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MORE COLORS THAN THE EYE CAN SEE: Educator Symposium

Photo of a group of people in front of Jeffrey Gibson's "BIRDS FLYING HIGH YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL"
Venice K-12 Educator Cohort pictured with artist Jeffrey Gibson, BIRDS FLYING HIGH YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL, 2024, the space in which to place me, 2024, U.S. Pavilion, Venice Biennale. Pictured left to right: Row 1: Julia Blue Arm, Renea Menchaca, Carol Schrader, Margarita Paz-Pedro, Leanna McClure, Paula Portinga Booth, Topaz Jones McCoy; Row 2: Ian Twiss, Mvhayv (Talon Micco Claybrook), Jeffrey Gibson, Ben Taylor. Photograph by Keith Scott.
Mar 14, 2026
9:30 am - 3:00 pm
Portland Art Museum
1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR
Whitsell Auditorium
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General accessibility

Event overview

The Portland Art Museum is thrilled to introduce educators to new, free resources, inspired by the art of Jeffrey Gibson, and designed to help you integrate contemporary Native American art into your teaching across subject areas. Join us for a day of presentations and workshops led by the artist Jeffrey Gibson, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Venice K-12 Educator Cohort, and PAM Learning and Curatorial teams. Beginning March 5, access the resources across two platforms: the Smithsonian’s Native Knowledge 360° Artist Spotlight and the space in which to place me: K-12 Education Resources. 

Timeline

  • 9:30 – 10 a.m. Check in (Rothko Commons)
  • 10 – 10:15 a.m. Welcome and project overview of MORE COLORS THAN THE EYE CAN SEE: An Education Initiative Inspired by the Art of Jeffrey Gibson 
  • 10:15 – 11 a.m. Native Knowledge 360° Artist Spotlight with Irene Kearns and Julie Macander, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian
  • 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The Power of Color: Beadwork and Paint Workshops with Jeffrey Gibson and the Venice K-12 Educator Cohort
  • 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Box lunch provided at PAM CUT (934 SW Salmon St. and 10th)
  • 1:30 – 2:20 & 2:30 – 3:20 p.m. Workshops and tours (Choose 2 of 4)
    • POWER DRESSING: Garment Design, K–2 (Finley Studio)
    • POWER UP: Creating Identity Buttons, 6–12 & Flying High: Exploring Flags & Representation, 3–5 (Stevens Room)
    • ROOTED IN PLACE: Finding Belonging through Concrete Poetry, 6–12 (4th floor Rothko Pavilion)
    • Native American Art tours with PAM Curators (2nd floor Rothko Pavilion)

Admission is free. Registration required. PDU credits available.

Once tickets sell out, we will maintain a waitlist. Please contact learning@pam.org to add your name.

Find information on Friday evening’s conversation with Jeffrey Gibson here.

Jeffrey Gibson

Jeffrey Gibson (American, b. 1972) is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and convener celebrated for his work in painting, installation, video, and performance. For over two decades, he has examined how language, pattern, and music construct meaning, synthesizing Indigenous and Western traditions through vibrant color, complex patterning, and layered sound. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson represented the U.S. at the 2024 Venice Biennale with his acclaimed exhibition the space in which to place me, which made its U.S. debut at The Broad in Los Angeles in May 2025. In June 2025 he unveiled a site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zurich. Gibson was selected for the Metropolitan Museum’s 2025 Genesis Facade Commission. His work is held in major collections including MoMA, the Whitney, and the National Gallery of Art. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley and is artist-in-residence at Bard College. 

MORE COLORS THAN THE EYE CAN SEE: An Education Initiative Inspired by the Art of Jeffrey Gibson

MORE COLORS THAN THE EYE CAN SEE transforms how Native American art and cultures are taught nationwide with new, free resources for K-12 educators. Established in 2024, the project is a key component of artist Jeffrey Gibson’s vision for the space in which to place me, his solo exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale, commissioned by Portland Art Museum (PAM) and SITE Santa Fe (SITE). Led by PAM and SITE, in collaboration with Gibson and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), a cohort of 10 educators participated in a multiyear program that generated 14 cross-disciplinary lessons, freely available in March 2026 to educators on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) digital platform and the space in which to place me: K-12 Education Resources.