Art
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Oregon Art Beat
Ashes to rainbows: The art of Alice Lok Cahana is featured at the Oregon Jewish Museum
Alice Lok Cahana survived the Nazi Holocaust, moved to the US and became a successful painter. Her multi-dimensional work explores the trauma of her time at the camps and offers a glimpse of hope and survival, turning “ashes into rainbows.” Her son, Rabbi Ronnie Cahana, is a poet and his daughter Kitra Chana, is an acclaimed photographer. The new show at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education presents work by these three generations of artists, looking at the concept of immortality through art. Survival and Intimations of Immortality runs through May 25th at the OJMCHE in Portland.

Think Out Loud
Indigenous basket weaver honors ancestral teachers in McMinnville exhibit
Stephanie Craig is a seventh-generation basket weaver, artist and enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. She shares with us the inspiration and traditions at the heart of her new exhibit, "Hands of the Ancestors."

Eugene 4J District to remove NATIVES totem poles from schools
Over the last decade, several hundred Native American students and their families helped design, carve, and paint a series of totem poles for the Eugene 4J School District's NATIVES program. Five were installed outside Eugene schools, often with the burning of sage and traditional drumming.

Culture
Lloyd Center mall reimagined in films featured in Portland Panorama festival
"Chispa" and "Mall Town," both featured in the festival running from April 10–20, use the Lloyd Center shopping mall as their backdrop, but with very different goals.

Oregon Art Beat
New art exhibits commemorate 50 years of Vietnamese culture in Oregon
April 30, 2025 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, and for Van Le and Allen Luong, it’s the perfect time to acknowledge an important moment for the Vietnamese community, and also looking forward to a brighter future.

ChatGPT's viral Studio Ghibli-style images highlight AI copyright concerns
Fans of Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio behind “Spirited Away” and other beloved movies, were delighted this week when a new version of ChatGPT let them transform popular internet memes or personal photos into the distinct style of Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki.

Portland
A new queen in charge at Portland’s iconic drag venue, Darcelle XV Showplace
Jeremey Peck, a longtime friend of Darcelle XV and a drag artist with 30 years performing, took ownership in February

Think Out Loud
Oregon’s bipartisan arts caucus wants structural changes and more money for public art
Co-chair Rep. Rob Nosse joins us to share the progress the caucus has made since it began in 2023 — and what he sees as the biggest challenges and opportunities for the arts in Oregon in the current political moment.
Arts
Artist Lillian Pitt discovers and shares her identity through art
Renowned contemporary artist Lillian Pitt creates art for public installations and galleries in clay, glass and mixed media, informed by the stories and iconography of her ancestors.
Portland-based photographer Esther Godoy wants you to know ‘Butch is Not a Dirty Word’
Esther Godoy’s project “Butch is Not a Dirty Word” is the “world’s largest media resource dedicated to Butch identity, visibility and voice.”