The Museum of Contemporary Craft based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

was the oldest continuously-running craft institution on the west coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

until its closing in 2016. Located in downtown Portland's

Pearl District The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significan ...

, the museum's mission was "to enliven and expand the understanding of craft and the museum experience."

History

Lydia Herrick Hodge founded the Museum in 1937 with the support of a group of dedicated women volunteers, and using donated materials from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA). Originally called the Oregon Ceramic Studio, the studio building first opened in 1938. Lydia Herrick Hodge led the OCC as the studio director from 1937 until her death in 1960. Ken Shores became the first paid director in 1964, changing the name in 1965 from The Oregon Ceramic Studio to Contemporary Crafts Gallery to better reflect the breadth of work shown at the institution. The institution became known as ''Contemporary Crafts Museum & Gallery'' in 2002, and ''Museum of Contemporary Craft'' in 2007. The museum housed a collection of over 1200 objects that document the active role of both the Museum and the Pacific Northwest in the evolution of craft over the past seven decades.

Partnership with PNCA

In January 2009, the Museum of Contemporary Craft integrated with the

Pacific Northwest College of Art The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine ...

(PNCA), making the joint institution one of the largest organizations devoted to the visual arts in the state of Oregon.

Closure / Dissolution

PNCA announced in February 2016 that the museum would close, with the collection being transferred to a new Center for Contemporary Art and Culture at PNCA.

Location

Museum of Contemporary Craft's first location, 3934 SW Corbett Avenue, was home to the museum for 70 years. The

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style building was designed by architect Ellis Lawrence, first dean of the

University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts The University of Oregon College of Design (UO Design) is a public college of architecture and visual arts in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1914 by Ellis F. Lawrence, the college is located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, o ...

. The building underwent several renovations, most notably in 1998 when the Marlene Gable Gallery was built, designed by

Northwest Regional style Northwest Regional style architecture is an architectural style popular in the Pacific Northwest between 1935 and 1960. It is a regional variant of the International style. It is defined by the extensive use of unpainted wood in both interiors and ...

architect William Fletcher. The Marlene Gable Gallery served as the permanent collection space. In 2005, the museum board decided to move the museum's location. In July 2007, the museum relocated to its current location, 724 NW Davis Street, in the Historic DeSoto Building on Portland's

North Park Blocks The North Park Blocks form a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Most of the park is in northwest Portland (north of Burnside), but one block (Ankeny Square) is in southwest Portland (south of Burnside). Description an ...

. As part of the grand opening at this location, Portland artist

Tom Cramer Tom Cramer is an American artist working in Portland, Oregon noted for his intricately carved and painted wood reliefs and ubiquity throughout the city of Portland. Often called the unofficial Artist Laureate of Portland, Cramer is one of the m ...

was commissioned to paint an unofficial

BMW Art Car The BMW Art Car Project was introduced by the French racecar driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain, who wanted to invite an artist to create a canvas on an automobile. In 1975, Poulain commissioned American artist and friend Alexander Calder to pain ...

. The new location increased foot traffic and visibility for the museum, and was the site of many exhibitions that featured local, national and international artists.

References

External links

Museum of Contemporary CraftGallery Store at Museum of Contemporary CraftGeneration: Betty Feves
{{authority control 1937 establishments in Oregon 2016 disestablishments in Oregon Art museums established in 1937 Art museums and galleries in Oregon Contemporary crafts museums in the United States Museums in Portland, Oregon Pacific Northwest College of Art Pearl District, Portland, Oregon Works Progress Administration in Oregon