Nine Gallery

Dec 4 2025 - Jan 3, 2026

Penda Diakité

Bokolo Roots

First Thursday Opening: Dec 4, 5 - 8 PM

Growing up between Mali and Portland, Oregon, Malian-American artist Penda Diakité creates intricate mixed-media artwork that bridges her African heritage and American upbringing. Through vibrant colors, painting, hand-carving, and traditional Malian techniques, her work reflects a rich fusion of cultural traditions and contemporary influences. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and an award-winning author, Diakité has showcased her work in galleries around the world and now brings her bold, multifaceted creations back to her Portland roots.

Nine Gallery was founded in 1987 by nine artists interested in working periodically outside the context of the commercial gallery. It is an artist-run cooperative and is administratively and financially independent from Blue Sky, funded solely by its members. Each member of Nine Gallery is in charge of the gallery for one month each year. Usually members show their own work, however, they are also welcome to curate shows of other artists’ work. Periodically the members of Nine Gallery, present work together in group exhibitions, and at other times they collectively invite other artists to show. Beyond the general interest in creating a largely non-commercial exhibition environment with a minimum of bureaucratic and institutional structure, the members of Nine Gallery have no collective ideological program or philosophy.

To purchase a copy of Nine @ 25, a Blurb publication celebrating Nine Gallery’s 25th anniversary, follow this link.

Nine Gallery shares the same hours as Blue Sky.