Guide to the Portland Art Museum

Portland, Oregon is home to a vibrant art community, which means there are many art museums and opportunities for display. But the Portland Art Museum, founded in 1892 and the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest, sets the bar high with its educational and high-quality displays. There are often riveting traveling displays and the long-standing collections continue to be refreshed.

The Art Museum's Setting
The Portland Art Museum is set in one of Portland's great urban settings - among the Northwest Park Blocks, a stretch of green space that stretches the length of downtown. The museum opens onto this green space, and it creates a serene mood around the museum. There are many nearby cafes and restaurants and both Tri-Met's bus system and downtown streetcar have stops directly in front of the museum. Four blocks away from the museum, there is a Max Light Rail stop, meaning that accessing the museum by public transit couldn't be easier.

Long-standing Collections
One of the museum's most impressive collections is the Native American Art collection, which features more than 5,000 artifacts that came from more than 200 different tribes and cultural groups throughout North America. Native American Masters like Allan Houser, Maria Martinez and Pat Courtney Gold are represented here too, with some of their most outstanding works.
The Northwest Art Collection shows that the museum has always been influenced by the strong art culture of the Pacific Northwest. The regional collection has both permanent and rotating exhibits in the forms of paintings, sculptures, photography, graphic art and video. The works are both historical and contemporary, and arranged chronologically in several galleries.
The Museum also hosts the Northwest's largest dedicated photography exhibit, which was unveiled in 2005. The gallery, measuring more than 2,200 square feet, has photographs from as early as 1850 and ranging forward to the present. There are approximately 5,000 photographs on display in this space. Photographs of Oregon and the American West play a prominent role, and notable photos of the Columbia River and other local scenery are prized favorites.

Visiting Exhibits
The museum, because of its dedication to quality exhibits, has been successful in bringing many high-profile exhibitions. In the past, they've hosted The Drawn Line, minimalism/postminimalism, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art, which came on loan from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and many more. The museum currently has exhibits on display featuring Persian Narrative Painting, Contemporary Northwest Art and a site-specific installation by local artist Jenene Nagy.

Special Events
The Museum regularly hosts Museum After Hours events, special tours, workshops, events for educators and more. The museum is a very involved entity with its surrounding community, and continues to launch new educational programs and opportunities for community members to get involved.

Details
The Portland Art Museum is located at 1219 SW Park Street in downtown Portland. Parking nearby is not easy or recommended when public transportation is so easy to utilize to visit the museum.
Hours are Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The museum is closed most holidays. Check the Web site for specifics and potential time changes.
The museum is located in a busy neighborhood with lots of dining options, but the café in the museum offers outdoor seating in the sculpture when the weather allows. There is also a museum gift shop on the premises, which offers a wide variety of merchandise influenced by the museum's exhibits and collections.
The museum is wheelchair-accessible throughout.
Admission costs $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and students, $6 for youth and free for children under the age of four. Frequent visitors will benefit from a museum membership.