An Interview with Joe Cotter

From the well known McMenamin’s art walls to a continuing battle with billboard giant Clear Channel, Portland muralist Joe Cotter found time to speak to ARTPDX about his career and the mural code battle that has been shrouding Portland’s public muralists.

Birthplace/Origin/Year:
Boston, Massachusetts, 1949

Time in Portland:
Moved to Portland in 1977. Live in Eagle Creek now.

Education:
3 years University of Massachusetts in journalism. Life drawing at PSU.

Influences/Favorite Artists/Movements:

I’ve been influenced by every artist I’ve read about or with whom I’ve worked. Of course some stand out. As far as murals go, European cave painters, Diego Rivera, Orozco, Isaka Shamsud Din. For painting in general, Kandinski, and Bruegel. For sculpture, Michelangelo, Kolieha Bush, Nano Lopez.

How long have you been making art and why?

As far back as I can remember, but since about 1982 as a professional artist.

To my understanding, you have spent 9 years working on Mural Defense in Portland. Why take on such a large project?

The mural situation deteriorated in 1997-1998 due to litigation from the billboard company AK Media (now Clear Channel) but I was doing a lot of interior art for McMenamins at the time and wasn’t aware of the problem. The word got around at some point and when Mark Meltzer asked me to testify in 2000 for a mural on the new Outside In building, I jumped at the opportunity, having no idea at the time what it would turn into. The following year I filed a Friend of the Court brief with the Oregon Court of Appeals in the AK Media v City of Portland case and that continues to this day and on into the foreseeable future. Fortunately, there has been a lot of support from others like the Director of Outside In, Kathy Oliver and Attorney Michael Rose, as well as number of people working on this issue including Joanne Oleksiak and Mark Meltzer. I can’t list them all here but they come from the mural community at large, the legal community, those people who support art in general and those who are concerned with the pervasive influence of the corporate media.

Do you think your fight against the mural code has been overall successful?

Yes. In the seven years between 1998 and 2005 when the RACC program was implemented, no legal murals were painted. We did get the Foster Road mural on Restaurant Russia approved as a sign in 2003 but it wasn’t painted until 2006. The RACC program passed out of the Portland City Council in December 2004, and made it possible to paint some murals but it was never seen as a permanent solution. The fact is, Clear Channel challenged the constitutionality of the RACC program in court before even one mural was painted in 2005. That gave us the opportunity to intervene in the case and get involved in a new trial in October of 2006. We got positive language in Judge Michael Marcus’s Opinion in May of last year and we are now in negotiations with the City of Portland to implement a mural permitting process. This new program will permit murals in most parts of the City but with some restrictions, particularly in design overlay zones. Historic and Conservation Districts as well as landmark buildings will be off limits to this program. The RACC program will continue to provide a channel for exceptional murals that fall outside of this process and should continue to be a source of funds but we are hoping to find other funding sources as well. There has been an increase in communication and awareness between some in the local mural community and other national and international groups due to this struggle.

I was told you did murals outside of Multnomah County because of the lack of a mural code. With the code changing, will you continue to decorate more rural areas?

The first mural I painted on was called “Struggle and Hope” designed by Bill Garnett and painted on the Riverway Inn in Portland in 1988. We painted a mural called “For the People” on Outside In over the next two years. I began to work for McMenamins in 1990 and painted a lot of interior murals in Portland , Salem and the surrounding area but no Portland exterior murals. The Artback Artists Cooperative was started in 1992 in Estacada with mural artists Jenny Joyce, Kolieha Bush and myself among others. We have painted 15 murals in Estacada since 1994. I am the lead artist for this year’s mural on the Trails Restaurant and Bar. The Art scene has taken off in Estacada over the years and we now have a very active Coop gallery, The Spiral Gallery, as well as a three day Summer Celebration that takes place the weekend we are painting the mural. This year it is July 25-27 and it always has a great lineup of music on Friday night and Saturday as well as food and art booths. There is also a percent for art program and an Arts Commission. The Artback artists range from teenagers to people in their sixties and we plan to keep painting murals until we drop.

What is the largest structure you’ve ever worked on? How much time did the project take to complete?

The largest murals I have worked on were approaching 2,000 square feet. One was an Artback mural with Jenny Joyce as lead artist. It was almost 25 feet high and 80 feet long. The mural on the Musicians Union in Portland was coordinated by lead artist Isaka Shamsud Din and we painted it in 2006. It was 100 feet long and about 19 feet high. The other artists on that mural were Baba Wague Diakite and Hector Hernandez. We each designed and painted a space 25 by 19 feet. The largest mural on which I was lead artist was an Artback mural painted in 1996 called “The Cycle of Wood.” It was 1,500 square feet. The longest time I have ever spent on a mural was over a two year period.

Portland Musicians Union Mural - 2006

You have a long history in Portland. Do you feel your artwork at its source is tied to the region?

Yes, I didn’t decide to do art for a living until I moved here. Much of my subject matter is local in origin.

Do you consider yourself a folk artist?

That’s difficult to say. Although I am essentially self taught I have done a lot of research into many forms of art. I was particularly intrigued with abstract art and spent considerable time absorbed in the theoretical writings of Kandinsky. The interesting thing about abstract work is that the composition is exposed free of the judgment implicit in representational work concerning the quality of the representation. Much of my work these days is figurative but I try to keep abstract compositional elements in mind. We had a lot of life drawing classes at our studio in Estacada between 1994 and about 2000 and I don’t think an artist can do too much life drawing. If the definition of a folk artist is one who lacks a formal art education then I guess I’m a folk artist but I don’t identify my work with the style commonly referred to as folk art. Then again if one is doing community murals then there is an attention to the community, the folk.

What is your biggest challenge personally as it pertains to making your work?

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been working for McMenamins all these years and we have a great deal of latitude when it comes to subject matter. The biggest challenge for a mural artist, particularly one who paints community murals is being paid enough to devote the time necessary to do a quality mural and pay the bills at the same time. Artists in general do not make nearly enough and community murals are notorious for being under funded. While adequate funding doesn’t guarantee quality it increases the odds.

Does the term ‘Clear Channel’ make you wince every time you hear it?

Clear Channel! Arrrrrrrrrrgh!

Thank you Joe. It is a pleasure to know you.

Thank you Chris. The feeling’s mutual.

Mr. Cotter is one of many artists for the historical Portland Mural Show, opening May 2nd at the Olympic Mills Commerce Center (1st SE Washington), 5-9 PM. More info: myspace.com/olympicmillsart

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 9:54 am and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.