Portland Art Galleries, Museums, Supplies & More

Best art galleries Portland museums supplies classes your area

Anyone that wants to learn about art in Portland has definitely come to the right place. Our opening section will fully cover the best art galleries and museums near you.

After that we will get into a variety of other topics like art supply stores, events, festivals, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, local sculptures and statues, art classes, studios for rent, and the top frame shops in your area.

If you are after any specific section you can jump straight to it using the table of contents on the left. We are also including a Portland art map with all of the various places we mention throughout the post pinned on it.

Art in the Pacific Northwest is something we have discussed often on our site and you can find all of our other posts on the topic at that link.

Best Art Galleries & Museums In Portland

When you want to find the best art galleries and museums in Portland you can check out:

The oldest museum in the Pacific Northwest is the Portland Art Museum which is open from 11am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday and was founded in the 1890’s. They have collected over 50,000 objects and over a thousand of them are available for rent or sale plus every Friday evening they put on events that might include live music, comedy, other performances, pop-up exhibits, and more.

Artistic Portland Gallery is a great place to go and see locally made art and they are open seven days a week from 10am to 6pm.

All of the 20 plus exhibitions held at the Blue Sky Gallery throughout the year are free to the public just as their talks and programs are. They have a large collection of original contemporary photography prints from photographers across the Pacific Northwest which are available to view from noon to 5pm Wednesday through Saturday.

The Upfor Gallery specializes in private sales, auctions, and appraisals and even offers consultations and help with acquisitions.

The Russo Lee Gallery can assist with framing, appraisals, and commission projects as well as many other things from 11am to 5:30pm Tuesday through Friday and until 5pm on Saturday.

Materials & Supplies Near You

There are quite a few stores to buy art supplies and materials in your area like:

The bi-annual Art+Craft Markets held by Crafty Wonderland are definitely something you should check out.

You can try the in-store workshops and classes at Assembly Pdx or hold your next private event there.

There are three locations of Collage Pdx one each in the Alberta District, on Division Street, and in Sellwood. They also have a monthly Instagram contest where you might just win a $50 gift card.

Shows & Events

Our favorite shows and events held throughout the year would be:

Over Labor Day Weekend each year the annual Art in The Pearl takes place near you which is arguably the top Fine Arts & Crafts Festival in Oregon and you can expect to find theater, music, and hands-on art activities for people of all ages in the Pearl District’s Northern Blocks.

Each year in late January and early February the 11 day long Fertile Ground Festival focuses on displaying new creative works by local artists in a variety of mediums.

The Portland Saturday Market is thought to be the largest continuously operating open-air arts and crafts market in America and with over 250 booths on display you will see tons of unique works by local and regional artists every weekend from March til the end of the year.

Earlier we mentioned the $5 after 5pm Fridays that is by Portland Art Museum which is a great way to see all kinds of cool and creative things in a fun and social setting.

We also told you about the Art+Craft Markets which are held in May and December at the Oregon Convention Center.

Alberta Art District Last Thursday goes down on the last Thursday of each month on Alberta Street.

Art Dealers & Appraisers

Sometimes you might want to add a new piece to your collection or learn the true value of something and if so you can go to one of these art dealers and appraisers in your area:

Art Etc provides services like art consultation, planning and budget allocation, delivery, installation of all artwork, and custom framing.

The O’Gallerie holds ten auctions a year with two sessions that often present around 600 works.

If you want to buy some local and regional art for the secondary market check-out Resaleart.

Portland Art Museum, Artistic Portland Gallery, Ampersand Gallery, Upfor Gallery, Augen Gallery, and Russo Lee Gallery from our galleries and museums list also sell art in your area.

Walking Tours

Framing art supply stores Portland lessons near you studios

Head to the Alberta Art District on the last Thursday of each month and just walk around because you will find plenty of cool stuff on display.

Sculptures & Statues

You will encounter some really cool sculptures and statues around town like:

  • Sacajawea Statue at Washington Park
  • Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden at Grant Park
  • Coming of the White Man Statue at Washington Park
  • Portlandia at 1120 SW 5th Ave
  • Paul Bunyan Statue at SW Corner of N Denver Ave

The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden on the West side of Grant Park has three really cool bronze statues.

Fans of bronze will also enjoy the Coming of the White Man Statue that was created by Atkins MacNeil and you can also find it at Washington Park.

Raymond Kaskey created the Portlandia which you can find at the Michael Graves’ Portland Building downtown.

Portland Art Classes

You might be searching for private lessons or group classes for kids, teens, or adults and either way the best Portland art schools are:

The only art and design college in Portland is Pacific Northwest College of Art who has a variety of bachelor of fine art degree programs as well as minors and masters degrees. They also have adult and youth classes available for those who aren’t after a degree.

You can find drawing and painting lessons for kids or adults at The Drawing Studio where they put on weekday, night, and weekend lessons with their instructors.

There are private lessons, open figure, and portrait drawing classes near you at High Low Art Space.

Those with special needs would enjoy the classes at Multnomah Arts Center who has scholarships available.

Art World School has day, evening, weekend, and after school classes plus private lessons and summer art camps.

Assembly Pdx from our local art supplies list also put on classes and workshops.

Studios For Rent Near You

When your next project is read think about renting one of these art studio spaces in your area:

Framing

Some of the top Portland art framing services would be:

You can find Luke’s Frame Shop in both Albina and Belmont.

The largest local custom framing company in the region is NW Framing and Frame Central Macadam is a valued member.

If you need help with canvas building and stretching or anything else like consultations, installations, or printing services head to Mel’s Frame Shop.

Other venues we have listed throughout the post that also do custom framing in your area are the Russo Lee Gallery, Artist & Craftsman Supply, Blick Art Materials, and Art Etc.

By the way we have also discussed local art in:

Have Fun Enjoying The Portland Art Scene

Hopefully we did a decent job of discussing the full art scene near you. We listed the best galleries, museums, events, shows, supply stores, dealers, appraisers, walking tours, sculptures, classes, studios, and framers in your area.

If you made it this far you might just know quite a bit about the local art scene yourself. It would be great if you could share your own tips, or let us know if we may have gotten anything wrong in the comments.

Have fun going to the galleries, museums, buying supplies or doing anything that has to do with art in Portland!

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This post and all of the posts on our site are edited by Dan Soloman who has been a huge fan of art since he was a little kid. His mother was a good local artist, and she taught him the trade from a very early age. He studied art and its history in both high school and college, has worked at multiple galleries, and recently has begun creating and editing online content for this site and some other online media platforms.

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