Search Visual Arts in Portland
Galleries, public art and avant-garde institutions complete Portland's visual arts scene.
Portland’s thriving and innovative art scene keeps in touch with international trends while remaining true to its Pacific Northwest roots. Events like First Thursday (in the Pearl District) and Last Thursday (in the Alberta Arts District in the summer) draw big crowds, but local galleries, museums and arts organizations continue to churn in the interim. Mainstays like the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Oregon Contemporary, and the Portland Art Museum have full calendars of visiting artist lectures and events that supplement exhibitions around the city.
Museums in Portland
The premier collecting museum in Oregon, the Portland Art Museum occupies an entire city block in the South Park Blocks. Home to a dizzying array of work from all over the world, it also boasts the Clement Greenberg Collection, a personal look into the taste of one of Modernism’s most powerful critics. Alongside these 20th-century masterpieces, the museum also highlights regional contemporary artists in its APEX series, possesses a fine collection of Native American art, schedules regular exhibitions of its collection of world-class prints and drawings and frequently hosts blockbuster events from major collections, both public and private.
Nearby on the campus of Portland State University, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) showcases world-class contemporary artwork in its small gallery within two floors overlooking Southwest Broadway. The gallery offers accessible art experiences to PSU and the public ands features exhibitions by national and international artist in addition to works by Northwest artists, and PSU faculty and students.
Founded in 1995, PICA,Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, has a long history as a presenter of cutting-edge performance works and visual art installations. Now found in an adaptable warehouse space in Northeast Portland, PICA showcases innovative local and international artists from many disciplines in addition to funding and partnering with local artists, projects and visual arts spaces.
Oregon Contemporary in the Kenton neighborhood has distinguished itself by amassing a wide portfolio of offerings — some 500 shows since 2003 — that range from visual art installations, film, performance art pieces, drag shows, to the ambitious Portland Biennial, which draws up to 5,500 spectators for several months’ worth of symposia, exhibitions and talks.
On Display
The city's museums feature work by renowned local and international artists.
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA)
Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) brings internationally and locally renowned performances, installations and artists to their warehouse space in Northeast Portland.
Oregon Contemporary
In North Portland find visual art installations and performance art to collaborations with bands, chefs and mixologists, with international curators and partnerships with Oregon art makers, Oregon Contemporary is the cutting edge of visual arts.
Portland Art Museum
Spend a day strolling among sculptures, sketching modern art and soaking in the artistic ambiance at one of the nation’s best art museums.
Upcoming Visual Arts Events
Check out our editor's top picks for visual arts exhibitions in Portland.
Portland Galleries
Outside of the museum walls, commercial and alternative galleries abound. Some venues have stood the test of time (and the reinvention of the Pearl District), while others are upstarts looking to make a splash with young artists and new media. Cornerstones like PDX Contemporary Art and Elizabeth Leach Gallery show a mixture of local and international emerging and mid-career artists. Their exhibitions run the gamut from photography to abstract painting to more conceptual considerations. Russo Lee Gallery, Augen Gallery and Froelick Gallery all continue this trend, with a mixture of original works from prominent locals and the occasional blue-chip name.
Straddling the area between traditional gallery and alternative exhibition space, PNCA’s 511 Gallery, Adams & Ollman, and Fourteen30 Contemporary stand at the edge of the avant-garde. Meanwhile, the venerable nonprofit Blue Sky Gallery has a long history of advocacy and showing first-rate photography.
Alternative Art Spaces
Beyond the more traditional models, some spaces fully embrace the moniker of “alternative space,” playing host to exhibitions, performances, publications and films. The Everett Station Lofts are a group of combined living and workspaces in Northwest Portland, focusing on small galleries and project spaces with an immersive and community-oriented approach. Other exhibition spaces like Building 5, housed in the former Northwest Marine Works, a vintage WWII-era building, expand on these ideas to showcase emerging artists and more experimental endeavors.
Nationale curates exhibitions of local to international artists in various media. Step into this contemplative store and browse a fine selection of books, prints, or various art objects while also taking in the art on display.
Explore more of Portland’s art scene with these maps, calendars and schedules to simplify your art outing. For public art, check out Public Art PDX. Interested in attending First Thursday? Click through to the Portland Art Dealers Association for a smattering of member galleries and related institutions. Head to our events page and find more visual art events in Portland.
Get to the Galleries
Portland Street Murals
Home to nearly 1,000 pieces of public art, Portland has cultivated a vibrant mural and street art scene. The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) and the former annual festival organized by Forest for the Trees Northwest kept new murals coming. But the art isn’t there to look pretty; Portland’s diverse murals introduce the city’s rich multicultural history, as illustrated by some of the world’s most accomplished muralists. Get your camera ready for these stunning examples of street art; below are some of Portland’s most notable.
Looking for more? Download the official Portland Near Me Now app to explore more murals and public art.
Mentioned Elsewhere Online
Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC)
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