The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) Elevates Portland With New Projects

Inversion: Plus Minus is a set of towering site-specific sculptures created by artists/architects Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio. Using weathered steel angle iron, the artists are presenting “ghosts” of former buildings at two similar sites along SE Grand Avenue. One site, at Hawthorne Boulevard, will feature a matrix of metal that almost appears as a solid building. The second, at Belmont Street, will render an enclosure around the perimeter of a “building,” emphasizing the negative space of the subject. In the artists’ words, “The sculptures reference the outer shells of ordinary industrial buildings found in the Central Eastside Industrial Area like those that once existed on the project sites.”

Portland, February 19th, 2013. The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) released its annual report for 2012. The year in review, available online at www.racc.org/2012annualreport, includes highlights of last year’s activities in service to artists and arts organizations in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties.

One highly visible project is, Inversion: Plus Minus. In the artists’ words, “The sculptures reference the outer shells of ordinary industrial buildings found in the Central Eastside Industrial Area like those that once existed on the project sites.” (Photo credit, William Rihel)

Inversion: Plus Minus is a set of towering site-specific sculptures created by artists/architects Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio. Using weathered steel angle iron, the artists are presenting “ghosts” of former buildings at two similar sites along SE Grand Avenue. One site, at Hawthorne Boulevard, will feature a matrix of metal that almost appears as a solid building. The second, at Belmont Street, will render an enclosure around the perimeter of a “building,” emphasizing the negative space of the subject. (Photo credit, William Rihel)

Among the organization’s accomplishments in 2012:

RACC expanded the public art collection through murals, portable works purchases, large-scale projects, and more
The Right Brain Initiative expanded its arts integration services to 44 schools
Work for Art, a workplace giving program for the arts, raised a record sum: $823,693
More artists and arts organizations received grants than ever before
Voters approved a new $35 income tax to support arts education and access in Portland

Electronic copies (HTML or PDF) can be accessed at www.racc.org/2012annualreport. Hardcopies are also available upon request; contact RACC at 503-823-5111 or mbauer@racc.org.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.