Art of the Circus at AFRU Gallery

By Ross Blanchard
Photos by Evan Orlando
Above: Trapezist Vanessa Boyd, A-WOL Dance Collective

For the exhibit’s May 2 opening night, the vaulted, lofty ceilings of the AFRU Gallery doubled as a circus tent, housing jugglers, contortionists, aerialists and other circus acts. They juggled, contorted, and hung from trapezes to promote the gallery’s First of May exhibit that highlights the carnivalesque work of several Portland and national artists.

William Batty (Noah Mickens) and his Wanderlust Circus hosted the evening. Batty’s polished ringmaster delivery and commanding voice held the sizable crowd in awe, as did aerialists from A-WOL Dance Collective, who swung from the tall gallery ceilings to the unique “tincture of junkyard folk and steampunk jazz” performed by Professor Gall.

Sam Roloff, Bear on a Trike. 2014. Oil on canvas

Mike Wellens/Terry, By the Pricking of My Thumbs. 2014. Non-Elective Retroactive Collaboration (NERC).

Sylvia Mann, The Knife Thrower. 2013. Acrylic on wood.

Linda Rand, Bird Girl. 2014. Oil, acrylic, paper, clay, taxidermy, Lady Armherst’s pheasant wing.

Suzanne Elise Stewart, The Amazing Bearded Lady. 2013. Acrylic on canvas.

Rustyn L. Birch, Gentry (I). 2014. Oil on canvas

First of May runs through June 1.

AFRU Gallery is located at 534 SE Oak Street in Portland.