Saturday, August 6, 2011

Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR



Recently, I went to Portland on a business trip.  This was my first ever trip to Portland, so I tried to make the most of my short time there.  Luckily, I didn't have to go far to see some pretty awesome art.  Art work was scattered around the downtown area.  Also, I gotta thank my twitter friend and fellow crafter @SisterDiane (check out her awesome blog too) who  followed thru with some awesome suggestions of crafty places to go.  I couldn't go to all of them, but I was able to go to the Museum of Contemporary Craft.

The Museum of Contemporary Craft is a nice 2 story museum located in downtown Portland. While I was there, the exhibit was "Laurie Herrick:  Weaving Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."  It was an amazing exhibit.  Laurie Herrick taught weaving for Oregon College of Arts and Crafts.  The exhibit was a collection of her work, as well as a contemporary perspective of 5 artists' interpretation of her patterns through a variety of new mediums. There's also a table of all sorts of mediums that people are invited to try weaving on cardboard looms.

I took pictures. :)


This one had incredible texture.

I love this pattern.  So simple and yet, not.

Here's the cardboard looms where you can try your hand at weaving.


Woven clothes.

Here's a closeup shot of one of them. I like how the colors mix.

I like this one too.  :)

 Here's a closeup.
This one was eye catching.  Very dimensional.

Anyway, if you're in the Portland area, you should totally check out the Museum of Contemporary Craft. The admission is only $3 and you can go through the whole place with a leisurely pace in about an hour.  There's also a store where you can buy things from local crafters.

2 comments:

Emily said...

We were at the county fair today and Dan (and I, watching) learned how to make a round loom out of a paper plate. You can make little bowls, purses, etc just on a paper plate, with a Popsicle stick as a shuttle. Kind of cool!

Fe said...

That does sound cool. They mostly had rectangular looms to try at the museum. Round sounds really useful for baskets and such.

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