RACC Press Releases
August 2 , 2006
Hidden Acts: Balancing Truths at the Portland Building
August 21 – September 15, 2006
The Regional Arts & Culture Council presents the installation, Hidden Acts: Balancing Truths, by Portland artist Rachel J. Siegel in the Portland Building Installation Space, August 21-September 15, 2006. The Portland Building, located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue, is open to the public from 7am - 6pm, Monday through Friday. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, September 7th, 4-6pm, in the Portland Building lobby.
Hidden Acts: Balancing Truths is an installation that addresses secrets (“truths”) kept in families and was inspired by responses received from a previous installation that pieced together the buried narrative of her grandmother’s life. Examining the “truths” (the unrecorded history) is important to people’s lives and for collective healing. For change to occur, the truth must be mined. With Hidden Acts: Balancing Truths, the artist hopes to provide a place for that dialogue to start.
Two dresses of human scale hang on pulleys (one white and the other black). The white one rests near the ground while the black hangs above. When the viewer activates the installation, the dresses can change positions. The contents hidden under the white dress (the “truths” or family stories) will be revealed when it is hoisted up. Over the run of the installation community members will have an opportunity to offer their stories anonymously (as a confessional) left on small slips of cloth to hang inside the white dress. The families “truths” will build-up the installation over the month and possibly add up enough to change the balance.
Background
Rachel J. Siegel is an artist and educator who currently lives, teaches and makes art in Portland, Oregon. She uses autobiography and personal stories to explore social and political concerns as well as feminist themes, in much the same way that Second Wave Feminists used the personal to address patriarchal power structures. Her current work incorporates sewing and constructing fabric sculptures as well as using digital technology, artists’ books, video, and installation work. In her art she often weaves together multiple interests using humor and playfulness to investigate issues that are significant to her including women’s healthcare, the representation of the female body, family and interpersonal relationships.
She was born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree at University of California, Berkeley. In 2002, she completed a Master of Fine Arts at University of Buffalo, State University New York. During the five years she lived and worked in Western New York she exhibited her work regionally at the Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester Contemporary, Hall Walls Contemporary Art Center, and the Carnegie Art Center. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including in Japan, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and Canada. Last fall, Rachel exhibited a solo installation, Seam-Sew Ordinary, at the University of Washington, Tacoma Campus Gallery. She teaches photography and digital media at Mt Hood Community College, Pacific Northwest College of Art and occasionally at other regional institutions.
Sponsored by the Regional Arts & Culture Council since 1994, the Installation Art Series at the Portland Building invites the general public to re-examine its expectations and definitions of art, encourage dialogue about the role of art in public spaces, and provide artists with alternative exhibition space for their work. Artists featured through 2006 include Adam Kuby, September 25-October 20; Rhoda London, October 30-November 24; all the art that fits: City/County employee art exhibit, December 1-January 5, 2007; Carolina Aragon, January 15-February 9, 2007; Susan Gladstone, February 19-March 16, 2007.
Through vision, leadership and service the Regional Arts
& Culture Council works to integrate arts and culture in all aspects of
community life.
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Jeff Hawthorne
Director of Community Affairs
503.823.5258
jhawthorne@racc.org
Mary Bauer
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503.823.5426
mbauer@racc.org
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