This month, Salem’s galleries will share portraits from Mexico, landscapes from Salem and abstracts from the ether.
Here’s a roundup of August’s gallery and museum exhibitions. Friday evening, Aug. 2, the Salem Art Walk will turn downtown into a hub of local art, live music and pop-up shows. Local businesses will participate with special events from 5-8 p.m.
Salem Art Association
600 Mission St. S.E.
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 12 – 4 p.m.
Admission: Free
PORTRAITS OF LIFE – Somos Oaxaca
Through Sept. 29. Opening reception Friday, Sept. 6 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Somos Oaxaca: Portraits of Life, Art and Livelihoods is a yearslong photography project and interview with over 35 people living and working in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Photographer Dick Keis has taken portraits of weavers, sculptors and artists. Many of their occupations are in danger of disappearing, according to a gallery description.
“It consists of black and white portraits of artisans and workers who decided to stay in their homeland with their families and the culture they love instead of migrating northward in search of the American Dream,” a gallery description reads.
WILLAMETTE VALLEY QUEER ART – The Art of Drag
Through August 25
A two-month exhibition with accompanying performances will celebrate the Willamette Valley drag community.
“Drag is a mirror held up to society in a master class that turns the performance of gender on its head,” said curator Jessica Rehfield in a statement. “Drag is a fantasy, a form of self-expression for those who are oppressed and the highest form of rebellion and comedy – a parody.”
The exhibit will share the history of drag alongside portraits and interviews with local performers. Displays will showcase the backdrops, costumes, wigs and makeup from performances. Salem’s RiRi Calienté served as the lead consultant for the exhibition.
There will also be drag performances followed by a Q&A, on Aug. 9 and Aug. 23, both at 6:30 p.m. The interviews will focus on the performers’ paths to becoming professional drag entertainers. See more information on the Salem Art Association’s website.
GROWING UP – Material Girl
Through Aug. 25
Artist Kay Worthington’s exhibition “Material Girl,” looks back on the artists’ lifelong love of clothes, fashion and unlikely color combinations.
Mentors helped teach Worthington watercolor, life drawing, and how to push the boundaries of what art can be, according to a gallery statement. She went on to make illustrations and graphics at the Statesman Journal newspaper for over two decades.
“The sureness of her watercolors is apparent. Her use of personal storytelling and the ability to carry us beyond her own narrative through drawing and painting and collage gives these pieces interest and relevance,” the statement reads.
Salem on the Edge
156 Liberty St. N.E.
Hours: Wednesday-Thursday 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sunday 12 – 4 p.m.; closed last Sunday of the month
Admission: Free
OUT OF THE ETHER – Featured artist Zachary McRae
Through Aug. 31, artist reception Friday, Aug. 2, from 5-8 p.m.
Abstract painter Zachary McRae is the featured artist this month, showing the largest pieces ever hosted at the gallery, according to a statement.
“The spaces stitched into the surfaces emit planes bulging to challenge laws of capacity, and faces both sallow and transfigured by spirits of long inhabitance. The world within comes out to refract back and hijack all automatic factories of free form feelings,” a gallery statement said.
SMALL BUT POWERFUL – Guest artist Craig Klyver
Through Aug. 31, artist reception Friday, Aug. 2, from 5-8 p.m.
Longtime Salem artist Craig Klyver’s drawings will be on display at the gallery this month.
“I have collected books, games, globes, stamps, graph paper and paintings. In these drawings I tried to respond to what the pen did, where it went and what kinds of lines or shapes that it made,” Klyver said in a statement. “The drawings are small, intricate, dark and mysterious, like the phantom of the inkwell.”
SALEM LANDSCAPES – Visiting artist Brigitta Postma
Through Aug. 31, artist reception Friday, Aug. 2, from 5-8 p.m.
Salem landscape painter Brigitta Postma’s paintings from Minto-Brown Island Park and Bush’s Pasture Park will be on display at the downtown gallery this month.
Elsinore Framing & Fine Art Gallery/Artists in Action
444 Ferry St. S.E.
Hours: Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Admission: Free
ABSTRACT FORMS – The Art of Rachel Wood
Through Aug. 30. Artist reception Friday, Aug. 2, from 5-8 p.m. with live music from My Mother’s Daughter
Up and coming local abstract painter Rachel Wood will share her work at the downtown gallery this month. Wood began drawing in high school, and minored in art in college.
“After leaving the nursing field, she began painting more and that was when she first discovered her love of abstraction and color,” said a statement from the gallery. She started painting full time in 2020, and has done work for local businesses and clients.
See a list of more featured artists at the gallery on their website.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art – Willamette University
700 State St.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 12 – 5 p.m.
Admission: $8 general, $5 for seniors. Free admission for children up to age 17, educators and students with ID and museum members. Free admission for all on Tuesdays. Passes available for checkout at the Salem Public Library.
MIXED MEDIA AND PERFORMANCE–- Dennis Evans: Apocrypha
Through August 31
Dennis Evans, a Seattle mixed-media and performance artist, will have over 30 pieces on display at the gallery, including from his archive, to chronicle his long career.
Evans’ art explores mythology, the Renaissance, psychology and more, and often features collaboration with glass artist Nancy Mee, his wife.
THE ARTIST’S EYE – Selections from the Gary Westford Collection
Through Nov. 16
Two exhibitions featuring work by Gary Westford are on display this month.
The Salem artist explores concepts like the environment and social justice, often incorporating current and ongoing social issues. He began his long career as an arts educator at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, according to a gallery description.
One exhibition features selections from his collection. Another exhibition highlights eight paintings made over a six-year period, where the moon plays a key role in depicting the narrative.
Level 2 Gallery – Salem Convention Center
200 Commercial St. S.E.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., or for appointment call 503-589-1700
Admission: Free
RE-CONTEXTUALIZING – America Replated: Paintings by Don Bailey
Through Sept. 27
In a series of eight paintings, Don Bailey has recontextualized archival photographs of Native Americans, adding color, native designs and landscapes to the staged portraits. Bailey is a Hupa tribal member and taught art at Chemawa Indian School for four decades.
“I aim to give the portraits of our ancestors a timelessness and, in the spirit of whil-xolik (story-telling), invite the viewers of my work to consider the lives of people who have never vanished.”
There will also be a companion exhibit showing six paintings at the main branch of the Salem Public Library.
Willamette Heritage Center
1313 Mill St. S.E.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Admission: $10 adults, $8 seniors over 65, $6 students and children ages 6-17. Passes available for checkout at the Salem Public Library. Free admission for Oregon Trail/SNAP/EBT card holders.
LOST BUILDINGS – History in Rubble
Aug. 9 through Dec. 21
Learn about iconic Salem’s most iconic landmarks that no longer exist.
“This exhibit features the rubble and saved remnants of many of Salem’s lost buildings. Discover how Salem’s skyline has changed over time and how preserving historic structures can make a difference to our community’s economics, livability, and sustainability,” a museum description said.
August events
Here’s a roundup of what else is happening in Salem this month.
Update: This story was updated to add information about Willamette Heritage Center’s new History in Rubble exhibit.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
