Eunice Parsons on KBOO

Listen to the interview here.

A couple of Sundays ago I was out and about, sort of killing time and meandering. I thought I would check out the latest Eunice Parsons show at 12 x 16. I didn’t really expect the show to rock my world – it’s not like her work is new to me. But the show is completely elegant and invigorating.

After viewing the group show Matriarchs of Modernism at the Art Gym 5 years ago, I interviewed Parsons on KPSU (transcript here). Then when Wid Chambers and I opened Chambers the following year, she was our very first show (along with Paul Fujita).

I remember her telling me that in all of the years that she exhibited in Portland, she never could get the Oregonian to show up. I told her that I would try to change that. Eunice was turning 89 that year; it’s not like eternity stretched out before us. Within a couple of weeks, the O published a nice review by Victoria Blake which I cannot seem to find online (PORT wrote about the show too).

Now she’s having this full-on blitz of exhibitions – 12 x 16, the Hallie Ford Museum and a couple elsewhere in the state. This year Eunice Parsons turns 93 and she still manages so much vitality in her collage. She has a backlog of very juicy materials with probably some of the best paper in this town. Eunice will be my guest on Art Focus this coming Tuesday at KBOO.