Kris Blackmore (1st Prize)

Kris Blackmore (1st Prize)

2020

About the Artist

2020

Kris Blackmore is an artist and designer who uses research-based methods to explore the intersections of culture, technology, and aesthetics. Her socially engaged work examines themes of language, gender performance, privacy, and consent through works that span digital and print media, illustration, moving images, interactive installations, essays, and curatorial projects.

Kris prefers to explore the creative process collaboratively, producing most of her work under the collective moniker Midgray. Her work has been exhibited at conferences and galleries in Rome, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, and Portland. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Art Farm in rural Nebraska and in the Conflict Resolution Department at Portland State University. Her artistic and educational work on sexual consent has received grants from the University of California.

Kris is an undergraduate in the School of Art + Design at Portland State University, where she co-founded the Design Book Club. She will receive her BFA in Graphic Design in December 2020.

Arlene Schnitzer Visual Arts Prize

About the Prize

The Arlene Schnitzer Visual Arts Prize was established in 2013 through a generous gift from the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation. The prize celebrates the strength and vitality of art education at PSU while honoring the legacy of the late Arlene Schnitzer, a devoted champion of arts and culture in Portland.

Before 2024, prizes were awarded for first, second, and third place; since then, three equal prizes have been awarded annually.

Applications are accepted during the spring term.

About the Exhibition

Prize winners are honored with an awards celebration and an exhibition of their work at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU.