This content was published: April 19, 2023. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Furin Project Exhibit and Symposium
Southeast Gallery
The Furin Project
- Dates: April 10 – June 9, 2023
- Location: PCC Southeast Art Gallery, SCOM lobby
In collaboration with the?Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO)?and?Mural Arts Institute in Philadelphia (MAI), Midori Hirose’s Furin Project involves honoring the history and legacy of the Japanese American Farming community. This year-long community art and place-making project engages contemporary questions on how the longstanding local Orchards of SE 82nd Ave. and the surrounding area continue to serve as sites of community nourishment.
For this project, Midori researched the history and current landscape of the area, including but not limited to the Japanese American farming history of the area, the fruiting trees, and PCC’s role as a community site. Her focus is the intersection of the current social landscape of the area in relation to food and resilience, farming, and green spaces. She has worked in collaboration with several organizations since the project’s inception:?Ikoi No Kai;?Kirkland Union Manor;?Portland Fruit Tree Project;?Montavilla Farmers Market;?Ride Connection; and?Portland Community College (PCC) SE, Rock Creek, Cascade, and Sylvania Campus – GIS, Music and Sonic Arts, New Media Coding, Learning Garden, Community-Based Learning, English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Photography, and the Ceramics Department; McDaniel’s High School?and a workshop study of pigment to clay applications with?The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Portland Cultural Lifeways.
Midori Hirose’s Furin Project is a series of free ceramic bell-making workshops that invite the public to introduce interpretations of Furin, Japanese “wind bells,” which historically were hung from trees in Japan. The project was conceived with the goal of building community connections and engaging in discussions about Indigenous stewardship, past and present, and the future of the southeast Portland area. A collaborative sound mapping project is also in the works with PCC students and faculty in the Geographic Information System (GIS), Music and Sonic Arts, and New Media Coding departments. These sounds are in the process of being collected by ringing each bell as well as through a sound survey. Attached is a QR flyer with more information about the survey. The sounds will be exhibited as an interactive installation in the Southeast Art Gallery temporary Annex, also in the SCOM building in the NE corner.
Capturing Community – Geospatial Info Systems (GIS) collaboration with Midori Hirose
May 5 – June 9, 2023, open during the symposium event
Contact the Southeast Art Gallery for class tours and information sessions by appointment
We are interested in hosting your classes, students, and communities. Please reach out to make an appointment: kim.manchester@pcc.edu.
This data collection survey is part of Midori Hirose’s Furin Project, a celebration of community, collaboration, and history, in particular, the Japanese-American farming in southeast Portland. Place is strongly tied to perception and certain locations can evoke feelings of community past and present. We are hoping this survey will help tell the stories about the places we move through every day.
Capturing Community – Data Collection Survey
This data collection survey is part of Midori Hirose’s Furin Project, a celebration of community, collaboration, and history, in particular, the Japanese American farming in southeast Portland.
Place is strongly tied to perception and certain locations can evoke feelings of community past and present. We are hoping this survey will help tell the stories about the places we move through every day.
Installed in the NE Corner of the SCOM building, a temporary annex of the Southeast Art Gallery – the entrance faces SE 82nd and is accessible through the SCOM lobby or from the street.
The Furin Project Symposium
4-7pm, Friday, May 5, 2023
To register for this event, please visit Apano Arts
The Furin Project Symposium is the culmination of APANO Catalyst artist Midori Hirose’s year-long community and place-making art project.
This event is free and open to the public.
Location:?This event involves a?short walking tour – maps will be provided!?We are starting at the PCC Southeast Campus Learning Garden at 2305 SE 82nd Ave, and ending at APANO, 8188 SE Division Street, Portland, OR 97206
An exhibition of these bells and sounds will be held at the?Portland Community College (PCC) Southeast Art Gallery from April – May 2023, with a?Symposium on Friday, May 5, 2023, that will entail a tour of the?PCC grounds, the Capturing Community interactive project from GIS students, workshops, and potluck to follow at APANO.
* Face masks are required indoors at APANO.
Additional Programming
- First Friday Southeast art walk – galleries open
- June 2, 5-7pm
- PCC Southeast SCOM 120 and first-floor lobby
- Closing reception
- June 9, 5-7pm
- Furin Project and Capturing Community GIS Collaboration
- PCC Southeast SCOM 120 and first-floor lobby