Don’t Be Clever, Be True: Late Works by David Eckard

Don’t Be Clever, Be True: Late Works by David Eckard

Curated by Daniel Duford

On View: May 7 - June 27, 2026

The Center for Contemporary Art & Culture is honored to present Don’t Be Clever, Be True: Late Works by David Eckard, curated by Daniel Duford. This memorial exhibition honors the artistic achievement and community impact of David Eckard, an artist and educator who touched the lives of generations of students, having served as Associate Professor and Head of the Sculpture Department of PNCA from 2000-2025.

Don’t Be Clever, Be True Public Programming

Exhibition Reception at 1TH: June 4, 5-8pm

Curator walk through with Daniel Duford: June 4, 5:30-6:30p

Public Lecture with Daniel Duford: June 11, 6:00pm

About David Eckard

David Eckard was born in 1964 in Spirit Lake, Iowa. David’s early life growing up on a farm in Iowa shaped his pragmatic and sensible approach to making. Before settling in Portland in the mid-1990s, David lived in Chicago, where he graduated with a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. In Portland, David became an integral part of the city’s thriving arts & culture community, as a visionary artist working in sculpture and performance. He was Associate Professor and Head of the Sculpture Department at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon from 2000~2025 and touched the lives of hundreds of students over the last 25+ years. David’s kindness and humor, his technical virtuosity and improvisational intelligence made him an exemplary teacher. His influence on contemporary art and the arts community in the Pacific Northwest is vast.

An innovative and influential artist, David created a body of unique work that sprang from his own authentic voice and experience. David Eckard was David Eckard, he imitated no one else. He combined beautifully crafted objects with performance. His work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in many prestigious private and public collections. He has been reviewed in The New York Times, Flash Art, Art in America, Artnews, and Sculpture. David received a Juror’s Award in the 2006 Oregon Biennial at the Portland Art Museum, and was awarded the Bonnie Bronson fellowship (2010) and the Hallie Ford fellowship (2021). He collaborated with many other artists, dancers and performers, including Three Trick Pony with Linda Austin and drag artist Anthony Hudson/Carla Rossi.

His earliest works arose from Queer protest groups during the AIDS epidemic. He took that mix of the poetic form, political action and bodily identity into subsequent works. He presented several times at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s TBA festival. David’s work always contained some combination of grace, the grotesque, strength and tenderness. Float, a performance for TBA, had him floating on the Willamette River through Portland perched on a huge metal buoy with massive megaphones (all exquisitely designed and built by David). As he floated through downtown he recited a poetic monologue surrounded by a flotilla of kayakers.

His performances were also a tradition during Pacific Northwest College of Art’s Focus Week. Combining wit and vulnerability, the works enlivened PNCA’s spaces and community. PNCA is what it is in large part thanks to David Eckard.

David died of complications from cancer on April 16, 2025, surrounded by his beloved husband Eric and a few dear friends. David left a legacy of love throughout all the communities of which he was a part.

www.davideckardstudio.com

About Daniel Duford

For 25 years, Daniel Duford has woven visual narratives — stories that flow through large paintings, graphic novels, installations and figurative sculpture. His work is born from the mythic and political history of North America. He is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2010 Hallie Ford Fellow and a 2012 Art Matters Grant recipient. His work has been exhibited nationally including MASS MOCA, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU, Orange County Museum of Art and the Museum of Northwest Art. He is the founder and director of The Ground Beneath Us, a place-based art educational experiment and publisher.

His curatorial projects include the 2012 exhibition Fighting Men: Leon Golub, Jack Kirby, Peter Voulkos (2012) at the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark College and An Earth Song, A Body Song: Figures with Landscapes. Works from the Permanent Collection (2020) at Orange County Museum of Art.

About CCAC and PNCAThe Center for Contemporary Art & Culture is a platform for cultural production, including exhibitions, lectures, performances, and community events. Housed within Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), the Center opens its doors to the greater public to foster conversation and community.

Pacific Northwest College of Art is the leading professional arts and design school in the Northwest; we are the heartbeat of learning and experimentation in Portland’s vibrant cultural ecosystem. We spark curiosity and sharpen skills so students can build creative careers anchored in innovation, justice, and civic imagination.