IMMERSED IN
Art THE LOBBY AT THE ELLEN BROWNING BUILDING
From your neighborhood library to the beautifully remodeled Portland International Airport, the littlest Portlanders and their grown-ups can bask in engaging art exhibits from a range of artists. BY SARAH CARPENTER
In the constant churn of taking care of kids, it’s easy to forget that there is art out there in the world to appreciate. Yeah, you appreciate your kids’ marker, glitter glue and paint masterpieces. But going out to see art in the wild reminds us just how talented and consummately unique humans can be. And the best part? It’s like a magical soup for the soul that everyone in the family can find appetizing.
RANJANI SHETTAR Morning Song at The Lobby at the Ellen Browning Building
MARIO GALLUCCI
Note: All exhibits are free and open to the public, excluding the terminal side of Yoonhee Choi’s glass installation, which requires going through airport security.
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April 2025
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Ranjani Shettar, based in Karnataka, India, has her first exhibition in Portland. Her monumental wall installation titled Morning Song, is located in The Lobby at the Ellen Browning Building and is part of the “Breathing. Room” exhibit. The wood pegs in her work, which look sort of like golf tees balancing pearls on top, vary in angle and scale, and are arranged along the wall in a flowing swarm. Curator Sima Familant says when the middle school nearby visited the exhibit, the students were fascinated. They noted the shadows the sculpture casts, and some felt like the sculpture was moving. “When I’m creating something in my studio, I’m constantly going around them … I am moving and because I’m going around the sculpture, the sculptures get that movement in them, and in turn they make the audience go around them,” Shettar says. Shettar remembers marveling at the luster of the lacquered toys she had as a child and wondering how it was made. She worked with local Indian toymakers to make the pegs according to her design. Each of the 3,000 pegs was individually shaped.