Before the Pearl District was galleries and lofts, it had Blue Sky. Founded in 1975 by a collective of young photographers, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts — Blue Sky Gallery — remains one of America’s most respected photography spaces, and it is entirely free.
Its exhibitions launch careers: photographers show here years before the big museums call. The Pacific Northwest Drawers — flat files of prints by regional photographers that visitors can pull out and browse by hand — are a beloved hands-on ritual, and the gallery’s critique nights have sharpened generations of Portland image-makers.
Serious about photography and welcoming to the merely curious, Blue Sky is a Pearl District essential: walk in off the street, walk out seeing differently.
