Opening on November 28th, 2025 at Antler Gallery in Portland, Oregon is artist Scott Listfield's incredible solo exhibition, "Island Stories."

"This story begins on a boat. A boat headed north. First to Canada, then Greenland, and finally Iceland. I was on that boat. You probably guessed that part.

One day I got off the boat in a small town, and set off alone down a long and muddy road, towards what I hoped would be a waterfall. Which, incredibly, turned out to be more like twenty waterfalls. Everything was hidden in fog, with streams winding around giant rocks, reminding me of partially buried remains of some ancient civilization.

On my way back, sheep became a problem. First they were off in the hills. Then by the side of the road. Then, suddenly, and angrily, right in front of me. Am I going to have to fight a sheep to pass this road? Am I in an Icelandic folktale? I reasoned with the sheep. I wasn't from here, I said. I was here to see a waterfall, to bask in the glory of a primeval landscape, to feel small in the world, and then return to my boat. The sheep? It let me pass.

On another day, on another island, I set out in search of a puffin. I hiked a volcano. I hiked to the sea. I hiked into the center of town. No puffins. Running low on time, I found a place on the far side of the island which Google Maps called “Puffin Lookout.” Good enough, I supposed, and traveled in the way of the islanders. I grabbed an e-Scooter.

A rumbly 15 minutes later I pulled off the road and tossed my scooter. I scrambled to the edge of a steep cliff and looked out over a handful of small volcanic islands in the distance, bathed in sharp Icelandic sunlight. There were many birds, but no puffin. I walked for a while more. I checked the time. I looked back at where I'd discarded my scooter. I sighed. Time to head back. And then – magically - a puffin. It landed not twenty feet away, on the edge of the cliff. I crept as close as I could without scaring it away.

And so I met a puffin. And survived an encounter with a sheep. And hiked a volcano and kayaked a fjord and traced the path of the ancient vikings on an e-scooter. And then I came home and made some paintings about it." — Scott Listfield