O82 Art Crew

Date: 2020 - present
Location: Orchards of 82nd, East Portland
Current Collaborators: Vanessa Coleman, Omar Feluzi, Mckenzie Hatton, Takaaki Okada, Christian Orellana Bauer, Qi You

Present

As APANO leads the efforts of transforming the Canton Grill site to a mixed housing/community space, the O82 art crew is developing a memorial to honor the legacy of the historic restaurant. Our memorialization efforts are ongoing and include community engagement, input, and collaboration through art making, story sharing, and discussion. Ultimately, these activities will inform a proposal that will be incorporated into the finalized plans for the new space.

History

APANO organizes the O82 Art Crew at Orchards of 82nd (O82), a mixed-used affordable apartment building co-owned by APANO and ROSE Community Development Corporation (CDC). The Crew was formed out of the recommendations from community members and neighbors through the Orchards of 82nd Art Plan, Living Culture: Past, Present, and Future, produced by then Cultural Work Coordinator, Roshani Thakore. The Crew has been evolving since 2020 with past and present members overlapping and redefining the shape and structure of the crew as new projects arise.

Generally, the goal of the Crew is to engage in collaborative and intentional creative actions that consider the question of how art and culture can be integrated into daily life as tools for placemaking and social change. The primary site the Crew uses is the O82 lobby for exhibitions and activities. Other sites have included APANO restrooms, the O82 playground, lobby, hallways in the building, the former parking lot of the Canton Grill, social media, and the internet. Research, engagement, and production are the main areas of practice for the Crew.

As a mixed-race group, the Committee centers the experiences, wants, and needs of BIPOC, residents and neighbors of O82 and values the volunteer efforts from White Allies and Partners. The Crew is committed to long-term work because of the importance of stability and dependability working with populations who have been intentionally disenfranchised. Labor and tasks are distributed between members as individual capacity allows and the Crew meets consistently once a week for about 2hrs with additional work sessions scheduled as needed.

The exhibitions and projects produced by the Crew center the issues and topics that matter the most to the site and context of O82 and the Jade District. Each project includes engagement and involvement from residents, neighbors, and community members. 

Contact and Organizational Support

If you would like to get involved or learn more about the current project the crew is available via instagram @cantongrillmemorial or email at cantongrillmemorial@gmail.com

The O82 Art Crew has been supported by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Oregon Community Foundation, the Oregon Cultural Trust, Metro, and the Mellon Foundation.

Previous Exhibitions

Safety We Create, a collaborative pop-up exhibition co-developed with the O82 Art Crew and community members focused on the question of community safety in the context of the Jade District and supported by the Metro 2040 Planning and Development Grant

This IS Kalapuyan Land an exhibition focusing on Indigenous history in partnership with Five Oaks Museum

We Are Still Here, an exhibition featuring work by currently and formerly incarcerated artists in partnership with Rosewood Initiative, Black and Pink PDX, All Rise Magazine, Liberation Literacy, and Black Community of Portland

I Am Home…, a portrait exhibition featuring residents of Orchards of 82nd.

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