PORTLAND, ORE.- Adams and Ollman is presenting Learn but the letters forme(d) by heart, Then soon you’l gain this noble art, a special group exhibition that brings together a range of contemporary artists whose work formally or conceptually relates to fraktur, as well as select examples of this traditional folk art. The exhibition is curated by Amy Adams and Marie Catalano and is on view at the gallery in Portland from September 17 through October 15, 2022.

Fraktur, named for the German script, are elaborately decorated and personal forms of record keeping and commemoration that were created by the Pennsylvania Dutch between approximately 1740 and 1860. Fraktur were created to record key events such as a birth or marriage, to bless a house, or to serve as rewards or gifts, and are characterized by stylized script, as well as flourishings and arabesques, bright colors and motifs that reflect rural life and beliefs.

The fraktur examples on view in Learn but the letters forme(d) by heart, Then soon you’l gain this noble art were made by both known and unknown makers and include examples of birth and baptismal certificates, as well as gift drawings decorated with common fraktur motifs such as birds, flowers, vines, hearts, female figures and angels. Alongside these historic works are contemporary artists whose work reflects concerns with personal archives, economies of language, constructions of identity, and symbolic and ornamental forms. Each shares a formal relationship to fraktur whether through calligraphic marks, diagrammatic composition, expressive, evocative color, or use of free-floating and free association of signs and symbols.

Artists: Alex Anderson, Polly Apfelbaum, Katherine Bernhardt, Joy Feasley, Raque Ford, Peter Gallo, Jesse Harrod, Abe Lampert, Maia Ruth Lee, Mirco Marchelli, Ryan McLaughlin, Molly Metz, Jeffry Mitchell, Erin Jane Nelson, Borna Sammak, Patricia Treib with fraktur by Unknown Artist, Christian Bamberger, “Flying Angel” Artist, Daniel Peterman and “School of Weiss” Artist.