Discover the latest Oregon art news, exhibitions, gallery openings, artist opportunities, and upcoming art events in Portland, Eugene, Salem, the Oregon Coast, Bend, and throughout the state. This week’s Oregon art roundup includes a major Aboriginal Australian art exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, new photography and painting shows, public art opportunities and grants for Oregon artists, Indigenous and Latinx exhibitions in Eugene, the Salem Art Fair & Festival, and upcoming studio tours and gallery shows across Central and Eastern Oregon. Whether you’re looking for what to see this week or planning your Oregon art calendar for the months ahead, here are 15 events and opportunities worth knowing about.
Portland Metro
1. Largest-Ever North American Show of Aboriginal Australian Art, Portland – thru Jan 3, 2027
Portland Art Museum has opened “The Stars We Do Not See,” the largest exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever presented in North America and its only West Coast stop. Drawn from the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection, the show spans 147 works by more than 100 artists — from bark paintings to sound and video installation — anchored by Emily Kam Kngwarray’s monumental 9-by-27-foot root-network painting. Portland Tribune
2. A Veteran Portland Photographer’s Italy Travel Series, Portland – thru Sept 26, 2026
Christopher Rauschenberg’s newest solo show at Nine Gallery gathers photographs from a spring trip through Rome, Naples, Capri, Herculaneum, Siena, and Florence, favoring quiet architectural and street scenes over postcard views. The gallery shares a building with Blue Sky Gallery, making it an easy add to a Pearl District walk. Nine Gallery
3. New Nighttime-Themed Paintings by Hazel Miller, Portland – thru Oct 23, 2026
One Grand Gallery opens “Nocturnes,” a new body of work from painter Hazel Miller built around the moods and light of nighttime scenes, with an opening reception September 18. Portland Art Dealers Association
4. Close-Up Photography of a Portland Japanese Garden, Portland – thru Oct 26, 2026
Portland photographer Doug Rundle’s “A Second Look” fills the Garden Gallery at Portland Japanese Garden with images built from repeat visits — the small, easy-to-miss details a first glance skips past. Rundle comes from a family of photographers (an uncle worked alongside Ansel Adams) and previously served as board president of the Portland Photographers’ Forum. Portland Japanese Garden
5. Deadline to Apply for a Paid Trash-to-Art Residency, Portland – Sept 13, 2026
RACC’s GLEAN program gives five Portland-area artists months of access to the Metro Central transfer station to turn discarded materials into gallery-ready work, plus a $3,000 stipend and a share of sales from the culminating exhibition. Applicants must live in Multnomah, Washington, or Clackamas county; the residency itself runs November through March. RACC
6. Deadline for a $165,000 Public Sculpture Commission, Portland – Sept 23, 2026
RACC and Portland Parks & Recreation are seeking an artist or team to create a series of exterior sculptures for the new North Portland Aquatic Center in Northgate Park, with a budget covering design through installation. The commission is meant to reflect the Portsmouth and St. Johns neighborhoods’ working-class, Black, Indigenous, and immigrant histories. RACC
7. Application Window Opens for Portland’s General Arts Project Grant, Portland – Oct 28, 2026
The Portland Arts Project Grant is accepting applications again, funding creative work by Portland-based artists and organizations across every discipline, with a dedicated track for K-12 and underserved-community programming. The window opened September 1. RACC
Willamette Valley
8. A Career-Spanning Survey of Indigenous Artist Jeffrey Gibson, Eugene – thru Mar 7, 2027
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon opens “They Teach Love” on September 12, a survey of Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee) drawn from Jordan Schnitzer’s own collection. Its centerpiece is an immersive installation of 51 screen-printed elk-hide drums paired with wearable garments, originally made for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, shown alongside beadwork, paintings, and prints that fuse Indigenous craft with bold modernist color. JSMA
9. A Two-Artist Show on Borders and Latinx Identity, Eugene – thru Apr 11, 2027
Opening September 19 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, “Leading the Camino” pairs printmaker Juan de Dios Mora with textile artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood around themes of migration and cultural identity. Mora’s prints mix humor with imagery from luchadores to Mesoamerican symbols, while Jimenez Underwood’s woven and stitched textiles draw on her own Chicana, Mexican-American, and Indigenous heritage. JSMA
10. A 77th-Annual Outdoor Art Fair Fills Bush’s Pasture Park, Salem – Sept 11-13, 2026
More than 200 juried fine artists sell original paintings, ceramics, jewelry, and sculpture at the Salem Art Association’s Salem Art Fair & Festival, one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest, alongside live music, food carts, and hands-on activities for kids. The three-day run, kicked off by a Thursday opening-night party, draws an estimated 20,000 visitors — mark the calendar now, since it wraps up fast. Salem Art Association
Oregon Coast
11. Three Artist-Doulas Explore Death and Renewal Through Art, Astoria – thru Oct 22, 2026
Three Astoria-area artists who also work as practicing end-of-life doulas — Emma Lewis Acker, Marne Lucas, and Dardinelle Troen — bring that perspective to “Thanatopsis: Contemplations on Death, Grief, and Renewal” at Clatsop Community College’s Royal Nebeker Art Gallery. The show, opening September 21, uses collage, assemblage, sculpture, photography, and collaborative altars to sit with mortality and remembrance, with an artist reception October 15 and an end-of-life doula panel talk October 16. The Astorian
12. Fused Glass and Oil Paintings by Two North Coast Artists, Gearhart – thru Sept 27, 2026
Trail’s End Art Association’s gallery pairs Carolyn Myers Lindberg’s fused glass and sgraffito-carved ceramics with Elizabeth Roberts’ oils of Pacific Northwest landscapes and wildlife, on view Fridays through Sundays. Discover Our Coast
13. Carved Glass and Stone Art Timed to the Equinox, Seaside – thru Sept 25, 2026
Fairweather House and Gallery’s “Shadow and Light” showcases artist and designer Bobby Kolar’s carved glass and stone work exploring the balance of day and night around the fall equinox. The show debuted during Seaside’s 22nd annual First Saturday Artwalk and continues through September 25. Discover Our Coast
Eastern/Central Oregon
14. Free Self-Guided Studio Tour of a Dozen Central Oregon Artists, Bend – Sept 26-27, 2026
The third annual Bend Artists’ Studio Tour, presented by SageBrushers Art Society, opens the doors of more than a dozen Central Oregon creators for a free, self-guided weekend spanning bronze and ceramic figurative sculpture, fused glass and mosaic work, and pastel, oil, and watercolor painting, plus handmade drums. Artists will be on hand both days to talk process and materials, with a full studio map posted online ahead of time. MyCentralOregon.com
15. Eleven Artists Share a Quarter-Century-Old Collective’s Best Work, Bend – thru Dec 6, 2026
Central Oregon Community College’s Barber Library Rotunda Gallery hosts “The Best of the High Desert Art League,” a survey of paintings, prints, and mixed-media work from eleven members of the 25-year-old Bend artist collective. The show opens September 16, with a public reception September 24. KTVZ
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