Art for Good.
Bringing Awareness.
Twelve years ago I dipped my toes into public art by being appointed to the Milwaukie Arts Committee, a.k.a. ArtMOB (Art, Milwaukie On Board). I had volunteered with the Ashland Public Arts Commission in the years prior, as well as the Ashland Independent Film Festival, had written many grant proposals and was one class short of a degree in art with a minor in writing/art history. I thought it would be nice to use that knowledge to help the community we had just moved to.
What unfolded was a fantastic six years of using art’s potential to subsume and translate complicated ideas into tangible, physical and digestible constructs that could be widely considered and discussed by our community. IDEAS like Identity, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Sustainability. As well as others such as: Freedom of Expression, Inclusion, Public Art for All, Art Saves Lives, Alzheimer’s Awareness, Gun Violence Awareness, Queer Rights, Ecology, Percent for Art and so much more!
Conversations with community members brought many of these projects to the committee focus. Some were brought to the table by committee members. Together we all chipped in to bring these events and shows to Milwaukie and in return Milwaukie showed its support with great turnouts and enthusiastic engagement.
One of those focii was in August 2019. Soul Box. “Art revealing the gunfire epidemic.” Brought to committee by committee member Serafine Lilien, this project was in partnership with Soul Box through which our communities gathered to construct origami boxes to represent individual lives lost to gunfire. In 2019 it was 39,602, over half of which were suicides.
This project was especially meaningful to me as well. Gun violence has been a consistent danger in my personal life. Ten years prior to our Soul Box show I lost my father to suicide by gun. His father the same way 30 years before that. In 1974 my father, in an unrelenting rage, destroyed our family home all night long, with a shotgun, while my sister and I hid. I was 5, she was 10. And when I was 20 my mother had held me hostage with a loaded gun to my head, for two days and nights, before I could escape and make my way to the safety of Oregon.
In 2024, for the first time since 2019, the number of deaths by gun in the U.S. went down. 43,030 in 2023 to 40,886. In 2025 the number was lower than it had been in 2019. 38,839.
Art and community building have a way of bringing awareness, conversation, and ultimately more effective action. Coercive control is a tool of oppressors. Guns and coercion go hand-in-hand. Whether it is to dominate other humans, or to claim prime property to raze for developers special interests, violence and the threat of violence is an oppressors tool of choice. Fear of being singled out, of public engagement, of community—all lead to the loss of self and expressive community identity. Our diversity is OUR strength. Art is OUR tool of opportunity. Its potency is well understood by those who seek to oppress it.
On June 4th I had the opportunity to visit Portland’s First Thursday art walk for the first time in quite a while. I’ve seen art and art walks dramatically revitalize our communities before but this was truly something special! Streets and venues were packed all over the NW arts district. The community came out in throngs and everywhere folks were cheerful and enthusiastic. It wasn’t this vital in 2019. In a way, it was our community’s show of force. Joy, conviviality, a critical mass. Showing, not telling. This is how we best communicate with each other.
Only able to visit a few galleries, I still have some standouts to recommend. Tammy Jo Wilson, curator of the multi-year, traveling, Black Matter group shows has yet again put together a fantastic array of Black Artists. This month the show, Black Matter IX, is at two locations, Blackfish Gallery and Studio 516. But her own work-in-progress figuratives at Gallery 516 are not to be overlooked!
And Milwaukie Arts Committee alum Serafine is fundraising again. This time to bring awareness to the elephant orphans of Kenya. Until June 27, 2026, Imperfecta Gallery is showing Serafine Lilien’s Elephant Clay Herd, a fundraiser for Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the show will go to these organizations.
“The Orphans’ Project exists to offer hope for Kenya’s elephants and rhinos — animals still poached for their ivory and horn, and increasingly threatened by habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and drought. Every orphan we raise is a life saved and another step toward securing a future for their species in the wild.” ~Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Serafine Lilien at Imperfecta Gallery, June 4, 2026. Her Elephant Clay Herd displayed beside her.
And at the same gallery as Serafine’s show is Stephanie Brockway’s woodcarved Plight of the Pollinator, playfully reminding us of the ecological importance of bees in our flora through the constructs of found materials reused to create whimsical objects and pollinators.
Art is critical for the vitality of our greater metro region. Artists and artisans abound. We have a beautiful abundance of physical artists, musicians, writers, dancers and performers. And our resilient community is dynamic! Let’s make this summer our reawakening. Our Show, Don’t Tell season.
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