Gallery Exhibitions at Columbia Center for the Arts

Due to the most recent Covid-19 public spaces restrictions, we will be monitoring visitor capacity, providing sanitation at the door, and requiring visitors to wear masks. We will not be serving food or drinks during openings. Free Admission.

Current Exhibition

Don’t Quit Your Day Job

Exhibition November 5th – 27th, 2021

Opening on Friday November 5th, with the opening reception in the gallery from 5-7pm.

Mark Rothko worked as an elementary school teacher. Mickalene Thomas worked as a coffee house waitress. Jackson Pollock worked as a babysitter, Keith Haring worked as a busboy, Yayoi Kusama sewed and fabricated parachutes and Barbara Kruger worked as a graphic designer. Artists are everywhere. And they are working.

What does it mean to be an artist who is also a worker? How does a worker find ways to develop their art while also keeping food on the table and a roof over their head? How does a person manage the compulsion to create art within the context of the day job workday? And what does that do to the artist, and to the art? This split existence can often be a painful experience, but sometimes a rewarding one and a source of the energy behind an artist’s work.

For this show, Columbia Center for the Arts is seeking to showcase the art and the stories of artists with day jobs, or other daily concerns that provide the resources needed to survive – food, shelter, healthcare, transportation. We hope to present an immersive experience of what it is to make art, to create artistic expression, when sales of artworks are not the artist’s sole source of income.

Learn About Selected Artists Here

Featured in the Entryway Gallery

CCA is so excited to offer an end-of-year Silent Auction to support the arts! Auction and sale items will be displayed in the Entryway Gallery for attendees to assess, place bids on, and purchase. Items are from CCA’s donated inventory as well as participating local artists.

The auction will run November 5th – December 17th, 2021, so come in and place your bids!

2021 Exhibitions

January: CAA Sale (closed)

February: Hurts so Good – (closed)

March: Out There – (closed)

April: Ancestors known and unknown, Lillian Pit solo show

May: Beyond the Construct – Ceramics Juried show in collaboration with The Dalles Art Center – curated by Brett Binford

June: Art-a-Day

July: Landscape Show – Mother River: The Columbia and Her Tributaries

August & September: Best of Gorge 2021

October: Fever Dream – Abstract Interpretations of Dreamscapes and Nightmares

November: Don’t Quit Your Day Job

December 2021: Annual Holiday Market

Featured in the Gallery Next Month!

Holiday Small Works Market

Exhibition December 3 – January 7, 2021

Columbia Center for the Arts is excited to present our annual Holiday Small Works Market! Our gallery and retail space will be full of smaller works by local and regional artists. From ornaments and holiday cards, to original paintings, ceramics, limited edition prints, jewelry, and wearable items – we have everyone on your list covered. CCA is taking extra precautions with sanitation and is a low-traffic option for your holiday shopping.