| I got to work on a really amazing project recently: art based on the citizen stories of African-Americans who lived and worked along Alberta Street. Alberta is symbolic of the historical mistreatment of blacks in Oregon, and of the ongoing gentrification of Portland, and its ugly to know the details. (See Oregon's black exclusion laws, news of the Vanport Flood, and OPB's excellent history Lift Ev'ry Voice.) I didn't get this art job. I shouldn't have. But I am grateful for the education -- and for the story-tellers' willingness to share their lives. I will share their words with you when they go public. These three samples are the paper-cut mock-ups I made for large metal sculptures. Resilience is a banner based on the stories of three generations of women, and Stand is a life-size sculpture based on a father's fear of protecting his three children in a racist America. |  |
