CV
CV
Brianna Ortega
bri.ortega.m@gmail.com
Academic
Portland State University 2018–2021, MFA Contemporary Art Practices
Portland State University, 2013–2016, B.A. in Contemporary Art Practice, with media focuses in drawing, video, performance, and jewelry/metalsmithing, and with a Focus in Psychology and Child and Family Studies
Saddleback College and
University of Portland 2011-2013, Psychology
Kaiser High School, Honolulu, Hawai’i
University Teaching
Adjunct Professor, Drawing, Women in Surf Studies, and Video Art, Chaminade University, Spring Term 2023
Adjunct Professor, Art History, and Drawing, Chaminade University, Fall Term 2022
Adjunct Professor, Introduction to Video Art, Portland State University, Fall Term 2022
Adjunct Professor, Introduction to Video Art, Portland State University, Fall Term 2021
Adjunct Professor, Introduction to Drawing, Portland State University, Winter Term 2021
Teaching Assistant, Low Tech Cinema with Julie Perini, Portland State University, Fall Term 2020
Teaching Assistant, Water Media with Tia Factor, Portland State University, Summer Term 2020
Co-Teaching Assistant, Ideation with Michelle Illuminato, Portland State University, Spring Term 2020
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Drawing with Horia Boria, Portland State University, Spring Term 2019
Committees & Panels
Panel Judge for Surf Film Festival at the Single Fin Mingle Surf and Film Festival, 2022, Aotearoa New Zealand
Promotion and Tenure Committee, Portland State University, 2020-2021 School Year, U.S.
MFA Application Committee for the Art and Social Practice Program, Portland State University, 2018-2021, U.S.
General Teaching & Facilitation
Bunny Meditation Tours, Art & Journal Experiential Nature Workshops, Jan. - July 2022
Substitute Teaching, ESS, January - March 2022
Environmental Educator, Haystack Rock Awareness Program, Oregon, Jan. 2017 – August 2021
Art Workshop Instructor & Designer, Cannon Beach Arts Association, Oregon, June 2017 – July 2021
Art Education Intern, Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, California, Oct. 2017 – Dec 2017
Art Education Intern, Laguna Art Museum, California, Jan. – Mar 2017
Lead Teacher, YMCA of the USA, California, Dec. 2016 – March 2017
Environmental Educator, Friends of Tryon Creek, Oregon, March 2016 – Jun 2016
Other Creative Experience
Management & Founder, Sea Together Magazine, 2017 - Present
Artist Assistantship, with Julie Perini, Portland State University, Oregon, Summer 2015
Gallery Docent, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Oregon, Sep. 2015
Contributing Author Intern, College Prowler, California, June 2012 – Aug. 2012
Copy Editor, WALL at Saddleback College, California, Jan. 2012 – May 2012
Lectures/ Workshops/Panel Discussions
2022 May - Lecture, Surf Studies Conference at Chaminade University, Hawai’i
2021 June - Artist Lecture, ASSEMBLY, Art and Social Practice Conference, Oregon
2021 April - Lecture, Bunny Hill, Cannon Beach Arts Association, Oregon
2021 Winter - Lecture, Illia Yakovenko’s Intro to Art and Social Practice, Portland State University, Oregon
2020 May - Presentation, Be a Local of my Life, PSU’s MFA Social Practice’s ASSEMBLY conference, Portland State University, Oregon
2020 Spring - Workshop, Writing & Drawing classes, through Sea Together Magazine, Global (Online)
2019 July - Lecture, Indigo & Salt Surf Night Out, Talk on women’s surfing subculture, Bulli, Australia
2019 July - Panel Discussion Participant, U&I, discussion on women artist entrepreneurs, Torquay, Australia
2019 July - Workshop, Creative Zine Making, Aoka Surf Studio, Whangamata, New Zealand
2019 Spring, Workshop, Puffin Postcards Workshop, Cannon Beach Arts Association & Gallery
2019 Spring, Puffin Paintings - Cannon Beach Elementary School with Cannon Beach Arts Association & Gallery
2019 January, Panel Discussion Participant and Facilitator, Women surf film representation, Leeward Surf, Portland, Oregon
2019 May, Workshop, Play & Work, PSU’s MFA Social Practice’s ASSEMBLY conference, Portland, OR
2018 December, Workshop, Creative Zine Making, San Diego Surf Ladies, San Diego, California
2018 July, Panel Discussion Facilitator, Sexism in Surf Culture of the Pacific Northwest, Leeward Surf, Portland, Oregon
2018 Spring, Drawing Waves Workshop, Cannon Beach Arts Association
Larger Projects
2016 - present Sea Together - Sea Together is a global art project that is a platform documenting through the form of an archive the personal histories of women surfers around the world. I started this in 2017 and it has evolved into a global women’s surf movement that took the form of many works including publications, art installations, participatory projects, workshops, retreats, and more. The project explores issues of racism and sexism in the subculture of Surfing.
2020 - 2021 Bunny Hill - Bunny Hill is a collaboration with the bunnies and humans that coexist in Cannon Beach, Oregon. In 2021, I claimed Bunny Hill as an official landmark of Cannon Beach, due to the constant naming of the site by the local community over the years. The Grand Opening of Bunny Hill was an onsite ceremony to publicly announce Bunny Hill in history. The event presents To Exist, a film sharing public opinions about the bunnies. The project defines the collective history of the bunnies from residents who love them, non-residents who want to save them from the wild, residents who see the bunnies as an ‘invasive species’, and people who kill them to save their yards. The project explores the relationship between identity and place. The project invites people to internally reflect on greater systemic issues by asking ‘When is someone or something seen and accepted into a community? Who belongs where and who has the power to say who belongs in a place? How are we held accountable to places and the people that live there? How long until an invasive species is no longer invasive?’ How can people with opposing viewpoints coexist in space?
2021 - 2021 Puffin Project - The Tufted Puffin is a bird that nests in Cannon Beach, Oregon. The town of Cannon Beach has a puffin from the east coast, the Atlantic Puffin, all over the town. This creates a discrepancy where scientific misinformation is spread across town and people go down to the beach to see the Tufted Puffin, but are let down when they see it does not look like the Atlantic Puffin that they see around town. I started an artist-in-residency program through Haystack Rock Awareness Program in Cannon Beach where I am the first artist-in-residence. I am working to certify local businesses that have the “right” Tufted Puffin. They receive a Tufted Puffin Certificate to put on display in their store. We are working to address the wrong puffin all around town and correct these puffins. The project explores issues of race and performative allyship.
Artist Residencies
April 2022, Vans Duct Tape Invitational, in Sayulita, Mexico
March 2021 - Present, City of Cannon Beach, Haystack Rock Awareness Program
May 2015 - Burnside Skatepark in Portland, Oregon
Art Exhibitions & Social Practice
2022
Lou Film, Single Fin Mingle Surf Film Festival, Christchurch, Aotearoa, New Zealand
2021
MFA Show, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon
Artist and Facilitator, Bunny Hill Grand Opening Ceremony and Film Showing, Cannon Beach Art Gallery, Cannon Beach, Oregon
2020
Artist and Facilitator, ‘Surf Telephone Hotline’, WildCactus, Portland, Oregon
2019
Retreat Organizer & Workshop Facilitator, Sea Together, Oahu, Hawai’i
Workshop, Play & Work, PSU’s MFA Social Practice’s ASSEMBLY conference, Portland, OR
Co-organizer & panel member, Sea Together x U&I, Toruqay, Australia
Co-organizer, co-host, co-curator & installation/art handling, Aoka Surf Studio, Whangamata, New Zealand
Co-host, At Sea with 100 Men, Sea Bones, Byron Bay, Australia
Artist Talk, Surf Night Out, Indigo & Salt, Buli, Australia
2018
Event Organizer & Panel Facilitator, Women Surfers in PNW, Leeward Surf, Portland, OR
Curator & Event Organizer, Juneshine, San Diego, CA
Event Organizer, 1 Year Anniversary, San Onofre, CA
2017
Artist, Merge/Convene Art Show, SDAI (San Diego Art Institute), San Diego, CA
2016
Artist, Portland State University Film Festival, Portland, OR
Artist, Art & Design Open House, Portland State University, Portland, OR
2015
Artist, A Slow Hello Parade, PSU’s MFA Social Practice’s ASSEMBLY conference, Portland, OR
2014
Artist, Group Exhibition, DdA Factory Art Gallery, Cagliari, Italy
2013
Artist, Student Exhibition, University of Portland, Portland, OR
Publications
Publication Producer and Director, ISSUE 001: Identity, Sea Together Magazine, Global (2018)
Publication Producer and Director, ISSUE 002: Place, Sea Together Magazine, Global (2019)
Director and Author, Local BBQ (2020)
Director and Author, Under the Sea (2021)
Director and Author, Sea-ing Ourselves: Overcoming Burnout (2022)
Awards
2022, Hydro Flask Film Award at Single Fin Mingle Surf and Film Festival
2016, Video Selected for Portland State University Film Festival
2012, First Place for Literary Magazine, American Scholastic Press Association
2012, Psi Beta, National Honors for Students in Psychology