Need something else interesting and free to do next week? Next Wednesday, Chas Bowie will present a lecture at PNCA.
In Gloomy Skies Make Great Softboxes, Portland art critic Chas Bowie surveys the state of contemporary Northwest photography, assessing the work of many regional artists who are actively cultivating new photographic idioms and avenues of exploration.
The Pacific Northwest has a longstanding and multi-faceted engagement with photography, as evidenced in part by the legacy of Portland’s Blue Sky Gallery; Seattle’s acclaimed Monsen Collection; and Vancouver BC’s concentration of noted “photoconceptualists.” These disparate traditions are not only well-documented, but markedly at odds with one another, rendering any Northwest photography “scene” more compartmentalized than unified.
As the demographic makeup of the Northwest shifts, however, so too does the application of photography in the fine arts. Gloomy Skies Make Great Softboxes demonstrates how emerging artists such as Isaac Layman (Seattle), Andrew O’Brien (Eugene), and Holly Andres (Portland) are transcending regional aesthetic trends and moving toward an increasingly progressive and critical mode of image-making. 
“One Day I Will Learn How to Build Things”, by Fred Muram. 2008. Courtesy the artist and Howard House, Seattle.
“Bookcase” by Isaac Layman. 2006. Courtesy the artist and Lawrimore Project, Seattle.