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My social championing has been most recently expressed through the formation of the Portland Brooklyn Project (co-founded in 2009 with my Brooklyn partner, Kurt Andersen), my work on the Portland Art Museum Education Committee, as well as on the Resource Council of Oregon Public Broadcasting's radio variety show, "LiveWire!". This strong sense of community is inextricably tied to the work I do in my studio, work that often involves interdisciplinary collaborations perhaps best expressed through the salon gatherings I’ve been hosting since 2000. A few years after I hosted my first salon, I discovered that my great-grandmother hosted salons from 1911 to 1926 that gathered creatives from all disciplines as well as patrons and dignitaries, including Herbert Hoover. I was stunned to learn that nearly one hundred years earlier, my great-grandmother was connecting creatives and the people who enjoy them, in much the same fashion as I do. My salons highlight a wide variety of talent, including writers such as arts and culture writer for the New York Times, Larry Rohter; novelist and host of Public Radio International’s “Studio 360”, Kurt Andersen; author, solo artist (“Throwing Muses”) Kristin Hersh; and actress and arts advocate Ann Cusack. The salons are held in the gallery on our property where my paintings, often influenced by the words of these writers, serve as the backdrop to author readings. Continuing in this vein, I’m working on an author portrait series of friends, and friends of friends, who are writers. Presently I am painting author Tom Robbins, as well as Kristin Hersh, who has used my paintings as the visual basis for her memoir Rat Girl into a multimedia performance at the Getty Center, April 2011. Interdisciplinary collaboration is a big part of what I am here to do. My community building efforts and creative collaborations bring balance to the solitary aspect of working in my studio. My work from within the studio, with other creatives, and out in the community is deeply satisfying and has had an expanding effect on those involved. It is important work, and my paintings are the catalyst. Molly Cliff Hilts |