A new exhibit by the founder of Gather:Make:Shelter reflects a life of sharing her craft among those without
Whirling strands of lace or DNA are painted onto large squares of muslin. The fragile filaments touch at tender points and eddy around a core. Delicate cutwork from large, hanging squares casts shadows on the wall.
The large fabric sculptures and wall hangings of Dana Lynn Louis now on exhibit at the Russo Lee Gallery are contemplative, intricate and lovely. The title of her new exhibition is “Weave,” and it is, according to Louis, a direct result of her experiences the past two years working with people experiencing poverty and homelessness in Portland, along with the villages in Africa where she has lived and worked.
“It draws together literally all the projects I’ve been doing in Portland, in Senegal and Mali. It draws these connecting threads between the participants and myself, and it is a meditation for all the people I’m working with and for myself to channel this work,” she said. “I feel like I am the connective tissue. That feels like my role.”
Louis is the founder of Gather:Make:Shelter, a citywide project that has partnered with Street Roots and other organizations to bring creative opportunities to those who don’t have the luxury to participate in art and painting workshops.
One large wall hanging is particularly relevant to the community work Louis has been doing.
“There are 600 parts to this piece,” she said. “It represents the 600 people I’ve worked with for the first year of Gather:Make:Shelter. This is like a little prayer for each person and the shadow is allowing me to hold them lightly, for them to be able to be themselves however they need to be in the project. Holding them lightly in it but allowing them to be who they need to be, that’s the shadow aspect. These delicate pieces are part of the experience of them being allowed to be who they need to be.”
The Gather:Make:Shelter project conducted more than 60 workshops over a two year period, working with Janus Youth, Rose Haven, Central City Concern, p:ear and Imani Center and serving more than 600 people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Workshop participants were paid $20 to paint a bisque bowl any way they wished, and Louis fired and finished them. Proceeds from the sale of the bowls went to involving more artists and expanding the project.
GATHER:MAKE:SHELTER: Street Roots vendors lend artistic hand to pottery project
Louis’ latest project, the Gather:Make:Shelter Academy, is further connecting both housed and houseless artists to create hand-painted artwork that will be exhibited at the Russo Lee Gallery this spring. Members of the academy also co-teach art workshops, attend field trips to local art galleries, and conduct research sessions at the county library.
Several members of the Academy are Street Roots vendors, and they have been watching Louis’ work evolve in her studio, where they meet regularly to create art and poetry.
“People like Mark Rodriguez, who is in the Academy, he has been in my studio watching this work grow over the past two years,” she said. “Several other people in my life have not been privy to that part of my life, but the people in the Academy, they are seeing these things not for the first time, but in a new place. It is special for me because they are also going to be in the exhibition here in June, so it gives them another access point.”
For Louis, the process of creating the pieces for this show was a way to directly inspire and energize her social activism.
“This is where I start lighting the fire for all the hopeful, positive, energetic stuff I want to bring out into the world and help draw those threads into our community,” she said.
Louis will be giving an artist talk Saturday at the Russo Lee Gallery, followed by a question-and-answer session.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Artist talk with Dana Lynn Louis
WHEN: 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 15
WHERE: Russo Lee Gallery, 805 NW 21st Ave., Portland
EXHIBIT: Louis’ show, “Weave,” runs through Feb. 29
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