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North Pole Studio’s name is inspired by the Island of Misfit Toys from the 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stop-motion special, where Rudolph learns that what makes him different makes him special. Carissa Burkett, the artist collective’s executive director, believes art serves as much to build a historical record as it does to fulfill a creative outlet.
“Art can be a way for people to communicate who either have limited or have more obstacles to communicating their inner world,” Burkett says. “It’s even more powerful and important that the world is seeing that and that we’re honoring their expression.”
The proudly neurodiverse art collective’s work, made by more than two dozen artists, will share its members’ histories in tell ___ ‘hi’ from me, an exhibition that opened at Portland State University’s Littman Gallery on First Thursday, July 3, in time for Disability Pride Month, and runs through Aug. 28. Patrons can meet some of the 27 artists—whose ages range from 18 to 60—at the exhibition’s opening reception on Thursday, July 17. The exhibition and its title act as a belated introduction to the wider world since its pandemic lockdown-era foundation in 2020.
Artists on the autism spectrum, and those with other intellectual disabilities, are still often excluded from the gallery scene. North Pole Studio has expanded from 20 artists to 600 involved in its programs over the past five years, generating around $63,000 collectively over the past year for artists’ personal income. Most members are based in the Portland metro area, though some artists hail from Hood River and Canby, with one member remotely checking in from Tennessee.
North Pole Studio provides artiests not only professional development programs and space on walls and gallery floors, but also invaluable camaraderie and the freedom to pursue any medium or message they want. Austin Brague, for example, creates detailed drawings of urban landscapes which TriMet printed into a bus wrap for its LIFT Paratransit bus. Brague will display a piece depicting an ‘80s era MAX car in Old Town Chinatown. Ocean Stever, a Gresham artist and member of North Pole’s artist leadership committee, will display mixed-media collage work.
“It’s honestly a culmination of everything I’ve worked for,” Stever said in a statement. “I’ve been here for years and this exhibition just shows how hard all of us have all worked to get here. North Pole is my sanctuary, and I’m really happy others can get to experience it.”
Once tell ___ ‘hi’ from me leaves Littman Gallery, the exhibition will travel around the Pacific Northwest, displaying at A.N. Bush Gallery in Salem, Archer Gallery in Vancouver, Wash., and Scalehouse Gallery in Bend, and wrap up at Dee Dee Denton Gallery in Lake Oswego next fall.
“‘I’m hoping that it really is like a ripple effect of like it opening up more opportunities for our artists,” Burkett says. “I personally am a huge advocate for helping ensure that there is better representation of neurodiverse artists within all galleries, museums and opportunities in recognizing the unique challenges that this population faces.”
SEE IT: Tell ___ ‘hi’ from me at North Pole Studio at Littman Gallery, 1825 SW Broadway, #250, littmanandwhite.com. 10 am–5 pm Monday and Friday, 10 am–2 pm and 4–6 pm Tuesday and Thursday, 10 am–4 pm Wednesday. Free.
