A Home For Us

Key to 14 NE Killingsworth St.

After months of looking for a vacant storefront, I signed the lease and picked up the keys on September 21st. Feeling enormously fortunate, and not yet realizing the full significance of the privilege I had been afforded, I walked through the door of 14 NE Killingsworth into an open space glittering with sunlight and resounding with history. Even empty, there was a palpable feeling of energy and possibility. I was so excited to step onto that battered wooden floor — I later learned it was installed by the Jefferson Dancers in the 1970s — that I actually started skipping around the room. Artists started dropping by the next day, and a week later the Soul Restoration piano arrived to anchor the space.

The first piece falls into place. The piano arrives from Classic Pianos.

The Albina Arts Center came into being in December 1964, spearheaded by young Black Portlanders seeking to enrich the lives of adults and children in the Albina area, and provide an asset for the entire city of Portland. It offered music, drama, and visual arts classes and was a much-needed space for Blackness. I could never have dreamed, when I started The Soul Restoration Project last summer, that I would be walking in the very footsteps of those Albina residents — parents, children, students, teachers, friends, neighbors, and community members whose spirited voices had filled that space with joy and learning and dreams, who shared art shows, band practices, dances, wedding receptions, talent shows, and youth gatherings in that very room almost 60 years ago.

December 11, 1964 article by Beth Fagan for The Oregonian “Efforts Underway to Create Albina Art Center.” Pictured on the right are Barbara Sue Glosson, Jerry Williams, Thomas Unthank, Jack McLarty, and Rufus L. Butler.

I imagined the Albina Arts Salon as a place that could be both refuge and beacon, as a haven for ideas and honest conversation, and a place where Art could shape community, shedding light on both the truth of the past and the possibilities for the future. In the months since, joined by many of the committed Black artists whose work has graced our community over the years — some even as far back as the original Albina Arts Center — we worked to create a space that felt like home. Inspired by history, supported by friends, we hosted film screenings, spoken word gatherings, art openings, gallery shows, artisan markets, jazz concerts, live-streamed watch parties, workshops, community meetings, rehearsals, interviews, and turned an empty storefront into a thriving hub of cultural activity.

Curated by Sunshine Dixion and Bobby Fouther, a collection of art objects sits atop the upright piano painted for the Piano! Push! Play! for phase one of The Soul Restoration Project by Daren Todd.

Along this journey, someone posed the question to me “What would the city look like that loved Black people?” The Albina Arts Salon has provided me with a piece of the answer. One thing it will have is a warm, welcoming, dream-filled space for the light of our genius to shine. A place for our poets, dancers, painters, sculptors, filmmakers, singers, instrumentalists, journalists, activists, and historians to come together to do what they do- dream us a world. As I turn my key over to the next stewards of this space and its history, I look forward to the Soul Restoration Project continuing to fuel that light and share it throughout the community.

14 NE Killingsworth Ave. January 2022. Absolutely brimming with Black Art curated by Bobby Fouther.

Deepest thanks to the more than 100 individuals and organizations whose work, talent, time, ideas, donations, advice, funding, and support brought this dream into being.

Intisar Abioto, Mufu Ahmed, Oluyinka Akinjiola, Tiffany Austin, Jennifer Bacholfer @ Shady Lady Lighting, Bremer Baden, Shayla Bailey, Lisa Bates, Anita Beck, Angela Braxton-Johnson, Velynn Brown, Liz Bacon Brownson, Andre Burgos, Brian Burk, Brown Calculus, Caldera Arts, Rhiannon Cates, Kasey Causey, Chamber Music America, Blayne Chandler, Ann Chiu, Marti Clemmons, City of Portland Community Healing Arts Initiative, City of Portland Events Action Table, Classic Pianos, Michelle Comer, Mic Crenshaw, Henry Cromett, Carla Davis, Emmanuel Dempsey, Tiffany Dempsey, Michelle DePass, Brian De Tar, Andrew DeVigal, Judy Dials, Sunshine Dixon, Sarah Dougher, Education without Borders, Susan, Susanna & Simon Elliot, Bryd @ Emmanuel Displaced, Galena Estherly, Raina Evans, Kent Ford, Bobby Fouther, Liz Fouther-Branch, J.W. Friday, Friends of Noise, Subashini Ganesan, Perry Gardner, Damian Geter, Steven Greene, Michael Grice, Kim Gumbel, Israel Hammond, W. Joye Hardiman, Ph.D, Elijah Hasan, Chisao Hata, OB Hill, Historic Kenton Firehouse, George & Marcia Hocker, Kali Hoesch, Penny Hummel, I Am M.O.R.E., Lisa Jarrett, Gwen Johnson, Kevin Jones, Eldon T. Jones, Maria Karlin, Ray Klinke, Amaya Krasnitz, KSMOCA, La Venderia, Mike Leighton, Michael Lewellen, Layna Lewis, Laura LoForti, Latoya Lovely, Jen Lundstrom, Tracey Lynn, Kiloiti Masia, Neil Mattson, Donna Maxey, Ava McCallister, Megan McGeorge, Chris McMurry, AnnaMarie Meyer, Andre Middleton, Machado Mijiga, Dr. S. Renee Mitchell, Jenni Moore, Kim Moreland, Jeff Moreno-Lothe, Jospin Mugisha, Sacha Muller, Multnomah County Library, Tamela Newsom, Japethy Ngabireyiman, Olaoye Onipede, Open Signal, Oregon Black Pioneers, Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Inquiry, Cristine Paschild, Darian Anthony Patrick, Kathy Pennington, Davasate Phelps, Piano Push Play, Bruce Poinsette, Alice Price, D'Norgia Price, Ella Ray, Kate & Clark @ ReClaim, Cole Reed, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Douglas Rori, Charlotte Rutherford, Sabin CDC, Marcus Shelby, Darrell Shines, Shawnte Sims, Mac Smiff, Donovan Smith, Bobby Smith, Suzette Smith, Chontia Smith, Darlene Solomon-Rogers, Amie Sowe, Esperanza Spalding, LaRhonda & Mark Steele, Daren Todd, Sharita Towne, Scott Durr @ Turn, Turn, Turn, University of Oregon School of Journalism, Taylor Valdes, Vanport Mosaic, Verdell A. Burdine & Otto G. Rutherford Family Collection at Portland State University, Vespertine Works, Green & John @ Vital Compass, Reed Wallsmith, Ed Washington, Mark Washington, Hobbs Waters, Damaris Webb, Emmett Wheatfall, Vanessa White, Jeana Wooley, Jolly Wrapper, Stunnaboii Z