Umpqua Bank Launches Exhibit:Growth

Interactive installation aims to inspire a community conversation about money, human potential and growth

Exhibit:Growth imagery (Photo: Business Wire)

PORTLAND, Ore.--()--Umpqua Bank, a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation (UMPQ), is unveiling Exhibit:Growth, an innovative multi-media exhibition exploring human potential. Including an immersive, motion-activated digital experience and a six-piece sculptural installation, Exhibit:Growth invites visitors to embark on a journey of personal discovery while demonstrating the power and beauty of collective experience. The exhibit opens in Portland, Ore., on November 14, kicking off a multi-city West Coast tour.

"Exhibit:Growth emerged out of asking a simple question: How can we inspire a conversation about money? Finances are an essential part of how we grow, how far we can reach, and what we’re able to build, and yet no one wants to talk about them," said Lani Hayward, Umpqua Bank’s executive vice president of creative strategies. "As a community bank with a distinct approach to banking, Umpqua has long sought to engage communities through shared experience, and Exhibit:Growth is an extension of that.

“In building this interactive experience, we recognized that artists are uniquely able to explore complex and personal topics in ways that create beauty – and inspire conversation, interaction and response,” added Hayward. “Artists challenge people from all walks of life to engage: with an idea, with others, with themselves – and that's our goal with Exhibit:Growth.”

About Umpqua’s Exhibit: Growth

Housed in a 40 foot geodesic dome in downtown Portland’s Director Park, Umpqua’s Exhibit:Growth allows visitors to choreograph their own experience, using individual movements to create a stunning visual expression of their personal hopes and dreams – and the universal pursuit of human potential and growth.

Umpqua believes in the power of human potential – and how our individual actions create personal and collective growth. Umpqua commissioned digital artists Fake Love and The Mill to create a powerful immersive experience exploring these themes. Every visitor will have a unique experience as they travel through a journey of personal discovery through large-scale, motion-activated digital technology, connecting each with those who traveled before them. The experience will end with the opportunity for each visitor to create a digital art piece that captures their individual contribution to the exhibit.

In addition to the digital experience, Umpqua collaborated with six artists – three based in Portland, Ore. and three from throughout the U.S. – to create sculptural expressions of human potential and growth. The works of Huy Buy, Tofer Chin, Blaine Fontana, Michael Murphy, Aaron Rayburn and Saxon-Hill will surround the dome, creating a fully immersive creative experience.

Exhibit:Growth will be located in Portland, Ore.’s Director Park and open to visitors November 14 to November 23 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. For more information, please visit: www.exhibitgrowth.com.

About the Artists

Mill+: Mill+ is an international collection of artists focused on creating some of the world’s most exciting and innovative digital imagery and experiences. Mill+ collaborates with groundbreaking directors, creative agencies and visionary brands to bring ideas to life in ways that challenge and engage audiences across multiple platforms, technology and venues.

Fake Love: Fake Love is a group of interactive artists focused on building innovative experiential work that creates strong emotional connections. Recognized internationally, they concept, design, fabricate, animate, generate and invent anything you can imagine. And some things you can’t.

Huy Bui: Huy Bui is the co-founder of Plant-in City, a multi-dimensional artscape with a foundation in architecture. His artistic explorations dive into the world of natural systems, reimagining and reinterpreting our world by creating unique built environments.

Tofer Chin: Tofer Chin creates geometric paintings, sculptures, and photographs that interpret his observations of urban and natural landscapes. In addition to his gallery-scale works, he also paints large outdoor murals in international settings, using entire buildings as his canvases as well as permanent and semi-permanent site-specific sculptural installations. Tofer has exhibited nationally and internationally, having recently completed a permanent outdoor sculptural installation in Nicaragua.

Blaine Fontana: Blaine Fontana currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon. Imbuing his vision with the divine symbolism of religious myths, worldly folklore and current social dynamics, his works contain a kind of shamanic exploration of meaning that recognizes the totemic quality and power of the image. Fontana fuses multiple visual strategies to forge an aesthetic language entirely of his own making. His works have been published in a variety of publications and exhibited nationally and around the world, including in Portland, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Denver, New York, London, Germany, Canada and Japan.

Michael Murphy: Michael Murphy is a Brooklyn-based multimedia artist best known for his multi-dimensional, sculptural installations. His work uses spatial dynamics to challenge viewers’ perception of space while connecting this experience with layers of meaning, and has been featured throughout the United States and around the globe.

Aaron Rayburn: Aaron Rayburn is a cross-disciplinary design & art director and Oregon native. His work spans graphic design, advertising, filmmaking, fine art, and photography. In 2011, Esquire Magazine named him one of the "12 most innovative designers in America" and his body of work includes collaborations with Nike, Wikipedia, Wieden+Kennedy and Procter & Gamble.

Blair Saxon-Hill: Blair Saxon-Hill, a resident of Portland, Oregon, examines the notions of perception and the "thingness" of presence through the use of marginal photographic spaces and assemblage. Saxon-Hill's works have been exhibited in select solo and group exhibitions including the current exhibition: Portland2014: A Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Schneider Museum of Art. In 2013, Saxon-Hill received a Ford Family Foundation Golden Spot Award, an Oregon Arts Commission Grant, and was short-listed for the Henry Art Gallery’s Brink Award.

About Umpqua Bank

Umpqua Bank, headquartered in Roseburg, Ore., is a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation, and has locations across Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California and Northern Nevada. Umpqua Bank has been recognized for its innovative customer experience and banking strategy by national publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fast Company and CNBC. The company has been recognized for the past eight years in a row on FORTUNE magazine’s list of the country’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” and was recently named by The Portland Business Journal the Most Admired Financial Services Company in Oregon for the ninth consecutive year. In addition to its retail banking presence, Umpqua Bank owns Financial Pacific Leasing, Inc., a nationally recognized commercial finance company that provides equipment leases to small businesses.

Umpqua Holdings also owns a retail brokerage subsidiary, Umpqua Investments, Inc., which offers services through Umpqua Bank stores and in dedicated offices throughout Oregon. Umpqua’s Wealth Management Division serves high net worth individuals and nonprofits by providing customized financial solutions and offerings. Umpqua Holdings Corporation is headquartered in Portland, Ore. For more information, visit http://www.umpquabank.com.

Contacts

Media Contacts:
Allison & Partners for Umpqua Bank
Tom Biro, 206-686-6420
tom@allisonpr.com
or
Leah Almeling, 206-686-6421
Leah@allisonpr.com

Release Summary

Umpqua Bank unveiled Exhibit:Growth, an innovative multi-media exhibition exploring human potential. Including an immersive, motion-activated digital experience and a six-piece sculptural installation

Contacts

Media Contacts:
Allison & Partners for Umpqua Bank
Tom Biro, 206-686-6420
tom@allisonpr.com
or
Leah Almeling, 206-686-6421
Leah@allisonpr.com