Institutional History
The Pacific Northwest College of Art was created in 1909 as the Museum Art School of the Portland Art Association. PNCA continued as a unit of the Museum for over 75 years, growing in stature and reputation as a premier art school in the Pacific Northwest. In 1991 PNCA formed a semi-autonomous Board of Governors and its movement from being a division of the Portland Art Museum to having independent status was underway. The PNCA Board of Governors worked with the Museum to adopt a format for separation of the College from the Museum. On April 5, 1994, PNCA incorporated as an autonomous non-profit corporation with no legal connection to the Museum. Between 1991 and 1995, the president added staff and administration to enable the College to function independently. In the summer of 1998, the College moved to its present, leased campus in Portland’s emerging, art-focused Pearl District in Northwest Portland.
The primary campus building and ancillary teaching facilities in nearby buildings total 92,000 square feet. The BFA student body has grown to 275 full time equivalents (FTEs). Student age ranges from 17 through 60, with 86% of these students spread quite evenly between the ages of between 18 and 29. The Continuing Education program serves over 2,500 students per year.
PNCA has made the transition from a Museum division run by a director and faculty to an independent corporation. The academic Vice President oversees two academic deans, one for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program and one for the Continuing Education program. The BFA faculty consists of 14 full-time members, nine of whom have tenure, and 34 part-time members. The total part-time faculty, including the Continuing Education faculty, is approximately 50.. Under the Faculty Handbook, the faculty has an important, well-defined role in governance of the College.
Present Institutional Posture
Character: PNCA is an intimate, urban art college dedicated to an exacting education in art and design. PNCA enjoys the values of close student-faculty relationships, significant communal collegiality, and strong identification by students, faculty, administration, and Board of Governors with the College. It has a proud history of quality art education and impressive alumni, especially in the Pacific Northwest.
Facilities: PNCA has splendid campus facilities. The main campus building has enjoyed significant local attention because of its architectural flair, and its adjunct painting, sculpture and ceramic studios are close by and well adapted for their uses. The library complex in the main campus, which was built from scratch over the last two years, is excellent. The computer capability is of high quality and plays a significant role in the emerging curriculum. The Gilkey print department is exceptionally well equipped. The campus includes three galleries for public exhibitions and three for student and project art exhibits. The Commons area in the main building is a favored venue for College fundraising and for events of local organizations. The campus provides more square feet of teaching space per student than 90 percent of the schools in the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD).
Curriculum: The school has an institutional interest in developing programs that cross traditional curricular boundaries, encourage curiosity and broad based investigation, and develop effective communication skills. Through two recent faculty hires in the design and intermedia arts departments, the College has moved toward a program that integrates fine art and design education, embraces new media, and is closely connected to the local creative industry. Overall, the College is looking to broaden its engagement with the social, cultural, and political contexts of history, technology, theory, and contemporary discourse.
Faculty: PNCA’s faculty is a blend of mature and new members who share a commitment to innovation and openness to new ideas and patterns of artistic sensibility and art education. Intermedia disciplines have emerged with solid faculty support. The faculty is fully committed to the preservation of the quality of the educational program and its evolution and growth to meet future needs. Many faculty members have strong local, and in some cases national, reputations as studio artists, with regular exhibitions of their work.
Community Outreach: PNCA’s Continuing Education for children and adults is extraordinary. The College serves more non-degree students from the surrounding community than most AICAD colleges in the United States, many of which are much larger than PNCA. Except for the Young Artists Project in the local public schools, which is underwritten by focused contributions, the Continuing Education program is consistently profitable, contributing reliable financial support to the College. The Philip Feldman Gallery brings nationally and internationally known artists and their work to PNCA. As a teaching gallery, it has been established to support the school’s curriculum and as a point of interaction with the community. The 6,300 square foot Commons area in the main campus building is often used for public and private community events. In addition, there are public galleries on campus open during school hours and during the popular First Thursday gallery walk. Almost every gallery in downtown and Northwest Portland, including the Pacific Northwest College of Art, has extended hours on the first Thursday of every month.
Our Mission:
PNCA’s mission is to transform students into knowledgeable, articulate, practicing visual artists and designers with the ability to significantly contribute in original ways to the ongoing dialogue in art that shapes our culture.
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