About
BA English; minors Art History; Communications. MFA Creative Writing, Poetry. MA Clinical Mental Health. Trauma Certified.
Curatorial & Exhibitions
- Selected Freelance Projects & Commissions
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer, Griffin Museum, Boston, MA, 2022, 2023.
- Curator & Project Manager, Notre Dame University, Peace Studies department, digital stories comprised from a group of artists, scientists, and philosophers exploring the arts connected to compassion and healing, permanent online exhibition, discussion forum, and physical book, 2013-2014.
- Curator, Lewis & Clark College, Centennial symposium and exhibition, William Stafford Archives, 2013-2014.
- Curator, Yan Tai Shan, Henan Provence, China, International Cultural Symposium. Chief curator and lecturer hired to bring 10 American landscape photographers to China for exhibition and series of lectures, 2011.
- Curator, Mercy Corps, international headquarters. A freelance project curating the Mercy Corps photography collection for a permanent exhibition in the new international headquarters, 2009.
- Adjunct Professor, Clark College, Art Department, 2012-2013. Art appreciation courses.
- Adjunct Professor, Portland State University, School of Fine & Performing Arts Department, 2012-2015. Art practice, and art history.
- Curator, Center for Fine Art Photography, Colorado, ASMP exhibition, 2008.
- Curator, Vermont PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT, 2012.
- Instructor, New Space Center for Photography, classes include artistic vision, portfolio, photographic voice, the business of art, writing for artists, and others, 2007-present.
- Chair, Board of Directors, PhotoLucida, an international photography festival bringing together a world-wide collection of photographers and curators annually, 2004-2007.
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer, Our World, San Francisco Art Institute, 2007-2019.
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer and Panelist, Atlanta Photo Festival, 2012.
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer and Panelist, Palm Springs Photo Festival, 2007.
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer, Fotofest, 2006.
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer at the Seattle Art Museum for Photographic Center NW 2003- 2006.
- Grant Review and Selection Panelist for the Regional Arts & Cultural Council, 2003.
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer, Photo Americas international photography festival, 2003.
- Invited Portfolio Reviewer for PhotoLucida international photography festival, 2005- 2019.
- Lecture, Aperture West presents, Palm Springs Photo Festival, photography and advocacy, 2007.
- Lecture, Kunstalle Faust, Hannover, Germany, photography and war, 2007.
- Lecture, PhotoAlliance, San Francisco, California, with Bill Burke, photography and arts with social conscience, 2006.
- Lecture, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, California, panel discussion, photography art books, self publishing for photographers, 2006.
- Lecturer at Portland State University on non-profit arts management and grant writing, art department, 1998-2002.
- Executive Director, Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts/Blue Sky Gallery, 1991-2007. This unique nonprofit arts organization has, for over 30 years, provided support, exhibitions, publications, workshops, and lectures from the most important established and emerging photographic artists working in the world. Oversaw management of and executed fundraising for programming of 24 exhibitions, 12 lectures, and the printing and distribution of 4 publications per year. Managed and tripled an international membership base. Managed a paid and volunteer staff of 30. Final accomplishment in tenure was directing a $2.5 million capital campaign to purchase a new and permanent space in Portland’s Pearl District and establish an endowment.
- Freelance independent project manager, development consultant, grant writer and book editor for creative and non profit organizations in the fine arts and photography fields. Clients have included the Portland Art Museum, Oregon College of Art & Craft, Wild Salmon Center/Ecotrust, Halton, PhotoAlliance, Scandinavian Heritage Foundation, NewSpace Center for Photography, Notre Dame University; Lewis & Clark College; The Aftermath Project. She works with some of the world’s best artists, and is active in the international photography community. She has coordinated more than 375 exhibitions, and 80 books and catalogues. 1991-2020.
- Adjunct Professor, Portland State University, Institute for Nonprofit Management, 2012. Courses taught on non-profit arts administration.
- Advisory Board, Photolucida, Portland, Oregon, 2017-2022. Chair, Board of Directors, 2004-2007. PhotoLucida is an arts non profit dedicated to providing a platform for the national and international photography community through a bi-annual international festival and portfolio reviews.
- Board member, Dynasty House, a nonprofit providing funds to build homes and support education for people in Motema, a village ravaged by war in eastern Sierra Leone, 2013-2016.
- Selected Exhibitions
- 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA, Semantics: Survival by Story, 2024
- Lolo Pass, Portland, Oregon, Title TBD, 2024
- Steamer Building Arts, Portland, Oregon, Title TBD, paintings and photographs, 2023
- Messejina, Portugal, Blue, in parts; and Hold the Horizon Until You Get Home, paintings and photographs, 2022
- Gallery, 114, Portland, Oregon, We Are and Are Not (W)hole, paintings, 2020
- Portland Winter Light Festival, Braille Constellation REDUX, LED light installation, 2020
- Siglufjörður, Iceland, We Are and Are Not (W)hole; multi-media public art installation, 2018
- Portland Winter Light Festival, OMSI, Patterns Are For Breaking, video installation, 2017
- Portland Winter Light Festival, OMSI, Braille Constellation, LED light installation, 2016
- Siglufjörður, Iceland, What Remains; multi-media public art installation, 2014
- Gallery 114, Portland, Oregon: Organ Players & Storytellers, paintings, 2011
- Steamer Building, Portland, Oregon, Organ Players & Storytellers, paintings, 2010
- Pivot/Cascade Aids Project, Portland, Oregon, paintings, 2010
- Gallery 114, Portland, Oregon: Flight Patterns, paintings, 2008
- Mount Hood Community College, Gresham, OR: Why We Keep Going, installation, 2008
- Gallery 114, Portland, Oregon: About Face, 2008
- Gallery 114, Portland, Oregon: Proletariat Art, 2007
- 100th Monkey Studio, Portland, Oregon: Lines, those that fall off the map, 2007
- Gallery 114, Portland, Oregon, Lines, those that fall off the map, 2006
- Visual Arts Collective, Boise, Idaho, Geography, 2006
- Fife, Portland, Oregon, Geography, 2005
- Gallery 114, Portland, Oregon, Geography, 2005
- Gallery 114, Portland, Oregon, Daily Labor, 2006
- From The Oregonian, 5.1.2008: …not enough know Rian has long been a deeply talented painter…in her non-objective abstract work layered textures serve as metaphors for the natural landscape, history, even chronic illness.
- From The Oregonian, 11.3.2005: Rian’s paintings are stormy, tangled and outspoken reflections of interior and exterior landscapes.
- From The Portland Mercury, 11.3.2005: Kirsten Rian creates dark, heavily-worked diptychs of acrylic, charcoal, and pastel on wood that recall the scratchy, angsty works of Cy Twombly, Lucinda Parker, and Susan Rothenberg
Languages & Literature
- Teaching & Community-Based Projects
- Adjunct Professor, Portland State University, 2009-2023.
- Adjunct Professor, University of Portland, 2013-2023.
- Poetry Editor; book reviewer, The Oregonian, 2012-2016.
- Columnist, Daylight Magazine. Author of “The Alphabet of Light,” a weekly column for international photography magazine; featured writer for the publication’s iPad app, 2012 -2018.
- Instructor, Literary Arts, Portland, Oregon. Taught writing to at-risk and regular education high school students in Portland Public School District through the Writers in the Schools program, 2005-2010.
- Instructor, Fishtrap International Literary Festival, creative writing, Wallowa Lake, OR, 2009-2012.
- Instructor, Pacific Northwest College of Art, poetry, Fall, 2011.
- Writer in Resident/Instructor, Multnomah County Library system. Conducted poetry workshops with refugee and immigrant communities at library branches throughout Portland. Produced anthology of work catalogued within library system, 2007, 2008.
- Volunteer language group facilitator, Multnomah County Library, Talk Time: conversation practice for non-native speakers, 2012 to present.
- Curator and host of monthly author series, Comma, at Broadway Books, Portland, OR, 2011-2018.
- Freelance grant writer and book editor for creative and arts organizations in Portland, OR and San Francisco Bay Area. Rian has written for and coordinated the production of 80 books and catalogues, 1989-present.
- Writing workshop program development. Conducted writing workshops introducing creative writing as a tool for literacy, self-expression, and trauma processing for refugee and immigrant individuals and trafficked women. IRCO (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization), Portland, Oregon, 2005-2007; Naistari International Center for Migrant Women, Tampere, Finland, 2004; The IRC (International Rescue Committee) in Boise, Idaho, 2006, 2007; Catalyst Peacebuilding, Sierra Leone, 2007. Contapolous Music Therapy and The Soul Care House Therapy, San Diego, California, 2014, 2015.
- Instructor, Saturday Academy. Taught creative writing, composition, journalism, art history, visual arts to middle and high school students, 2008, 2009.
- Instructor, I Have a Dream Foundation. Taught creative writing and composition to at-risk eighth graders, summer 2008.
- Poetry workshop instructor with homeless population. Workshops held at Sixth Street Center, San Francisco, California, 2006-2010.
- Writer in Residence, Atkinson Elementary. Grant received from Artists for the Arts to work with third grade Spanish immersion students using poetry as a tool for story telling. Book produced, 2006/2007 academic year
- Selection Committee, Soapstone, a non profit literary residency program, 2006.
- Languages and Literature Sub-Committee Task Force for Scandinavian Heritage Foundation, Portland, Oregon. Developed multi-cultural programs that preserve and present Scandinavian authors and languages to the greater Portland community, 2004, 2005.
- English as a Second Language (ESL) tutor for recently relocated refugee and immigrant adults in Portland area, 2004-present.
- Selected Publications
- Author, Life Expectancy, Redbat Press, Northwest Writers Series, a full-length collection of poetry, 2018.
- Author, Life Expectancy, limited edition artist book with letterpress cover, Wynscope Press, 2015.
- Author, Waltz in Mars Time, Berberis Press/Lewis & Clark College, a limited edition letterpress chapbook in a 4-part series of regional poets produced by the College, 2013.
- Author, Kalashnikov In The Sun, Pika Press, an anthology of Sierra Leonean poetry, 2010.
- Co-author, Walking Bridges Using Poetry As Compass, Urban Adventure Press, a collection of contemporary poetry funded in part with a grant from Regional Arts & Culture Council, 2007.
- Essays, Daylight Magazine, web; iPad app; physical magazine, 2012-2018.
- Articles and bi-weekly poetry column, The Oregonian, 2012 to 2016.
- Author, Fugue, a limited edition artist book of essays and poems, Laurwyn Press, 2009.
- Monograph essay, Michael Sherwin, Vanishing Points, Kehrer Verlag, Germany, 2021.
- Monograph essay, Bruce Haley, Home Fires, Daylight, US, 2021.
- Monograph essay, Emily Matyas, Celebrating Home, Daylight Books, USA, 2018
- Monograph essay, Lisa McCarty, Transcendental Concord, Radius Books, USA, 2018
- Monograph essay, Moses Kainwo, Ayo Ayo and Other Love Songs, Sierra Leoneon Writers Series, Sierra Leone, 2015
- Monograph poem, Michael Lange, Fluss, HatjeCantz, Germany, 2015
- Monograph poem, Hiroshi Watanabe, The Day the Dam Collapses, Daylight Books, US, 2014.
- Monograph essay, David Maisel, Black Maps, Steidl, Germany, 2012.
- Monograph essay, Taj Forer, Stone by Stone, Kehrer Verlag/Germany, 2011.
- Monograph essay, Bruce Haley, Sunder, Charta/Daylight, Italy/NY, 2011.
- Monograph essay, Hiroshi Watanabe, Findings, CMPL, Los Angeles, CA, 2007.
- Monograph essay, Ann Ploeger, Untitled, Franklin Beedle, Portland, OR, 2007.
- Writing published in numerous magazines and national literary journals, including Oregon Poets Against the War, Rainy Day Press, 2004; Top-25 winner in poetry for Glimmer Train Journal, 2004; RHINO Literary Journal, Chicago, IL, Spring 2005, 2011; Upstreet Literary Journal, Boston, MA, Spring, 2007; Jefferson Monthly, Ashland, OR, Fall, 2008; On the Issues Magazine, online, Winter, 2008; Not A Muse Anthology, Hong Kong, 2010; Oregonian, Portland, OR, 2011; Rhino (runner-up, Founder’s Prize), Chicago, IL, 2011; Broadriver Review, Raleigh, NC, 2011; Daylight Magazine, New York, NY; Portland Magazine, Portland, OR, 2011, 2012.
- Work nominated for inclusion in Best New Poets anthology, 2008.
- Critic’s Pick, The Oregonian, May 1, 2008.
- Review, The Oregonian, November 3, 2005.
- Critic’s Pick, The Portland Mercury, Vol. 6, No. 23, 2005.
- Selected Readings & Lectures
- Featured reader, Annie Bloom’s Books, May, 2018.
- Featured reader, Powell’s Books, January, 2017.
- Featured reader, Broadway Books, May, 2015.
- Featured speaker, Notre Dame University, International Peace Studies department, Creativity and Compassionate Presence: the arts and healing, 2013.
- Featured reader, University of Portland, English department sponsored reading series, 2012.
- Featured speaker, Linfield College, English department symposium on war, 2012.
- Featured poet & speaker, Lawson Inada Poetry Festival, Southern Oregon University, 2011.
- Featured speaker, Portland Center Stage, panel discussion on visual art and war following a performance of The Iliad, 2010.
- Featured speaker, Oregon Humanities, Think & Drink series explores photography and war, 2010.
- Featured poet, Lewis & Clark College, International Affairs symposium on peace, May, 2009.
- Featured poet, William Stafford birthday celebration, Multnomah County Library, Central Library, January, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.
- Featured poet, Verse in Person series, Multnomah County Library, 2008.
- Featured poet, Wordstock Literary Festival, 2008.
- Featured poet, Annual William Stafford Memorial Poetry & Potluck event, September, 2007.
- Featured poet, San Francisco Center for the Book, Poets Pulling Poems series, funded in part with a grant from Poets & Writers. Limited edition letterpress broadside produced at event, 2006.
- Featured poet, Second Sundays Series, Stayton, OR, November, 2007.
- Featured poet, Portland Bridge Walk, Portland Parks & Recreation, July, 2006.
- Invited lecturer to Portland State University practicum linguistics students in Spring, 2005; Fall, 2006; Winter, 2006; Winter, 2007; Fall, 2007; Winter, 2008; creative writing as a tool for literacy and healing with alternative populations.
- Invited presenter, ORTESOL conference, Fall 2005, presented seminar on use of poetry in a workshop setting with refugee and immigrant communities to foster literacy and the sharing of language and stories.
- Selected Awards & Grants
- Artist Residency, 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles, Calfornia, 2024.
- Artist Residency Grant, Buinho Cultural Foundation, Portugal, 2022.
- Grant recipient, Regional Arts and Culture Council, 2015.
- Artist Residency Grant, Herhusid Foundation, Iceland, 2014, 2018.
- Fellowship recipient, Oregon Arts Commission, 2013.
- Artist Grant, Catalyst Foundation, grant to travel to Sierra Leone and hold writing workshops with war survivors, 2007.
- Work nominated for inclusion in Best New Poets anthology, 2008.
- Regional Arts & Culture Council, project grant in partnership with co-author for book project, 2007.
- Graduate Fellowship, Portland State University, full tuition and stipend to obtain MFA at Portland State University, 2009.
- Artist Grant, Artists for the Arts, funded artist residency at Atkinson Elementary School.
- Awarded 2005 Soapstone poetry artist residency, May 2005.