After the hazy heat of Portland summer, fall always seems to signal a kind of return to reality. The days no longer stretch past 9 pm, summer vacation is over for the kiddos, and a packed lineup of fall art shows aim to lure viewers back into the galleries. The “back-to-school” energy of this time of year still resonates, even for those of us who haven’t set foot in a classroom in ages. Perhaps not coincidentally, many of the season’s most exciting exhibitions are going up at colleges, universities, and libraries around town. Relive (or rewrite) your scholastic past with these exhibitions, which promise to bring mystery, subversion, beauty, and fun to even the stuffiest academic settings.
This is one of the many articles in the Mercury’s 2026 Fall Arts Issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds.
Best Friends, Shelley Turley
For all you rebels itching to cut class and play hooky with the cool kids, sneak away to bask in the party garage / backyard clubhouse vibes at Helen’s Costume in Montavilla. There, you’ll find Best Friends, a groovy solo exhibition by painter Shelley Turley. Turley says her work emanates from childhood memories of “the void of the ’70s”—haunted hippies peer out from craggy landscapes and gauzy interiors, beckoning the viewer to drop out of reality and join them. A chapbook, Pocket Joy, will be released in conjunction with the show. (Helen’s Costume, 7706 SE Yamhill, through Sept 26, gallery hours: Sat 10 am-4 pm and by appointment, FREE, costumeintl.com, all ages)
Dear Evergreen, Mariana Mora, Kaya Noteboom, and Chase Travis
Scoot over to Smith Student Union to see the group show Dear Evergreen at PSU’s Littman Gallery, described as an “honest exploration of self-love, identity, and the bonds that shape us within Portland’s BIPOC and queer communities.” College is a place to figure out who you are, or who you want to be, so it’s a fitting theme for this excellent student-run campus gallery. Dear Evergreen features photography, found object sculptures, and interactive writing exercises in a collection of diaristic fragments installed with a meditative sensibility, balancing the inner journey with outward expression. (Littman Gallery, Smith Memorial Student Union, Rm 250, 1825 SW Broadway, through Oct 9, gallery hours Mon-Thurs, noon-4 pm, FREE, littmanandwhite.com, all ages)
Black Pool Party, Meech Boakye
Slime yourself clean at the Paragon Gallery with Meech Boakye’s Black Pool Party. Boakye incorporates plants and fungi into cast soap and bioplastic forms that prioritize tactility and care. A video distilling the various meanings infused into our relationships with materials—including a “continuous slime pour” for all the ASMR lovers out there—rounds out this elegantly viscous presentation. (Paragon Gallery at PCC Cascade, 705 N Killingsworth, through Oct 31, gallery hours: Wed-Fri noon-7 pm, Sat noon-5 pm, FREE, pcc.edu/galleries/cascade, all ages)
There are so many cool art shows in Portland right now. Check out Martha Daghlian’s explainer and picks for Converge 45: a special exhibition of interconnected installations that happens only every three years!
Gutted: The Mystery of the Old Art Building, various
Fill up on work in a rainbow of media by multiple artists at PSU’s newly completed Schnitzer School of Art, where artist Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork presents an inflatable Japanese lantern atop the building. Inside, Patricia Vázquez Gómez continues her ongoing work with Portland’s Mayan youth, a previous iteration of which was shown in an exquisite video installation last year at PICA. You’ll also find Tannaz Farsi’s collage-like sculptures, combining quotidian elements, like water storage tanks, with delicate flowers. While you’re admiring the shiny new art building, be sure to check out Gutted: The Mystery of the Old Art Building, a student exhibition in the neighboring MK Gallery, for a quasi-factual investigation into the shadowy history of the old PSU Art Building. (PSU Schnitzer School of Art, 1981 SW Broadway, through Dec 5, various hours, FREE , pdx.edu/art-design/galleries, all ages)
Phool, Srijon Chowdhury
Lewis & Clark’s Southwest Portland campus hosts Srijon Chowdhury’s tarot-inspired show, Phool, which features a new iteration of the wrought steel “sigil gates” the artist previously displayed in the Artists’ Biennial at Oregon Contemporary, plus a fresh crop of paintings. The title references not only the iconic tarot card (which tarot.com tells me is representative of “a fresh start, with no baggage allowed”), it is also a phonetic nod to the Bengali word for flower. (Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark College, 615 SW Palatine Hill, through Dec 10, gallery open daily 11 am-4 pm, FREE, lclark.edu/hoffman_gallery, all ages)
Caseworks, Stephanie Simek; Afterlife in Public, Rose Salane
Surely you already know about Reed College’s inimitable Cooley Gallery. But did you know there is a second, mini exhibition space at Reed? In the library, you’ll find a glass vitrine dubbed Caseworks, which hosts Portland artist Stephanie Simek this fall. Simek makes sculptural objects that are high concept, even scientific, but never sacrifice beauty (or humor). For this show, Simek continues her experiments with kinetic sand, pushing the humble material to its structural limits. Back in Cooley’s main gallery space, New York-based Rose Salane presents a documentary film about a pair of shoes once worn by Princess Diana, which the artist brought to Portland in early 2026 as the centerpiece of a show at Lloyd Center’s All American Magic Shop (RIP). (Reed College Library and the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, through Dec 10, gallery hours: Thurs-Sun, noon-5 pm, FREE, reed.edu/cooley, all ages.)
“Untitled,” Emily Counts; “Remember Paper?,” Britt Howard
Continue your studies at the newly reopened Belmont Library, which has been upgraded with additional square footage and two whimsical new art installations:. Local fave Emily Counts created a 70-foot long mural incorporating more than 200 handmade ceramic, plexiglass, and wood objects inspired by the community.Britt Howard, the visionary behind Portland Garment Factory’s wild soft sculptures, displays giant fabric renditions of a nostalgic paper airplane and a cootie catcher that hang from the ceiling. (Belmont Library, 1038 SE César E. Chávez Blvd, permanent installations on view during library hours, FREE, multcolib.org, all ages)
