Tuck Woodstock

Tuck Woodstock wrote and edited content for Travel Portland from 2014–2020. Read More

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Artworks by contemporary Oregon Native artists on view in Thlatwa Thlatwa: Indigenous Currents.

Credit: Courtesy Portland Art Museum

Center for Native American Art

Discover creative works by proud Pacific Northwest artists at the Portland Art Museum.

Updated Feb. 12, 2022 1 min read Downtown

Tuck Woodstock

Tuck Woodstock wrote and edited content for Travel Portland from 2014–2020. Read More

The Portland Art Museum has collected treasures of all kinds, from impressionist paintings to Chinese ceramics dating back two millennia. But one collection runs especially deep: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art houses 3,500 artifacts from tribes across what is now the United States, making it one of the most comprehensive assemblages of historic Native culture in the country.

Native art isn’t a thing of the past, however. In October 2015, the Portland Art Museum launched the Center for Contemporary Native Art, dedicated to presenting perspectives from modern-day Native cultures. With more than 5 million Native Americans alive today, Portland boasts the ninth-largest Native American population in the country, and took root on land that was home to the Multnomah, Clackamas and Chinook tribes, among others. The innovative gallery hosts two exhibitions each year, along with a range of related talks and activities co-created by the artists.

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Credit: Portland Art Museum

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Credit: Catalina Gaitan

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Credit: Courtesy Portland Art Museum

Indigenous Arts

Learn more about Portland's and Oregon's Indigenous arts scene.

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