Blind Insect Gallery — Attraction in Portland

The ART WALLS: For the newly designed and constructed Community Development Department @ City of Hillsboro Civic Center: 4th Floor; 150 E. Main Street

The ART WALLS project was born out of the opportunity for a fresh start in our new 4th floor Community Development Department for which I had the role of the City's Architect and representative. The new Architectural design of our office space created new views, better lighting, and walls perfect for display of artwork. A goal in elevating the quality of the work environment is to elevate the visual experience for all employees. The opportunity was to create employee empowerment in the form of four ART WALLS created by volunteer EMPLOYEE-ARTISTS! The vision is for the artwork to be refreshed every few years, thus giving new opportunities for art and artists.

City leadership endorsed this initiative in the form of time available for employee participation, a budget for the acquisition of art and display materials, and funds for an Art Consultant to help guide our artists, source materials, fabricate the artwork, and installation.

• Pepe Moscoso: Art Consultant ; Blind Insect Gallery

The project was a nearly year-long process of weekly meetings and individual field trips as a creative forum for envisioning artworks from scratch and discussing goals and ideas. The only parameters set for the project were that they focus on the community of Hillsboro and the work that we do in the Economic and Community Development Department. For most of our art teams, this was a new and sometimes challenging experience. Each team was assigned a wall and used the weekly meetings to pitch ideas and refine their vision.

As the ideas took form, the artists began to work individually with Pepe to focus and define the work. Sourcing photos, materials, and framing grew out of that collaboration between our new artists working with an experienced artist. Pepe created a final slide-show presentation of the proposed ART WALLS prior to fabrication. The fabrication of the 4 very different Art Walls artworks was sourced by Pepe via several artist-makers. The final original artwork was installed by Pepe and the artists.

Pepe’s careful mentoring, enthusiasm, and professional approach was key to the success of the ART WALLS project. His intuitive and iterative work with our artists was critical for the success of the project. Pepe is a great listener. Pepe can consistently take sophisticated or complicated ideas and find simple solutions that are not simplistic artistically. Pepe consistently and enthusiastically applies a gentle active listener process to help a project vision achieve clarity and help manage the complex process of design while as a consultant prioritizing the success of others. Pepe has the unusual ability to be artist, critic, and manager. I highly recommend Pepe Moscoso as both an artist and an art consultant at any scale!

David McILNAY, AIA, LEED Fellow nominee | Urban Design Planner City of Hillsboro | Community Development | Planning Division 503-686-5185 (cell) | 503-681-6209 (desk) | 503-681-6245 (fax) Hillsboro-Oregon.gov | Engage with Us

Pepe Moscoso Gallery Owner, Public Speaker & Facilitator, Arts Consultant & Administrator, and Visual Artist

Blind Insect Multicultural Art Gallery 2841 NE Alberta Street Portland OR 97211 Phone: (971) 269-6302 IG:...

Blind Insect Gallery is probably my second favorite gallery on Alberta, next to Alberta Street Gallery, hehe. Blind Insect Gallery usually has about 60 plus artists adorning the walls and shelfs. Every inch of the small storefront has something, and it is usually great to look at, from local artists with moderate prices to larger pieces that have a large price tag, but with 60+ artists and the price tags ranging you are sure to find the perfect gift or art piece for your desk or wall. This place is great. We love to shop here, and its nice to have such a great...

I brought a family visiting from Australia enjoying my VW Bus Tour of Portland to Pepe's gallery and couldn't be happier! The space he curated from artists around the world is a gem among gems. My tour participants left with one of Pepe's incredible pieces of art and were glowing with excitement upon exiting. Stop reading this review and check out the gallery...