lumber room

Director and Chief Curator

Based in Portland, OR, the lumber room is a site for contemplation, dialogue, and exchange around contemporary art. It is the home of the Miller Meigs Collection, which shares the lumber room's core mission of supporting and investing in women and other underrepresented artists. Our aim is to explore new ways of exhibiting and engaging art within the intimate context of a domestic setting and in doing so, provide a space to expand community and creative practice by and for artists. Libby Werbel has served as the Director and Chief Curator since 2020, and prior to that was the Director of Public Programs since 2015.

Exhibitions Include: The Wandering Womb: Isabelle Albuquerque and Louise Bourgeois; Fall 2025. Chorus; Spring 2025. A Stone in A Field, a meditation on the margins of Minimalism; Fall 2024. Full Body Parentheses: Math Bass; Spring 2024. She was a culmination of all things in Heaven and Earth: Nona Faustine; Winter 2023. The Rose, A Circular Genealogy of Collage, curated in collaboration with Justine Kurland; Summer 2023. Inheritance: Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe & Ivan McClellan; Fall 2022. fore x fore; Summer 2022. The Quick: Diedrick Brackens, D'Angelo Lovell Williams, curated in collaboration with Ashley Stull Meyers; Spring 2022. Transmitters and Receivers: Michelle Segre; Fall 2021. PRAYER ROOM, HEALING STAtion: Susan Cianciolo; Summer 2021. Finding Our Way: an examination of care; 2020.

Public Programs: Mary Lattimore, performance, 2025; Judy on Duty, daytime dance party, 2024; Pure O, performance, 2024; Nona Faustine, Sharita Towne, Intisar Abioto in conversation, 2024; Outfittumentary by k8 Hardy, screening, 2023; Shala Miller, performance, 2023; Justine Kurland, Keisha Scarville, Kim Borous in conversation, 2023; Yawa Amenta, performance, 2023; Roman Norfleet & Be Present Art Group, performance, 2022; LARAAJI, performance and workshops, 2022; Lonnie Holley and Adee Roberson performance, 2022; Black Feast/Salimatu Amebebe, dinner for Black artists, 2022; Kelly Reichardt, screening and conversation, 2021; Nicolette de Saint Amour, series of movement workshops, 2021; Savila, screening and dinner for Latinx artists, 2020; San Cha, performance, 2019; Savila, performance, 2019; Takahiro Yamamoto, performance, 2019; Dragging an Ox Through Water performance, 2019; Marisa Anderson and Jim White performance, 2019; Michael Hurley, performance, 2019; Lonnie Holley, performance, 2018; Eileen Myles, reading, 2018; Allie Hankens, performance, 2018