Museums, Portland

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The Portland Art Museum was founded in 1892, which makes it the oldest art museum on the West Coast. Although its collection was rather small at first, the museum soon gained popularity thanks to the different exhibitions that were organized to bring European paintings to the western US for the very first time. All the profits made with these early exhibitions went into the museum's collection, which has now grown to include over 42,000 objects presented in two buildings.

The museum has an interesting Asian art collection, but I must admit that I walked rather quickly through it. The European art collection is on the small side, but I enjoyed reading the detailed explanations next to each painting. On the other hand, the American painting collection is quite extensive, and it features several works by Northwest and Native American artists. If you didn't manage to get a clear view of Mount Hood during your stay in Portland, then at least you'll have a chance to see it at the museum since it's the star of several paintings. Of course, Pacific Northwest artist Dale Chihuly is also represented by one of his magnificient glassblown sculptures called "L'Arbre rouge" (the red tree).

Even if I'm not a big fan, I thought the museum's contemporary and modern art collection was quite interesting to see. But without a doubt, the highlight of my visit was that I got a chance to see Thomas Moran's fabulous painting "Shoshone Falls on the Snake River" - I completely lost track of time as I sat there looking at this gigantic landscape that happened to be on loan from Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum. That painting alone was worth the price of admission ($12)!

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This is rather like San Francisco's Exploratorium, but with some other elements. It has many hands-on science and similar activities, plus displays of moon rocks, meteorites, crystals, animals, a planetarium, and more. It also has the submarine USS Blueback, docked in the river, which one can tour. The place also has nice views across the river to downtown.

The place is great for kids and adults.

If you are looking for the unusual or offbeat experience, this is the place. A museum dedicated to the art of velvet paintings. They have a blacklight room, nudes, celebrity portraits and more. Check out their website for the latest updates, velveteria.com. A must see in my book!

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There are a number of permanent exhibits and artifacts in the Portland art museum that are worthy of note, including a fine set of Native American works - some of which predate the concept of art museums. There are also several halls that feature traveling exhibits. In the past this has included treasures of ancient Egypt, rare collections from Russia, and ancient Chinese works.

As there are several halls (and indeed several buildings) that contain the traveling exhibit space, several of these traveling shows can visit at the same time.

Therefore, it always pays to check the web site to see what happens to be at the museum. If you are paying to enter the museum to see just one show, you might as well wander around a bit and see some of the other shows and/or some of the permanent items.

PLEASE NOTE: The museum is always closed on Mondays.

Photography within the museum is specifically prohibited. Therefore, all of my photos are of the exterior features and artwork of the building.

In fairly recent times, the museum purchased the huge Masonic Temple next door, and expanded into the new space, which is now called the Mark Building. Between the two structures is now a courtyard referred to as the Fred Meyer Plaza. The plaza has a number of art objects in it, mostly fairly modern sculptures.

The Portland Streetcar operates northbound on the street directly west of the museum (southbound cars use the next street to the west from there), and there is even a Portland Streetcar station called Art Museum. While it is somewhat convenient, the museum is designed to face the South Park Blocks, and therefore the back of the museum faces the streetcar stop. This leads to a fairly unattractive station, as can be seen in the photo.

If you are interested in art, and the rain isn't too heavy, pay a visit to the several sculptures outside the museum, as well as those on the South Park Blocks which are located right outside the museum's front door. The Giant Salmon through the Building sculpture, across the street from the northwest corner of the South Park Blocks, is particularly unusual.

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Located on the South Park Blocks the Oregon Historical Society and Museum and Bookstore is located across the park blocks from the Portland Art Museum.

The museum has items of interest that are both long term displays as well as several locations that are set aside for short term displays of special exhibits.

The bookstore is good enough to require its own shopping tip entry, as it is one of the best places to find Oregon specific and Portland specific memorabilia (postcards, books, and various small items).

Currently on display in the OHS lobby is a one of a kind automobile: a Benson, which originally was supposed to be the first of a production run of automobiles made in Portland. The company never went that far, but here is what it might have been.

Downstairs, near the restrooms, is a photo display of certain historic buildings in Oregon. This area is easy to miss, but every inch of the museum is used to provide some sort of historic information about Oregon.

As the exhibits change on a fairly regular basis, I would suggest checking the web site under the "Exhibits" section to see if you are particularly interested in the current display.

The Portland Art Museum is located downtown and has a wonderful schedule of events. Recently, I saw its "Hesse, A Princely German Collection" which has beautiful paintings, including a Holbein and Winterhalters, and 3 stunning diamond tiaras belonging to the Hesse family. Its next big event is "The Quest for Immortality, Treasures of Ancient Egypt " which will be on exhibition from Nov. 5, 2006 through March 4, 2007.

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry...or OMSI, as it's known around town.

If you've got kids, OMSI is a fun educational experience. Their exhibits are forever changing from things like robotic dinosaurs to creepy crawlies (would you handle a centipede from the Amazon?) to things like the human body (how do germs get in your nose?) and other neat things all displayed for children to understand. It's a hands on approach too...you can touch mostly anything you dare.

OMSI is also the home to the USS Blueback submarine, which was featured in the move The Hunt for Red October. Submarine tours are seperate from the rest of the museum and technical tours are offered once a month. http://www.omsi.edu/visit/submarine/

There is also a planetarium and an IMAX projection theater. You can also catch a laser light show in the planetarium.

A hidden jewel in Portland is Kidd's Toy Museum. One man's collection of over 10,000 toys -- toy cars, trains, banks, dolls, and railroad memorabelia to name a few.

Open M-F 9 - 5:30; (most) Saturdays 9:-1:00.

And best of all, it's FREE!