Rachel Davis, "Glass Cloud"

Rachel Davis presents Family Tree at Chambers@916. The series of watercolors on paper combine architectural and botanical forms, "taking their visual language from Chinese vernacular architecture and the life cycles of a garden in a continuous loop of growth and decay. By combining the visible man-made world with the often invisible cellular world of plants, the paintings become a hybrid of both...Inspired by Chinese painting manuals like The Mustard Seed Garden (1679), the paintings in Family Tree explore an imaginary landscape with more contemporary implications...As a parent to two children with Chinese ancestry, this series has become the artist's own painting manual, guiding her exploration of a complicated, modern family's evolving relationship to China." Chambers@916 will also be screening The Hidden Depth by Chinese video artists Fang Er and Meng Jin, in conjunction with China Design Now.

Full disclosure: This blogger works with Chambers@916.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • November 5
Chambers@916 • 916 NW Flanders • 503.227.9398



Dianne Kornberg, "India Tiger 6"

Elizabeth Leach presents India Tigers by Dianne Kornberg. The exhibition is "a recent digital printing of a collection of austere photographs of moths and butterflies from India, preserved in folded, triangular paper wrappings... [that] attempt to capture the elusive, fleeting elements of life and science."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • November 5
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521



Arnold J. Kemp's "Climate", 2009

PDX Contemporary Art presents Arnold J. Kemp's first solo exhibition in Portland since he was named chair of PNCA's MFA in visual arts program. Titled "This Quiet Dust, Ladies and Gentlemen," the show according to the press release, "insists on being at once unforgettably black, dusty and glittering." One PORT staffer has called it, "a kind of rehabilitated formalism."

Opening reception • 6-8pm • November 5
PDX Contemporary • 925 NW Flanders • 503.222.0063



Valerie Hegarty, "Branch with Frame"

Half/Dozen presents Antler Necklace, a group show curated by New York-based writer and curator Amber Vilas. "The exhibition explores the intersection of nature with culture and a synthetic representation of the natural world. The show's title is meant to light-heartedly prod at popular consumable hybrids of modern material culture with natural images." Featured artists include Antoine Catala, Christine Gray, Valerie Hegarty, Jessica Labatte, Nichole van Beek, and Erika Somogyi, from New York, Chicago, and Richmond, VA.

Opening reception • 5-9pm • November 5
Half/Dozen • 625 NW Everett #111 • 503.512.9079



May Juliette Barruel, "Your Blues One"

IGLOO presents May Juliette Barruel's And Now We Do What We Do. "Barruel's textile-based work and photography address themes of nostalgia, obsession, and loss in an intimate and often voyeuristic fashion. For this exhibition, Barruel investigates a variety of materials in order to reify her experience, and here her voice finds resonance in printed words and embroidered textiles."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • November 5
IGLOO • 325 NW 6th #102 • iglooarts@gmail.com



Jim Neidhardt, "Untitled 8 [book drunk]"

Jim Neidhardt, who is "intoxicated with the form of books," presents Book Drunk at Blackfish: "This show of paintings records my search for the faint echo of leather hard-bound volumes that have slipped into obscurity."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • November 5
Blackfish Gallery • 420 NW 9th • 503.224.2634



Grit Hachmeister, "Starkes Mädchen"

Fontanelle presents Queer Gaze, a group photography exhibition that features images of queer people by queer photographers. The show "offers a new examination and response to theories of 'male gaze,' originally described by Laura Mulvey as the cinematic depiction of voyeurism and objectification of a female by a heterosexual male viewer. Queer Gaze explores the gaze from woman to woman or queer to queer, as well as the way that many photographers use their own visage or that of their friends to subvert traditional expectations of portraiture." Featured artists include Sarah Baley, Erica Beckman, Tammy Rae Carland, Zackary Drucker, Luke Gilford, Grit Hachmeister, Megan Holmes, Angela Jimenez, Molly Landreth, Amos Mac, Finn Paul, Emily Roysdon, A.L. Steiner, Lorenzo Triburgo, and Azsa West.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • November 5
Special event and musical performance • 8pm • November 19
Fontanelle Gallery • 205 SW Pine • 503.274.7668

Also, Derek Franklin is curating a show at PNCA's Manuel Izquierdo Gallery. Sounds like it could be an interesting one.