Event / 2018

Melody Owen, River Report: Ships Make Promises

September 6 – September 16, 2018

Free and open to the public
Friday–Sunday, 3–7pm
First Thursday hours: September 6, 3-8pm
Centennial Mills, 1362 NW Naito Parkway

Converge 45 presents “River Report: ships make promises”, an exhibition of photographs by Northwest artist Melody Owen on the Centennial Mills site, in an adjoining building to the Ann Hamilton “habitus” installation in the Centennial Mills pavillion.

Based in Portland, Owen once occupied a studio building with other regional artists for many years in an old fire boat station, which they referred to as The Boat House, located directly across from Centennial Mills. From this vantage point, Owen was an ardent observer of the Willamette River, carefully examining all the birds, animal life and most boisterous in presence, the ships and traffic of the river. Groupings of images portray the sterns of these seafaring ships amongst the natural activity of the river during the early morning or evening light.

About the Artist

A 2007 graduate of the MFA program at Alfred University, Melody Owen’s variety of projects are indicative of her creative methods and the importance of her day-to-day experiences to her artistic practice, which is often developed and enriched through travel and residencies. She has participated in several international programs, including the the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France, the Gil-society in Akureyri, Iceland, and the Est-Nord-Est Residency in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Canada. In 2009 she was artist-in-residence at Gaestatelier Krone, Aarau, Switzerland, funded in part by the Oregon Arts Commission. Owen’s work is highly regarded by curators in the region, as well as by artists and curators nationally and internationally. In 2010 she was the subject of a major exhibition at the Art Gym at Marylhurst University (Marylhurst, OR), and was included in the 2010 Portland Biennial. Melody has exhibited at such locations as the Royal College of Art (London, England), Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College (Memphis, TN), Spoonbill and Sugartown (Brooklyn, NY), Bellevue Art Museum (Bellevue, WA), the Art Gym at Marylhurst University (Marylhurst, OR) and the Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR).