Get to Know Arvie

His story, involvement, work, and more

'I am Somebody' can be found on the 2nd floor, north hall of the Multnomah County Courthouse

Bio Statement

I am an artist and educator. My paintings have always been based on the Black man’s state of mind, ever-evolving in the layers of complex history and the day’s political, social, and cultural displays. I confront omissions and violations in American history, and I am fascinated by the commonplace allegiance to the denial of truths running through the hall of our government. I extensively research each painting and draw inspiration from scholars and writers, including James Baldwin, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, W.E.B. Du Bois, Michelle Alexander, and most recently, Isabel Wilkerson. My paintings are tableaus of metaphors, icons, and popularized tropes to address contemporary racial politics. I address my viewers with a warm, vibrant palette, humor, rhythm, and movement punctuated by the derogatory stereotypes created to define Black bodies. At age 84, I paint daily, in my home studio in Portland, Oregon.

Arvie Smith’s CV

Education

MFA 1992 Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, studio assistant to Grace Hartigan, Baltimore, MD
BFA 1985 Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
1984-1983 Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy; Il Bisonte International School of Printmaking, Florence, Italy

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023 The Art Show, ADAA, Park Avenue Armory, NYC
2022 Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago
2022 Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon, curated by John Olbrantz
2019 2Up and 2Back II, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Portland State University, Oregon
2019 2up and 2Back, Disjecta, Portland Oregon, curated by Linda Tesner
2017/16 APEX, Portland Art Museum, curated by Bonnie Laing-Malcomson
2015 Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, OR
2014 Gallery 114, Portland, OR
2006-2009 Beppu Wiarda Gallery, Portland, OR
2008 At Freedom’s Door, PNCA, Portland, OR
2007 Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, Portland, OR
2000-2004 Alysia Duckler, Portland, OR
1999 Sylvia Schmidt Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1996 -1999 Quartersaw Gallery, Portland, OR (annual exhibits)
1995 University of Oregon, Evelyn Kraus Gallery, Eugene, OR
1994 Temple University Gallery, curated by Grace Hartigan Philadelphia, PA
Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR, 1990, 1989
1993 School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD
1992 55 Mercer, curated by Grace Hartigan, New York, NY

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023 Chicago Expo, represented by Monique Meloche Gallery
2022 The Afro-futurist Manifesto: Blackness Reimagined, Venice Biennale Personal Structures: Time, Space, Existence
Ontology: Communal Expressions of Being, Galerie Myrtis
Chicago Expo, represented by Monique Meloche Gallery
Art Basel, Miami, represented by Monique Meloche Gallery
2021 Literary Muse, UTA Artist Space, LA, CA
2019 Renaissance Noir: A Celebration of Mastery, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles
A Reclamation of Beauty, Power and Narrative, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD
2018 Reclaiming Racist Stereotypes, Reginald F. Lewis Museum
2017 Constructing Identity, Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, Portland Art Museum, curated by Berrisford Boothe, Portland, OR
Black Man in a Black World, Galerie Myrtis Borders, Reed College. Portland, OR
2016 The Soul of Black Art, Upfor Gallery, Portland, OR
2015 The Image of the Black, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD
2015-‘14 Emergence 2014: International Artists to Watch, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD
2014 Art Beat Alumni Exhibition, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Ptld. OR
2013 Best of Reginald Lewis Museum, Thurgood Marshall Airport, Baltimore, MD
2011-‘10 Wall of Heritage Walls of Pride African American Mural Exhibit, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, OR
2008-‘07 At Freedom’s Door, Maryland Historical Society Museum, Baltimore, MD
1995 Oregon Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
1994 Northwest Vision, The American University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Selected Institution Collections

David Driskell Center, College Park, MD
Deleware Art Museum
U of M Global Campus Art Collection
Mt Holyoke College Art Museum
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art
Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art
Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, Oregon,
Meyer Memorial Trust, Portland, Oregon
Portland Art Museum, Oregon
Hallie Ford Museum, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon
Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD
The City of Portland
Multnomah County Courthouse, Portland, Oregon
Oregon State University

Selected Media and Publications

2022 CALL AND RESPONSE: ARVIE SMITH TALKS TRASH, JACKSON ARN, FRIEZE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 27, 2022
IMITATION IS NOT FLATTERY: A REVIEW OF ARVIE SMITH’S “CALL AND RESPONSE” AT MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY NADYA KELLY, NEWCITY ART, OCTOBER 21, 2022
ARTFORUM MUST SEE ARTFORUM, SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
ARVIE SMITH: HALLIE FORD FELLOW IN THE VISUAL ARTS 2022 THE FORD FAMILY FOUNDATIO
2022 Art in America Guide
2020 Arvie Smith: 2Up and 2Back, 80 pg, essays by Berrisford Boothe and Daniel Duford, funded by Ford Family Foundation, 2020.
Oregon Artswatch Art Review: Beneath the Surface Seduction, Laurel Reed Pavic, 1/20/20
Black Art in America, 5/2020
2019 52 Critical Painters, Kevin Smith, 12/30/19
2017 The International Review of African American Art, Spring 2017
Portal. Portland Art Museum Magazine, Constructing Identity
Portland Monthly, Brush Fire, by Rebecca Jacobson, September 2017
2016 1859 Oregon’s Magazine, Talking About Color, Anna Bird, March 2016
Oregon Artswatch, Strange Fruit: Arvie Smith’s Seductive Provocations at PAM, Bob Hicks, August 22, 2016
Willamette Week, Arvie Smith’s Show at PAM…., Jennifer Rabin, Dec 21, 2016

Lectures and Interviews

2023 Speaker, Jim Crow America and Me, Manzanita Art Center, Manzanita, Oregon
2019 NCORE, Panelist, Confronting OR’s history of racial exclusion and its modern-day legacy
2018 Commencement Speaker, Seeing, Pacific Northwest College of Art, 5/20/18
2017 PAM Lecturer, Almost Good Hair, APEX Gallery Talks, monthly
PAM, Panel & Gallery Talk, Constructing Identity
2016 PAM, APEX Gallery Talk, monthly
PAM, Docent Orientation Lecture
How Racism Impacts the Arts, Whiteness Month, Panelist, Cascade Campus, PCC
State of Wonder, April Bear, OPB 7/30/16, interview
2015 Authorship and Representation: Race, Ethnicity, and Black American Life in Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore, MD
2013 Portland Art Museum, Artists talk on Robert Colescott, Ptld, OR
2012 Oregon Arts Summit, Speaker, Ptld, OR
2010 Wall of Heritage Walls of Pride African American Mural Exhibit, Lecture, Cascade Campus
Portland Community College, Ptld, OR
2009 RACC Mural Commission, Juvenile Justice Center, Ptld, OR 2007-2009, Lecturer
Sylvania and Cascade Campuses, PCC, Portland, Oregon, Lecturer
2008 Humanities Series on Social Justice, lecturer, Columbia George C C, Hood River, Oregon
At Freedom’s Door, Lecture, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Ptld. OR
Public lecture on exhibition, Reed College, Ptld. OR

Honors and Awards

2022 Hallie Ford Fellowship (see fellowships)
2021 Laura Russo, Luminary Alumni Award, PNCA
2020 Joan Mitchell, Sculptures and Painters Award
2018 PhD., Art D, Honoris Causa, Pacific Northwest College of Art
2017 Oregon Governor Award for the Arts, 2017
Culture of Caring Award, Cascadia Behavioral Health, recognition for community development and advocacy, Portland, OR
2015 Outstanding Performance Outside the Profession Award, Oregon Education Association

Commissions and Community

2023 Black Arts of Oregon Advisory Committee, Portland Art Museum
2023 Curator, Artworks Northwest Biennial, Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseburg, Oregon
2017 Public Art, Cascadia Behavioral Health, Garlington Center, 12’x40’mural, Ptld, OR
Public Art, Alberta Commons, Portland Development Commission, 18’x24’ mural, Ptld, OR
2008-11 Project Hope, five 8’x14’ murals working with adjudicated youth, RACC

Residencies and Fellowships

2022 Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Family Ford Foundation
2019 Fellow, The Ground Beneath Us, Waterford, Virginia
2017 Visiting Artist, MFA summer program, PNCA
2005-07 Artist in Residence, At Freedom’s Door, Maryland Institute of Art, Reginald Lewis Museum, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Maryland

College Teaching

Present Professor Emeritus, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
2014-2002 Associate Professor, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
2001-1993 Assistant Professor, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
2001-1989 Instructor, Extension program, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Painting and Drawing
1996 Visiting Assistant Professor, BFA, MFA Department of Fine Arts, UofO, Eugene, OR
1993-1992 Instructor, Maryland Institute College of Art, Painting, Baltimore, MD
1989-1988 Visiting Artist, Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, Life Drawing, Portland, OR
1985-1984 Teaching Assistant, Studio Art Center International, Florence, Italy, Printmaking