Art of Geography has produced a pretty darn good map of the Pearl District, an invaluable online tool for those who want to know where to look at art and dine out in the Pearl District. That's pretty much Portland in a nutshell: lots of galleries and even more fine dining for the hoard of food-ees here. Maybe throw in a few thousand coffee shops, tons of small fashion boutiques and some great book stores... then you've got Portland.

Also, the latest Visual Codec is out.

Then there is this article on group critiques that MAN pointed out. All young Portland artists should read it.

Last but not least, TJ Norris takes on the the dark art of curating and his upcoming curatorial effort this June at Guestroom Gallery looks real good too. I remember being irked years ago when Randy Gragg told me I was the only independent seriously interested in curation in town. Both annoyed and flattered my counter was instantly, "but what about TJ." There were others too like, Matt Fleck, Muriel Bartol and Michael Oman-Reagan, Jacqueline Ehlis... even the ever mysterious Todd Johnson. Now there is a whole new crop of youngsters like Jenene Nagy, Josh Arseneau, Jesse Hayward and Mark Brandau... not to mention all the new gallerists who necessarily must take on that role.

great map. a good resource for a newcomer-thanks.