Organization of the Month: Art on Alberta

After a brief hiatus, Organization of the Month is back!  Each month we highlight a local community non profit and devote some time highlighting the work they do.  Then the store donates a portion of all profits from our special sale day (this month it is the 28th!) to help fund their operation. 

(Don't forget about all the upcoming activities at the Alberta Street Fair on August 21st.  We'll be open from 10-1 pm that Saturday and closed for the rest of the afternoon.)

Art on
Alberta is a small but mighty all-volunteer nonprofit organization whose
mission is to promote the Alberta Art District's distinct cultural
identity through art and educational activities. We have been in existence for
over a decade and received our 501(c)(3) status in 2002.  Art on Alberta
has received grant support from the Oregon Arts and Culture Council and the
Regional Arts and Culture Council for projects in the past, but we also depend
on smaller donations from individual memberships and special fundraisers from
Alberta Street businesses like Bolt, Cork, Bernie's, Radio Room, Alberta
Gardens, and Bink's. 

Here's a few of our favorite projects from our
organization's history:

In 2006, Art
on Alberta sponsored the creation and installation of fifteen kinetic metal
banners that span from Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. to NE 33rd Avenue.
 They mark this area as the Alberta Arts District

In 2009, we mounted an exhibition of over 50 original works
by artist Thelma Johnson Streat, an Oregon resident over half a century ago who
was the first African American Woman to have her work in the collection of the
Museum of Modern Art in New York.  More information about Streat can be
found here.  You can also see her work on OPB's History Detectives.

This year,
Art on Alberta had two exciting projects.  We raised over $2500 in
scholarship money for three young artists to help in their college tuition
through the sale of their original artworks to be on permanent display at the
Avel Gordly Head Start Center in North Portland.  This spring and summer,
we have sponsored four new murals for Alberta Street, located at the Community
Energy Project, the House of Umoja, and Cork wine shop. These murals were
designed by artists Esteban Camacho and Rodolfo Serna and were painted by the
attending public at Art on Alberta's 11th annual Art Hop this past May.

Please visit our website to learn more about Art on Alberta
and how you can help us with our projects for 2011, which include a public art
directory/walking map and the restoration of a 1960's teardrop trailer into a
mobile art gallery!  

 --Hillary

Come in Saturday, August 28th for 20% off all fabric on tubes and all Fiskar and Gingher scissors.  A portion of the days sales will go towards supporting this great organization.