Annie Meyer, 73, has been showing her artwork at Art in the Pearl for 30 years, and she’s Art in the Pearl’s longest serving board member, joining it in 2000.
“When I moved to Portland in 1980 I was 28 years old, and there was ArtQuake in the Park Blocks,” recalls Meyer. “ArtQuake sort of blew up, all the way from Burnside to Jefferson Street, and several of my ceramics friends were selling their work.” It made Meyer think she could do the same.
ArtQuake ended in 1995, and Art in the Pearl began the next year. Thirty years ago, when it started, the Pearl was a bit different. “First Thursday was happening then but nothing else was really there,” Meyer recalls.
Over the years the volunteer board members worked closely with Pearl neighbors to build the event. Their support has been 100% and the festival has a loyal fanbase, Meyer says.
In 2010 Meyer opened a gallery in the Pearl that stayed open until 2018. She dialed deeper into the neighborhood and joined the Pearl District Business Association Board.
Stepping outside a gallery and into a casual park setting shifts the perspective for both art buyers and artists, she says.
“Three people bought my stuff at Art in the Pearl who had never even been in the gallery that I had, located on the very street that they lived on. ”
Being successful wasn’t ever mapped out. “I didn’t really grow up thinking I’d sell artwork, I just started doing it. I went to France many times over the years and just started doing landscapes, realizing just working in clay was limiting.”
Art in the Pearl allowed her to see what people were drawn to. “I could try something new, and get a feel for how people responded. I grew with the show as an artist, and I’ve seen that with a lot of the others artists—who have to be able to stand there, and talk about their work.”
An emerging artist show fosters those narrative skills, she says. “We counsel them how to sell their work.”
The artist’s life has been good for Meyer.
“I was lucky. I didn’t grow up with any kind of plan.” But at one point Meyer did need a plan, or at least a credit card. So she got her nursing license and began working at the Oregon Poison Center, where she stayed for about 30 years. “It was very flexible and supportive of me.”
Recently Meyer finished a large commission for OHSU’s new Vista Pavillion Oncology unit.
Over the span of 15 years, Meyer has spent time at Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts in Pendleton. Set against the Blue Mountains, it’s the kind of scenery that touches the artist in everyone.
Closer to home, Meyer has a Portland storefront studio at 2507 SE Clinton that the’s worked in for 28 years.
Art in the Pearl is from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 5 and 6, and from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 7 under the elm trees in the North Park Blocks, between NW Davis and Flanders Streets.
It’s rewarding, she says, when people say they’ve been looking at her work for a long time. “Often it reminds me them of a place in their mind,” she says, “and they want to bring it home and live with it.”
Never much of a planner, Meyer was always a hard worker.
“I was not really worrying about it selling or not selling. I knew I should keep my nursing job for health insurance but I’m lucky to have good health, and people who care about me. I’m also lucky to have moved to this city, were people care about art and look at art.”
Meyer credits neighbors like Pearl District resident Judie Dunken for keeping the art scene going. “She said ‘we want Art in the Pearl back, how can we help you, because it’s what we need as a city.’”
Meyer believes that creativity sustains people providing them with a deep sense of purpose. The arts have a big role to play in keeping our city on a positive, productive course.
‘High end’ arts fair works with new boutique hotel
Brianna Luce is helping to get the word out about Art in Pearl this year, saying, “we’ll have merchandise this year with hats and shirts of your favorite artists.”
“All the board members are working artists and volunteers so they’re waived the jury fee,” which is just $40. Luce joined the festival for the community and networking. “We work very closely with the city.”
Asked if the North Park location presents challenges she said, “We could move the show, sure, but instead we’ll just make it better.” Volunteer teams embark on a deep cleaning of the park every year.
Art in the Pearl is not a craft fair, she explains.
“The show is pretty high-end, it’s top-ranked nationwide. It’s competitive to get in. There’s no soap, no candles. Connecting with the artists directly is the appeal, drawing people who care about the process, and want a chance to know the person behind the art. It makes you feel more connected to it.”
This year Art in the Pearl is working with the new Cambria Hotel, perched right on the North Park Blocks. They’ll host artist talks, an artist dinner Saturday night, and discounted rooms for festival visitors.
