Portland’s Biggest Art Colleges Put Grads on Display for Annual Exhibitions

April showers bring May flowers, and what do May flowers bring? The intersection of art and technology, of course.

Ahead of graduation season in June, Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University and Portland State University gear up for their annual exhibitions honoring Bachelors and Masters of Fine Arts and the work they’ve put into becoming professional artists. PNCA’s BFA and MFA showcases open Thursday, May 1 across three locations (the school is offering complimentary shuttle service between them for First Thursday) set to close on May 18. PSU’s shows, meanwhile, open two weeks later on Thursday, May 15 and run to Saturday, June 7.

PNCA this year displays 15 MFA candidates between its schools for visual studies and print media. This is half the size of PSU’s BFA cohort—two candidates are set to graduate from PSU’s MFA program, assuming candidates between both schools pass their thesis defenses. But by the time an artist defends their thesis, they’ve already met with their advisors and peers dozens of times before this moment, so it’s often an opportunity to shine.

For instance, Manfred Alexander Parrales Aburto and Midori Yamanaka are PSU’s MFA candidates from its School of Art and Social Practice. Parrales Aburto and Yamanaka both spent considerable time last year as artists in residence at Lloyd Center. Parrales Aburto studies art’s role in communication technology, drawing from his experiences making music videos for rock bands in Costa Rica, while Yamanaka focuses on the more intimately interpersonal connections art grows between people.

Mai Ide is enrolled in PNCA’s visual studies program. She was already an accomplished creative before enrolling in the school, with a decade of experience as a materials designer back in Japan. WW covered her Littman Gallery exhibition be nice + kind to yourself last fall. Since that show, which saw her sewing fabric letters and vaginas as commentary on racist microaggressions, Ide has worked on a series of deconstructed corsets which interrogate the undergarment’s purpose and its connection to fetishization, which impacts Western and Eastern women in different ways.

“It’s kind of a metaphor or layering the idea of reclaiming the image or stereotype of the Japanese woman,” Ide said in a school video. “I try to create a unique, interesting image or idea of commodification of Asian culture without honoring or respecting Japanese culture or Japanese traditions.”

Ebony Frison, a PNCA print media MFA candidate, is perfecting her practice of a deeply labor-intensive technique called photogravure which uses science to transfer photographic images onto copper plates for printmaking purposes. Frison shares in a video explaining her processes that, as with many artists, she is deeply inspired by her heritage. Her grandfather was a sharecropper who moved to the Pacific Northwest in search of better opportunities for his family.

“I feel like I’m constantly living this dream that he had for us,” Frison said.

SEE IT: Pacific Northwest College of Art BFA/MFA Showcase at PNCA Main Campus, 511 NW Broadway, 503-226-4391, pnca.willamette.edu. 5 pm Thursday, May 1.

Portland State University BFA/MFA Showcase at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU, 1855 SW Broadway, 503-725-8013, pdx.edu. 5 pm Thursday, May 15.