Adriene Cruz was born in Harlem and relocated to Portland in 1983. In late 1991, she began to explore quilting after 17 years of creating tapestry crochet and wearable art. She exhibited nationally and frequently at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC). Cruz’s gift to feel and love color began at an early age inspired by her mother’s life as a practicing artist. Her affinity and faith in color and design can be experienced in Portland’s city landscape where Cruz magically transformed her community with the mural at the Northeast Health Center, commissioned in 1998, and the TriMet North Killingsworth station on the MAX Yellow Line, commissioned in 2004. 

This intimate exhibition touches on 32 years of Cruz’s working practice, reflecting on her meditative use of fiber materials, the visual language of her installation and sculptural practice, and her spiritually guided methodology to transform utilitarian objects into relics and treasures. Titled after Cruz’s most recent work, Power Prayer for the Community was a publicly engaged project hosted at the Portland Art Museum on February 24th. Regional Black artists were invited to contribute a talisman or amulet to adhere to various pieces of fabric. This open-studio format program allowed Cruz to work collaboratively with artists, engage with the public, and offer viewers a glimpse of her studio life. The result of this collective work is featured here, in the spirit of an egungun prayer flag. As in all of Cruz’s work, the threaded rituals in bringing materials together take on a resonance of ancestral power, healing, and blessing. Featured in conjunction with the expansive exhibition Black Artists of Oregon curated by Intisar Abioto, you can see more of Cruz’s work at the Portland Art Museum on view through March 31st. 

Teena Wilder, Exhibit Curator, Art Bridges Community Partnerships and Curatorial Fellow, Portland Art Museum in partnership with Black Art/ists Gathering.