Home For The Homeless

Launch Pad Gallery's "Where I Hang My Hat", an art show held at Outside In with work from homeless artists

On August 5-6, Launch Pad Gallery opened its latest exhibit, “Where I Hang My Hat”, an exploration of homelessness through the eyes of artists that are either currently homeless or at risk of being put out on the street. In this free, multimedia exhibit, which revolved around the theme “What Is Home?”, artists offered paintings, sculptures, and collaborative pieces portraying the pain, frustration, and discarded dreams of the city’s forgotten inhabitants.

“This exhibit gives our clients, who often don’t have an opportunity to see art, the chance to express themselves,” said Kelly Anderson, Communications Director for sponsor organization Outside In, where many of the featured artists seek medical and therapeutic treatment. “The artists who are here are seeing their art open to the public, and that’s a powerful feeling. They see that they have value, and that’s a feeling that is absolutely lost on the street.”

During the show, patrons enjoyed the art, dined on free snacks and listened to house bands the T Sisters, Bellacodas, and Best Available Technology. One of the main attractions was a collaborative piece in which patrons were invited to add their own artistic contributions to a cardboard shanty not unlike the countless makeshift homes that dot the Portland landscape in the midst of the economic downturn. Drawings ranged from flowers and candles to peace signs and the Star Wars character Boba Fett. Many of the patrons who contributed found in it a sense of hope, and even fun.

“There’s a need being filled here,” said patron Patricia Keeney. “I think that being able to express yourself creatively is really important for anyone, including people living on the street. This exhibit says to me that Portland will still play, even during the hardest of times.”

Many of the artists themselves were on hand to talk with patrons, or simply bask in the glow of the first public showing of their work. They were also there to tell their stories.

“I was depressed and not going anywhere. At the same time, I had strength,” explains one of the artists, Shonda Lynn, an Outside In client whose work portrays her rise out of homelessness and severe depression into a more stable living situation. “I got better thanks to therapy at Outside In. That’s the message. Even though we’re going through the darkness, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

 Another piece, “Home Run”, a collage by Nikkol McMahon, featured a quote from Benjamin Franklin: “A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire, for the mind as well as the body.”

McMahon, who lived on the streets for years before finding an apartment with the help of Outside In, said that her message is a simple one: “Wherever your home is, you can find those things.”

Curators Kara Edge and Ben Pink came up with the idea for the show six months ago while talking about Pink’s recent move from Portland to Seattle. Pink’s stories of “life in transition” in a new city inspired Edge, who is also a mental health counselor with Outside In, to devise a show that would not only educate the general public about homeless people’s lives, but would serve as a kind of therapy for the artists themselves.

“My hope is that they’ll feel more confident,” said Edge, who makes her debut as a curator with this exhibit. “They’re expressing a disconnection between the way life is portrayed here in Portland and the way they live their lives. They’ve been so marginalized, so art can help them process and share their lives with the rest of the world. It’s very brave of them, especially because they’re always thinking about how other people perceive them.”

Edge and Pink said they were proud to curate a show that put a human face on homelessness and poverty by introducing the average Portland resident to poor and homeless artists.

“I wanted to curate a show about underrepresented artists to challenge assumptions about who is ‘allowed’ to make and appreciate art,” said Pink. “The assumption is that you have to have money, but art is for everyone. When Kara told me about this show, it was absolutely what I wanted.”

Edge said that this show is, in part, her attempt to pay forward the love and support from the Portland arts community that she relied on in her days as a struggling artist.

“I was inspired by people who encouraged me to show my work,” said Edge. “It was a powerful experience for me, and I wanted my clients to have the same experience, to know that art is doable and that Portland will welcome them.”

Both Edge and Pink said that, while “Where I Hang My Hat” was not political, they were well aware that it has recently become even more difficult to be homeless in Portland, thanks to ever-declining funds for social services and a series of high-profile confrontations between homeless individuals and police.

“Portland has a unique relationship with the homeless,” said Pink, who went to Outside In for health care when he first moved to Portland. “We’re ‘The City That Works’ – unless you’re in trouble. Then, there are not a lot of resources to help prevent homelessness.”

“The biggest misconception about homelessness is that you’re homeless because of something you did,” said Pat Johnson, one of the exhibit’s featured artists. “Even when that does happen to some people, there’s always a possibility for them to turn their lives around.”

He noted that, like many of his fellow artists on the street, he finds solace in creating his art.

“It’s like when you’re outside looking at the stars,” he says of the creative process. “You have that sense of eternity.”

Amanda Nelson, who contributed a photo collage of her friends and family, summed up one of the central messages of the exhibit, and of the work of homeless artists in general:

“Our voices are heard. These pieces tell our stories.”