Month: April 2010

Growing the Greatest Places: New Strategies and Tools to Regenerate Centers and Corridors

Posted on by edparker@uoregon.edu

Growing the "Greatest Places"

Wednesday May 12, 2010 at 5:30pm
White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch, Portland

Andrés Duany is a founding principal at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ). DPZ is recognized as a leader of the New Urbanism, an international movement that seeks to end suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment. In the years since the firm first received recognition for the design of Seaside, Florida, in 1980, DPZ has completed designs for close to 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization projects. This work has exerted a significant influence on the practice and direction of urban planning and development in the United States and abroad.

Andrés Duany’s recent publications include The New Civic Art and Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. He is a founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, where he continues to serve on the Board of Directors. Established in 1993 with the mission of reforming urban growth patterns, the Congress has been characterized by The New York Times as “the most important collective architectural movement in the United States in the past fifty years.” As DPZ’s principal in-charge of all Gulf Coast recovery initiatives, Andrés has directed charrettes for the Mississippi Governor’s Commission on Recovery and Renewal, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the Unified New Orleans Plan.

Andrés studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and earned degrees from Princeton and Yale. His has been awarded honorary doctorates from Brandeis and University of Virginia.  He has been recognized for his practice and scholarship in architecture and urban design from the National Building Museum, for community planning and design from the Seaside Institute and for his sensitivity to the historic continuum and fostering of community with the Richard H. Driehaus Prize.

Installation by UO art professor transforms neon into spatial experience

Posted on by edparker@uoregon.edu

Kartz Ucci

Art professor Kartz Ucci is taking up residence in Portland for the spring term . . . and so is her artwork. As part of the new Portland 2010 biennial, Ucci’s video installation at the Alpern Gallery in northwest Portland will be on view from April 2 to 24. A reception for the artist happens Friday, April 9, from 6 to 9 p.m. The gallery is located at 2552 N.W. Vaughn St. in Portland. Hours are Fridays, noon to 5 p.m. and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Across town, Ucci will serve as artist-in-residence at the John Ross Condominiums at South Waterfront throughout the spring term. She is also teaching two digital arts classes at the UO’s White Stag Block.

Portland 2010, a successor to the former Oregon Biennial, brings together 18 artists spread out among 6 different spaces between March and May. The event is organized by non-profit Disjecta and curated by Cris Moss, gallery director at Linfield College.

Ucci’s installation, “I Want to Be a Lighthouse Keeper,” is a close focused, high-resolution video recording of a 5 mm thick rod of blue neon that has been sped up to reveal the fluctuating luminosity of the neon gas. An amplified recording of the electrical hum of the neon transformer sweeps across the room from a 360 degree soundbar. Ucci describes the work as a distilled, constructed view of a horizon line, filled with potential yet empty. Its motion is that of particles of light and their magnetic oscillation at the frequency of the alternating electrical current, she said.

Kartz Ucci - Production Still

Originally conceived in 2008, she was unable to show the actual neon she’d had manufactured because a gallery’s space in Delaware was interrupted by columns. “Because I was unable to show the work as intended, I decided to shoot the neon as a video, and I liked how the camera was able to capture the fluctuations in light. It was a happy accident.”

Though some of the Portland 2010 exhibits are group shows, the curator selected an individual exhibition space for Ucci’s video and sound installation due to its minimal quality.

Ucci will also contribute to an event-capping group show of Portland 2010 artists at the UO’s White Box in the White Stag Building from April 6 to 17. Ucci said she plans to include a second piece that exploits the visual properties of custom neon. The White Box, 24 NW First Ave., is open Tuesdays to Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is free.

Portland 2010: A Biennial of Contemporary Art

Posted on by edparker@uoregon.edu

Portland 2010

PORTLAND2010 is a biennial exhibition of contemporary artwork significant to Portland’s art landscape. The exhibition is presented by Disjecta and curated by Cris Moss, local curator and gallery director, Linfield College. The Biennial exists throughout the city it celebrates. The work of 19 artists/collaborators is presented at nine venues, including Disjecta’s 6,000 square foot exhibition space, formal galleries and raw spaces transformed for exhibition.

PORTLAND2010 ARTISTS

  • Holly Andres
  • Corey Arnold
  • Pat Boas
  • John Brodie
  • Bruce Conkle
  • David Corbett
  • Shelby Davis
  • Ditch Projects
  • David Eckard
  • Damien Gilley
  • Sean Healy
  • Tahni Holt
  • Marne Lucas
  • Jenene Nagy
  • Oregon Painting Society
  • Melody Owen
  • Crystal Schenk
  • Heidi Schwegler
  • Stephen Slappe
  • Kartz Ucci

WHITE BOX HOURS OF OPERATION
April 6 – 17, 2010
Tuesday – Saturday, 12-6 pm

PORTLAND2010 VENUES
Alicia Blue Gallery, Alpern Gallery, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Disjecta Interdisciplinary Art Center, Elizabeth Leach Gallery Leftbank, Rocksbox Fine Art, The Templeton Building and The White Box.

SPONSORS
Meyer Memorial Trust, Oregon Cultural Trust, RACC, TriMet, Lamar Advertising, Plazm Design, Sign Wizards, IFCC and Leftbank.  The White Box is admisistered with support from The School of Architecture and Allied Arts, The Arts and Administration Program and the University of Oregon Portland.

DISJECTA
Disjecta Interdisciplinary Art Center is a nonprofit organization formed to provide essential resources for artists to create and exhibit new work. Disjecta provides an interdisciplinary exhibition space for the presentation of vital, emerging visual and performing arts on a local, regional, national and international level.

CRIS MOSS
Most noted for his ongoing series (9+) of itinerant Donut Shop exhibitions, Cris Moss is currently director of Linfield Gallery at Linfield College, where he is an Instructional Associate in the Art and Visual Culture Department. He is also part of the ongoing Red Shoe Delivery Service collective. Moss’s work explores the various layers of identity as mediated through culture by employing narratives both scripted and non-scripted. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including The Melbourne International Arts Festival, Australia, Nottdance, UK, Display Gallery in Prague, Maccarone Inc. in NYC, Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art, NYC, Elizabeth Leach Gallery Portland, Oregon, Whatcom Art Museum, Bellingham, WA, and Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT.