Portland, February 23rd, 2014. Portland Children’s Museum is launching the first in a new series of in-house exhibits. This one is called Cycle City: A Spin on Bikes. Supporters enjoyed a VIP Party on Thursday, January 30th. Cycle City uniquely reflects Portland through an exploration of the creative potential of bikes beyond transportation. Visitors are invited to look at bicycles in surprising new ways as they make their way through interactive exhibit components.
Take a spin through Cycle City, a unique exhibit that uniquely reflects Portland through an exploration of the creative potential of bikes beyond transportation.
Light up an electrical tower and create circuits through stationary bikes at “Pedal Power.”
The exhibit is as Portland as it gets—created with materials donated by from local bicycle shops, designers, mechanics, and riders, this exhibit will inspire the next generation of PDX “bicycle buffs.” At Cycle City: A Spin on Bikes visitors will be invited to look at bicycles in surprising new ways as they make their way through interactive exhibit components, including: The Bike Shop: A variety of interchangeable PVC and wood parts and accessories to create an original bikes. Splashguard: Hand- and foot-driven spin art stations made out of bike parts will be grouped at varying heights. Crisscross: A progressing group art project using multiple visitors. Using hand pedals, one guest will control of the Y axis, while another will control the X axis. Bike PDX: Visitors pedal along with birds-eye videos of local rides and answer prompts along the way.
Pedal Power: Visitor-powered stations will power the tower, expelling energy through lights, sounds, Jacobs’s ladders, machinery, and more. Other exhibit components include Tire Tracks (a bicycle music box), Light Rider (shadow play), and a cycle-powered Gravitram sculpture. Cycle City will also feature bike sculptures and automations along with bike-based artwork from local artists throughout the run of the show.
Ride along with local cyclist in “Bike PDX” through first-person guided videos.
ABOUT PORTLAND CHILDREN’S MUSEUM Portland Children’s Museum is the museum that doesn’t act like a museum. You won’t find any velvet ropes inside, and playing with and touching our exhibits is strongly encouraged. Our main exhibit is the imagination of the children who play here. Every environment and activity is designed to encourage children to play and wonder while they learn about themselves and the world around them. LOCATION In Washington Park across from Oregon Zoo; 4015 SW Canyon Road, Portland, 97221 HOURS Mon-Sun • 9am-5pm; Target Free First Friday (first Friday every month, 4-8pm) ADMISSION Museum members: Free • Under age 1: Free; Ages 1-54: $10 • Over 55 & military:$9 CONTACT Phone 503-223-6500 • Online portlandcm.org • Like facebook.com/portlandcm
Portland, February 22nd, 2014. The Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center is kicking off its 25th Anniversary with the new exhibit “Capturing a Generation through the Eye of a Lens: The Photographs of Frank C. Hirahara, 1948 – 1954.” On display are vintage photos taken by Hirahara.
Frank C. Hirahara’s photo of the Portland Rose Festival Portland Realty Board float from the 1950’s .
This collection of post‐war photographs feature the Japanese and Chinese American communities in Portland, activities of the Oregon Camera Club and the Portland Photographic Society, the Portland Rose Festival, the Epworth Methodist Church, and the Oregon Buddhist Temple.
Portland Rose Festival Float in the 1950’s Oregon Nikkei Endowment
One of Frank C. Hirahara’s award winning portraits was of Oregon’s own Patti Throop, who was a Portland Rose Festival Princess, Miss Portland, Miss Oregon, and a semi‐finalist in Miss America in 1954, which is prominently shown in the exhibit.
The photographic exhibit is at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, located at 121 NW 2nd Avenue. The Center was created to preserve, educate, and honor the history and culture of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest and to advocate for the protection and civil rights for all. This collection of over 1,000 images was donated to the Oregon Nikkei Endowment, by Frank’s daughter Patti Hirahara of Anaheim, California, and these newly discovered images have helped to provide a pictorial record of this time in history.
After Frank C. Hirahara’s graduation from Washington State University in 1948, Frank was hired by the Department of Interior’s Bonneville Power Administration as an Electrical Engineer in Portland and he worked there till 1954 before moving to California to enter into the new aerospace boom in Southern California. This serious amateur photographer’s work has surprised visitors during advance previews with his attention to composition and detail.
The Frank C. Hirahara photo collection will become a part of DENSHO’s online digital collection which received funding from the National Park Service’s Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants Program. Frank Hirahara honed his skills as a photographer while as a high school student at Heart Mountain High School, where he was a photo editor and photographer of the school’s “Tempo” annual. He and his father George took and processed over 2,000 photos of the Heart Mountain Japanese Relocation Camp in Wyoming from 1943‐1945 and this collection is considered to be the largest private collection of photos taken there. This Heart Mountain collection was donated to Frank’s alma mater of Washington State University and WSU’s Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections has collaborated with the Oregon Nikkei Endowment for this exhibit in showing photo panels and artifacts from their George and Frank C. Hirahara Collection.
George Hirahara and his family, including Frank ’48, had their lives in Yakima disrupted in 1942 when they were forced to relocate with about 10,000 other Japanese Americans to Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
16 Time Emmy award winner David Ono, co‐anchor for ABC7’s Eyewitness News in Los Angeles, utilized the Hirahara Heart Mountain photos in his documentary “WITNESS – The Legacy of Heart Mountain” and a preview of the documentary is being shown with the Heart Mountain section of this exhibit. Frank Hirahara’s daughter Patti Hirahara, will be coming to Portland to show this new hour long version of the Heart Mountain documentary at the Hollywood Theatre on March 5th.
The exhibit also incorporates photos and historic documents of the “Hirahara Story – 100 Years and Four Generations” from the Hirahara Family Collections at the City of Anaheim Libraries Heritage Center, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Yakima Valley Museum in Yakima, Washington and is a sanctioned event of the Portland Rose Festival. The exhibit is open through– June 15, 2014. The Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center is located at 121 NW 2nd Avenue, Portland, Oregon and the exhibit will be open from Tue‐Sat 11AM‐3 PM and Sun 12‐3 PM. Admission is $5, $3 seniors (62+) /students, children under 12 free, and free to members of the Oregon Nikkei Endowment. Updates on affiliated exhibit events can be found on the organization’s website at www.oregonnikkei.org. For information about the exhibit and Heart Mountain screening, call (503) 224‐1458.
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About the Oregon Nikkei Endowment
The mission of the Oregon Nikkei Endowment is to preserve and honor the history and culture of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest, to educate the public about the Japanese American experience during World War II, and to advocate for the protection of civil rights for all Americans. Our two projects include the Japanese American Historical Plaza in Waterfront Park, designed by landscape architect Robert Murase, and the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, a place to explore the culture and history of Japanese Americans, located in Portland’s historic Old Town neighborhood.
Portland, February, 15th, 2014. A diverse group of local business owners, parents, parishioners, teachers, staff, and community members gathered to support Holy Redeemer Catholic School at its annual benefit. Organizers expect to gross $200,000 from the event. Holy Redeemer School’s current enrollment is 313 students in preschool, prekindergarten and kindergarten through eighth grade. Administrators explain that the school is, “The most ethnically diverse Catholic school in Oregon. 72% of our students are Catholic. We welcome students from other Faiths. 96% of our students graduate from high school, compared to 76% neighborhood rate. 32% come from homes at or below the federal poverty levels and qualify for free or reduced lunch.”
Fr. John Dougherty, Congregation of Holy Cross Priest and Pastor at Holy Redeemer, catches up with old friends.
The Holy Redeemer Dinner and Auction theme was “A Night in Paris.” Guests arrived at The Holiday Inn at the Portland Airport to find a photo booth, the Heads or Tails game during the live auction, the French-themed dinner Live auction. The biggest moment of the night, and most anticipated each year by guests, is the Bids4Kids Paddle Raiser. Guests hear from parent and student speakers about Holy Redeemer students’ overwhelming need for scholarship assistance and then enjoy a video showcasing the students of the school. Guests this year also learned that an anonymous donor had challenged the audience to match a $25,000 donation. The audience rose to the occasion, making the Bids4Kids total just over $50,000.
Perhaps the most heart-warming story of this year’s Bids4Kids was that of Serapiya.
Serapiya’s family of 9 was brought to the United States 7 years ago by the Holy Redeemer community. They had been living in a refugee camp in Africa for the entirety of Serapiya’s life. When she came to Portland, she and her family did not know any English. With dedicated support of Holy Redeemer community members, Serapiya’s family adapted and flourished. Serapiya is now the first of her family to graduate 8th grade, which would never have been possible without the scholarship assistance she received from Holy Redeemer. She now is going on to high school, a promising young woman who studies hard, volunteers, and helps her younger siblings each night with homework. She has big dreams and is willing to work hard. As she told the audience, “I want to thank my parents, my teachers, and Holy Redeemer for showing me that not only is it important to dream big, as high as the stars, but that it is the work, the reach for the stars, that makes life full for you and all those around you.”
Guests start to make their way through the silent auction.
Portland, February 13th, 2014. Supporters donated $355,000 to care for children at this year’s Providence Child Center Heart of Gold event. Gerry Frank is pictured with 8-year-old JC and his parents Laura and Lee. JC benefits from therapy at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. The annual event was held at Pure Space in Northwest Portland. During the evening, the namesake of the Gerry Frank Center for Children’s Care at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, was honored for his longtime support of children’s services at Providence.
Gerry Frank, longtime supporter of children’s services at Providence, is the 2014 Heart of Gold award recipient.
Proceeds from the 2014 Heart of Gold event support the Children’s Health Initiative and help Providence caregivers serve one of the area’s most vulnerable populations.
From Providence Child Center:
Providence Child Center (PCC) has been caring for Oregon’s most vulnerable children for over 60 years. Today it continues to fill an important gap in the community not provided by any other organization regionally. We are rooted in the commitment to promote the inherent dignity of all children by providing each child in our care the opportunity to achieve his or her potential and the highest quality of life in an atmosphere of acceptance and love.
Portland, January 16th, 2014. Local business DTI Portland threw an artful benefit to celebrate its new 20,000-foot office space in the historic Pittock Building. The venue walls served as a canvas for the colorful, Four Seasons in Portland-inspired artwork created by Sabin Elementary School 2nd through 6th graders. An estimated $5,000 from the event and individually purchased pieces will support the Sabin Art Program and Portland-based, Friends of Trees.
Concentric Circles Hanging @DTI
Eric Allen and Scott Fogerty talk about the art.
“We are proud of our new space in the Pittock Building. We’re also proud of our technology-company roots in Portland that date back to 1999,” said Donna Peterson, VP of DTI Portland. “When deciding how to decorate the walls in the new space, we wanted to reflect our appreciation of the Portland community—the landmarks, the natural abundance and our people that make this a great place to live and work. Hence, the partnership between DTI, the Sabin Art Program and Friends of Trees was born.”
Chris Lamp Donna Peterson hang “Summer.”
“We’re delighted to be a part of this project that will encourage budding young artists and also help our communities plant trees together,” said Scott Fogarty, executive director of Friends of Trees. “DTI has found a unique way to give back to the community while showcasing the need for local arts and green spaces.”
DTI Portland is also committed to the metro area’s downtown core—not simply by remaining in the Pittock Building, but also by gutting the 8th floor space, rebuilding it completely, and signing a seven-year lease—all without the use of public funds. The organization operates a 24/7 data center supporting legal teams as they manage vast collections of electronically stored information related to litigation. It designed the space to comfortably host depositions, arbitrations and videoconferences, as well as document review teams. Included in the Portland space is a full-service printing shop with scanning and coding capabilities as well as the core of the company’s software development team.
“DTI is a national organization with a local, community focus, which is why it marries so well with both Friends of Trees and the Sabin Art Program with its commitment to International Baccalaureate learning,” said Peterson.
The Sabin Art Program, while local, is unique as it furthers the International Baccalaureate (IB) focus of Sabin Elementary School. Student pieces have been hosted by art galleries around town, and are a mainstay at the NE neighborhood’s Starbucks at 15th & Fremont. IB schools focus on the development of the whole child in the classroom and in the world outside.
DTI Portland hopes more businesses in the metro area will consider partnering with local nonprofits like Friends of Trees and schools like Sabin Elementary to underscore the community spirit that makes Portland such a unique place to call home.
About DTI
DTI acquired Portland-grown Bridge City Legal in 2011, and Fios, Inc. in 2012. The Portland office consists of 120 employees who specialize in serving legal teams with e-discovery processing and hosting services. DTI is the nation’s largest independent provider of e-discovery, managed document review, facilities management, and knowledge process outsourcing. DTI serves the nation’s leading law firms and Fortune 500 corporations through its 27 highly secure service centers, located in major cities across the United States. For more information, visit DTIglobal.com.
About Friends of Trees
Friends of Trees empowers people to improve the natural world around them through a simple solution: plant trees, together. They operate in Portland, Vancouver, Eugene, Salem and surrounding areas. The Neighborhood Trees program provides homeowners with discounted trees to plant at their homes with their neighbors. Through its Green Space Initiative, trained crew leaders guide volunteers at weekend events to restore green spaces. www.friendsoftrees.org
About Sabin Art Program
The Sabin Art Program has a widely respected visual arts program that has grown and flourished under the care of Chris Lamp, a longtime Sabin Elementary School teacher. Beginning in kindergarten, students are exposed to a wide variety of styles, media and approaches. They learn sophisticated vocabulary to accurately discuss and describe their work and they use high-quality materials, which helps them respect their own efforts and see themselves as real artists. Sabin’s longstanding commitment to art has meshed smoothly with the International Baccalaureate program that values the arts equally with more traditional cores subjects like math and reading. Sabin artwork is on display all over Portland. Sabin students have had showings in City Hall and there are permanent installations at the district’s central office and the new Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel.
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