Congratulations to the 2022 Pacific Northwest Drawers Artists

Blue Sky, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, is pleased to announce that 58 artists have been selected for the 2022 Pacific Northwest Drawers (PNW Drawers) exhibition, each showcasing a series of 10 photographic works. The prints will be available for viewing in the PNW Drawers flat files at Blue Sky and on the Blue Sky website, from April 2022 through March 2023. The represented photographs showcase the range and vibrancy of Pacific Northwest artists working in the photographic medium.

Opening Reception

An opening reception will be held at Blue Sky on Friday, April 8, from 5 - 7 PM.

Much of the work is for sale, available at Blue Sky and for the first time directly on the Blue Sky website. Proceeds from the sales are split evenly between the artists and Blue Sky, a non-profit organization that has been a keystone for Portland’s photo community since 1975.

You can also view the premiere on Youtube at 5 PM on Friday, April 8.

Expanding Visibility of Regional Artists

The Pacific Northwest Drawers originated in 2007 to expand the visibility of regional photographers. Each year Blue Sky invites artists from Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington to apply. The call opens in late fall and artists are selected in early winter. The prints remain at Blue Sky for a full year, and indefinitely on the Blue Sky website.

The 2022 cohort comprises a strong showing from Blue Sky’s home state, with 41 artists from Oregon. Other artists hail from Washington (15), one artist from Idaho, and one from Montana. The photography includes lens-based work and alternative processes, and comprises a range of themes such as personal narrative, mining the archive, collective memory, isolation and loss, climate justice, among other topics.

The PNW Drawers is largely supported by a generous grant from the Kinsman Foundation.

The 2022 Artists

Blue Sky received a record number of submissions for its 15th iteration of the PNW Drawers. The exhibition was juried by Portland-based artist and educator Dru Donovan, and New York-based artist and curator Efrem Zelony-Mindell.

Jonathan Bagby • Candace Biggerstaff • Nika Blasser • Heather Boyd • Carolyn Kay Chema • Daniel Ciochina • Meghan Crandall • Elisabeth Dare • Misha Davydov • Danielle Dean • Dennis DeHart • Lucas DeShazer • Marico Fayre • Jon Feinstein • Kevin Fletcher • John Francis • David Frazier • Ebenezer Galluzzo • Conner Gordon • Lauren Grabelle • Tyler Green • Darwin Grey • Anna Guyton • Mick Hangland-Skill • Megan Hansen • Justine Highsmith • Kristy Hruska • Melinda Hurst Frye • Natalie Jenks • John Kane • Tom Kay • John Kirkley • Cheston Knapp • Zachary Krahmer • Laura Kurtenbach • Cole Lalomia • Adam Long • Brad Messinger • Loren Nelson • Chris Nesseth • Janet Neuhauser • Angel O'Brien • Jody Poorwill • Matthew Ragen • Michael Raines • Stan Raucher • Thibault Roland • Isaac Sachs • Darcie Sternenberg • Sharon Swanson • Jocelle Rosano • Andrew Thomas • Sandra Ullmann • Kelda Van Patten • Alice Christine Walker • Eric Walker • Marjorie Williams • Sky Wilson

The 2022 Jurors

Dru Donovan works with both photography and video to examine the connection between physical and emotional occurrences by constructing or revisiting human experiences. Donovan’s work has shown nationally and internationally and was included in reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, Fraenkel Gallery, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Williamson Knight Gallery and Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. Donovan’s photographs were published in Aperture Magazine, Blind Spot, Picture Magazine and Matte Magazine. In 2011 TBW Books published her first book, Lifting Water. In 2011-2012 she participated in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace studio residency. Awards Donovan has received are the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship in 2015 and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 2016.

Efrem Zelony-Mindell is a white non-binary artist. Some of their curatorial endeavors include group shows: n e w f l e s h, Are You Loathsome, and This Is Not Here. They have written about art for FOAM, Unseen, DEAR DAVE, SPOT, and essays for artists’ monographs. Their first book n e w f l e s h (2019), published by Gnomic Book and shortlisted for the Paris Photo Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Award 2020, looks to study queerness beyond the body . Efrem's second book Primal Sight (2021), also published by Gnomic Book, is a survey of contemporary black-and-white photography and includes the work of 146 international artists. Their third, self published, book Witness (2021) acts as a small step into the direction of a world cognizant of the values of critical race and gender theory by focusing on the works of 64 BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists. These books are in over 50 libraries and archives around the world. Efrem exists in New York, unless they're elsewhere.