THE NORTH PORTLAND PENINSULA
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HISTORY
Geographically, North Portland is a peninsula of rocky bluffs and low-lying wetlands stretching northward from the city center toward the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Some refer to it as the Fifth Quadrant, as the area lies north of the city’s spatial organization into NW, SW, NE, SE quadrants.
Once an abundant wetland that easily supported the Native Americans who lived there, the Peninsula has been altered almost beyond recognition over the past 150 years. The natural waterways that once meandered across an undulating landscape, many of the natural lakes, and many of the bays and inlets along the banks of both rivers are gone … diked, drained, levied in the 1910s and 20s to create rich, “Sauvie-silt” farmland … which began disappearing with WW II along with the gentler life styles that once characterized this St. Johns community … to make way for shipyards, low-cost housing, and the increase in commercial industrialization that boomed into full force in the 1970s.
In every way this is an area of the city specifically shaped by Portland’s two waterways and everything those rivers have brought and taken away. It has been used and abused in creating great fortunes for a few ... at great cost to others and to the land & water … while it evolved to serve the commercial, industrial, warehousing and shipping needs of an expanding metropolis.
Gradually, with the emergence of the EPA and other regulatory as well as planning influences, the area began to emerge from its checkered past and return to a hospitable place to live and work. Environmental accountability became a reality, industrial cleanup began and is on-going, the landfill was closed and contained, businesses became cleaner, the air quality better, and residents started to take pride in their neighborhoods once again.
Today, after turning its back to North Portland for many years, many of Portland’s residents have become aware that on the Peninsula one can still afford to buy a house, fall asleep to the sound of not-so-distant train whistles and the occasional foghorn, and wake up to the sound of thousands of birds …15 minutes from downtown. The last of the Peninsula’s lakes, Smith & Bybee, are now set aside in 2,000 acres of the largest urban wetland preserve in the U.S: the Smith & Bybee Lakes Wildlife Area, habitat for diverse communities of plants and animals and one of the country’s largest populations of Western Painted turtles.
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In the late 1990s, the City of Portland began expanding infrastructure projects into North Portland (light rail, a large, mixed-income public-private housing development, and designated multiple areas for revitalization). Neighborhood/community conferences were held to focus attention on land-use issues, but a small component for public art came under discussion as well. Within this civic hubbub, North Portland’s many resident artists realized they were not represented in the planning process for art projects in their own community.
Interested artists and supporters gathered in studios and gardens, worked together to achieve greater representation, and considered what could be done at the community level. They named themselves Art on the Peninsula in 2000.
They kept track of names and built a mailing list of artists and enthusiasts who were living and working in the area. They began fund-raising efforts and sponsored events working with local businesses. Attracted perhaps by its immigrant populations and ethnic diversity, or its modest homes, many on lots large enough to accommodate a studio (a rarity in most of Portland), new artists began discovering North Portland as an affordable, supportive place to live and work.
In coordination with the City’s North Portland Neighborhood Services office, Art on the Peninsula functioning as a grassroots community group began to hold events:
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Swap ‘n Sale (of surplus art supplies) began in 2000 and repeated through 2005 with artists, schools and churches.
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St. Johns Windows Project (linking artists and local businesses) involved showcasing the work of North Portland artists in the windows of downtown businesses during July and/or August.
In its first year (2003), the Windows Project was a way for local artists to become involved in the revitalization of the business district by lending their talents to improve the look of many empty storefronts. As the City’s efforts to revitalize North Lombard Street and the St. Johns downtown core area began, and more artists and new businesses became attracted to St. Johns, and the renovation of the St. Johns Bridge got underway, the vacant buildings began to fill. The Windows Project quickly became a summertime event for Peninsula artists and businesses.
In 2004, the event included flat art, mixed media, sculpture, photography, pottery and quilts from more than two dozen artists; performances by Middle Eastern dancers and a reggae band in the US Bank parking lot; poetry readings and walking tours of the district.
In 2005, the event expanded into a mini art festival with over 60 artists represented in over 30 locations, live acoustic music and spoken word happenings by the Irradiated Poets. The Urban Art Network coordinated an outdoor art market in the school playground. Twenty-five salvaged office chairs were transformed by artists and displayed in storefronts. Pacific Northwest College of Art students visited the area and created prints depicting the history and flavor of St. Johns. Other happenings included a sculpture project on a vacant lot, “Metamorphosis” - a photography exhibit at Blue Moon Camera, and a week-long screening at Café Nola of the locally produced documentary on the gentrification of inner N/NE Portland, “NW Passage: The Inner City and The American Dream.”
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Living Routes and Roots: An Exhibition About Living on the Peninsula by North Portland Artists (April 2004) at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) brought together 19 artists from North Portland neighborhoods: St. Johns, Kenton, Portsmouth, Arbor Lodge, University Park, Cathedral Park and Overlook. Paintings, sculpture, installations & other works reflected feelings about the place these artists call home.
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Two exhibitions at Cathedral Park Place (January 2006). One showcased transformed chairs (from Windows Project) and the other included large works in wood and other materials recycled from the summer’s sculpture garden (in the Windows Project), a demolished Safeway, and other sources.
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| CHAIRS |
Twenty-five featureless office chairs were salvaged from the Historic Kenton Firehouse and transformed by artists into a medley of serious and fanciful 3-D works. They were displayed in storefronts as part of the Windows Project (August 2005), were one of the two exhibitions held together as “Salvaged” in Cathedral Park Place (see above) in January 2006, and displayed again in the Atrium of City Hall in May 2006.
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Art on the Peninsula News was delivered 10-12 times a year (primarily via email) to the group’s mailing list.
As the number of artists on the Peninsula increased, a synergistic effect began to occur between what those individuals brought to the neighborhood and what the neighborhood could provide in return.
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To address evolving needs of artists and their supporters living and/or working in North Portland, Art on the Peninsula established a Steering Committee in Fall 2005 to guide the process of incorporating as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
On May 4, 2006, we became a non-profit corporation and are now completing the process of becoming a 501(c)(3). The Steering Committee (many of whom committed to serving on the Board and working as a volunteer staff) filed Articles of Incorporation with the State of Oregon in April. The new Board of Directors and Officers, a combination of practicing artists and local business owners, was elected in late May.
The evolution to a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation will allow Art on the Peninsula to become a fully independent entity and increase its funding opportunities for programming, venues and events – all in an effort to develop greater representation for Peninsula artists and more support for the creative community in North Portland.
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