Public Art at the Library

Juniper

John Grade · b. 1970, Minneapolis, MN

The sculpture is inspired by the expansion of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) trees and the contraction of glaciers within Deschutes County. The sculpture will take the form of the surface of an alpine valley conflated with concentric growth rings of the interior of a western juniper. At the top of this undulating form there will be an additional layer of forms inspired by a retreating glacier. The inspiration for these forms will be old-growth western junipers growing within Deschutes County and the alpine topography around the summit of South Sister Mountain where glaciers are currently retreating.

John Grade lives and works in Seattle, WA. Inspired by changing ecosystems in the natural world, he works with his studio team to sculpt immersive, large-scale, site-specific installations. Kinetics, impermanence and chance are often central to the work. Recent and current projects draw inspiration from mountains in Nevada’s Great Basin, highland forests in Guatemala and changing landforms above the Arctic Circle—investigating assisted migration of trees, underground mycorrhizal and fungal networks, changing river systems and ocean currents, earthquakes, and directly engaging forest wildfires and windstorms. He is the recipient of the 2010 Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Tiffany Foundation Award, three Andy Warhol Foundation Grant Awards, two Pollock–Krasner Foundation Grants, the 2011 Arlene Schnitzer Prize from the Portland Art Museum, and the 2013 Arts Innovator Award from Artist Trust.

CAMPER (welcome home rainbows) & CONDOR (pelicans on the interior)

Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos) · b. 1976, Umpqua River Valley, OR

Sara Siestreem is a multidisciplinary artist from the Umpqua River Valley working in painting, photography, printmaking, weaving, and large-scale installation. She combines the ceremonial traditions of her ancestors with contemporary modes and materials at the intersection of social and ecological justice, education, and Indigenous feminism. She holds a BS from Portland State University (2005) and an MFA with distinction from the Pratt Institute (2007), and she founded a self-sustaining weaving program for the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. She lives and works in Portland and is represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery.

Sarah Helen More

b. Hartford, CT · lives and works in Seattle, WA

My work deals with the interaction of color and pattern as well as the complex relationship between digital and handmade methods of making. Working between my sketchbook and various design programs on the computer, each piece begins as a series of ideas in the form of motifs that are then composed together to form the completed piece.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Sarah Helen More was raised in Portland, Oregon and Houston, Texas. She grew up surrounded by her mother’s handmade quilts and her father’s large collection of rocks and minerals, both facets of her upbringing that have greatly influenced her work. She holds an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in textile design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Sarah has worked as a studio assistant to Takashi Murakami, has taught art history at the college level, and spent many years working in manufacturing and factory production management. She recently completed a large-scale mural in conjunction with the Meta Open Arts program in Bellevue, Washington, and currently lives and works in Seattle.

Servants of Humanity

Jeremy Okai Davis · b. Charlotte, NC · lives and works in Portland, OR

“Servants of Humanity” combines portraiture, loose gestural mark-making, and symbolic imagery to explore visibility, race, and civic engagement. Through textured surfaces and layered historical references, Jeremy Okai Davis creates a visual language that connects personal identity to broader histories of representation and belonging.

The painting features Ophelia and Clarence Phelps, their daughter Rozelia, extended family members, and young figures from the community. Centering this pioneering family, the work highlights their enduring significance within the history of Central Oregon. Also depicted are Beatrice Morrow Cannady and J. W. Anderson, influential Black Oregonians who traveled to Bend to offer support and encouragement as Black communities across Bend, Redmond, Prineville, and Salem sought greater connection, visibility, and inclusion.

Jeremy Okai Davis received a BFA in painting from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. Davis relocated to Portland, OR in 2007, where he has continued his studio practice in addition to working as a graphic designer and illustrator. His work has been shown nationally at the Studio Museum of Harlem (New York, NY), the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture (Charlotte, NC), THIS Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA), Wa Na Wari (Seattle, WA), the Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), and the Rotating Art Program at Portland International Airport (Portland, OR). Davis’s work resides in the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center at Oregon State University, the University of Oregon’s permanent collection, and the newly expanded Albina Library in Portland, OR. Elizabeth Leach Gallery began representing Jeremy Okai Davis in 2019.

OCD / Open Closed Doors

Jason McNeal Graham (MOsley WOtta) · Bend, OR · Creative Laureate of Bend

OCD / Open Closed Doors is an invitation into the nonlinear timeline of ancestry. Each panel is both an entry into and out of the realms of the non-ordinary. Welcome home.

Jason McNeal Graham, aka MOsley WOtta, works across multiple mediums including writing, painting, and performance. He is Bend Oregon’s first Creative Laureate, a Fields Fellow and SAA Fellow for painting, and an Oregon Slam Poetry Champion. His work has been featured on NPR, OPB, NBA, PAM, TED X, and several other three-letter acronyms. His work primarily focuses on creating positive connections between the negative space of perceived difference.

Anis Mojgani

Originally from New Orleans · lives and works in Portland, OR · former Oregon Poet Laureate

Anis Mojgani served two terms as Oregon’s 10th Poet Laureate and is a two-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam. Winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam and a recipient of an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellowship, Anis has done commissions for the Getty Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. His work has appeared on HBO, National Public Radio, and as part of the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series, and in the pages of the New York Times, Rattle, Platypus, Winter Tangerine, Forklift Ohio, and Bat City Review. He has been awarded residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Caldera, AIR Serenbe, The Bloedel Nature Reserve, The Sou’wester, and the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program.

Known for his performances the world over, Anis has appeared at hundreds of universities across the U.S. and at festivals around the globe, including the Sydney Writers Festival, Jamaica’s Calabash Festival, and Seoul’s Young Writers Festival. Co-creator of the Oregon Poetry Telephone Line and the librettist for the opera Sanctuaries, Anis is the author of six books of poetry—his latest being The Tigers They Let Me—and his first children’s book is forthcoming from Holiday House / Neal Porter Books.