Alberta Commons
Community Hour

Tuesday, December 6th
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

The Portland Development Commission (PDC) and the Regional Arts & Cultural Council (RACC)
invite you to a Community Hour
to celebrate the start of construction of Alberta Commons and to meet the artists who will create public artwork for the project.

Refreshments Provided

Alberta Commons is the Natural Grocers-anchored project at the intersection of NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and NE Alberta Street. The project is expected to break ground this month and be completed in fall 2017. Members of the project team and PDC staff will provide updates on the construction schedule, the community benefits agreement, and the tenanting plan for the non-anchor space.

Two public artworks will be included on the building occupied by Natural Grocers. Meet the two artists selected for this work, see their past work, view their design concepts, hear what inspired their work, and share with each artist what you envision their artwork will express about your community.

• Portland artist Arvie Smith creates beautiful paintings with luscious glowing color and fluid brushwork. Smith has had a distinguished teaching career and is professor emeritus at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland where he taught since the mid-‘80s.  Since 1998, he has traveled extensively through Ghana, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso, West Africa. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Portland, and he currently has an exhibit at the Portland Art Museum’s APEX Gallery.
• Mehran Heard’s drawings are intricate, energetic and colorful compositions that combine bold figurative work with imaginative imagery. He has created chalk murals, illustrations for corporate clients, skateboard designs, and album cover art and most recently had his work included in a group show in Sapporo, Japan. In 2015, Mehran collaborated with artist Jeremy Nichols on the Black United Fund mural that celebrates black women in history who have laid the groundwork for racial equality.