• Program
  • People
  • Publications
  • SoFA Journal
  • Assembly
  • Apply
Master of Fine Arts in
Contemporary Art Practices at
Portland State University
This past weekend we gathered for our Annual Progr This past weekend we gathered for our Annual Program Retreat and launched into our in-person school year! Our group camp out in the Columbia River Gorge included a group hike, meals, ghost stories, t-shirt making, team building exercises, scavenger hunts, Dinner Theatre, and a weekend spent getting to know one another better. ✨ Let the 21-22 school year begin! 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Two projects by program students were included as Two projects by program students were included as the Best of Portland by @willametteweek! The Living School of Art project by Amanda Leigh Evans (class of 2016) is in the “Best Places” category and current student Laura Glazer’s Agnes Varda Forever project with Jennifer “JJ” Jones is in the “Best Ideas” category. Read the full articles on their accounts @amandaleighevans @livingschoolart @helloprettycity #agnesvardaforever
First pic: Three wonderful people above @publicwon First pic: Three wonderful people above @publicwonderer @lisanicolejarrett @harrell_fletcher • second pic: Class of 2021 • Thank you everyone for your support and love over the years. We will treasure these moments for forever in this very special MFA program. Signed, @briandthesea @zeroprocess @_nolanhanson @emmaduehrmitchell @gabrielrey4 ~~~ sea u around 🐰🏄🏾🏄🏽‍♀️🏄🏿🏄🏼‍♀️🏄🏻🏄🏿‍♀️🐰🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊shred forever #vaccine
So much love and magic in our double whammy gradua So much love and magic in our double whammy graduation ceremony for old farts class of 2020 (who never got a ceremony last year) and freshly minted class of 2021!!! Congratulations @tiakramer @michaelstevensonjr @roshanithakore @zephxfish @ericjohnolson + @_nolanhanson @zeroprocess @briandthesea @gabrielrey4 @emmaduehrmitchell, with big thanks to mentors and guides @publicwonderer @harrell_fletcher @lisanicolejarrett !!! The A+SP program has a tradition of graduation ceremonies with sashes thoughtfully handmade by fellow students. May you graduates shine on ✨
As sᴇᴇɴ ᴏɴ Assᴇᴍʙʟʏ TV: A Field Gu As sᴇᴇɴ ᴏɴ Assᴇᴍʙʟʏ TV: A Field Guide to a Crisis, @justinmeadmaxon’s ongoing collaborative project with people in recovery about creative coping skills. 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡? 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑟𝑢𝑛! All the events from this year’s Assembly conference are available on the Art & Social Practice youtube forevermore. You can find that link in our bio 📺
•••••••••••••••••• 𝑌𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝐴𝑆𝑆𝐸𝑀𝐵𝐿𝑌 𝑇𝑉 Shopping spree at the Voice Mall 🛍🗣 with @jennifervanilla & friends ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Tune in TODAY 12-6pm PST for our LAST DAY of 𝐴𝑆𝑆𝐸𝑀𝐵𝐿𝑌 𝑇𝑉! Zᴏᴏᴍ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜᴛᴜʙᴇ ʟɪɴᴋs ɪɴ ʙɪᴏ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 𝐶𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑! Every event from Assembly 2021 is archived on our YouTube channel (link in bio).
•••••••••••••••••• 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔𝑏𝑡’𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 from Diana Marcela Cuartas’ (@cereza699 ) meme workshop ………………………………………… For the all social practice heads out there, these memes are for you ;) ………………………………………… ASSEMBLY continues today!! Tᴜɴᴇ ɪɴ 12-6ᴘᴍ PST ᴏɴ ᴢᴏᴏᴍ ᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜᴛᴜʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ғɪɴᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴs ɴᴇxᴛ… on 𝐴𝑆𝑆𝐸𝑀𝐵𝐿𝑌 𝑇𝑉 📺 Links in bio 🐯🧩🐨
•••••••••••••••••• 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝐴𝑆𝑆𝐸𝑀𝐵𝐿𝑌 𝑇𝑉 Rita Glazer (Assembly attendee and student Laura Glazer’s mom) shows us her thriving potted plant at the @peoplesplantmuseum Plant Show and Tell 🪴 Plus, we facetimed with some sheep. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens NEXT on 𝐴𝑆𝑆𝐸𝑀𝐵𝐿𝑌 𝑇𝑉. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Eᴠᴇʀʏ ᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴇᴇᴋ 12ᴘᴍ-6ᴘᴍ ᴘᴛ / 3ᴘᴍ-9ᴘᴍ ᴇᴛ Lɪɴᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴏɪɴ ɪɴ ʙɪᴏ And if you missed any of the events today, head over to our YouTube channel (in our bio) for the reruns!
•••••••••••••••••• 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝐴𝑆𝑆𝐸𝑀𝐵𝐿𝑌 𝑇𝑉 Caryn Aasness GETS PIED 🥧 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1𝑠𝑡 day of the conference was a smash. Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens NEXT on 𝐴𝑆𝑆𝐸𝑀𝐵𝐿𝑌 𝑇𝑉. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Eᴠᴇʀʏ ᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴇᴇᴋ 12ᴘᴍ-6ᴘᴍ ᴘᴛ / 3ᴘᴍ-9ᴘᴍ ᴇᴛ Lɪɴᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴊᴏɪɴ ɪɴ ʙɪᴏ And if you missed any of the events today, head over to our YouTube channel (in our bio) for the reruns!
🔎🔎🔎🔎🔎🔎🔎 🔎📌🔍📌🔎📌🔍📌 📌 DAILY SCHEDULE 🔎 🔎 for Assembly TV 🔍 📌📌📌📌📌📌📌📌 Links to join in bio
What does social practice look like? Find out toda What does social practice look like? Find out today, and every other day this week, at our *free* Art & Social Practice conference, 🌍 ASSEMBLY TV! 🌎 👀 W A T C H live on zoom and youtube Monday June 7 through Friday June 11 👀 Starts at 12pm PST each day and goes to 6pm PST. Links in bio. Scope our Highlights for the schedule and event listings 🍿 SEE YOU AT ASSEMBLY!
It’s here - the Spring issue of Conversations on It’s here - the Spring issue of Conversations on Everything: SoFA Journal, featuring the $100 Project series! 💸✨💸✨💸✨ In Spring 2021, Portland State University Art & Social Practice MFA students were each given $100 to commission someone to do something, anything. Projects created include: buying candy for an entire elementary school (@emmasprojectarchive ); developing an AGNES VARDA FOREVER poster project (@helloprettycity - and now Portland OR has the most people in the US searching for Agnes Varda on Google); retroactively compensating for a minute of building Black excellence (@justinmeadmaxon); taking a nostalgic driving tour around Bed Stuy, Brooklyn (@_nolanhanson @_coachcarl); paying an anonymous woman surfer to go surfing for a week (@briandthesea); looking for a busking family in mall parking lots (@momobirdie).
 For this issue, students interview those they commissioned, and editor @saltythunder13 chats with program director @harrell_fletcher, who commissioned the commissions. He talks about this unusual class assignment, its multiplier effect, shared authorship, the creativity that can emerge from limited resources, and how a fixed multiplayer framework facilitates the appreciation of diverse expression. READ IT AT psusocialpractice.org/journal ! And tune in to the final program of this year’s Assembly - June 11, 5pm PST - for a presentation of these projects! Info at psusocialpractice.org/assembly 🪐🪐🪐 Copyediting- @jennifervanilla Web- @emmasprojectarchive 🎉
😸🙀😽😿😾😹😼😺😹😾😸😸🙀😽😿😾😹😼😺 🍟🍟𝘼𝙎𝙎𝙀𝙈𝘽𝙇𝙔 𝙁𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙀🍟🍟 😸🙀😽😿😾😹😼😺😹😾😸 𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗠𝗘MES with Diana Marcela Cuartas (@cereza699) After more than a year living in “unprecedented times” and political turmoil, surviving a global pandemic, wildfires, snowstorms, and work from home. Finally, it is time to gather and process. Pandememes is a space for study, creation, and collective reflection on what the pandemic brought to our lives, using the most accessible coping mechanism we have on our hands: MEMES! Diana Marcela Cuartas (she/her) is a Colombian artist and 1st-year student in the Art and Social Practice program at Portland State University. In 2019, she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she has been working independently for the promotion and exchange between Pacific Northwest and Latin American artists. Diana was raised watching Peruvian TV from her home in Cali, Colombia, which allowed her to expand her knowledge about US 90’s popular culture, Mexican telenovelas, and Japanese Anime. She loves watching The Simpsons (Seasons 1 to 8), and other TV classics like The Twilight Zone and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. She used to manage a Facebook meme account about the Colombian art scene, creating original content and encouraging other critical minds to generate fresh memes too. Join Diana on Wednesday June 9 at 5pm PST for PANDEMES 😺 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗟𝗬 𝗧𝗩! Register in our bio.
Check out third year Carlos Reynoso and his Partne Check out third year Carlos Reynoso and his Partner Abram Bañuelos article on their taqueria and socially engaged art project Mis Tacones. ♥️♥️♥️ Link to full article in their instagram bio ♥️♥️♥️ For more information on Carlos’s work check out his Graduate Lecture Familia y Payasos on 6/7/21 at Assembly at 3pm @mistaconespdx #queerart#taqueria#sociallyengagedart#poc#community#abrazos
PSU MFA 2021 GRADUATE LECTURES as a part of 📺📡 ⚡️ASSEMBLY TV ⚡️📡📺 June 7-11, 2021 3pm-4pm PST / 6pm-7pm EST Free and open to the public. Register link in bio 😃 SEE YOU THERE 👀 Monday - @gabrielrey4 Tuesday - @zeroprocess Wednesday - @_nolanhanson Thursday - @emmasprojectarchive Friday - @briandthesea
🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍 🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠 🏍🧠🏍 🧠Ă̈S̆̈S̆̈Ĕ̈M̆̈B̆̈L̆̈Y̆̈ F̆̈Ĕ̈Ă̈T̆̈Ŭ̈R̆̈Ĕ̈ 🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍 🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠🏍🧠 𝘼𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙮: 𝘼 𝙊𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙬 Aasembly, presented by Caryn Aasness (@levelyellowproblemchild), is a performance by a brain and its worms. You are invited into the artist’s head and welcome to leave at any time. We will be sifting through notebooks to determine what ideas are worth pursuing and which have already been done. Special guests include: Anxiety, A Dog Candle, Google, Childhood and more! Join Caryn on Mon June 7 at 5pm PST 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝘼𝙎𝙎𝙀𝙈𝘽𝙇𝙔 𝙏𝙑.
〰️📖〰️📖〰️📖〰️ 📺🔴📺🔴📺🔴📺🔴📺🔴 👨🏽‍🦱👩🏻‍🦱👨🏼👩🏾‍🦱👱🏼🧑🏻‍🦱👩🏼‍🦰👨🏽‍🦱👩🏻‍🦱👨🏼 It’s the ASSEMBLY TV GUIDE! 👨🏽‍🦱👩🏻‍🦱👨🏼👩🏾‍🦱👱🏼🧑🏻‍🦱👩🏼‍🦰👨🏽‍🦱👩🏻‍🦱👨🏼 📺🔴📺🔴📺🔴📺🔴📺🔴 Everything you need and want to know about our art and social practice conference ASSEMBLY 2021 is in this little book: event listings, the daily schedules, a social practice word search, even social practice-themed horoscopes! ♏️ Let Assembly TV Guide be YOUR guide 〰️ Check out the digital version in our highlights 👀 And remember to register in the link in our bio ✔️ See you next week June 7-11, 12pm-5pm PST 😃 Designed by Laura Glazer (@helloprettycity) and Mo Geiger (@momobirdie) Cover illustrations by Shelbie Loomis (@shelbieloomis)
Hello! I’m @helloprettycity and I am a first yea Hello! I’m @helloprettycity and I am a first year student in the MFA program. A few months ago each of us was given $100 to commission someone to do something…anything. I used the money to commission my friend, JJ, to continue her Agnes Varda Forever project. Together we designed a poster that she printed and hung up all over Portland and beyond. We kept our identities anonymous for as long as we could and today we publicly revealed ourselves as the people behind the posters!    Today would’ve been the 93rd birthday of Agnes Varda and to celebrate we chatted with Alison from the @hollywoodtheatr about the posters and our admiration for the grandmother of the French New Wave. (You can watch it on the @hollywoodtheatr’s IGTV tab.) #agnesvardaforever
👥 ASSEMBLY TV! 👥 Our online Art & Social Pra 👥 ASSEMBLY TV! 👥 Our online Art & Social Practice Confefence • June 7-11, 12-6pm PT/3-9pm ET • FREE 👍 Featuring 🐰 Bunny Reunion and Tour with Brianna Ortega (@briandthesea) 🖍 Place Biographies, a sign making workshop with Laura Glazer (@helloprettycity) & Jordan Rosenblum (@zeroprocess) 🤡 Familia y Payasos, Carlos Reynoso’s (@gabrielrey4) Graduate Lecture Events will stream live on Zoom and YouTube. Register in our bio to receive the links ⛓
🎬🎬 Exclusive sneak peek of what you can expe 🎬🎬 Exclusive sneak peek of what you can expect when you register for this year’s ASSEMBLY conference 🎬🎬 🏍 Aasembly: A Once in a Lifetime Mental Stunt Show with Caryn Aasness (@levelyellowproblemchild) 🏡 World of Colonial Hills: Past, Present, and Future with @rebeccalcopper and @minusplato 🛍 Voice Shopping: Impersonation as Liberation with Becca Kauffman (@jennifervanilla) 👟The Grieving Walk: a Public Ritual and Performance with @shelbieloomis 🤪Pandememes with Diana Marcela Cuartas (@cereza699) ASSEMBLY TV! 📺 Our annual Art and Social Practice Conference Streams LIVE on the world wide web June 7-11, 12-6pm PST / 3-9pm EST Register in bio! ☝️
🐑 LOOK OUT FOR ASSEMBLY TV! 🐑 Our annual Ar 🐑 LOOK OUT FOR ASSEMBLY TV! 🐑 Our annual Art and Social Practice Conference June 7-11th 🗣 Streaming live on the world wide web 12-6pm PST / 3-9pm EST 🪴🥊🏛🪴🥊🏛 Featuring talks, tours, and participatory workshops for people, plants, and lambs alike! Pictured here: 🐑 The Sound of Sheep, with Mo Geiger (@momobirdie) and Danielle Moser (@wateryoudewin) 🏛 @ksmoca International Acquisitions Committee art handover, with @iykvnk 🥊 @transboxing workshop with @_nolanhanson 🪴 Plant Show & Tell with @emmasprojectarchive and @peoplesplantmuseum Follow the link in our bio to register ✍️
Have you heard about our upcoming art and social p Have you heard about our upcoming art and social practice conference, Assembly TV? Here are a few of the many offerings you'll find streaming June 7-11, 12-6pm PST. Register via the link in our bio! 📺📺🧱🧠🗣 ASSEMBLY TV 🗣📡👂📺📺 🍄 Underground networks del bosque, with Visiting Artist Lucia Monge and FIBRA Colectivo ⏰ A Field Guide to a Crisis, with Justin Maxon and participants 💡 Some Thoughts on Art and Social Practice, with program director Harrell Fletcher and faculty member Lisa Jarrett 💵 $100 Project Party, with alum Salty Xi Jie Ng, Harrell Fletcher, and MFA students 🐻 A Bear in the Forest, with Kiara Walls and Jordan Williams We’ll be counting down to the conference with daily posts on all things Assembly TV. Stay tuned! 📡
Mira nomás que emoción! @gabrielrey4 3 year in Mira nomás que emoción! @gabrielrey4 3 year in the program @mistaconespdx just made the Portland taco list special thanks to collaborator @polo.sirenx for the full article check out the link in @mistaconespdx bio ♥️ thank you @waz.wu @eaterpdx for putting together this tasty list and we’re honored to be a part of it! . . . . . . . . . . . . #tastytacos #eaterpdx #pdxeater #portland #vegan #tacos #portlandoregon #mistaconespdx #vegantacos #supportsmallbusiness #supportlocal #supportpoc #community #love #chicanx #latinx #muchoamor #xoxo
Carlos @gabrielrey4 is a third year and his gradua Carlos @gabrielrey4 is a third year and his graduate project is a community led archive in preserving commercial sex venues through objects, images, and stories. His publication is an ongoing zine collections with stories from the projects community for more information follow Carlos’s instagram 🌈🙏🏾 . . . . . . . . #queer#artist#socialartpractice#gradschool#brownartist
Third year @emmaduehrmitchell and Curator at @peop Third year @emmaduehrmitchell and Curator at @peoplesplantmuseum released “The Inaugural Set of People's Plant Stories.” Available for pre-order now. “The Inaugural Set of People’s Plant Stories” is a series of seven individual publications from People’s Plant Museum. It contains “An Introduction” and six individual plant stories: “African Milk Tree and the Extended Streff Family;” “Palmita and Diana Marcela Cuartas and Jerónimo Roldan;” “GiGi and Renee Dumouchelle;” “Chinese Money Plant and Harrell Fletcher;” Klein Cactus and the Klein Family;” “The Sforza Stevenson Plant Collection and Nancy Sforza Stevenson and Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.” She produced The Inaugural Set of People’s Plant Stories to physically document and share individual plants’ exchange history. Have you received a plant cutting that you know has been shared with numerous people? The set of publications includes interviews with family, friends, and artists to track the history of individual plants! Link to pre-order in her bio! 🌵🌱
Mark your calendars! 📆 The 2021 Edition of Your Mark your calendars! 📆 The 2021 Edition of Your Favorite Co-Authored Art & Social Practice Conference is here! ⚡️📺📡📺📡⚡️ASSEMBLY TV ⚡️📺📡📺📡⚡️ 📱An online conference-as-television-station 🖥 June 7-11, 2021 12pm-6pm PST / 3pm-9pm EST Free and open to the public Tune in via Zoom or YouTube for discussions, workshops, interactive experiences, and participatory events such as: 🌱 a houseplant show-and-tell with @peoplesplantmuseum 🚏personal landmark making with Sign Club 🗣 an exploration of the speaking arts 🐑 sheep sounds 🧠 a brain dive from our in-house stuntman 📺📡 ⚡️ASSEMBLY TV ⚡️📡📺 June 7-11, 2021 12pm-6pm PST / 3pm-9pm EST Free and open to the public. Register link in bio 😃 SEE YOU THERE 👀
Happening this Sat May 8 at 11am PT! Social practi Happening this Sat May 8 at 11am PT! Social practice alum @zephxfish is inviting you to a remote guided walk along with movement artist @qilokinetichore and @bampfa. Register for free (link in bio) and join from anywhere! Beginning at your own front door, we will move together, exploring evolutions of safety, proximity, habit, longing, and perception over the last year. Challenging the edges of virtual meeting technology, in all its glitches and disconnections, we will create a collaborative document of simultaneous and uncertainly connected geographies. See you there! . . #socialpractice #guidedwalk #participatoryart #walk #psychogeography #publicspace #neighborhoodwalk #bampfa #remotewalk #socialdistance
The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill by @briandthesea P The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill by @briandthesea Post 4 of 4 • 🐰🐰🐰 If you missed the film showing at @cannonbeachgallery, the film To Exist will be showing at @jsmauo from May 24th to June 27th! 🐰🐰🐰Last slide: Sarah, owner of #surfcrestmarket in Cannon Beach sells bunny merchandise to fundraise for #northcoastwildlifecenter ! Photos by: @emmaduehrmitchell @helloprettycity @briandthesea
The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill by @briandthesea P The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill by @briandthesea Post 3 of 4 • Bunny Performance, by Dr. Cindy Bryden. She introduces her domestic bunny to the wild bunny and they interact! This was part 1 of Bunny Tour at The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill • photo by @emmaduehrmitchell @helloprettycity
The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill by @briandthesea P The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill by @briandthesea Post 2 of 4 • In the first video clip above: a local of Cannon Beach and marine biologist, Dr. Cindy Bryden, gives a talk on bunnies. // the second clip: an event guest hands a Bunny Hill Grand Opening brochure to the event guests on the balcony of the Tolovanna Inn. // third slide: Artist and CORE Director @illuminato_studio with Artist @briandthesea on the Bunny Tour // Fourth slide: even during event set up, bunnies were ready for the event! // Last slide: Dr. Cindy Bryden with Bunny Videos and photos: @emmaduehrmitchell @helloprettycity @briandthesea
Post 1 of 4 • Last Saturday artist Brianna Orteg Post 1 of 4 • Last Saturday artist Brianna Ortega @briandthesea had her project event in Cannon Beach. The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill was an onsite ceremony to publicly announce Bunny Hill in history on April 24,2021. The event presented To Exist, a film sharing public opinions about the bunnies, at @cannonbeachgallery throughout that day. The project explores the relationship between identity and place and invites people to internally reflect on greater systemic issues by asking—When is someone or something seen and accepted into a community? Who belongs where and who has the power to say who belongs in a place? How are we held accountable to places and the people that live there? How long until an invasive species is no longer invasive?’ How can people with opposing viewpoints coexist in space? • Photos by @emmaduehrmitchell @helloprettycity @briandthesea
Postponed to May 8. See link in @zephxfish’s bio Postponed to May 8. See link in @zephxfish’s bio to register if you haven’t already.
Older Posts

© . A working document.

Portland State Universtiy logo