Announcing Our Next Artist Catalyst Program Artist - Midori Hirose

Announcing our selected artist, Midori Hirose, to work on our next public art project!

In March, we sought applications for an artist to work closely with community members, APANO staff, and neighboring institutions to create a new community-based public art project honoring the history and legacy of the thriving orchards in East Portland. After reviewing many phenomenal applications, our selection committee – composed of members of our Orchards of 82nd Art Crew, ROSE CDC, and neighborhood partners – selected Oregon-born artist Midori Hirose for this project. Over the next year, Midori will work closely with APANO to enhance the connections between the history and current geography of the Orchards of 82nd, focusing on the history of the land, its role as a site of community nourishment, and its Indigenous stewardship.

Midori Hirose is a Japanese American multimedia artist born in Hood River, OR and based in Portland. In her work, community bonds, recognizing space as a necessary part of the generative process through collaborations, historical narrative, perception (physiological and psychological), and storytelling are interchangeable with physical objects and materials. Midori received her MFA from the University of Washington in Seattle in 2021 and her BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2004. She also studied at Washington State University Vancouver, receiving her BSS majoring in History with a minor in Human Development in 1999; and her AA in Early Childhood Education from Clark College, Vancouver, WA, in 1997.

Midori has been an artist-in-residence at Caldera, Sisters, OR; FB Open Arts, Menlo Park, CA; and S-AiR, Sapporo, Japan. Midori has received grants from the Regional Arts & Culture Council, and her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, and Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (now Oregon Contemporary) for the Portland Biennial. She has also been included in group exhibitions at The Lumber Room in Portland, OR; East/West Project, Berlin, Germany; Newberg Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, and Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden.

We are thrilled to work with Midori on this project, which is supported by the Public Art & Civic Engagement (PACE) Capacity Building Initiative led by the Mural Arts Institute, a program of the renowned public art organization Mural Arts Philadelphia. Through this initiative, we are working closely with the Mural Arts Institute to build the capacity of local artists in working with the community to produce two socially-engaged, participatory public art projects from 2021-2023. Selected artists receive technical support and participate in deep learning opportunities with Mural Arts Institute as part of its Artist Catalyst program.

Midori serves as our second selected artist in the Artist Catalyst program, joining our first artists Lillyanne Pham and Paolo De La Cruz. Please join us in welcoming Midori, and stay tuned for updates as her project unfolds!



This programming message brought to you by APANO Communities United Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.