A Scavenger in an Artistic Wasteland

By Mark Paul McIntyre

Back at the final week before Thanksgiving, Dr. Robert Harrison took members of his classes to the Portland Art Museum for a few hours of comprehensive mayhem. That’s right, this wasn’t the Griswold’s run through a museum in fifteen minutes, but there was running as we went on a scavenger hunt. There were around 10 of us on the competition as we went after an ever elusive prize, extra credit points.
“I loved the Chinese design the most.” Replied student Haley Temple when asked about her trip, “It was interesting to see how the old Chinese designs melded with the new twenty-first century China. Also the images that were displayed about of Tokyo were impressive.”
The museum was a fifteen foot fight Imax-like screen that would show scrolling images of Beijing and Tokyo in HD images for all to see as they entered through the doors to the main floor. This made you feel as though the museum got it. The younger crowd expects no bells and whistles when going to a place of art. Many of us stopped for a moment before heading our separate ways to stare and smile at the beautiful new age looks of the Far East. That led me to lose focus before being asked if I needed help from one of the many helpful museum staff. This made me ask for where the American Indian Exhibit was and he showed me on a map, which happened to be in my hand.
The American Indian Exhibit was so massive it took up two floors. There were ancient headdresses and portraits everywhere. I even met a young college student drawing the design of one of the totems there. She was doing it for an art class at Portland State University. Once gathering the information I needed on the two pieces I was looking for and more clues on where to go next, I headed down to the second floor.
“I believed Portland had the best combination of different cultures to show the students that was close enough to go to.” Dr. Harrison replied when asked about why he took us to this museum. “With the collection of European, American, Native, Asian, and ancient works, this gave the students the biggest combination to see all types of life both present and past. I thought a scavenger hunt would help the students see more of the art then they normally would have and it seemed to work as I feel the students enjoyed themselves.”
He was certainly correct about one thing. The amount of Traditional European Styled art was a big feature. The paintings well diverse and showing classics and ones I had never seen before. There was also an exhibit for woman art that was on display during the time we were there. The Portland Art Museum had a very romantic feel to it. You could easily spend a whole day there.
Oh, the scavenger hunt, well I finished second. The first place gentleman left quickly after I got there and in my dismay, I forgot to ask his name. In two hours I saw a lot of art. I had two hours there and it was way too little time to see everything. Next time I’ll see the second building as this was all in just one. If you are in Portland OR and have a day to spare, or just like art, head to the PAM and be whisked away to a time you may not have imagined.