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Discover the latest Oregon art news, exhibitions, gallery openings, artist opportunities, and upcoming art events in Portland, Eugene, Salem, the Oregon Coast, Bend, and throughout the state. This week\u2019s Oregon art roundup includes a major Aboriginal Australian art exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, new photography and painting shows, public art opportunities and grants for Oregon artists, Indigenous and Latinx exhibitions in Eugene, the Salem Art Fair & Festival, and upcoming studio tours and gallery shows across Central and Eastern Oregon. Whether you\u2019re looking for what to see this week or planning your Oregon art calendar for the months ahead, here are 15 events and opportunities worth knowing about.<\/p>\n
Portland Art Museum has opened \u201cThe Stars We Do Not See,\u201d the largest exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever presented in North America and its only West Coast stop. Drawn from the National Gallery of Victoria\u2019s collection, the show spans 147 works by more than 100 artists \u2014 from bark paintings to sound and video installation \u2014 anchored by Emily Kam Kngwarray\u2019s monumental 9-by-27-foot root-network painting.\u00a0Portland Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n Christopher Rauschenberg\u2019s newest solo show at Nine Gallery gathers photographs from a spring trip through Rome, Naples, Capri, Herculaneum, Siena, and Florence, favoring quiet architectural and street scenes over postcard views. The gallery shares a building with Blue Sky Gallery, making it an easy add to a Pearl District walk.\u00a0Nine Gallery<\/a><\/p>\n One Grand Gallery opens \u201cNocturnes,\u201d a new body of work from painter Hazel Miller built around the moods and light of nighttime scenes, with an opening reception September 18.\u00a0Portland Art Dealers Association<\/a><\/p>\n Portland photographer Doug Rundle\u2019s \u201cA Second Look\u201d fills the Garden Gallery at Portland Japanese Garden with images built from repeat visits \u2014 the small, easy-to-miss details a first glance skips past. Rundle comes from a family of photographers (an uncle worked alongside Ansel Adams) and previously served as board president of the Portland Photographers\u2019 Forum.\u00a0Portland Japanese Garden<\/a><\/p>\n RACC\u2019s GLEAN program gives five Portland-area artists months of access to the Metro Central transfer station to turn discarded materials into gallery-ready work, plus a $3,000 stipend and a share of sales from the culminating exhibition. Applicants must live in Multnomah, Washington, or Clackamas county; the residency itself runs November through March.\u00a0RACC<\/a><\/p>\n RACC and Portland Parks & Recreation are seeking an artist or team to create a series of exterior sculptures for the new North Portland Aquatic Center in Northgate Park, with a budget covering design through installation. The commission is meant to reflect the Portsmouth and St. Johns neighborhoods\u2019 working-class, Black, Indigenous, and immigrant histories.\u00a0RACC<\/a><\/p>\n The Portland Arts Project Grant is accepting applications again, funding creative work by Portland-based artists and organizations across every discipline, with a dedicated track for K-12 and underserved-community programming. The window opened September 1.\u00a0RACC<\/a><\/p>\n The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon opens \u201cThey Teach Love\u201d on September 12, a survey of Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw\/Cherokee) drawn from Jordan Schnitzer\u2019s own collection. Its centerpiece is an immersive installation of 51 screen-printed elk-hide drums paired with wearable garments, originally made for the Smithsonian\u2019s National Portrait Gallery, shown alongside beadwork, paintings, and prints that fuse Indigenous craft with bold modernist color.\u00a0JSMA<\/a><\/p>\n Opening September 19 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, \u201cLeading the Camino\u201d pairs printmaker Juan de Dios Mora with textile artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood around themes of migration and cultural identity. Mora\u2019s prints mix humor with imagery from luchadores to Mesoamerican symbols, while Jimenez Underwood\u2019s woven and stitched textiles draw on her own Chicana, Mexican-American, and Indigenous heritage.\u00a0JSMA<\/a><\/p>\n More than 200 juried fine artists sell original paintings, ceramics, jewelry, and sculpture at the Salem Art Association\u2019s Salem Art Fair & Festival, one of the Pacific Northwest\u2019s largest, alongside live music, food carts, and hands-on activities for kids. The three-day run, kicked off by a Thursday opening-night party, draws an estimated 20,000 visitors \u2014 mark the calendar now, since it wraps up fast.\u00a0Salem Art Association<\/a><\/p>\n Three Astoria-area artists who also work as practicing end-of-life doulas \u2014 Emma Lewis Acker, Marne Lucas, and Dardinelle Troen \u2014 bring that perspective to \u201cThanatopsis: Contemplations on Death, Grief, and Renewal\u201d at Clatsop Community College\u2019s Royal Nebeker Art Gallery. The show, opening September 21, uses collage, assemblage, sculpture, photography, and collaborative altars to sit with mortality and remembrance, with an artist reception October 15 and an end-of-life doula panel talk October 16.\u00a0The Astorian<\/a><\/p>\n Trail\u2019s End Art Association\u2019s gallery pairs Carolyn Myers Lindberg\u2019s fused glass and sgraffito-carved ceramics with Elizabeth Roberts\u2019 oils of Pacific Northwest landscapes and wildlife, on view Fridays through Sundays.\u00a0Discover Our Coast<\/a><\/p>\n Fairweather House and Gallery\u2019s \u201cShadow and Light\u201d showcases artist and designer Bobby Kolar\u2019s carved glass and stone work exploring the balance of day and night around the fall equinox. The show debuted during Seaside\u2019s 22nd annual First Saturday Artwalk and continues through September 25.\u00a0Discover Our Coast<\/a><\/p>\n The third annual Bend Artists\u2019 Studio Tour, presented by SageBrushers Art Society, opens the doors of more than a dozen Central Oregon creators for a free, self-guided weekend spanning bronze and ceramic figurative sculpture, fused glass and mosaic work, and pastel, oil, and watercolor painting, plus handmade drums. Artists will be on hand both days to talk process and materials, with a full studio map posted online ahead of time.\u00a0MyCentralOregon.com<\/a><\/p>\n Central Oregon Community College\u2019s Barber Library Rotunda Gallery hosts \u201cThe Best of the High Desert Art League,\u201d a survey of paintings, prints, and mixed-media work from eleven members of the 25-year-old Bend artist collective. The show opens September 16, with a public reception September 24.\u00a0KTVZ<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n2. A Veteran Portland Photographer\u2019s Italy Travel Series, Portland \u2013 thru Sept 26, 2026<\/h4>\n
3. New Nighttime-Themed Paintings by Hazel Miller, Portland \u2013 thru Oct 23, 2026<\/h4>\n
4. Close-Up Photography of a Portland Japanese Garden, Portland \u2013 thru Oct 26, 2026<\/h4>\n
5. Deadline to Apply for a Paid Trash-to-Art Residency, Portland \u2013 Sept 13, 2026<\/h4>\n
6. Deadline for a $165,000 Public Sculpture Commission, Portland \u2013 Sept 23, 2026<\/h4>\n
7. Application Window Opens for Portland\u2019s General Arts Project Grant, Portland \u2013 Oct 28, 2026<\/h4>\n
Willamette Valley<\/h2>\n
8. A Career-Spanning Survey of Indigenous Artist Jeffrey Gibson, Eugene \u2013 thru Mar 7, 2027<\/h4>\n
9. A Two-Artist Show on Borders and Latinx Identity, Eugene \u2013 thru Apr 11, 2027<\/h4>\n
10. A 77th-Annual Outdoor Art Fair Fills Bush\u2019s Pasture Park, Salem \u2013 Sept 11-13, 2026<\/h4>\n
Oregon Coast<\/h2>\n
11. Three Artist-Doulas Explore Death and Renewal Through Art, Astoria \u2013 thru Oct 22, 2026<\/h4>\n
12. Fused Glass and Oil Paintings by Two North Coast Artists, Gearhart \u2013 thru Sept 27, 2026<\/h4>\n
13. Carved Glass and Stone Art Timed to the Equinox, Seaside \u2013 thru Sept 25, 2026<\/h4>\n
Eastern\/Central Oregon<\/h2>\n
14. Free Self-Guided Studio Tour of a Dozen Central Oregon Artists, Bend \u2013 Sept 26-27, 2026<\/h4>\n
15. Eleven Artists Share a Quarter-Century-Old Collective\u2019s Best Work, Bend \u2013 thru Dec 6, 2026<\/h4>\n