August 2012

Design proposed for PNCA’s renovation of 511 Federal Building, Daily Journal of Commerce, 12 June 2012

Pacific Northwest College of Art unveils $30 million renovation plan for 511 Building, The Oregonian, 02 June 2012

Manley leading PNCA’s Old Town charge, Portland Business Journal, 03 May 2012

The 50 Most Influential Portlanders, Portland Monthly, 16 December 2011

Pacific Northwest College of Art and Museum of Contemporary Craft finalize joint agreement, The Oregonian, 12 September 2009

PORTLAND, OR – March 3, 2014 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in collaboration with Museum of Contemporary Craft presents the Illuminations Spring Reading Series in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibition This Is Not A Silent Movie: Four Contemporary Alaska Native Artists. The series of readings at the Museum features Native American poets and writers, including Elizabeth Woody, Trevino Brings Plenty, and Stephen Graham Jones.

Portland, OR, February 3, 2014 — The Philip Feldman Gallery + Project Space at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is pleased to present an exhibition of prints by the influential artist, Luc Tuymans. Luc Tuymans: Graphic Works – Kristalnacht to Technicolor opens with a public reception on March 6, 2014 from 6-8 pm and runs through June 13, 2014.

PORTLAND, OR – February 4, 2014 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) has started construction on a $32 million transformation of the historic 511 Federal Building, once the central post office, at 511 NW Broadway Street in Portland, Oregon. This new hub for creative practice and collaboration will open in January 2015 as the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design.

Portland, OR, January 3, 2014 — The Philip Feldman Gallery + Project Space at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents a solo exhibition of work by Bean Gilsdorf entitled, An Exhibition That Might Exist from January 21 through February 28, 2014. The exhibition is free and open to the public, with an opening reception on Thursday, January 23, from 6-8 p.m.

PORTLAND, OR – November 1, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents Pop Without Pop, a group exhibition opening November 7 and running through November 30 in PNCA’s Swigert Commons. Curated by Feldman Gallery + Project Space curator, Mack McFarland, and professor Modou Dieng, Pop Without Pop features work by artists based in Portland and San Francisco, including Luca Antonucci, Tia Factor, Lori Gilbert, Lindsay Kennedy, Robert Khasho, Maciej Makalowski, Wilder Schmaltz, and Cyrus Smith.

PORTLAND, OR – October 17, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) presents two related exhibitions in the Philip Feldman Gallery + Project Space each addressing commercial illustration and image-making through a different lens. Tear-Sheet: The daily grind of illustration examines the extensive process of contemporary newspaper and magazine illustrators. Crisis Image Archives is a selection of visual representations of “the crisis” appearing in the last 5 years of the 300 magazines and journals archived in Chicago’s Alternative Press Center. Both exhibitions open with a reception on First Thursday, November 7, 2013 6-8 pm.

Portland, Oregon – September 25, 2013 – The MFA in Collaborative Design program of the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is pleased to present ”Biomimicry: The Next Big Thing – How Nature is Inspiring Radical Innovation,” a lecture by Jay Harman on Monday, October 7 at 7 pm in Swigert Commons.

PORTLAND, OR – September 3, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes award-winning design professional Lisa Strausfeld, who will give the 2013 Convocation Address on Friday, September 13 in the PNCA Commons. Strausfeld is known for her work in digital information design projects, beginning with a company she launched with two MIT classmates that made visual user interfaces for large databases, spanning ten years at design studio, Pentagram, and currently at Bloomberg where she is Global Head of Data Visualization. In addition, Strausfeld is a member of the PNCA’s Creative Leaders Council. This advisory board helps to shape PNCA’s future by advising on how to expand PNCA’s creative brand and deepen the College’s influence in the world of art and design.

PORTLAND, OR – September 3, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art’s (PNCA) MA in Critical Theory and Creative Research Program is pleased to announce that Stéphanie Bertrand of Thessaloniki, Greece, and Nate Harrison of Brooklyn, New York, have been awarded first place in the 2013 Hannah Arendt Prize for original writing on Critical Theory and Creative Research for their essays “Dropouts” and “Immanence of Intervention, Revival of Critique,” respectively. The quality of their ideas and the level of writing were so high that the judges could not decide between them, and, thus, the two will share the prize and the $5,000 cash award. The competition elicited submissions from applicants hailing from 34 countries around the globe, and was determined by a distinguished roster of judges. This year’s theme was On Art and Disobedience; Or, What Is an Intervention?

PORTLAND, OR – August 23, 2013 – Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), project^, and the Powell family are pleased to announce the opening of ArtHouse, a striking new student residence for PNCA students, just in time for the arrival of the beginning of the 2013-14 academic year. This six-story building designed by Thomas Robinson of LEVER Architecture and located at 33 NW Park Avenue will bring 130 students to Portland’s North Park Blocks and the surrounding Pearl District. ArtHouse stands just across the PNCA’s Museum of Contemporary Craft on the North Park blocks. The residence is the first ground up project built specifically to house PNCA students on the North Park Blocks and will be the counter anchor to PNCA’s main building, the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design at 511 NW Broadway, now a former post office slated for renovation with completion expected in 2015. PNCA’s urban campus is expected to jumpstart additional economic development and vitality along the North Park Blocks and the adjacent Old Town district.
With its fall opening, ArtHouse will stand testament to PNCA’s continued growth and appeal to a widening range of students. More than 60% of the college’s students come from outside Oregon.