To spot the Pacific Northwest College of Art, just look for a grand, cream-colored building with tall columns and arched windows-you can’t miss the big “PNCA” letters on the upper right side!
Alright, get your imagination ready: you’re standing at the threshold of creativity itself! Right in front of you is the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and if buildings could talk, I bet this one would have a lot to say-probably in a very artsy accent. The roots of this college go all the way back to 1909, when Portland was all about timber, streetcars, and, apparently, a budding need for great artists. Imagine old-timey Portland: the click-clack of horses, smoky factories, and up in the Portland Art Museum, a little art school taking its first brushstrokes under the careful eye of Anna Belle Crocker. Her mission, supported by the first hired teacher Kate Cameron Simmons, was to help creative minds unleash their talents-minus the paint stains on the furniture at home.
The school started as the Museum Art School, tucked above the museum’s galleries. Imagine students lugging portfolios up creaky wooden stairs, excited to see what masterpieces they could create-sometimes dodging the museum’s own visitors who probably wondered if all those paint-splattered folks were part of the exhibition! Then, in 1932, architect Pietro Belluschi designed a new home for the museum, and the Art School moved there too, high above the treasures below.
By 1981, the school decided it was time to step out of the museum’s shadow. New name: Pacific Northwest College of Art. Independence: unlocked! But just like any artist who wants their own studio, the college carved out a path to full freedom. In 1994, the legal split from the museum was complete. If those walls could talk, you’d hear them breathe a sigh of relief and maybe complain a bit about all the glitter.
Throughout years of growth and big dreams-like that time they moved to the Pearl District in the late 1990s, or when Thomas Manley arrived as president with plans for expansion-the college was always reaching for something more. One day, the universe (or rather, Hallie Ford) handed them a fantastic $15 million donation, which probably had the administrators doing the studio shuffle dance. That boost helped them move again, and in 2008, the college landed this incredible historic spot: the old 511 Federal Building.
Now, this building is no ordinary campus hall. It first started as a post office and was later listed on the National Register of Historic Places-so you know its stories have a few stamp marks and postmaster secrets! But in 2014, after a massive $30 million renovation, the space reopened as the stunning Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design that you’re seeing now. Picture crews hammering, sawing, and painting, transforming a former post office where letters and packages once slid across marble counters into a buzzing hive of creativity. Students and teachers wandered in for opening day in February 2015, filling sunlit studios and galleries with ideas and excitement.
Of course, no art school is complete without its quirky student housing! In 2013, PNCA opened ArtHouse-a modern, six-story building where the city’s creative rebels live, draw, play music a little too loud, and occasionally try painting the washers in the laundry room.
Inside PNCA, future artists, writers, designers, and makers can major in anything from animation to sculpture. The college buzzes with energy. Notable faculty like Monica Drake, who helped launch Native Voices Speaker Series, or Kristan Kennedy, an award-winning artist, inspire students every day. These aren’t just teachers, but working artists whose exhibitions sometimes hop from local galleries all the way to international shows-you never know when you’ll spot them at your favorite food truck, sketchbook in hand, looking for the next big idea.
Today, after over a century and a new partnership as a college within Willamette University, PNCA is Portland’s art engine. With cool exhibition spaces like the CCAC, 511 Gallery, and Dorothy Lemelson Innovation Studio, there’s always a new work of art to discover or a creative mind to meet. And even as the college graduates hundreds and serves thousands in its community courses, there’s one thing every PNCA student or visitor can say: the spirit of adventure, invention, and a healthy dose of paint fumes, is forever part of PNCA’s legacy. Now, take a deep breath-can you smell the creativity? Or is that just oil paint? Either way, you’re standing in front of a masterpiece with a past as colorful as its present.
