Portland Artist To Show Quarantine City Art

Portland artist Lorraine Richey will be showing a selection of her new photo collages in the South Santiam Hall Gallery on Linn-Benton Community College's Albany campus from Sept. 27 to Nov. 5, 2021.

 “Quarantine City Art” represents a personal journey for Richey, a creative journey she undertook in the midst of the pandemic to “think how all the photographs I made would all come together and tell a tale of my COVID-dodging life.”

Among the approximately 20 images in the show are the mystical multi-layered abstractions she is best known for, as well as several overlaid with documentary depictions of the tribulations of 2020, including the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland and the wild fires in the Cascades near Detroit.

Over the past 20 months she “could not stop making images,” she said. “I was driven by what I saw around me--the beautiful, ugly and in between--seeing people help those in need during a demonstration in Portland, to speaking with others about what was going on and photographing the paintings and graffiti that exploded in the city and environs.”

 Richey grew up in Detroit, Mich., and moved to Oregon in 1982-- “best move I ever made,” she said.  Despite eye problems since childhood that continue to limit her vision to this day, she discovered that photography helped her to see the world on her own terms.  After she bought a camera in her late teens, “my art life truly began,” she said. “People would ask:  'With those eyes how can you be a photographer?' You only need one eye to focus, I would reply.”

She earned a BFA in photography from Oregon State University, studying under Prof. Harrison Branch, and a Masters in photography from Indiana University before moving back to Portland. Over the past several years Richey has exhibited her work in the greater Portland area, as well as in Corvallis. She is a member of the Inner Light Society of Portland and the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild.

A virtual reception and gallery talk will be held Oct. 14 from 6 to 7 p.m. on Zoom. The public is invited to join virtually. For further information, email artgallery@linnbenton.edu.

The South Santiam Hall Gallery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Masks and COVID protocols enforced.