Posters for Portland Parks
A Portland Parks Foundation 20th anniversary initiative.
In 2021, PPF proudly unveiled eight beautiful 20th Anniversary Portland parks posters, produced by local artists. In 2022, two more posters were commission to support our Joey Pope Award Fund. Check out all ten posters and the story of how they were created, below.
The designs
PPF worked with Design Portland to create a diverse jury and outreach strategy to reach the city’s leading designers. Ninety-seven applied. Our jury selected four. And then we worked with them to select a park. You can meet each of the designers in these videos.
The prints
As we were just getting started, John Miller—a classic Oregonian mix of environmentalist, entrepreneur, winemaker, and parks fan—came to us with an idea: why not do a special edition of the posters with Mullowney Printing Company, a renowned master printer who just established a studio in Portland, among other reasons, to work with the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
With John’s generous support, designers and printer got to work. The result: four extraordinary four-color silk-screen-printed parks posters.
More about the initial process
Inspired by WPA-era National Parks posters, the Portland Trailblazers Game Day series, and many other great poster traditions, the Portland Parks Foundation (PPF) invited Portland designers to create limited-edition posters for Portland parks as a part of the Foundation’s 20th anniversary celebration in 2021.
Meet the Artist
Poster design by Studio Dad
https://studiodad.biz/
Meet the Artist
Poster designed by Jax Ko
Jax Ko is a Portland-based illustrator, muralist, fashion school dropout, and professional crybaby. Their personal work often focuses on redefining the narrative of AAPI folx by celebrating nuanced representation often overshadowed by reductive & offensive stereotypes. Jax has a mural in Portland at The Goat Blocks that showcases just that. They love dismantling white supremacy, drawing, expressing themselves thru personal style, dancing, eating a lot, & existing.
@yojaxko
Meet the Artist
Poster designed by Tekpatl
Portland based Indigenous/Chicano artist, Tekpatl (DanielSantollo), works with both digital and traditional art. Tekpatl's artwork is influenced by his Mexican heritage, and life experiences in the United States. Tekpatl is an active member and a lead artist for IDEAL PDX. Tekpatl has worked with INDUSTRY, Portland Trail Blazers, Portland Art Museum, and has also worked with PSAA to create beautiful Murals around the Portland area. . Follow his Instagram(@Tekpatl_art) to keep up his latest work.
Meet the Artist
Poster design by Carson Ellis https://www.carsonellis.com/
Carson Ellis is the author and illustrator of the bestselling picture books Home and Du Iz Tak? (a Caldecott Honor book and the recipient of an E.B. White Read Aloud Award). She has illustrated a number of books for kids including The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket, and The Wildwood Chronicles by her husband, Colin Meloy. Carson is the illustrator-in-residence for Colin's band, The Decemberists, and received Grammy nominations in 2016 and 2018 for album art design. She works ocassionally as an editorial illustrator for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, and other publications. She also exhibits paintings and is represented by Nationale in Portland.
Carson lives on a farm in Oregon with Colin, their two sons, three cats, three llamas, four goats, and some chickens.
Meet the Artist
Poster design by Jax Chow https://www.jaxchow.com
Jax Chow
I am so grateful for all the fun, creative, inspiring people I've met--growing up in Jacksonville FL, going to school in western MA, studying art history in Seattle WA, working as a designer in NYC, and being a parent in Portland OR. I try to put a bit of each one of them into my illustrations and stories because they all offer something beautiful. I hope to meet you someday too!
Meet the Artist
Poster designed by Nancy Flecha
Nancy Flecha (she/her) is a Puerto Rican illustrator and printmaker raised in the Pacific Northwest, newly residing in Chicago, IL. She studied Illustration at Boise State University earning a BFA in 2017. Her works joyfully, or with some melancholy, reflect on relationships and explore complex female characters.
Meet the Artist
Poster designed by Dorothy Siemens
Dorothy Siemens is an illustrator, muralist, and printmaker based in Portland, Oregon. Her work is an exploration of form and color - drawing on warm textured shapes, bold colors, and spirited (but casual) actors to weave atmospheric stories. She uses illustration to understand deeper themes of queerness, self-reflection, and community building. Her portfolio includes a wide variety of work ranging from concert posters, editorial spreads, children's books, greeting cards and everything in between. She has recently worked with Portland Monthly, Portland Parks Foundation, and Everpress.
With these posters, we commemorate nine classic Portland parks—Alberta, Cathedral, Cully, Hoyt Arboretum, Laurelhurst, Leach Botanical Garden, Luuwit View, Mt. Tabor, and Peninsula—plus the Wildwood Trail, each with a poster by a leading Portland designer printed in two versions:
A 28” x 21.5” offset lithograph, available for $35 here
A limited edition, 19 1/2-by-26-inch, 4-color silkscreen, printed by the renowned master printers at Mullowney Printing Company, is available to donors who join the Charles Jordan Circle of Parks Foundation Supporters. Go here for more information.
Luke’s Frame Shop is offering a generous 15% discount on framing for your poster!