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A pink mailbox in front of a Plaid Pantry out in the ‘burbs. A pickup truck parked in front of the Oak Grove Fred Meyer. A sunbeam hitting a Sellwood sidewalk just so. These might be common sights while running errands on a Sunday, but for the next month, these scenes of everyday life have been elevated to the walls of a downtown Portland art gallery.
The artist is Nate Orton, whose whole jig is “making a big deal of small occurrences,” he says. Orton’s exhibition King Tide in Empty Spaces, will be on view at after/time gallery at 735 SW 9th Ave., #110, through Jan. 30.
The mid-century modernist heart beats strong in Orton’s work. His place-based paintings, mostly casein tempera on panel in handmade frames, are an homage to other regional, modernist-style artists of the 20th century such as Amanda Snyder, Morris Graves and Charles Heaney, he says.
“It really resonated with me that they were these incredible artists but they were doing regular landmarks too, not just the Japanese Gardens or Pioneer Square,” Orton says. “Seeing that kind of work had a big impact on me. I just make art about what’s in front of me.”
Orton is from Lewiston, Idaho, and studied printmaking at the University of Idaho. He has lived in Portland since 2004. In addition to after/time, Orton has shown his art around town at venues such as Maryhill Museum of Art in the Gorge, Littman Gallery at Portland State University, and the Multnomah Arts Center, where he teaches printmaking. His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art Library in New York, New York Public Library, Yale University and, closer to home, the University of Oregon Library.
One of his best-known projects around town has been his My Day chapbook, which he has been producing for 20 years (the latest issue is volume no. 55). Orton teams up with one of two writers, Chris Ashby or James Yeary, to embed in a place for a full day to draw and write. Locations have included a Trail Blazers game at Moda Center, Willamette Cove in St. Johns and Southeast 82nd Avenue. They just wrapped an issue at The Grotto. The zine will be available at Passages Bookshop on Northwest Upton Street, which carries the series.
Even when he’s not on the clock for My Day, Orton carries a sketchbook wherever he goes to make quick drawings, watercolor paintings and notes. He uses pencils, crayon or a fountain pen, though he’s not above bringing a little jar of ink and drawing with whatever sticks he can find. He paints from these sketches, rarely working from photographs, in order to stay true to the scenes he has witnessed. He goes for long walks in the evening most days, after his day job of teaching art to teenagers at Riverdale High School.
“Anything that seems just a little out of the ordinary, I’ll open myself up to it and try to give it respect,” he says.
Nate Orton, King Tide in Empty Spaces, after/time gallery, 735 SW 9th Ave., #110. aftertimecollective.com. Noon-5 pm, Saturday-Sunday, through Jan. 30. Free.
