Downtown Vancouver exhibit raises funds for Ukraine

Bright colors, expressive faces, blue sky and verdant land — these aren’t the images coming out of Ukraine right now. But these are what you might remember after seeing the new exhibit “Love for Ukraine” at the Corridor Gallery inside the Esther Short Building in downtown Vancouver.

The exhibit, curated by Sharon Svec, features the work of two Ukrainian-born artists, Tatyana Ostapenko and Anya Mironets Keyes, both Portland residents. The artists and the gallery are donating 100 percent of art sales to humanitarian aid for Ukraine. The exhibit lasts through May 6, with artists’ receptions 5-9 p.m. April 1 and May 6 in conjunction with downtown Vancouver’s First Friday Art Walk.

“What I really love about this was the opportunity to expose the public to Ukrainian culture,” Svec said. “It’s a way for me individually to validate this culture and also validate it as Clark County, as Vancouver, as the region. The Corridor is happy to be providing access to this culture in a way that you can’t experience any other way.”

Clark County is home to 8,885 people of Ukrainian descent, according the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey. Statewide, recent census figures put the number of those with Ukrainian ancestry at about 60,000. Svec is hopeful that this exhibit will encourage local residents to embrace Ukrainian culture as part of our county’s story.

“When you look at art, the human disposition is to see it first through your eyes and your perspective. If you sit with it for a minute then you start thinking about the artist’s eyes, the artist’s perspective,” Svec said. “That moment, that shift, is so valuable for cross-cultural communication, empathy and understanding.”

Both artists had already been scheduled to display and sell their works in the Corridor Gallery when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. It made sense to the artists and to Svec, who is donating what would normally be the gallery’s commission on sold paintings, to turn the exhibit into a way for people to contribute directly to the Ukrainian cause.