PORTLAND, Ore. — In Northwest Portland, Mullowney Printing is a place where art comes to life.
“It's really very rewarding to work in traditional processes that really haven't changed in hundreds of years,” said founder and co-director Paul Mullowney. Mullowney, who runs the fine art printing studio with co-director Harry Schneider and studio manager Cassie Ferguson.
“It's all done by hand and we're running it through the press under an extraordinary amount of pressure, and the paper is damp, so it pushes down into the etched areas of the copper and pulls up the image,” Mullowney said of the process.
Every project they take on is unique from every other, even if the process looks the same. The latest print to roll under the press is by painter Otis Quaicoe.
“It's kind of like one of those important part in history that has been ignored,” Quaicoe said.
Born in Ghana, he now calls Portland home. When he first moved here, he paid a visit to the Portland Art Museum and found inspiration.
“It was the first place I went to see different kinds of art,” he said. “That was the first place that I discovered a lot of artists that I have never seen before that continue to inspire me today.”
His print is the latest in a series of Western-style paintings featuring what Quaicoe calls the forgotten history of Black cowboys and cowgirls. The painting is a self-portrait showing Quaicoe as a cowboy.
However, the self-portrait is anything but self-centered. Growing up in Ghana, Quaicoe vividly remembers his uncle often wearing a cowboy hat, and he has long been a fan of Western movies.
“When I look at his work, I see power,” said John Goodwin, Portland Art Museum’s director of community philanthropy. “It's the very first time that we've ever put together an exhibition like this.”
The show Black Artists of Oregon is on display at Portland Art Museum through March 31. Another of Quaicoe’s paintings is part of the show.
“Not only has he been successful here in Portland, but he's been successful worldwide,” Goodwin said.
Quaicoe recently returned from an exhibition in South Korea. He has shown his art in places like Paris and Australia. Mullowney Printing is producing 50 prints of his cowboy self-portrait. 31 have already been sold, all the proceeds go toward the Portland Art Museum.
“Every single dime goes to the museum and it's really powerful for a young local artist to be willing to give back to the museum that way,” said Goodwin.
“This is my home now and I feel part of this community. I feel part of this state,” Quaicoe said. “So it's my way of just giving back to where I live.”