Lee Kelly | Cor-Ten Revisited

July 17 - August 28, 2025
Opening Reception: July 16, 5:30 - 7:30 pm
First Thursday: August 7, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Cor-Ten Revisited brings together a selection of sculptures by Kelly made of Cor-Ten steel, which is known for its distinctive, weathered finish. Throughout his career and across several bodies of work, Kelly frequently returned to Cor-Ten steel as a medium. The exhibition includes freestanding and wall-mounted sculptures made between 1977 and 2021, giving an overview of Kelly’s exploration of geometric shapes and formal imagery.

The exhibition includes sculptures from several of Kelly’s series, many of which reflect the influence of the artist’s travels on his work. Two Haida sculptures reference the artwork of the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of British Columbia, wall-mounted Kyoto sculptures are inspired by a visit to Japanese temples and kanji characters, and Goddess Revisited and Unicycle Variation reflect architectural elements seen in India and Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

Also on view are studies for large scale public sculptures, collages on gold leaf grounds which give insight into Kelly’s process and visual language, and Memory IX, from Kelly’s Memory series of monumental sculptures made once every ten years as a reflection of the preceding decade.

Lee Kelly (1932-2022) is one of the most revered artists in the Pacific Northwest, best known for his monumental public sculptures throughout Oregon and the surrounding region. Born in 1932 in McCall, Idaho, Lee Kelly graduated from the Museum Art School at the Portland Art Museum (now known as the Pacific Northwest College of Art, PNCA) in 1959. Kelly's long, prestigious career and prolific nature have resulted in a significant body of work which can be seen in public and private collections throughout the country, including the Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA), New Orleans Art Museum (New Orleans, LA), Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA) and the City of Sapporo, Japan. As one of the most recognized artists in the Northwest, his modernist sculptures are a central focus at regional institutions such as Reed College, Oregon State University, Catlin Gabel School, the Oregon Health and Sciences University and the Washington Park Rose Garden. In 2012, one of his most significant works, Memory 99, was installed in Portland's North Park blocks, at the new home of PNCA. Kelly has been exhibiting at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery since the early 1980s. In 2010, he was the subject of a major career retrospective at the Portland Art Museum.