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Nearly 20 vacant small businesses in Old Town have un-boarded their windows in the name of art.
No Vacancy Window Gallery is an art exhibit that starts on the White Stag Block at 70 NW Couch St., and travels under the Chinatown gates on Northwest Fourth Avenue and Burnside Street. It’s free and on view 24 hours a day now until Dec. 1. The goal of the No Vacancy pilot project is to fill empty spaces in the neighborhood with creative energy. There’s photography, textiles, sculpture, paintings and art installations, all peeking out from windows that have been covered up for years, in some cases.
The project is led by real estate strategy firm Field States and supported by Prosper Portland and the Old Town Community Association. Organizers call it an “open-air” art gallery—flipping that loaded language into a positive.
Matthew Claudel is the founder and CEO of Field States, which is headquartered in Old Town on Northwest Fifth Avenue. Claudel was inspired by similar pop-up art installations for vacant storefronts that have taken off in West Coast cities, such as Seattle Restored and Vacant to Vibrant in San Francisco.
“With Old Town, and in Portland, we let the muscle of going downtown atrophy a little,” Claudel says. “The reality is there’s a stigma around this neighborhood. Even though it’s got heritage architecture and so much cultural richness, a lot of people don’t come down here anymore and it’s such a shame. No Vacancy is about supporting local artists and bringing people back to Old Town.
Passersby of the Tuck Lung Building at 140 NW 4th Ave., can now look through one of the distinctive hexagonal windows to see a dreamy red and blue tablescape by artist Lauren Lesueur. All of the exhibit placards contain the artist’s name and also landlord contact information to rent the vacant storefront.
Lesueur, who also served as curator of the show, was inspired by the history of the Wong family who operated the grocery store and restaurant in the Tuck Lung building for decades.
“I wanted to take that space and pay tribute to the family,” she says.
SEE IT: No Vacancy Art Gallery, maps available at Elle Gallery, 207 SW Pine St. https://www.novacancyproject.com/window-gallery. Open until Dec. 1. Free.
