Blackfish Gallery

Blackfish Gallery Blackfish Gallery, owned & operated by working artists since 1979
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This June, Blackfish Gallery is proud to present the 8th BLACK MATTER group invitational, as well as the collaborative t...
06/03/2026

This June, Blackfish Gallery is proud to present the 8th BLACK MATTER group invitational, as well as the collaborative two-person exhibition I Am, by Eddie Reed and Mae Al-Jiboori in Gallery 2 and the James Hibbard Gallery.

In coordination with Black Matter, I Am presents the work of Blackfish Gallery artists Eddie Reed and Mae Al-Jiboori. In the new collaborative exploration I Am, Reed and Al Jiboori reach together toward the roots of human connection and obstruction. Alternating between stark dissections of the social constructs that keep us apart and the struggle to bridge the divide, I Am’s passionate urgency engages viewers with its underlying big picture questions.

Eddie Reed

Redemption Song
Acrylic/mixed medium on wood panel
46” x 36” x 2”

Promises Promises
Acrylic/mixed medium on wood panel
40” x 30” x 2”

Mae Al-Jiboori .maurice.aljiboori

Settled in sweet company
Acrylic, oil pastel on wood
48” x 38.5”
2026

Missing the way you swim
Acrylic, oil pastel on wood panel
15” x 18.5”
2026


This month Blackfish Gallery: BLACK MATTERBlackfish Gallery is honored to present BLACK MATTER, now in its eighth iterat...
06/02/2026

This month Blackfish Gallery: BLACK MATTER

Blackfish Gallery is honored to present BLACK MATTER, now in its eighth iteration, which has grown into more than an exhibition; it’s a sustained act of community-building among Black artists in Oregon. What has emerged is not only a network, but a family grounded in care, connection, and creative exchange. Rooted in the legacy of creative autonomy that has defined Blackfish Gallery for nearly five decades, BLACK MATTER invites audiences to invest deeply in the artists and their work. It calls for a relationship built on attention, respect, and genuine engagement with the ideas and futures these artists are shaping.

Participating artists

Philip A. Robinson Jr.
Jocelyn Rice .rice
Melanie Stevens
Nia Musiba
Ebony Frison

Participating Blackfish artists

Eddie Reed
Mae Al-Jiboori .maurice.aljiboori


As our exhibition "Many Bridges" comes to a close this Saturday, we want to honor Ruri, both exhibiting artist and the c...
05/29/2026

As our exhibition "Many Bridges" comes to a close this Saturday, we want to honor Ruri, both exhibiting artist and the curator whose vision shaped this cross-cultural exchange between Japan and Oregon.

Ruri’s sculptures invite close looking. Built through coiling and hand-forming, her works carry the marks of touch, time, and fire. In pieces like "Prayer I", the tall, ovoid form feels both grounded and ascending, like a quiet meditation in clay. " We Are All In the Same Boat" expands that language into a shared space, combining clay, wood, and metal to reflect collective movement and interdependence. In "Caminamos Andando" (Let’s Keep on Walking All the Way), carved cedar and fired clay come together in a sense of steady forward motion, resilient, human, and ongoing.

Central to her practice is anagama wood firing, where no glazes are used, only flame, ash, and atmosphere shape the surface. The results are unpredictable and elemental: textures that echo landscapes, surfaces that feel weathered, alive, and deeply connected to natural forces. Each piece becomes a record of interaction between material and environment.

Born in Japan and based in Oregon, Ruri has spent over 50 years working with clay, studying under master ceramicists and building her own kiln in Sheridan. Her work reflects a lifelong exploration of interconnectedness, between people, nature, and the unseen energies that bind them.

We’re deeply grateful for her artistry and leadership in bringing "Many Bridges" to life. ✨ Join us for our final two days before we close on Saturday at 5pm.

Images:
Prayer I
Anagama fired coiled clay
Yakishime yohen
56 x 7 x 13”

We Are All In the Same Boat
Mixed media with Anagama fired handformed clay, wood, metal
Yakishime yohen
16 x 50 x 13.5”

Caminamos Andando (Let’s Keep on Walking All the Way)
Mixed media with fired handformed clay,
laminated carved cedar
19 x 15 x 6”

This is the last week to view the special exhibition Many Bridges centering on east -west cultural exchange-- artistic b...
05/27/2026

This is the last week to view the special exhibition Many Bridges centering on east -west cultural exchange-- artistic bridges connecting places, people, and multiple heritages that creatively contributes to diversity and harmony.

Featured artist:

Miyajima Masayuki

Artist Statement
Why, in both the East and the West, are we, as makers, users, viewers, and collectors, so deeply impressed by ceramics made hundreds of years ago?
Naturally, preservation and survival have left what is available for us to experience. Within these, even the shards and fragments stimulate our imaginations.
I think about the potters and makers of long ago and wonder about how they approached their work and what they thought about while working at the wheel.
I would be happy if I could, in some small way, make a connection to that work from long ago.

Masayuki Miyajima
Pitcher
Iron Rich Stoneware Clay, Carved, White Slip
Cone 9 Gas Reduction
7.5” x 7” x 5.5”

Masayuki Miyajima
Vase
Porcelain, Inlaid, Grasses Pattern
Cone 9 Gas Reduction
11” x 5” x 5”

Coming in June.Blackfish Gallery is honored to present BLACK MATTER, now in its eighth iteration, which has grown into m...
05/26/2026

Coming in June.

Blackfish Gallery is honored to present BLACK MATTER, now in its eighth iteration, which has grown into more than an exhibition—it’s a sustained act of community-building among Black artists in Oregon. What has emerged is not only a network, but a family grounded in care, connection, and creative exchange.

Rooted in the legacy of creative autonomy that has defined Blackfish Gallery for nearly five decades, BLACK MATTER invites audiences to invest deeply in the artists and their work. It calls for a relationship built on attention, respect, and genuine engagement with the ideas and futures these artists are shaping.

This exhibition resists the limitations often placed on Black artistic expression. Rather than centering narratives of trauma or political agendas, BLACK MATTER creates space for Black artists to exist fully and freely—exploring abstraction, intimacy, joy, memory, and contradiction on their own terms.

The works presented here are diverse in form and approach, united not by a single theme but by a shared commitment to self-definition and honesty. Together, they form a living archive of contemporary Black voices—expansive, evolving, and rooted in presence.

BLACK MATTER is both an invitation and a call to action: to witness without assumption, to engage without reduction, and to recognize Black artistic expression as vital to our cultural landscape.

BLACK MATTER artists:
Ebony Frison
Nia Musiba
Jocelyn Rice
Philip A Robinson
Melanie Stevens

Blackfish artists:
Eddie Reed
Mae Al-Jiboori

Image:
Melanie Stevens
Reflection II: Charles In Form
Linocut Print
23” x 30”
2023


This month Blackfish Gallery celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders Heritage (AANHPI) month b...
05/26/2026

This month Blackfish Gallery celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders Heritage (AANHPI) month by presenting the special exhibition Many Bridges. The exhibition will feature the work of Mashiko ceramic artists from Japan, local Portland AANHPI artists, AANHPI Blackfish member artists, as well as interpretations of the theme by Blackfish members in the James Hibbard Gallery show “BFG Artists Connecting With Bridges” Up through May 30th.
Don’t miss it!

Images:

Merridawn Duckler:
“Cliché Interrupted By An Object, Series1”
text on paper, mixed media
11” x 14”
2026

Noah Alexander Isaac Stein:
All Father’s Ravens / Source, Spirit, and Flesh / Anattā
Oil and wax on panel
9″ x 12″
NFS
2025

Jerry Svoboda:
Gratitude for Joe
27” x 19”
2026

Jana Demartini:
Quaint Reality
color pencil
18” x 15”

Myra Clark:
Moonboat
Acrylic on wood panel
18” x 14”

Today! May 24th from 3-5pm!Don’t miss the Closing reception of MANY BRIDGES - with koto performance by Masumi Timson at ...
05/24/2026

Today! May 24th from 3-5pm!
Don’t miss the Closing reception of MANY BRIDGES - with koto performance by Masumi Timson at Blackfish Gallery.

About Masumi:
Masumi provides a variety of musical sessions, depending on your musical and performance requirements:solo performance, collaboration with the Shakuhachi (Japanese traditional bamboo flute), or other western instruments such as piano, flute, violin, and harmonica etc. She greatly enjoys the unique musical experience of collaborating with other instruments from different parts of the world, which brings cultures together and helps develop cultural awareness – reminding us that music is boundless, and that we can bring peace to the world through music. In addition to her solo performances with musical groups and artists both in Japan and the USA, Masumi instructs the Koto Club at Willamette University and teaches and records at her own home studio in Salem, Oregon.
Masumi has performed in multicultural festivals, exhibitions and shows, corporate and promotional events, weddings, funerals, public libraries, schools, retirement homes, assisted living and care facilities, museums, nature and park settings, and restaurants. She often performs and presents Koto music demonstrations at the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon.

Address

938 NW Everett
Portland, OR
97209

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+15032242634

Website

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