Blue Sky: The Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts at 40 is the first comprehensive publication to document and situate Portland’s nonprofit Blue Sky Gallery within the national photography scene, charting its four-decade history from upstart artists’ collective to mature nonprofit photographic space. Founded in 1975, before photography was embraced widely as a meaningful fine art form, Blue Sky’s founders endeavored to bring the most dynamic contemporary photographers working in the United States, and eventually throughout the world, to the Northwest. The Center’s early support of now-renowned photographers, including Nan Goldin, John Divola, Mark Klett, Robert Frank, and Larry Sultan, established Blue Sky as a preeminent West-Coast venue. The gallery remains a vital location where emerging photographers engaging with twenty-first century technologies continue to find their voices and eager audiences.
