Phyllis Yes’ Male Nude Paintings Will Hang at First Congregational Church After All

The downtown Portland church canceled Yes’ show last spring after first inviting her to show her artwork.

A painting from "Dusty...at Home" by Phyllis Yes (Phyllis Yes)
By Andrew Jankowski

Downtown Portland’s First Congregational Church caused a stir in the art world last spring after canceling a planned exhibition of portraits by acclaimed multimedia artist Phyllis Yes.

Yes’ paintings were based on photos she took more than 50 years ago of a male model doing household chores in the nude. After Dusty…at Home was canceled, Yes used WW’s reporting on her exhibition to secure a new venue, where it showed over the summer in Southwest Portland. The controversy generated significant attention, even reaching the model’s adult son.

Now, Dusty…at Home is coming home.

Andrea Heid, a member of First Congregational Church and the ArtReach Gallery committee that invited Yes to show her work in the first place, tells WW that the paintings will hang in the ArtReach Gallery beginning Sunday, Feb. 9.

Yes will host a talk at 11:45 am before the public is invited to see both her paintings—the ones that haven’t already sold, anyway—and the original photographs on which the images were based. Heid says the decision to reinvite Yes began last fall, but was unsure of other details surrounding the conversation. Either way, Yes is happy about it.

“I’m delighted that minds were changed and I can exhibit in the chapel,” Yes says via email.

SEE IT: Dusty...at Home at ArtReach Gallery at First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 503-228-7219, uccportland.org. 10 am–2 pm Monday–Friday, 9 am–1 pm Sunday.

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