PCC Art Student Exhibition Showcases Pandemic-Era Resilience

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Community College’s Helzer, North View, Paragon and Southeast art galleries have come together for the first time to present a virtual juried exhibition of works by PCC students entitled “Unmuted: PCC Art Student Exhibition.”

Guest juried by artist and Portland State University faculty member Patricia Vázquez Gómez, the exhibition opens on Monday, May 17 and runs through June 4. It features selected student art as well as a salon-style virtual showcase of two- and three-dimensional art and new media work. The awards and juror presentation will take place on June 4 as well, via Zoom.

To attend, visit the exhibition’s webpage where details of the ceremony will be posted.

A year ago, PCC moved to remote operations to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Since then, art students have continued their education remotely, creating work in the midst of personal, local, national, global crises and revolutions.

For the students, it has been a year of raised voices and making art — in spite of, and in response to the challenges of living through the pandemic. To honor that work during this pivotal year, the exhibition invites PCC art students to unmute themselves and share their class work with the world.

Vázquez Gómez works and lives between the ancient Tenochtitlán and the unceded and occupied lands of the Chinook, Clackamas, Multnomah and other Indigenous peoples. Her art practice investigates the social functions of art, the intersections between aesthetics, ethics and politics and the expansion of community based art practices. She uses a variety of media to carry out her research: painting, printmaking, video, exhibitions, music and socially engaged art projects. The purpose and methodologies of her work are deeply informed by her experiences working in the immigrant rights and other social justice movements.