SAAB story: a pop-up you don’t want to block

By Jonah Svihus /// Staff Writer

Lewis & Clark seniors Tess Haratonik and Ellie Olitsky are creating a pop-up art gallery with funding from the Student Academic Affairs Board (SAAB) in downtown Portland to exhibit student art.

Haratonik and Olitsky are both art and art history majors. They found the source for their SAAB grant in a deep need to get LC artists into new venues.

“Ellie and I are both passionate about art and we wanted to find a way to bring LC artists’ work into downtown Portland,” Haratonik said. “We oftentimes feel secluded up here in the art department building and we wanted to find a way to hold an event off campus and celebrate LC art by bringing into the Portland community. We also knew we wanted to offer an opportunity for students who are not art majors but consider themselves artists to present their work.”

In order to accomplish these goals, Haratonik and Olitsky realized they needed funds to rent a gallery downtown.

“Budgeting estimated costs of putting our ideas into effect was first priority,” Olitsky said. “Things were going to add up right away when researching the costs of exhibition spaces. In late December, we decided to pursue applying for an Arts & Expressions SAAB Grants.”

Haratonik and Olitsky settled on creating a pop-up gallery in downtown Portland in which all students at LC could display their work.

Haratonik and Olitsky spent months preparing their grant.

“Our faculty advisor, Jess Perlitz, was very helpful in our application process,” Haratonik said. “Once our application was in, we had to present our proposal in front of the SAAB board the following week, where we expressed our enthusiasm, presented our timeline of events, and presented budget allocations we had estimated.”

Jess Perlitz is an assistant professor of art at LC and is also the studio head of sculpture for the college.

Looking back at the application and presentation process, Haratonik and Olitsky stressed the importance of details and cost analysis in their work.

“We had to collect a few different estimates from exhibition spaces we could you and weigh our options, to create a minimum budget and a maximum budget,” Haratonik said. “This experience has provided us with many insights you do not learn in school, and have provided us with business skills we weren’t familiar with.”

As far as the future of Haratonik and Olitsky’s project, they have secured a firm deadline in a space downtown.

“We are in the process of collecting submissions from the LC student body, and we would love for all artists at LC to submit work regardless if you are an art major or not,” Olitsky said. “The pop up show will engage the theme of bad habits, pet peeves, humiliations, and chance encounters.”  

Orlitsky and Haratonik expressed excitement about their upcoming event.

“We want to cordially invite the entire LC community to submit, participate, and come to this exciting event! Food, wine, and music!”

Orlitsky and Haratonik request applicants for the event to send 3-5 images of their work, including title, media, dimensions and a short artist’s statement of 150-300 words to popup@lclark.edu. Submission deadline is Wednesday, March 9th.

The event will be held on March 30, 2016 from 6-10pm at The Cleaners, 1022 SW Stark St, Portland OR 97205.