Oregon Art Beat

Oregon Shakespeare Festival is staging a comeback for the 2026 season. 🎭 Wildfires and Covid almost sent the curtain crashing down on the well-loved festival. When Tim Bond became artistic director in 2023, OSF was in dire straits. Bond says OSF had to reduce the staff from 600 to 400 employees and make other budget cuts to save the 91-year-old organization. 📹 by Dan Evans/OPB ✂️ by J Jackson/OPB 🖊️ by Geneva Chin/OPB Additional footage provided by Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The Rental Sales Gallery is delighted to announce our upcoming show, created in collaboration with @opartbeat and @opb . And it's going to be a big one! Opening on Friday, June 5th, 'An "Oregon Art Beat" retrospective exhibit' will feature the work of 25 of our Member Artists, all of who have been featured on OPB’s “Oregon Art Beat". This showcase celebrates the legacy of this long-running series and the ongoing contributions of the Portland Art Museum and Rental Sales Gallery in supporting and elevating artists throughout Oregon. The show will run until Saturday, July 11th, and will showcase the works of @andreabenson778 , @antonpavlenko , @carolyncole1815 , @cathleen.rehfeld.studio , @donbishopstudio , Don MacLane, @boyermesh , @gejohanson , @jessereno , @karenwippich , @leslieannbutler2 , @lindseyjoyholcomb , @mjsculpture , @margretshortfineart , @melissamonroeart , @michael_schlicting , @paula_bullwinkel , @peggiemoje , Robert Schlegel, @artistrutharmitage , @sarkisantikajian , Sidone Caron, @sueallen11 , @thomas_rude and @hernandezpdx . Join us on Friday, June 5th, for the opening reception, from 4-7pm. Meet the artists and your fellow patrons of the arts, and buy and rent exceptional regional fine art.

Founded in 1942 by Portland’s Chinese immigrants to raise funds for China’s defense in World War II, the Yat Sing Music Club perseveres in preserving Cantonese opera through ongoing rehearsals and community outreach, despite declining membership and limited interest from younger generations. OPB went behind the scenes to learn about the history of Yat Sing and what it takes to stage a Cantonese opera. Join us tonight at 8 pm on Art Beat for the full story or watch it anywhere you watch Art Beat online. 📸🖊Winston Szeto 📹 Arya Surowidjojo, Jeff Kastner #yatsingmusicclub #cantoneseopera @portlandchinatownmuseum

Tonight on Art Beat we tell the story of Silverton, Oregon's favorite son, political cartoonist Homer Davenport. It’s a larger than life story about a country boy who ended up becoming one of the world’s highest paid political cartoonists at the dawn of the 20th century. A masterful observer of people, Davenport’s wit could cut to the core of any hypocrisy or injustice with a single poignant image. Some argue that one of his most famous editorial illustrations may have tipped the 1904 election in favor of Theodore Roosevelt.” See it tonight at 8 on OPB or any time on the web wherever you watch Art Beat. 🎥✂✏ Jacob Pander @homerdavenportdays @silvertonmuseum #politicalcartoons #editorialcartoons

Here's a peek behind the scenes of the Art Beat team working on our story about Jim-Isaac Chua as he was preparing for a concert in Sisters. The pianist makes it a point to tour rural Oregon and SW Washington so residents get an opportunity to catch a classical performance — for many, it’s their first. 🎥 Eden McCall 🎥📸: Prakruti Bhatt @jimisaacchua @sisters0regon #classicalpiano #musiceducationforkids #thedallesoregon @thedallesartcenter

Art Beat alum Portland’s Hilary Pfeifer comes home to Eugene with a retrospective exhibit titled "Forever in Blue Jeans." Her art reaches around the country, even the White House. Opening May 8 at Maude Kerns Art Center: 25 years of Pfeifer’s collages, sculptures, installations, and public art. Her creations are often playful at first glance but embed deeper environmental themes underneath. A highlight of the show: the godseye project. Its 150 intricate nests made of found objects include street sweeper bristles that Pfeifer has been collecting for 25 years. A glass eye in the center of each nest examines how we care for the planet. “I love figuring out stuff and I love working with my hands,” said Pfeifer in her Art Beat story in 2024. “I make art because I simply don't have a choice.” ----------------------------------------------------------- FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS – Mid-Career Retrospective May 8 – June 5, 2026 Opening: May 8, 5–7 PM Artist Talks: May 9 + May 30, 1 PM Free admission 🖋 by Geneva Chin / OPB 📸. photos by Mario Gallucci, Liz Crandall, Hilary Pfeifer, Dan Kvitka, Geneva Chin #woodworking #eugene #hilarypfeifer #ocac.alumni #craft #maudekernseugene #EugeneArts #ContemporaryArt #EnvironmentalArt #Eugene (edited)

This week on @opb 's The Evergreen: the Oregon roots of rock 'n' roll, from The Kingsmen to Johnnie Ray 🎙️ In the 1960s, Portland group The Kingsmen recorded one of the greatest rock songs of all time: their version of Louie, Louie. What started as a demo — with its raucous, joyful sound and not-quite-intelligible lyrics — shot up the charts to become the number two song in the country. A decade earlier, at the peak of his popularity, no one was bigger than Oregon musician Johnnie Ray. The one-time farm boy from Dallas, Oregon became a jukebox sensation & teen idol with hits like 1951's "Cry." Professor Zach Wallmark, a musicologist from the University of Oregon, says the raw emotion Ray brought to performing set him apart from his crooner predecessors and tied him to the rock 'n' roll tradition. Tony Bennett called him the "father of rock 'n' roll." Both The Kingsmen and Johnnie Ray helped make rock 'n' roll what it is today. What was it about Oregon in the middle of the century that made it so musically innovative? 🎧 Listen now at the link in bio or wherever you get your podcasts ⭐️ This episode was produced by Peter Frick-Wright 🎥 Find a link to Kami Horton's Oregon Experience documentary about Johnnie Ray in our show notes. 📸 Photo of Johnnie Ray performing courtesy of the Ray family

In honor of her birth month and the completion of a new mural at Multnomah County Library's recently renovated Hollywood Library, join us for "Discovering Beverly Cleary" tonight on OPB! Originally airing in 2016 just in time for her 100th birthday, our documentary tells the story of one of the world's most beloved children's author, complete with an interview with Mrs. Cleary. The show also includes an early interview with fellow Newbery medalist and recent Art Beat alum Renée Watson! At the library's entrance “A Stroll Down Klickitat Street,” is a series of panels created by Kyler Martz depicting characters from Mrs. Cleary's books, featuring iconic scenes and landmarks from the neighborhood where the stories take place, including the Hollywood Theatre and the school that now bears her name. #beverlycleary @kylermartz #childrensliterature #hollywoodlibrarypdx

@matthewpicton creates meticulously carved, large scale relief sculptures in paper. Multiple layers invite viewers to explore the depths within. His new show, “A Deeper Picture,” opens at the @elizabethleachgallery in Portland on June 3rd. Picton’s work is included in the collections of The Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, The De Young Museum, San Francisco, The Herbert Museum of Art, Coventry UK, and The Stadt Museum, Dresden. #paperart #elizabethleachgallery #papersculpture #matthewpicton #ashlandoregon

Big thanks to the Panorama Film Festival for inviting OPB to screen our work! On Sunday we had the opportunity to share stories created by Oregon Art Beat and Oregon Experience with the audience at The Hollywood Theatre. Our CEO Rachel Smolkin introduced our showcase, and a couple of artists featured in our stories joined us – fiber artist Melissa Monroe and rock poster artist Justin Hampton. And we were delighted to see composer (and Art Beat alum) Mark Orton in the lobby! We were proud to share our member-supported work at an event filled with creative, impactful storytelling. 📸 Robyn El Kay, Liz Olufson, Sophie Pander @panoramafilmfestival @hollywoodtheatr @melissamonroeart @hamptonia @markortonmusic

This week on @opb 's The Evergreen: how Renée Watson went from growing up in Portland to writing bestselling children's books 📚 When Renée Watson (@harlemportland ) was a student at Vernon Elementary in Northeast Portland, her second grade teacher predicted she’d be a writer someday. Today, she’s fulfilled that vision as the author of award-winning children’s and YA literature. Her book “All the Blues in the Sky" recently won the prestigious 2026 Newbery Medal. Her writing explores themes of grief, identity, race, friendship, art, hope and more. She wants her readers — especially young Black girls — to see a reflection of themselves in her books. This episode, we follow along as Watson returns to inspire students at the school where her own story as a writer began. 🎧 Listen now at the link in bio or wherever you get your podcasts 🎥 Find a link to @opbartbeat 's video about Renée Watson, produced by Geneva Chin, in our show notes ⭐️ This episode was produced by The Evergreen's Mia Estrada 📸 by Cameron Nielsen: Bestselling author Renée Watson returned to Vernon Elementary in Northeast Portland

Multidisciplinary artist Tom Prochaska shared his vision through many mediums, from painting to printmaking to glass. In our interview in 2008 he told us "...I recommend to students make a mark a day of some kind, because you're not going back there to that day again, you know." Tom Prochaska died March 3, 2026. A celebration of the artist's life takes place at Froelick Gallery, Saturday, April 11th, 5pm. “Boiler Room, Steelhead, and Just Enough: A memorial survey of works by Tom Prochaska” is on view now at the gallery through May 2, 2026. You can see our story from 2008 here at the link in our bio. #tomprochaska @froelick_gallery #oregonartists