Art for All

PSU’s new museum brings art to the heart of campus

by Scholle McFarland

PORTLAND STATE’S first art museum opened to the public in November with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebrations. Part of the renovation of the Fariborz Maseeh Hall (formerly Neuberger Hall and South Park Hall), the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University occupies 7,500 square feet with state-of-the-art galleries featuring work from Northwest artists, faculty and students as well as exhibitions by national and international artists. More than 4,500 people visited during the museum’s first 14 days.

The museum was created with a $5 million contribution from philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer through the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. It’s the third Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in the Northwest, joining those at the University of Oregon and Washington State University. But unlike those museums, it will not house a permanent collection of its own, focusing instead on providing free exhibitions and educational programming. The museum’s motto is “Art for All.”

“Many people view museums as some place for someone else, but I firmly believe art is for everyone. I’m trying to take down those perceived walls. A university campus is just the place to do it,” Schnitzer said. “This new museum will reach out to every student on campus, every young person in the surrounding counties, every adult within the Portland metropolitan area—providing activities that will enrich their hearts, minds and souls.”

Making art visible

Windows outside the museum — Students pass the museum windows on SW Broadway.

Its location in Fariborz Maseeh Hall gives the museum an opportunity to integrate art into the everyday life of the community. The building is home to several academic departments—from Mathematics + Statistics to the School of Art + Design—as well as the place where students come for workaday tasks like getting ID cards, checking on financial aid and using language labs. People passing by on SW Broadway or sipping coffee in the cafe just inside can see the two floors of artwork through floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

The central location makes it possible for students to “dip in for a few minutes here and there to maybe spend ten minutes with one work of art,” said interim director Linda Tesner, former gallery director at Lewis & Clark College, who will lead the museum for its first year, while a permanent director is found.

“When viewers repeat visits like that, they really have the opportunity to develop a relationship with a work of art, or an artist.”

Sparking new learning

Father and son look at a sculpture — Families visited for art and activities on Family Fun Day during opening weekend at the new museum.

Faculty began bringing their classes to see the art and assigning projects related to it as soon as the first exhibit premiered.

Sarah Dougher, University Studies adjunct faculty, took her freshman inquiry class of mostly first-generation college students during fall term. “For some of my students, it was the first time they had visited a museum ever,” she said. “I wanted to share the new space and art with the students in order to show them how accessible art could be, and how important it is to our learning community at PSU.”

Another University Studies faculty member, Sarah Newlands, has brought her students to the Portland Art Museum for years. Having more opportunities for students to interact with art is so important to her that she turned her own office into a teaching gallery, showcasing a different artist every few months.

She’s encouraged her students to volunteer for a couple of hours in the new museum, sharing the skills of observation they’ve learned with visitors.

“The museum is an extended classroom, just like the Park Blocks,” she said. “We’re looking at the world through various lenses.”

Showcasing student artists

The museum is not only committed to exposing students to art, but also to celebrating them as artists. Three shows of student work are planned for each school year. This is a big change from previous years, when graduating BFA and MFA students exhibited at galleries across campus because of space limitations.

“It has always been challenging to demonstrate the impact and talent of our students’ work with these limitations,” said Lisa Jarrett, art faculty. “The new museum changes this. Now we can showcase their work to the campus and metro communities in one stunning location with greater visibility and accessibility. The professional impact on their work will be significant.”

Unlike previous gallery spaces, the museum can also accommodate larger, more ambitious work, said Lis Charman, director of the School of Art + Design, which means student artists can dream—and build—bigger.

Sharing with the community

The museum’s grand opening exhibit included nearly 50 paintings, sculptures and prints from the Jordan D. Schnitzer Family Foundation collection, curated by Tesner. This spring, the museum features exhibitions from local artists Arvie Smith and Daniel Duford, on display through May 16. (Tour the exhibits virtually and see artist talks on the museum website during coronavirus closures.)

A retrospective of local artist Arvie Smith’s work appears through May 16. It includes paintings created between 1988 and 2015, including this untitled portrait.

“My paintings present historical inequities in ambiguous ways,” Smith says, “preparing the viewer to examine their own frame of reference and ideologies.” The work “Manumissions” is seen here.

Daniel Duford's "The General and Supermax"

The exhibit “Daniel Duford: John Brown’s Vision on the Scaffold”—at the museum through May 16—explores narrative figure painting. Works on display include “The General and the Supermax” (shown here).

Daniel Duford’s painting “John Brown’s Vision on the Scaffold.”

On the main floor, “Arvie Smith: 2 Up 2 Back II” retrospective highlights earlier works from this elder statesman of Oregon’s art community. Smith is a professor emeritus at Pacific Northwest College of Art and a Governor’s Art Award recipient for lifetime achievement as a painter.

On the lower level, “Daniel Duford: John Brown’s Vision on the Scaffold,” explores the mythology and storytelling of narrative figure painting, taking radical abolitionist John Brown as its central figure. Duford is an instructor at Pacific Northwest College of Arts and a 2019 Guggenheim fellow—an accomplishment shared by only one other Oregon visual artist.

Tesner hopes that the museum has an impact not only on the campus, but on the city at large. “I really feel like not only is the art for all—this is a museum for all,” she said. “PSU is doing something very important for the city of Portland and I’m honored to be a part of it.”

SCHOLLE McFARLAND is the editor of Portland State Magazine.