This content was published: April 25, 2016. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Artist Ellen Lesperance keynotes PCC speaker series
Photos and story by James Hill
Portland Community College will welcome activist artist Ellen Lesperance for its 2016 Portland Women in Art Lecture Series later this month.
An accomplished artist whose work has received nation-wide accolades, Lesperance pays tribute to feminist activism and direct action campaigns through her installations. Knitted garments worn by women involved in demonstrations, sit-ins and civil disobedience from around the world are the focus of Lesperance’s paintings, for which she has won rave reviews.
Lesperance is slated to speak at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 25 in the auditorium (Room 104) of the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building, Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killingsworth St. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
Born in Minneapolis in 1971, Lesperance received her master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 1999. Her work has been exhibited at the Drawing Center in New York, the traveling People’s Biennial, and the Seattle Art Museum among other venues. Her artwork is on display in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum; Museum of Art and Design, New York; Portland Art Museum; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters; and the Kadist Art Foundation. Lesperance has been honored with the Betty Bowen Award, a Ford Family Fellowship in the Arts, and a Regional Arts and Culture Council Fellowship, as well as residencies at the Skowhegan School, MacDowell Colony, Djerassi Foundation, and Atlantic Center.
PCC’s Portland Women in Art Lecture Series (founded in 2011) presents important women in the visual arts to the students and faculty of Portland Community College as well as the Portland community. The project focuses on pioneering feminist artists and women significant in the fields of art and art history. Lesperance’s lecture is the fifth in the series, which is funded by PCC and the School of Art and Design at Portland State University. In-kind support comes from Disjecta Contemporary Art Center.
American Sign Language interpretation will be provided and the auditorium is ADA accessible.
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »