Arts Hound

Pierre Daura doggedly searched for his “self” through painting, in a time of revolution and evolution. With the now-open exhibit Placing Pierre Daura, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art delves into the mid-20th-century Catalán-American artist’s identity through three lenses: family, artist circles and “his transition from Spanish to American citizenship.” Daura was a pupil of Pablo Picasso’s father (José Ruiz Blaso), and his fluid canvases at times draw on Cezanne’s palette, Van Gogh’s swirling lines and Marc Chagall’s dreaminess. Martha Daura, Pierre’s daughter, lives in Oregon and has bequeathed several of her father’s works to the Schnitz.

Momentous: Maude Kerns Art Center debuts the exhibit In the Moment: Self Portraits of 20 Women Artists with an opening reception 6 to 8 pm Friday, May 16. The portraits come from Oregon artists as well as a handful from Washington, California and Louisiana, working in mediums ranging from painting and sculpture to dance and songwriting. Lo Caudle curates the show and asked participants to create their pieces in the six-month period preceding the exhibit to draw attention to the “moment of inspiration, creation and the very essence of being.” Don’t miss the work of New Orleans-based painter Rachel Burch Williams, whose Renaissance-style work always comes with an uncanny twist. Kudos to MK for the show, but we look forward to the day when exhibits can drop “Women” from the title as shows featuring male artists have done for millennia. An artist is an artist is an artist.