A week ago Alan and I drove South into Washington and Oregon for a few days to extend Summer a bit. We spent Friday night with our friends Jane and Ken in Portland, Oregon. He has just retired, they have a lively new dog and are now supervising an addition to their old house which is designed to make their home habitable for many years to come.

Next day Al and I spent a few hours in downtown Portland, one of our favourite cities. Most noticeable are the many pieces of public art in this eco-conscious, bike-friendly city. While Al browsed happily in Powell’s Books (NOTHING like that huge book shop in Vancouver..) I found the Museum of Contemporary Craft. There has been a Craft Museum in Portland for 75 years so one of the current exhibits celebrates gifts of Fine Crafts donated to or purchased by the Museum since 1937. To quote from their invitation card:

“Founded in 1937 as the Oregon Ceramic Studio and re-named Contemporary Crafts Gallery in 1964, Museum of Contemporary Craft today collects, preserves, documents and creates exhibitions from a collection of over 1,000 objects.”

Why is Vancouver unable to sustain a Fine Craft Gallery?

From 1950 – 64 the Museum hosted juried Ceramic Exhibitions and the second floor gallery has a show revisiting those early shows. Titled “Northwest Modern” it features pots, sculptures, photos, invitations, and letters by artists and jurors from that time. If you find yourself in Portland any time before Feb 25, 2012 have a browse through this time capsule of the period. Fascinating.

The third exhibit currently showing there is the work of Nikki McClure. At first I thought these were linocut or woodblock prints but no, they are papercuts. Painstaking, delicate work and judging by the crowds in the gallery obviously popular. There were reproductions in the gift shop and I later recognized her work in shops along the Oregon Coast. I couldn’t resist buying a fine, large mug by Wally Schwab whose cheerful functional work, which I found about 30 years ago in a long-closed gallery on South Granville street here in Vancouver, inspired me to see how many colours one can produce in Cone 10 reduction.

In the wide boulevard outside the Museum I found this large bronze sculpture and was amused to read that it is a replica 16 times larger than the original – so it’s a teapot!

Later on Saturday we drove South through Eugene and out to the coast to the fishing, holiday town of Florence. We found the first of a number of elegant bridges dating from 1936. Prior to that time travellers along the coast had to take ferries across the rivers or large inlets. The bridge-building was a WPA work project in those Depression years and the bridges are lovely examples of Art Deco design. There are miles of sand dunes just south of this bridge. 

We met our son and his girlfriend in Florence and spent all the next day, Sunday driving them with their two road bikes on the back of our car all the way north to Seaside. Fabulous scenery, varied towns, beaches, surf, birds, food. On the Monday the youngsters started the long bike ride back south to their car, expecting to take 5 or so days, and cycling with large panniers for tent, food, etc. Text messages from them indicate that they’re having a marvellous experience. Al and I drove North, leaving Oregon and entering Washington State, over the long Astoria Bridge which crosses the mouth of the Columbia River.

We already knew that the Glass and Art Museums of Tacoma would be closed on a Monday so we drove almost into Seattle and spent a happy evening with friends Gloria and Gary. When they had to go to work on Tuesday morning we leisurely made our way north into downtown Seattle, stopping at Seattle Pottery Supplies. My purchases included a pint of Radiant Red underglaze for my Cardinal jugbirds, stains for my slips, cones and a couple of tools. Next March the shop has plans to offer a shuttle bus from NCECA’s conference venue to SPS and will have some work on show.

Our next plan to was spend a couple of hours at the refurbished Seattle Art Museum. Damn! In spite of their website info that Monday is closing day the sign on the door said ‘Closed Monday and Tuesday’. Maybe I’ll find time to take it in when we’re all in Seattle for NCECA.

So we enjoyed Pike Place Market, Indian Art Galleries and more public art on a lovely late September day and headed home after supper, arriving in Port Moody in less than 3 hours.