October 31, 2025 - February 8, 2026

Lead Curator: Theo Downes-Le Guin

A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin offers a biographical and poetical portrait of one of Oregon’s best known artists. Examining important moments and themes in Le Guin’s life and oeuvre, the exhibition encompasses a rich variety of media, immersing guests in the ideas, playfulness and hope that course through Ursula K. Le Guin’s art. The exhibition is curated by Theo Downes-Le Guin, the author’s son, with contributions from many others who knew the author or her work.

A Larger Reality honors many facets of this complex artist, intermingling contemplative and open-ended experiences with texts, images, audio, video, interactive experiences, and ephemera, places to lean back and unwind, and places to lean in and engage. The exhibition offers different levels of engagement for fans and Le Guin novices alike.

During the three month exhibition run, A Larger Reality will be punctuated by programming that brings in other elements of Le Guin’s art including music, activism, and community engagement. An accompanying book, published by Winter Texts (Port Townsend) offers a series of texts by Le Guin and others.

The exhibition The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin, with curation led by Sarah Shin and Harriet Jennings and design by Standard Deviation, runs concurrently from October 10th through December 6th, 2025 at the Architectural Association in London. It is accompanied by the book The World for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin published by Spiral House (a new imprint of Silver Press) and AA Publications and edited by So Mayer and Sarah Shin.

A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin is supported by Oregon Cultural Trust, Autzen Foundation, The Kinsman Foundation, and The Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation. Sarah Miller Meigs as well as other anonymous individuals supported this exhibition.

Oregon Contemporary is supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation, the City of Portland's Office of Arts & Culture, the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts. Other businesses and individuals provide additional support. (edited) 

Additional Programming, more programs to be added soon:

Saturday, November 1st
Event: First Saturday Opening Reception
Time: 5:00-8:00pm
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: Join us in celebrating the opening of A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin, a biographical and poetical portrait of one of Oregon’s best known artists. Examining important moments and themes in Le Guin’s life and oeuvre, the exhibition encompasses a rich variety of media, immersing guests in the ideas, playfulness and hope that course through Ursula K. Le Guin’s art. The exhibition is curated by Theo Downes-Le Guin, the author’s son, with contributions from many others who knew the author or her work.

At 4pm a ticketed salon will include remarks by Theo Downes- Le Guin, a special reading by Daniel H. Wilson, and attendees will also receive a copy of the accompanying book, published by Winter Texts (Port Townsend) including a series of texts by Le Guin and others. Ticket info coming soon.

Sunday, November 2nd
Event: Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin with Dir. Arwen Curry
Time: 7:00pm
Location: PAM CUT Tomorrow Theater
Description: Join us for an evening celebrating one of the most influential voices in science fiction and fantasy. Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin offers a rare, intimate journey into the life and imagination of the legendary Portland-based author, whose groundbreaking works, including The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea series, forever reshaped the genres she loved. After the screening, stay for a conversation between director Arwen Curry and Katherine Murphy Lewis of From the Ground UP.

Friday, November 7th
Event: A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin exhibition with introduction by Theo Downes-Le Guin
Time: 4:00-5:00pm
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: Come enjoy happy hour with a special viewing of A Larger Reality during Portland Book Festival’s Cover to Cover weekend. Curator Theo Downes-Le Guin and director Blake Shell will share some insights into the exhibit.

Saturday, December 6th
Event: First Saturday, Talk with Michelle Ruiz Keil & Ashley Stull Meyers and Screening of CROSSLUCID’s Vaster than Empires
Time: 5:00-8:00pm, 6:00pm start of event
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: CROSSLUCID is an artist collective (est. 2018) that engages in highly collaborative cross-disciplinary projects in co-evolution with technology. CROSSLUCID’s bespoke, generative AI film inspired by Ursula Le Guin’s Vaster than Empires and More Slow is the genesis for this event. Writer Michelle Ruiz Keil, curator and writer Ashley Stull Meyers will lead the live conversation, informed by discussions about artist collaboration with generative AI with CROSSLUCID founders Sylwana Zybura and Tomas Toth in advance, with a screening of Vaster than Empires, to follow.

Saturday, February 7th
Event: Todd Barton performance of Music and Poetry of the Kesh by Ursula K. Le Guin & Todd Barton
Time: 5:00-8:00pm, 6:00pm start of event
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: An evening delving into the creative collaboration of the Music & Poetry of the Kesh with Ursula K. Le Guin.  Todd Barton will perform some songs and pieces using the original environmental field recordings done in the Kroeber/Le Guin homestead in the Napa valley in the early 1980’s. Barton will be singing as well as performing on the Japanese shakuhachi and the Buchla Music Easel with stories about the creation of the songs. Rankin’s Music of Kesh music video will also be screened and we will have a group sing of the Kesh Long Singing.