Portraits Of Community Installation Begins In Former Tolly’s Building In Downtown Oakland
The first Oakland Vacant to Vibrant installation is going up in the former Tolly’s building in downtown Oakland, filling the historic storefront with community-made portraits from local residents and Oakland students.
OAKLAND, Ore. — The windows of the former Tolly’s building in downtown Oakland began taking on a new look Tuesday as the first pieces of a community art installation were put in place.
The installation is part of Vacant to Vibrant, a public art project created through a partnership between Umpqua Valley Arts and Thrive Umpqua. The project was previously announced as a way to bring art, color and renewed attention to vacant storefronts in Roseburg and Oakland, with community members helping create the artwork through local workshops.
The first installation, called “Portraits of Community,” features portraits made by residents of different ages from both Roseburg and Oakland. Organizers said the goal is to fill empty windows with work made by the community while encouraging people to notice the vacant buildings, imagine new uses for them and see beauty in the spaces while they wait for their next chapter.
“This is a project called Vacant to Vibrant, and this is a partnership between Umpqua Valley Arts and Thrive Umpqua, where we had really the funding to bring public art to vacant storefronts,” one organizer said during the Oakland installation.
The Oakland display is being installed in the old Tolly’s building, one of the city’s best-known downtown spaces. Tolly’s was established in 1968 by Terry and Carol Tollefson and became a longtime Oakland landmark, known for its soda fountain, restaurant atmosphere and deep connection to the community. The building itself dates back to the early 1900s and has been part of Oakland’s historic downtown story for generations.
According to organizers, the Oakland collection includes work from local residents as well as Oakland students. Rachel Dean, an Oakland High School art teacher, helped involve her students in the project, with nearly 100 student portraits included as part of the Oakland display.
“So these are all portraits made from all over the community in both Roseburg and in Oakland,” the organizer said. “We invited community members of all ages to participate. We also invited schools to get involved.”
The broader project grew out of a series of free community art workshops held earlier this year. The Roseburg Receiver previously reported that the installation was expected to include hundreds of handmade portraits created from paper, yarn and found materials. Organizers described the project as a way to build civic pride, support downtown spaces and create a shared visual portrait of the region.
Oakland’s historic downtown gives the project added meaning. The city is known for its preserved historic buildings, with more than 90 structures built between 1852 and 1890. The Oakland Historic District was the first district placed on Oregon’s state historic register in 1968 and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For the former Tolly’s building, the installation brings activity back to a place many people remember not just as a restaurant, but as a gathering spot.
Organizers said the portraits will be displayed through the summer.
“We’ll be displaying these throughout the summer, trying to encourage people to notice our empty buildings, our beautiful empty buildings, and trying to encourage some buyers to turn [them] into something beautiful,” the organizer said. “In the meantime, filling it with beautiful things made for our community.”
The Vacant to Vibrant project can be followed on Facebook at Vacant to Vibrant.
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