The Downtown Portland Gallery is gradually becoming a free artist collective

Any space can be an art gallery, from empty malls and shipping containers to digital works projected onto buildings or bridges. While it’s been great to see galleries popping up on the east side of the city, it’s a refreshing sense of normality to see spaces popping up downtown, like after/time, an artist-run gallery and seven-person collective that Retail space on the ground floor of a parking lot occupied garage opposite the northwest corner of Director Park.

After/time is described as an “artist-run gallery and experimental curatorial platform” and opened in April 2021. It hosted exhibitions, hosted artist talks and readings, and facilitated artist-led panels and special events. The company participated in Oregon Contemporary’s form.a, an annual art press fair, and had a booth at the Seattle Art Fair in July along with major Portland players including PDX Contemporary Art and J. Pepin Art Gallery.

After/time’s origins date back to 2017, when it was known as the Third Room, a second-floor space above a dive bar near the Lloyd Center. The third room hosted exhibitions, performances and a critique group for graduates of local art schools. The space functioned as a “third space” for artists connecting with the local scene. Todd Molinari, a local artist and Third Room exhibitor, stayed here while other members moved on to other projects. He continued that collective’s legacy when Third Room officially closed in February 2021. With Molinari at the helm and with help from Prosper Portland and the Portland Bureau of Transportation, after/time moved into its current space.

After/time does not charge membership fees and charges a relatively small sales commission, instead relying on philanthropic grants to cover the collective’s overhead costs. Molinari wants to strengthen the collective ethos. Members want to continue hosting political exhibitions, such as last year’s Abolitionist Show, which sold out works by current and formerly incarcerated artists. Molinari sees the successor to a “utopia model” in which art and artists are the lifeblood of society.

“I see our gallery as a launching pad for artists to go further,” says Molinari.

Orquidia Violeta was a guest at her textile exhibition in the gallery Chalecos Protector On a balmy Saturday afternoon, she offered a personal tour of the 16 protective vests she has designed since 2020, which are on view through November 2nd. The vests are displayed on four-headed wooden armatures sculpted by Aaron Kuehn, the artist’s partner, and where a description of the vest is placed a face might disappear.

Vulnerability is palpable in the room. One vest, an orange-lined patchwork vest with wooden buttons, honors the artist’s mother, Reina. Another one with the title Lesión Cerebral (brain injury) It was about a stroke that she survived while pregnant with her son. For Violeta, vulnerability is nothing more than an additional medium, such as thread or paint, to work with. The show’s somewhat heavy tone is punctuated by more lighthearted moments, such as a long blue vest covered in fabric petals that the artist wore on her birthday (her professional name translates to “purple orchid”) and one with a simple title Esperanza (Hope).

“Exposing vulnerabilities allows us to reflect on the difficult times we all face, look at them, talk about them, and ultimately use them as a source of strength,” she says.

Violeta’s choice of materials is as deliberate as it is imaginative. She reclaims fabric and upholstery scraps to sew vests together, highlighting the urgency of the fashion industry’s environmental impact. After attending the for-profit Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles in 1996 and working in the LA garment industry for six years, Violeta’s practice is steeped in the garment industry’s notorious waste, which is often hidden from the public eye.

This material choice adds an extra layer of protection to the inherently defensive nature of vests: think neon orange high-visibility vests or bulletproof vests designed to protect the wearer’s heart and other vital organs. In the pockets of some vests were items for further protection: a bundle of sage in one and live pothos plants in another.

“Woven remnants from Oaxaca, knits from Nike, fabrics from friends, all carry history and meaning in their fibers,” she says.

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SEE IT: Chalecos Protector by Orquida Violeta at After/Time Collective Gallery, 735 SW 9th Ave., #110, aftertimecollective.com. Tuesday and Thursday 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.