Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Selina McIlhenny ROBERTS
Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) - December 3, 1990
Deceased Name: SELINA OTTUM, ARTS ADVOCATE, DIES AT 42
Summary: The former director of the Metropolitan Arts Commission worked for greater awareness and appreciation of art
Selina Ottum, a longtime arts administrator who strived to increase public awareness and appreciation of art, died Sunday in her Northwest Portland home of cancer. She was 42.
Ottum had been fighting cancer for two years.
In September, her deteriorating health forced her to return to Portland from Washington, D.C., where, for the last year, she had been one of three deputy chairs of the National Endowment for the Arts. John E. Frohnmayer appointed her to the post in December 1989.
Visual art was Ottum's specialty. As director of Portland's Metropolitan Arts Commission for nine years, Ottum acted as a liaison between artists and city officials. She helped establish the Percent-For-Art program that earmarks a percentage of construction costs for art. She also helped pass public art ordinances by Metro and the Portland Public Schools.
Finding ways to foster cultural diversity was another goal of the commission during Ottum's tenure.
One of Ottum's most visible successes was the 1985 arrival of Portlandia, the copper statue that adorns the Portland Building. Crowds numbering 10,000 lined bridges and streets to watch the statue steam up the Willamette River and through city streets. Cultural observer Tom Wolfe called it ''the most important public art event in the last 90 years.''
Ottum was born Oct. 8, 1948, in Philadelphia.
She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English. She received master's degrees in photography, and in community service and public affairs from the University of Oregon before helping form the Lane Regional Arts Council in 1976. She led the council for three years.
In 1984, Ottum was elected president of the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies. The assembly represented 1,500 councils at the time. In 1985, she was re-elected president.
In 1988, Portland caught the attention of the nation's mayors by receiving the top City Livability Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The award recognizes the role that the arts and urban design play in creating a vibrant, livable city. Ottum wrote the application, which judges called the best they'd ever seen.
Ottum received the 1988 White Rose Award from the Lewis and Clark Chapter of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. The award cited Ottum's ''outstanding devotion to raising general awareness and public participation in the arts on local and state levels.''
During her nine-month tenure at the National Endowment for the Arts, Ottum managed programs that give money to state and local arts agencies.
Last April, Gov. Neil Goldschmidt gave Ottum a Governor's Arts Award for her work as director of the Metropolitan Arts Commission.
Ottum was a catalyst and an advocate for artists, said Bill Bulick, who succeeded her at the Metropolitan Arts Commission. ''As an incredibly focused leader in the arts, she steered the Portland arts community through its coming of age,'' he said.
Ottum helped the arts become a player in city government, Bulick said. ''The '80s were an exciting decade for the movement, and we saw a tremendous growth in the arts, finding their place among other city agencies that *effect a vital and interesting city. Selina was responsible for a lot of that.''
Linda Magee, executive director of Chamber Music Northwest, knew Ottum for 10 years. ''I can think of no other person who had a more personal impact on the Portland art scene in the past decade,'' she said. ''I cherished Selina as a friend and colleague, and looked to her as a model, a guiding light.''
Julie Mancini, producer of Portland's Arts and Lectures, and a close friend, said Ottum's directness in dealing with her illness inspired her friends. ''Because of what she's gone through, I live differently,'' Mancini said. ''Her spirit, her faith -- that's what she gave me.''
Ottum is survived by her husband, Philip Kendall Ottum of Northwest Portland; daughters, Katherine McIlhenny Ottum and Anna Roberts Ottum, both at home; parents, Bayard and Louise Roberts of Bryn Mawr, Pa.; sisters, Louise Johnston of Philadelphia, Sidney Rockefeller of Boston and Patricia Connell of New York City.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in First Presbyterian Church in downtown Portland.
The family suggests that remembrances be contributions to the memorial fund of First Presbyterian Church.
Copyright (c) 1990 Oregonian Publishing Co.
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