Learning Happens In All Directions

Due to renovations at the school, the KSMoCA International Art Fair isn’t even hosted at KSMoCA this year! Instead we’re standing inside the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art surrounded by kids from MLK Jr. School and beyond, artists and institutions from our community, and artwork from as far as Copenhagen, and we’re reflecting on how a site-specific project in an elementary school in NE Portland has become a space to contemplate new ways of being in the world.

Together with 17 exhibitors, 14 KSMoCA students, 3 Portland State University students, 3 Living School of Art students, several collaborators, and countless volunteers, we’re excitedly thinking out loud—How can we spend more time doing this? Over the last three weeks at PICA, we’ve been meeting as a group to collectively create the type of art fair we want to see.

This fair is centered around 1-on-1 relationships between exhibitors and students, and we see these partnerships as essential to the process. Throughout our time together, many things have surfaced as topics, including: joy, dreams, politics, sadness, bell hooks, respect, revelry, cartwheels, self-love, and the market price of a painting. We’ve focused our time thinking about and discussing collaboration and power dynamics between generations, horizontal learning structures, and our own expectations of art.

What started as a project for democratizing the “Art Fair Experience” has expanded into an ongoing conversation about community building across institutions and individuals. The fair is an opportunity to see a lot of amazing Portland projects in one space at one time, developing friendships with kids—everyone sharing their resources, curiosity, time, and passion with each other. This experimental art fair makes clear the absolute genius of young people, and it shows us that learning happens in all directions when we let it.

—Roz Crews and Amanda Leigh Evans
Co-Curators of the 2018 KSMoCA International Art Fair

About the fair

The 2018 KSMoCA International Art Fair is organized by Harrell Fletcher and Lisa Jarrett, co-curated by Roz Crews and Amanda Leigh Evans, and produced in collaboration with MLK Jr. School students, PSU students, and community partners. This kid-scale art fair, hosted this year by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, is the culmination of a special 3-week summer program that pairs each booth exhibitor with 3rd-7th grade MLK Jr students and PSU students, who participate as gallerists, artists, exhibitors, and curators in artistic and curatorial projects.

The KSMoCA International Art Fair runs from August 10-12, 2018 in partnership with Converge 45 and includes programmed panels, activities and performances throughout the weekend. All portions of the fair are free and open to the public.

Exhibitors

Exhibitors will display contemporary artwork that is co-created, curated, organized or produced in collaboration with their student partners. Exhibitions throughout the fair include works by emerging artists, collaborative works with students and presentations by established artists. The KSMoCA International Art Fair is a commercial art fair and many of the works on display will be available for purchase.

2018 Exhibitors Include:
Blue Sky, Byron Kim, Chicken Coop Contemporary, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Elizabeth Leach Gallery in collaboration with c3:initiative, First Brick, KSMoCA, Malia Jensen, Samantha Wall, Nat Turner Project, Nicolai Wallner, Portland Museum of Modern Art, Portland State University Art & Social Practice Program, Portland Tropical Gardens, TINY GALLERY, UNA Gallery, and Victor Maldonado.

Fair Organizers

Lisa Jarrett, Co-Director
Harrell Fletcher, Co-Director
Roz Crews, Co-Curator
Amanda Leigh Evans, Co-Curator
Maggie Heath, Exhibition Coordinator
Roshani Thakore, Curatorial and Education Assistant  
Kimberly Sutherland, Graphic Design
 

(Artfair images Courtesy MARIO GALLUCCI AND CONVERGE 45)

Making the fair: 3-week KSMoCA camp and PSU intensive

Visitor Information

Opening Reception
Friday, August 10, 2018
Opening Remarks at 5:30 PM
Special performance by Amenta Abioto at 6 PM

Visiting Hours
Friday, August 10, 2018 from 4 PM - 7 PM (Opening Reception)
Saturday, August 11, 2018 from 12 pm - 5 PM
Sunday, August 12, 2018 from 12 pm - 5 PM

No Entrance Fee
All events located at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA)
15 NE Hancock St, Portland, OR 97212

Event Schedule 

Friday August 10 (4-7PM)
4-5:15PM   Portland State Student Projects
5:30PM     Opening Remarks
6-7PM        Performance by Amenta Abioto

Saturday August 11 (12-5PM) 
1-2PM        Workshop with Portland Tropical Gardens
2-3PM        Panel chaired by Roya Amirsoleymani with kids from KSMoCA and institutions participating in the fair
3:30PM     Performance by Lonnie Holley

Sunday August 12 (12-5PM) 
1-2PM        Workshop with home school
2-3PM        Panel chaired by Victor Maldonado with kids from KSMoCA and artists participating in the fair

Why an Art Fair?

Yes, that’s a good question. Why would we want to take one of the most commercial aspects of the art world and restructure it for a public school context? And not an empty public school like PS1, but a functioning public school with kids all over the place. Well, we like messing things up, breaking down walls, mixing things together that usually stay separated and in their own contexts. KSMoCA is all about connecting people with art and art systems who might not normally have much exposure to those things. We want the kids at Martin Luther King Jr School to be exposed to the way that art institutions are run so that they have the option to consider becoming not just an artist, but a curator, a preparator, a museum director etc. And well, since the commercial gallery system and art fairs are such a big part of the art world, why not include those things too, so that a MLK Jr School student might decide to become an art dealer if that’s what seemed appealing to them. We are anti-capitalism, but if we are going to live in a capitalist society shouldn’t everyone have the ability to participate in it, messed up as it might be? So for those reasons and more we have readjusted the art fair model to serve a different cause, people can not only come and see a bunch of art all in one place for free, but a set of kids and a school context that would normally be left out of the art world are being included, and maybe some percent of the sales of works at the fair will be donated to the school’s art program, and that’s always a good thing. In fact if you want to just make a straight up donation yourself just let us know and we will tell you how.

—Harrell Fletcher, Co-Director of the 2017 KSMoCA International Art Fair

Images courtesy Mario Gallucci and Converge 45

Exhibitors

Leading nationally and internationally recognized exhibitors will display original artwork by nearly 100 contemporary artists, including paintings, sculptures, installations, photography, social practice, comics, and new media. Visitors can find works ranging from experimental publications by young artists to museum-quality objects. Most works are available for purchase.

Exhibitors: Adams and Ollman, Blue Sky Gallery, c3:initiative, Chris Johanson, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Honor Fraser Gallery, Johanna Jackson, Miss Anthology Comics, Nationale, Pete Brook & Sarah Mirk, Pedro Reyes and Patricia Vasquez, Portland Institute For Contemporary Art with UNA Gallery, Portland Museum of Modern Art, Portland State University School of Art + Design with Ralph Pugay, Public Annex, Upfor

PROGRAM & PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Friday August 11
5-6PM Sanatorium
6-7PM Holcombe Waller 

Saturday August 12
Sanatorium (10am-2pm)
Public Annex (12-1pm)
Panel with Kids from MLK Jr. School (1-2pm)

Sunday August 13
Sanatorium (10am-2pm)
Panel with Kids from MLK Jr. School (1-2pm)
Weird Allan Kaprow Karaoke (2-4pm)
Sunfoot Performance (4-4:30) 

About the 2017 KSMoCA International Art Fair

KSMoCA is pleased to announce the KSMoCA International Art Fair. The kid-scale art fair is the culmination of nearly 60 hours of special training that a select group of K-6th grade MLK Jr students and PSU students receive on commercial art fair practices. Seventeen internationally recognized exhibitors will display original artwork available for purchase through a program that uniquely pairs each booth with students who participate as gallerists, artists, and assistants in sales and curatorial projects. Visitors can find works ranging from experimental publications by young artists to museum-quality paintings, sculptures, installations, photography, social practice, comics, and new media.

The fair runs from August 11-13, 2017 in partnership with Converge 45 and includes programmed lectures, panels, and performances throughout the weekend. It is organized by Harrell Fletcher and Lisa Jarrett, co-curated by Amanda Leigh Evans and Roz Crews, and is produced in collaboration with MLK Jr School students, PSU students, and community partners. To see the latest updates on the fair, visit this link.

Click here to download the press package.

Visitor Information

Opening Reception
Friday, August 11, 2017
Opening Remarks at 5:30 PM
Special performance by Holcombe Waller at 6 PM

Visiting Hours
Friday, August 11, 2017 from 5 PM - 7 PM
Saturday, August 12, 2017 from 10 AM - 5 PM
Sunday, August 13, 2017 from 10 AM - 5 PM

No Entrance Fee
All events located at KSMoCA
4906 NE 6th Ave, Portland, OR 97211

Fair Organizers

Lisa Jarrett, Co-Director
Harrell Fletcher, Co-Director
Roz Crews, Co-Curator
Amanda Leigh Evans, Co-Curator
Spencer Byrne-Seres, Exhibition Coordinator and Lead Preparator
Kimberly Sutherland, Graphic Design