We are thrilled to present a vibrant two-artist exhibition featuring glass sculpture by Dan Friday and ceramic sculpture by Iván Carmona. Now on view through September, 2026 in the North display case within the Concourse Connector. While working in two distinct mediums, both Carmona and Friday bring vivid colors, organic forms, and unique artistic narratives to PDX.
While growing up in Puerto Rico, Iván Carmona developed a strong, visual, vocabulary of images that have come to influence his work today. With representations of Spanish colonial architecture, dense colorful vegetation, complex textures and patterns, we not only see, but feel, the power of the landscapes of his home. Influenced by the Modern Art movement, Carmona explores biomorphic abstraction form, monochromatic saturated color and multi disciplinary materials to convey specific content in three-dimensional objects.
The forms and colors found in his works are based on long held memories and represent both physical and tactile experiences. Each piece represents a fragment of those experiences through landscape, richly infused with intense colors, shapes and textures. The artist paints every work in flat monochrome that brings about an insistence on texture and space while also pulling discrete planes and shapes together into fully-realized objects. These evocative forms, at once alien and familiar, are physical maps of time and memory.
Carmona grew up in Luquillo, PR, on the edge of the El Yunque national rainforest. The artist received the prestigious Hallie Ford Fellowship in 2020. His works are included in the collections of the Boise Art Museum (Boise, ID), Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation Collection (Portland, OR), King County Public Art Collection (King County, WA), Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), and the Regional Arts & Culture Council Portable Art Collection (Multnomah County, OR).
For glass artist Dan Friday, creativity was fostered in him by his family from an early age. Friday is a member of the Lummi Nation and grew up surrounded by that rich cultural heritage. It was a key component of his upbringing to regularly make things with his hands. When the artist first discovered glass blowing, he found a creative path that deeply resonated with him and has been making glass art ever since.
Friday typically works with simple themes and forms, often employing subtle silhouettes when making his iconic totem sculptures. The artist enjoys seeing inanimate objects taking on a life of their own as he works. His more narrative pieces are a personal expression or a means of processing a life event, often with an underlying statement.
Dan Friday is a member of the Lummi Nation and a Washington-based glass artist. He has spent the last twenty years working for artists such as Dale Chihuly, Paul Marioni, Preston Singletary, and many others. He has taught at the Pilchuck School of Glass, and has had residencies at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, and the Dream Community in Tai Pei, Taiwan. Friday is a recipient of the 2020 Artist Trust Fellowship and the Discovery Fellowship through the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts. His work can be seen in galleries across the United States.
For inquiries on Iván Carmona’s work please contact info@pdxcontemporary.com
For inquires on Dan Friday’s work please contact fridayglass@gmail.com