PORT - Portland art + news + reviews

Melanie Pullen, "Phones"

The Linfield Gallery presents Fashion and Fiction, guest curated by Todd Johnson. The exhibition examines "the intersection of contemporary staged or constructed photography and the relationship with strategies and theories of traditional fashion photography...which has a long, rich history of creating fictitious imagery with luxuriously decadent and extravagantly ephemeral interpretations of modern culture." Featured artists include Melanie Pullen, Holly Andres, New Catalogue, Daniel Hoyt, Alex Lim, and Darien Revel. The show runs February 9 - March 13, 2010.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • February 10
Linfield Fine Art Gallery • Linfield College in McMinnville (directions) • 503.883.2804

Ryan Pierce, "Paradise"

Ryan Pierce is exhibiting To Those Who Do Not Know The Way at his alma mater OCAC in conjunction with his brand-new book of the same title. The show features 13 new paintings and one "disco-ball-esque" sculpture. Go see the exhibition and celebrate the book release with him this Sunday, and check out the review of his work in Art in America.

Artist reception & book release party • 12pm • February 7
Oregon College of Art & Craft • 8245 SW Barnes Rd • 503.297.5544

(More: Paul Ramirez Jonas for PMMNLS & Amazonia at the JSMA.)

Fourteen30 presents DARK: A SHOW TO WINTER, curated by the Blood Rainbow Family. "Opening during the dead of a Portland winter, Dark will include work that addresses and/or reflects this outside environment. [The street.] The grim, the cold and the black will mingle with the solitary, the contemplative and the transcendent. Explorations of dark and winter drawn from both a common visual culture, as well as more personal voids, will work together to bring the vast, seemingly endless dark winter into the confines of the gallery space." Featured artists include Sebastian Gogel, Matthew Green, Frank Haines | Francis Heinzfeller, Alex Hubbard, Arnold Kemp, Alicia Love McDaid, Thomas Moecker, Jo Nigoghossian, Sven Stuckenschmidt, and Molly Vidor.

(More: Kendra Larson + Kurtiss Lofstrom at Gallery Homeland, Corey Smith at Worksound, annual juried theme show at Newspace, Down + Out at 23 Sandy.)

Liza Nguyen, "Surface"

Blue Sky presents Unfolding Time: Vietnamese Photography, Then and Now, co-curated by Christopher Rauschenberg and Stephanie Snyder. The show features photography by two contemporary women photographers, Liza Nyugen and An-My Lê, both of whose works "explore the relationship between aesthetic experience, representation, place, and memory. It is not about the politics of identity per se, but about artists' and individuals' gravitation to the photographic image as a uniquely personal and fictive agent for the stimulation of personal experience and cultural critique." In late February, LA-based photography curator Sam Lee will speak on "War and Vietnamese Photography," after which there will be a community discussion with the show's curators.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • February 4
Panel discussion • 3pm • February 27
Blue Sky Gallery • 122 NW 8th • 503.225.0210

(More: Re-Present at Elizabeth Leach, Avantika Bawa at Doppler PDX, The Quadratic Logogram... at Half/Dozen, Lindsey Aucoin at Tractor, Tyler Kohloff at Tribute, multiple shows at PNCA, SUPERTRASH at Anka.)

Isaac Layman

For their ongoing artist talk series, Clark College presents Isaac Layman, whose photographs are "hyper-real, psychologically charged visions of the spaces and objects found in his Seattle home." In conjunction with the lecture, his work is on display in the Archer Gallery through February 6th.

Artist lecture • 7pm • February 3
Clark College • 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • Penguin Union Building (PUB) 161

Poet, essayist, translator, and cultural critic Lewis Hyde will lecture at PNCA on The Gift and the Commons: Creativity and the Public Good. "Hyde asks questions central to the lives of artists as well as teachers and others who serve the public good: How do we discover work that satisfies beyond financial compensation? What are our norms for reciprocity and how do gifts create bonds in communities? His current project extends these questions to the realm of the 'cultural commons' — 'that vast store of un-owned ideas, inventions, and works of art we have inherited from the past, and that we continue to create.' In his lecture, Hyde will discuss personal gifts, the creative spirit, and our shared cultural past and imagined future."

Author lecture • 6:30-8pm • February 3
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • Swigert Commons

For TBA:10, PICA will present The People's Biennial, a new experiment in exhibition making by Harrell Fletcher and Jens Hoffmann. The project focuses on art being made outside of traditional artistic institutions and urban centers, and Portland will be the first location on a five-city tour. This weekend the curators will be in town to host a chat about their own practice and their aspirations for the show. They'll also be soliciting recommendations from the community for work that should be included.

Curatorial conversation • 4-5:30pm • February 6
PICA @ The Ace Hotel Annex • 403 SW 10th

George Kuchar

In conjunction with PMMNLS, PSU presents The Films of George Kuchar selected by George Kuchar at the New Video Gallery. A "legend of independent filmmaking," Kuchar began making B-style mini-epics in the 1950s and later turned to video in the 1980s, creating a massive collection of video diaries. "In Kuchar's video universe, nothing is safe from the camera expanding his oeuvre to exploiting his morbid interests and notorious insecurities with his token razor-sharp sense of humor in classics like The Mongreloid and The Weather Diaries.--Kuchar's friendships, lusts, anxieties, fears, and bodily functions are all addressed onscreen, often accompanied by his outrageously funny commentary. And yet below the witty surface lie profound and moving meditations on human existence."

You can view his selections at the New Video Gallery and from the street, dusk til dawn, February 1-26, 2010. Kuchar will also be lecturing this Monday for PMMNLS, and the NW Film Center is hosting "An evening with George Kuchar" on Tuesday.

Video exhibition opening reception • 4-6pm • February 1
New Video Gallery • Lobby PSU Art Building • 2000 SW 5th Ave
Artist lecture • 7:30pm • February 1
PMMNLS @ PSU • Shattuck Hall Annex • 1914 SW Park Rm 198
Special screening • 7pm • February 2
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park

Carole Zoom's Portland art space dream has become a reality with Zoomtopia: "Affordable pricing and lease-to-own terms enable artists and nonprofits to find a stable home while building social and financial equity." The building features six large studio spaces, a dance rehearsal studio, common amenities, ADA accessibility and, perhaps most importantly, a great location - the corner of SE 8th & Belmont. Join them for their opening celebration tomorrow evening, kicked off by a building dedication by mayor Sam Adams and featuring a rockin' after party.

New artist space celebration • 6pm • January 28
Zoomtopia • 810 SE Belmont

Terry Winters, "Bond," 2004

The Cooley Gallery presents Linking Graphics, Prints 2000-2010 by Terry Winters, a world-renowned painter and printmaker whose work investigates biological, artificial, and information-based structures. Linking Graphics is the first comprehensive exhibition of Winters' recent etchings, lithographs, and other unique prints held in the United States. The exhibition focuses on the artist's serial projects, literary collaborations, and large-scale experiments. Winters will lecture on his work at Reed College in February, after which there will be a reception in the gallery.

Also, check out Arcy's 2007 interview with Winters on the very subject of his prints.

Exhibition • January 26 - March 7, 2010
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd • Main Floor Reed Library
Artist lecture • 7pm • February 24
Reed College • Vollum Lecture Hall

Po Shun Leong

Artist, former architect, sculptor, and furniture maker Po Shun Leong is speaking at PNCA this week via their MFA in Applied Craft & Design program.

Artist lecture • 6:30-8pm • January 28
PNCA's Applied Craft and Design Studios • 421 NE 10th Ave

The Getty Villa

The White Box at UO's White Stag building is hosting The Getty Sketchbooks. The exhibition presents reproductions of 200 sketches and drawings that were produced by the six architectural firms that were invited to compete for the commission of the Getty Villa project in 1993. The sketchbooks show the vision that went into the development of this famously beautiful extension of LA's Getty Museum. The show will have an opening reception on First Thursday followed by a lecture entitled "The Death of the Esquisse" by curator Roger Sherwood.

Opening reception • 5-7pm • February 4
Curator lecture • 7-8pm • February 4
White Box • 24 NW 1st Ave

Anthea Black, "Looking for love in all the wrong places postering project - EN COMBINANT NOS FORCES NOUSE REIGNERONS SUR L'UNIVERS!" 2008

The Museum of Contemporary Craft presents Gestures of Resistance, guest curated by Judith Leemann and Shannon Stratton. The exhibition "examines work by contemporary artists who focus on craft actions and create works that use craft to agitate for change." Rather than present a static group of objects, the exhibition will "unfold" during its time at the museum through a series of seven artist residencies, open conversations and a study center. Featured artists include Sara Black and John Preus (January 26-February 6), Anthea Black (February 19-March 10), Carole Lung, AKA Frau Fiber (March 18-27), Mung Lar Lam (April 1-3), Cat Mazza (May 18-22), Ehren Tool (June 1-12), and Theaster Gates (June 18-19). Visit the exhibition page for descriptions of each project. The show will be kicked off with a craft conversion with the curators on opening day.

Exhibition • January 26 - June 26, 2010
Curatorial conversation • 6:30pm • January 26
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

(More: Hasan Elahi for PMMNLS and winter at Ditch Projects.)

Kate Fenker

MP5³ presents Prelude, a sculptural installation by Kate Fenker. Prelude is the first installment in a series of works where "geometric and organic forms begin to meld with found objects and each other." The exhibition will run from January 23 - February 26, 2010.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 23
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st Ave • Lobby gallery space of lofts building

Jenene Nagy

Jenene Nagy's Tidal opens this weekend at Disjecta. The exhibition continues Nagy's "definitive meld of painting, sculpture and installation into an explorative physiological environment. Bold color, intentionally disjointed surfaces, organic shape and visible architecture highlight an immense structure that hearkens Gaudi's spatial absurdities." The show will run from January 22 - February 28, 2010.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • January 22
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Donald Fels & collaborators, "Pineapple," 2005

Lewis & Clark's Hoffman Gallery presents What is a trade?, an exhibition exploring the historic and contemporary effects of globalization. Painter Donald Fels was inspired by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's 1498 voyage to Malabar, India, in search of a direct sea route for the spice trade. Working with the Signboard Painters of South India, Fels has created 16 large-scale paintings that explore the historic and modern-day legacy of that expedition more than 500 years later. The exhibition will run from January 21 - March 14, 2010.

Artist lecture • 4pm • January 21
Opening reception • 5-7pm • January 21
Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark • 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road • 503.768.7687

Happening TODAY at the UO White Stage building: Architect Donald MacDonald, FAIA will give a talk on movement and its influence upon the design of bridges and buildings - a very relevant Portland topic.

Architecture lecture • 3:30pm • January 19
UO White Stag • 70 NW Couch • White Stag Event Room

NE Portland altspace False Front is seeking proposals for solo shows for the 2010 season, starting in March. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, and requirements and where-tos can be found here.

Clark College is seeking applicants for adjunct instructors for inclusion in a pool of qualified candidates who have the demonstrated ability to teach beginning drawing and/or two-dimensional design. An MFA and college-level teaching experience are preferred. Screening begins March 8th. The position isn't up on their job site yet, so contact Carson Legree or the art department for more information.

Left: Avantika Bawa, Right: Stephen Slappe

Clark College's Archer Gallery presents Vantage, "an exhibition of artwork exploring perspective - visually, contextually, and perceptually. Featuring regional and national contemporary artists working in sculpture, video, computer animation, sound, photography, and installation, Vantage invites viewers into uncommon worlds, where meaning is reconstructed and reality subverted." Featured artists include Avantika Bawa, Victoria Haven, Isaac Layman, Golan Levin, Greg Pond, and Stephen Slappe. The show will be up through February 6, 2010, featuring an artist talk in early February with Isaac Layman.

Artist reception • 5-7pm • January 16
Artist talk • 7pm • February 3
Archer Gallery @ Clark College • 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, FAC 101, Vancouver, WA • 360.992.2246

Eliza Fernand

Nationale presents Clad by Eliza Fernand, who writes: "Memories are triggered by familiar sights, noises, and smells. Upon recognizing a material from your past, a history of associations plays in your head. By converting old clothing and bedding into a fabric collage, I can play with an arrangement of memories."

Opening reception • 6-8pm • January 15
Nationale • 2730 E Burnside • nationale.portland@gmail.com

Stephen Hayes, "Caldera"

Painter and printmaker Stephen Hayes is on deck this week for PAM's ongoing artist lecture series. Hayes will lead a walking discussion of a couple of his favorite works from the collection. The lecture meets in the Hoffman lobby and returns there at the end for "happy hour."

Artist lecture • 6-8pm • January 14
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Heidi Schwegler

PCC Cascade presents Heidi Schwegler's Slipping Underwater, in which Schwegler acknowledges Sartre's concept of self deception: "I must know the truth very exactly in order to conceal it more carefully." Her installation is comprised of sculptural objects, digital images, and video. "Placed together they become external manifestations of a moment of anguish." The exhibition will run through February 18, 2010.

Artist talk • 2-3pm • January 13
Opening reception • 5-8pm • January 14
PCC Cascade • 705 N Killingsworth • TH 102

Christopher Price

PSU's White Gallery presents Rembering Russia, an exhibition of photography by Christopher Price. Featuring the town of Vladimir and surrounding areas, the "people, buildings and scenes shown here belong to both the past and present, and are intended to show how modern life constructs itself around relics." The show will run through January 27, 2010.

Opening reception • 5-7pm • January 14
PSU White Gallery • 1825 SW Broadway • Smith Building 2nd Floor

Brandy Cochrane and Paul Middendorf

The Marylhurst Art Gym presents The Dregs by Brandy Cochrane and Paul Middendorf. For the exhibition, the pair took the remains of an estate sale to create an homage to and portrait of a family that has passed into history: "The story of a life can be composed from these dregs, pieced together from objects un-sellable, unwanted, unexpected – and bound for the trash heap."

Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen, "Integrating a Burning House"

Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen are exhibiting The Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things in the Art Gym's Gallery 2. Their apartment was lost to a fire in 2008, and in this exhibition they explore the experiences in the months that followed and their pending return to a new dwelling at their old address. Both exhibitions will run through February 11, 2010.

Opening receptions • 3-5pm • January 10
Artist talks • 12pm • February 4
Marylhurst Art Gym • 17600 Pacific Highway Marylhurst, OR • BP John Administration Building

Blue Mitchell

Newspace presents New Work by Blue Mitchell, who "burns his negatives, distorting natural landscapes into painterly, surreal scenes. The images are applied as acrylic lifts to birch panels, and then varnished. Mitchell aims to move beyond a simply two-dimensional perspective with his photographs, in an attempt to more accurately express his true experience of the landscapes he photographs."

Corey Davis

Landscapes, Materialized by Corey Davis is also at Newspace this month. The exhibition features "beautifully abstract, minimalistic images of coffee grounds in the bottom of Japanese teacups... The landscape-like images invoke calming, meditative spaces."

Opening receptions • 7-10pm • January 8
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th • 503.963.1935

Liz Obert, installation view of Mapping Marnay-sur-Seine

The Alpern Gallery presents Liz Obert's Mapping Marnay-sur-Seine. From the artist: "The piece relates a sense of place to the viewer by looking solely at the details or micro-images of this village... We learn about our world by taking it apart whether it’s by dissecting an animal, collecting archeological artifacts or analyzing a poem."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 8
Alpern Gallery • 2552 NW Vaughn • 503.477.7721

Christopher Rauschenberg, "Paris Flea Market"

Elizabeth Leach presents Paris Flea Market, a collection of photographs by Christopher Rauschenberg of the Marché aux Puces at Saint Ouen, just outside of Paris. "Well-known for his panoramic, assembled images, Rauschenberg's latest body of work is composed of single images, which capture and crystallize specific moments of wit and beauty... the jumbled stalls and crowded viewing rooms [of Paris Flea Market] reflect the beauty and accidental narratives of surprising, unintentional juxtapositions of objects."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 7
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521

(More: Olaf Otto Becker & Celine Clanet at Blue Sky, Megan Murphy at PDX Contemporary, a group drawing show at Blackfish, PORT staff show at Gallery 114, Play for Keeps at Tribute, ROM'N Times at Autzen, and Alex Hubbard for PSU's video space.)

Visitor Information Center in Portland, OR 1948, designed by John Yeon, image courtesy of the Oregon History Cooperative

The University of Oregon's Winter Architecture Lecture series continues with The Far East in the Architecture of the Pacific Northwest: John Yeon and the Landscape Arts of China and Japan by UO Professor of Architecture Kevin Nute. "The Northwest modernist John Yeon (1910-1994) is perhaps best known as a designer of houses that seem made for their particular natural surroundings. This lecture will examine parallels between techniques used to integrate buildings and landscapes in Yeon's work and the traditional Chinese and Japanese pictorial art he collected for most of his career..."

Architecture lecture • 12pm • January 6
UO White Stag Building • 70 NW Couch • Event Room

Ben Buswell, "black eye" (detail)

For the next installment in their First Wednesday lecture series, Clark College presents local artist Ben Buswell.

Artist lecture • 7pm • January 6
Clark College • 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • Penguin Union Building (PUB) 161

From "The Shape of Time"

As part of the inauguration of their sprawling new space, the Oregon Jewish Museum presents The Shape of Time: accumulations of place and memory. Invited artists chose a sampling of images from the museum's extensive archives of historical photographs and will present photographic responses to the images, creating a historical juxtaposition of past and present. The exhibition hopes to "go beyond historical comparisons of familiar locations or architecture... initiating a dialogue about the specifics of Jewish history in Oregon as it is tied to spatial location and public memory... [and exploring] how a photographic response to archival images might augment, shape or replace an eroded group memory." The Shape of Time is guest-curated by Tim DuRoche, featuring work by Bobby Abrahamson, Jeff Amram, William Galen, Stu Levy and Carol Isaak, David Lanthan Reamer, and Sika Stanton.

Exhibition • December 20, 2009 - April 30, 2010
Oregon Jewish Museum • 1953 NW Kearney • 503.226.3600

Editorial note: Jewish history has also played an important role in Portland's artistic heritage - see Mark Rothko.

This month, Deep Leap Microcinema presents Sacred Geometries, an evening of "thematically curated video art, experimental film and new media works... Expect mesmerizing shapes, critical engagement with the seductive ideas of Sacred Geometry and slow burn brain melts."

Cinematic evening • 7:30pm • December 15
Deep Leap Microcinema at the Waypost • 3120 N Williams • jesse.malmed@gmail.com

Matt Keegan, "Handmade Shoes"

Fourteen30 presents an exhibition of recent print editions of New York-based Forth Estate. "Founded in 2005 by Luther Davis and Glen Baldridge, Forth Estate produces editioned works by emerging artists using both traditional and technologically innovative approaches to printmaking." Featured artists include Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Will Yackulic, Eddie Martinez, Glen Baldridge, Joseph Hart, Phil Sanders, Ruby Sky Stiler and more. Note: There's an associated artist lecture at OCAC today.

Artist lecture • 12pm • December 9
Oregon College of Art & Craft • 8245 SW Barnes Rd • 503.297.5544
Opening reception • 6-9pm • December 11
Fourteen 30 Contemporary • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.236.1430

Albert Bierdstat, "Mount Hood"

This week, PORTstar Arcy Douglass is speaking at PAM for their ongoing artist lecture series- read Arcy's excellent essay on art and nature here, or check out his full PORT catalog here. Arcy will lead a walking discussion about the painting above, Albert Bierdstat's Mount Hood. Meet at 6pm in the Hoffman Lobby, then return there after the talk for happy hour until 8pm.

Artist lecture • 6-8pm • December 10
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Weird Fiction, "The GIF Economy," installation view

Local arts collection Weird Fiction presents The GIF Economy, both "an instantiation of the "gift economy" and a call to action within the economy of expression roused by the humble parameters of the Graphic Interchange Format," at Tractor. "As 2009 expires, Weird Fiction exhumes a curious collection of GIF animation, curating items conjured up from a year's worth of trolling in the deep dark dungeons of the internets. Denizens of the World Wide Web are encouraged to contribute GIF animations to this exhibit over the next three weeks. In-coming GIF animations will be classified taxonomically and will continue to accumulate on networked monitors displayed in the gallery space. GIFS can be sent to: weirdfictiongifs@gmail.com." The exhibition will continue through December 18th.

Closing reception • 6-9pm • December 18
Tractor Gallery • 328 NW Broadway #114 • charles@tractorpdx.com

Halprin's Ira Keller Fountain, November 2009 (Photo Jeff Jahn)

Tomorrow writers Randy Gragg, Janice Ross, John Beardsley and one of my favorite architectural photographers Susan Seubert are releasing their long overdue book, Where the Revolution Began Lawrence and Anna Halprin and the Reinvention of Public Space. It is a celebration of Portland’s world-renowned plazas—Keller Fountain, Pettygrove Park, Lovejoy Fountain, and the Source Fountain—and the life and work of their designer, the late Lawrence Halprin. There will be a lecture/performance by Ron Blessinger, violinist at Third Angle Ensemble, and dancers Linda K. Johnson, Tere Mathern, Cydney Wilkes, and Linda Austin as well as the video premiere of the September 2008 performance The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin.

December 5 at 2 p.m.
Ziba World Headquarters Auditorium | 1044 NW Ninth Ave
Admission: Free | Please RSVP at rvsp@portlandmonthlymag.com

Raphael, "La Velata (Woman With a Veil)," (1514-1515)

PSU art history prof Jesse Locker is lecturing this Sunday at PAM on La Velata in the context of "the rich tradition of female portraiture in the Renaissance."

Art historian lecture • 2-3pm • December 6
Portland Art Museum • 1219 Sw Park • 503.226.2811

Evertt Beidler, still from "The Business of Staying the Same is Always Changing," 2009

Worksound presents In Vicinity, a place-based show curated by Amy Harwood, Josh Pavlacky plus PORTstars Jeff Jahn and Ryan Pierce. The exhibition explores how an artist's immediate environment informs and contextualizes the work, framing the environment as the Portland area from Mt. Hood to the coast. Participating artists include Nicole Mark, The Enemies of the Proposed Palomar Pipeline, Tia Factor, Evertt Beidler, Sandy Roumagoux, and a collaborative installation by Julia Calabrese, Jill Campoli, Zack Davis, Josh Pavalacky, and Claire Staples.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • December 4
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

(More: Ann Ploeger at Pushdot, Molly Roth at Gallery Homeland, Action Art at Rocksbox, and Flight64 at False Front.)

Sandow Birk

Happening this afternoon: Artist Sandow Birk is speaking at PNCA in conjunction with his ongoing exhibitions in the Feldman Gallery, Depravities of War and American Qur'an. "With an emphasis on social issues, frequent themes of Birk's work include inner city violence, graffiti, political issues, travel, war, and prisons, as well as surfing and skateboarding."

Artist lecture • 1-2pm • December 2
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

David Rosenak

Meet local artists: The historic Troy Laundry building is having an artist studio open house this weekend. Participating artists include: Andrea Benson, Donald E. Brown, Bob Conklin, Sarah Cruse, Dave Tinman Edgar, Deborah Einbender, Leah Faure, Maryann Fielder, Julia Gardner, Chris Haberman, Rosco Hall ll, Cathy Harrington, Martha Hull, Scott Johnson, Patrick Kelly, Joanne Kollman, Jennifer Lanphier, Lisa Laser, Pippa Miller, David Rosenak, Adam Sheppard, Caryn Siegfried, and Lily Witham.

Open studios day 1 • 5-9pm • December 4
Open studios day 2 • 11am-6pm • December 5
Troy Laundry Building • 221 SE 11th • 503.913.8374

Richard Serra etchings at Elizabeth Leach Gallery

Elizabeth Leach presents Richard Serra's Etchings 1999-2007. The exhibition explores Serra's lesser-known printmaking practice, featuring the 2007 Paths and Edges series. The works in the series "feature thick arcing lines, which stretch beyond the boundaries of the sheet, creating a palpable sense of continued movement and weight. Even on paper, these monolithic, looming forms have a physical, three-dimensional presence, which captures the same sense of spatial domination created by Serra's internationally renowned and monumentally scaled sculptures." UPDATE: It has come to our attention that Elizabeth Leach will not be having a First Thursday in reception. However, this is still a top pick show for the month.

Exhibition • December 3, 2009 - January 2, 2010
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521

(More: China at Ziba, Mel George at Bullseye, Reiner Reidler at Blue Sky, Kristen Miller at PDX, Charles Siegfried at Blackfish, Work|Progress by the Dill Pickle Club, OPS at Autzen, and the New Video Gallery.)

Tim Mahan, from "Side Tangled"

H/D +Projects (the installation series at Half/Dozen Gallery in the Lofts) presents Side Tangled, an installation by Tim Mahan. The piece "creates a twisted boundary with a seemingly endless amount of yellow utility rope... challenging the idea of conventional boundaries. What good is a dividing line if it doesn't really keep you on one side or the other? ... This tangled border is permeable and is meant to be crossed. In fact, it beckons you to cross its coils and discover the view from the other side."

One-night-only installation • 7-10pm • November 30
Half/Dozen • 625 NW Everett #111 • projects@halfdozengallery.com

Also happening tonight: Contour, a one-night video show curated by Modou Dieng featuring work by Rose Bond, Hannah Piper, Sean Joseph Patrick Carney, David Eckard, E*Rock, Jaclynn Fronczak & Randi Razalenti, Damien Gilley, Linda Kliewer, Mack McFarland, and PORTstar Jeff Jahn.

Video(s) screening • 7-10pm • November 30
Someday Lounge • 125 NW 5th • 503.248.030

Chas Bowie

Local artist and arts writer Chas Bowie is lecturing this week for Clark College's Art Talk series. He specializes in photography and currently teaches at PNCA.

Art lecture • 7pm • December 2
Clark College • 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • PUB 161, Fireside Lounge

Susanna Helke, still from "Sin" (1996)

Cinema Project, Pacific University, and the NW Film Center co-present The Cinematic Practice of Replayed Reality: Work by Susanna Helke. "As part of Cinema Project's ongoing Beyond Borders series, Finnish documentary filmmaker, university lecturer, and film theorist Susanna Helke comes to Portland for one night only to present and discuss a sampling of her film and video work. In both 35mm and digital video, her films, co-directed with Virpi Suutari, question the practices of non-fiction filmmaking. Playing with the borders of documentary and fiction, the pair work in the Flahertian tradition of documentaire joué, or as Helke describes it, 'the cinematic practice of replayed reality.'" Four works will be screened: "Sin" (1996), "Spring" (2006), "War" (2006), and "White Sky" (1998).

Film(s) screening • 7:30pm • December 1
NW Film Center @ PAM • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium

Brian Gillis

PCC Cascade Gallery presents ...on Wednesday, an installation by Brian Gillis. Using juxtaposed images, objects, and spaces, Gillis' work is "socially relevant, audience activated, and engaged... summoning stories that elicit rich metaphors and social exchanges in an effort to arouse awareness, introspection, and valuation." There will be an artist talk on opening day and a closing reception for the exhibition, which runs November 23, 2009 - January 7, 2010.

Artist lecture • 2-3pm • November 23, 2009
Closing reception • 5-8pm • January 7, 2010
PCC Cascade Gallery • 705 N Killingsworth • CA TH 102

Crystal Schenk & Shelby Davis

MP5 presents West Coast Turnaround, a sculptural installation by artists-in-residence Crystal Schenk and Shelby Davis. This short term installation (November 22-29) features a life-sized tractor-trailer semi, made out of 2x4s and drywall, parked in a 4th floor artist loft. "The two artists see the semi-truck as a childhood icon/phallic symbol/wild beast of the roads. It simultaneously represents freedom and movement, in conjunction with dominance and waste, while the domestic materials used for house construction suggest a form of stasis."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • November 21
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st • Unit 406 of the Lofts Building

Left: Lauren Kalman from Elusive Matter, Right: Andy Paiko & Ethan Rose from Transference

Two new exhibitions open today at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Andy Paiko and Ethan Rose have installed Transference in the downstairs gallery. The pair collaborated to create a kinetic-sound installation reinterpreting the glass armonica that explores the material and aural properties of glass. Upstairs, Jane Aaron, Mark Hursty, and Lauren Kalman offer a new take on craft in Elusive Matter. The works in the exhibition use film and photography to explore craft-based media, challenging common expectations that craft results in a physical object.

Note: Today also marks the introduction of a $3 admission fee to MoCC. Members still get in free.

Exhibition(s) • November 19 - January 9th/16th, 2010
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Nina Katchadourian, "Parasite" (sited installation)

Also happening at MoCC tonight: Nina Katchadourian is lecturing tonight for PNCA's MFA in Visual Studies visiting artist series. Katchadourian works in a wide variety of media including photography, sculpture, video and sound.

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • November 19
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

This month's installment of the Art & Conversation series at PAM features local author and museum docent Ginny Allen leading a discussion on Works Progress Administration (WPA) sponsored art in the collection and other federal art projects around Portland. Meet in the Fields Ballroom in the Mark Building.

Art chat • 9:15-11am • November 19
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Wendy Kveck, "Sweet Devouration"

PCC Sylvania presents Sweet Devouration, new paintings and a sculpture by Wendy Kveck. The artist writes: "In recent work, food has evolved into content and material, a layered symbol that simultaneously informs abstractions and directs or embellishes my figurative narratives. These examine representations of women as cultural signifiers of excess, desire, anxiety and fear - Woman as Consumer and the Consumed..."

Artist lecture • 12:30 - 1:30pm • November 17
Opening reception to follow the artist talk
North View Gallery @ PCC Sylvania • 12000 SW 49th Ave • CT 214 Building

Portland Art Museum, Mark Building

PAM's annual book sale is happening this weekend: "Discover great book bargains at the [2-day] Crumpacker Family Library's annual sale, featuring thousands of donated new and used art books at a fraction of the full retail price."

Book Sale • 9am-3pm • November 14 & 15
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • Miller Gallery in the Mark Building

Sarah Meadows

Sarah Meadows' Time Ends Now opens tomorrow at Nationale. In her first exhibition of landscape photography, Meadows "elaborates on her fascination with nature and the elastic properties of film images, dispensing entirely with narrative and human gesture and presenting instead a concentrated study of wilderness encountered."

Opening reception • 6-8pm • November 13
Nationale • 2730 E Burnside • nationale.portland@gmail.com

Lynda Frese

False Front presents Tara in the Living Room, 11 works from 1994-2006 by Louisiana-based artist Lynda Frese. Frese draws from several past series for this collection of painting, photography, assembled digital imagery, and mixed media that "confronts the themes of time and isolation, deities and faith with an eye on proﬁciency." Note: Frese's cover art can be seen on this year's Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Herta Muller's English translations of the novels Land of Green Plums and Traveling on one Leg.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • November 14
False Front Studio • 4518 NE 32nd • 503.781.4609

detail of Antione Catala's Psychedelic Soul at the Cooley Gallery

In conjunction with The Language of the Nude at Reed's Cooley Gallery, as well as their related Psychedelic Soul exhibition at TBA:09, Cooley Gallery curator Stephanie Snyder and PICA Visual Art Program Director Kristan Kennedy are speaking this week about the contemporary projects by Brody Condon and Antoine Catala. (Note: The Calling All Souls lecture was moved to this week due to scheduling conflicts.)

Curator lecture • 6:30pm • November 13
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Hauser Memorial Library

Xu Bing, "Ghosts Pounding the Wall"

In the first of two CDN lectures this week, renowned Chinese artist Xu Bing will speak tomorrow on 30 Years of Contemporary Chinese Art. "Ranging from monumental installations to handcrafted books, Xu's artistic practice is a playful and political exploration of the written word, usually in the form of the Chinese character. His work questions our ability to communicate meaning through language, as well as the value of language itself."

Artist lecture • 5:30pm • November 11
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811 • Fields Ballroom

(More: A conversation with Shen Wei at PAM, and a discussion with three Portland artmakers via the New Oregon Interview Series.)

A design for the new transit, pedestrian and cycling bridge, a first in the US

For those who are transit and design oriented the latest public feedback meeting for the exciting new Willamette River Transit and Pedestrian Bridge with the architect Donald MacDonald will be on Tuesday November 10th at 3:00 PM.

I like these latest design images, though the gray shaded divider seen here has not been approved yet. I like the tower designs and triangular belvederes, they have an updated yet timeless Frank Lloyd Wright feel... (more)

Laurel Nakadate, "Exorcism in January"

PICA, PSU, Reed, et al present Laurel Nakadate for next week's PMMNLS. Nakadate is a photographer, video artist and filmmaker. Her work has been exhibited at P.S.1/MoMA, The Yerba Buena, The Getty Museum, and The Reina Sofia. In 2009, her first feature film, Stay The Same Never Change premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to be featured in New Directors/ New Films at The Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center. She is currently finishing her second feature film, The Wolf Knife. She is represented by Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects in New York City.

Artist lecture • 7:30-9pm • November 9
PSU Shattuck Hall Annex • 1914 SW Park • Corner of Broadway & SW Hall

Steven Beatty and Laurel Kurtz

Clark College's Archer Gallery presents Flotsam & Jetsam and Jetties & Gyres by Steven Beatty and Laurel Kurtz. "Referencing earthworks from the 70's as well as the mass quantities of plastics trapped in the North Pacific Gyre, the artists create a space filled with bottle caps accessible only by a single point of entry to the viewers. Bright colored caps and lids are used to market products meant to be disposable, but made to last well beyond the life of the product. These vibrant colors now take on a new message, marking the accumulation of litter in the United States."

Opening reception • 4-6pm • November 10
Archer Gallery • 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA

Marc Peter Keane, "SHINSO: Where Forest Meets Field"

The Japanese Garden presents the Bontei Tray Gardens of Marc Peter Keane for the winter installation of its Art in the Garden Series. The exhibition features "handcrafted wood and stone tray gardens by one of the world's leading experts on Japanese gardens. The word bontei is an old term, not found in most modern dictionaries, but it suits Keane's new creations perfectly, as they begin within that tradition but broaden the scope to include new materials and philosophies the way modern gardens do."

Note: November 11 is free admission day at the garden.

Opening reception • 4:30pm • November 7
Portland Japanese Garden • 611 SW Kingston • Garden Pavilion

Jim Lommasson, from "Oaks Park Pentimento"

In 1982, photographer Jim Lommasson documented the "strange and beautiful" paintings that decorated the center column of the historic carousel at Oaks Amusement Park. The original carousel images were painted by German and Italian immigrants around 1912 and contained an exotic assortment of Edwardian pastoral scenes. When these paintings began to show signs of wear in the 1940s, two brothers from Vashon Island, Washington were hired to paint over the eighteen panels with depictions of local landmarks. Eventually, the surfaces of these new paintings also began to flake and fade, revealing parts of the original images in unusual and unexpected ways that inspired Lommasson's documentation. In 1985 these images were once again painted over, making the images in Oaks Park Pentimento a nostalgic historical record of "one of Portland's most unique and important treasures." The exhibition also marks the release of the Oaks Park Pentimento book.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • November 6
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

(A whole lot more, spanning Fri thru Sun: Gallery Homeland, Nemo Design, Fourteen30, Worksound, Ditch Projects, PSU's Autzen Gallery, Marylhurst Art Gym.)

Architect Charles Rose, OCAC Drawing, Painting, and Photography Building (unfinished), photo by Jeff Jahn

Boston-based architect Charles Rose is leading next week's installment of the Portland Space Bright Lights Discussion Series. Rose recently designed OCAC's new Drawing, Painting, and Photography Building in collaboration with COLAB Architecture and Urban Design.

Architect lecture • 6pm • November 9
Bright Lights @ Jimmy Mak's • 221 NW 10th

(More, happening this week: Carson Ellis for PAM's artist talk series and Freeman Lau in conjunction with China Design Now.)

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

(More: Elizabeth Leach, PDX Contemporary, Half/Dozen, IGLOO, Blackfish, and Fontanelle.)

Attributed to Danele da Volterra, after Michelangelo's "Last Judgment", 16th century

Crocker Art Museum Curator William Braezeale will lecture tomorrow evening on Four Centuries of the Human Body: Old Master Drawings From the Crocker Art Museum, which is currently on view at Reed's Cooley Gallery. Gallery viewing hours will be extended for pre-lecture viewing.

Curatorial lecture • 6:30pm • November 3
Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd • Psychology Auditorium Room 105

(More: Stephen Connolly films via Cinema Project, PORTstar Jeff Jahn on Open Air radio.)

Ryan Pierce, "Comet"

PORTstar Ryan Pierce is speaking tomorrow in conjunction with his show Written From Exile at Elizabeth Leach.

Artist lecture • 11am • October 31
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521

(More: Vicki Halper for Craft Perspectives, Chris Knight at Clark College, The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Editorial Collective at PSU.)

The fourth lecture in UO's School of Architecture and Allied Arts ongoing Machine in the Garden series is happening tomorrow. George Gessert will present Ornamental Plant Breeding for the 21st Century. Gessert is a writer and author on art and genetics whose book, Green Light: Toward an Art of Evolution is coming soon from MIT Press. In his lecture, Gessert will discuss "past and current uses of biotechnology to create new kinds of ornamental plants... Engineered ornamentals such as the red iris raise many questions, but he will focus on just one: what aesthetic criteria or assumptions are shaping the new plants?"

Artist lecture • 12-1pm • October 30
University of Oregon White Stag Building • 70 Couch St. • Event Room

Also happening at UO White Stag this weekend: The start of the 2009 Fall PUARL symposium touching on "the theories of Patterns and Pattern Languages." PUARL is the "Portland Urban Architecture Research Laboratory." The symposium will be kicked off by a public presentation & panel by Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, Max Jacobson, and Ingrid King, authors of A Pattern Language. (Note: the presentation will be preceded by welcomes and introductions at 5pm and followed by a reception at 8:20pm.) Visit the PUARL website for more info on the symposium.

Lecture & Panel • 7pm • October 30
University of Oregon White Stag Building • 70 Couch St. • Event Room

Appendix presents Benjamin Young's installation Material Affair. "In collaboration with collected materials, Young sculpturally explores the tension, process, and ecology of synthesized form."

Opening reception • 6-11pm • October 29
Appendix Project Space • South alley b/w 26th and 27th on NE Alberta St. • appendixspace@gmail.com

Jason Doizé

False Front presents Jason Doizé's Hikikomori. Inspired by a found online confession, Doizé began to explore the Japanese concept of Hikikomori, or acute social withdrawal. Doizé's artistic take on the phenomenon asks the question: "To what degree do we open our 'little home boxes' we inhabit and allow others in? Maybe the idea of shutting-in isn't foreign at all. Maybe in the end we're all hikikomori."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • October 29
False Front Studio • 4518 NE 32nd • jasondoize@mac.com

Architecture by Yung Ho Chang

Architect Yung Ho Chang is lecturing this week at PAM in conjunction with the ongoing China Design Now exhibition. In China Architecture Now Chang will discuss "how the rapid changes in contemporary China's economy, mobility and consumerism are profoundly affecting architectural practice in the country." Chang is founding head of the Graduate Center of Architecture at Peking University and co-founder, with his wife Lijia Lu, of Atelier Feichange Jianzhu. He is also currently the head of the MIT Department of Architecture.

Architecture lecture • 7pm • October 29
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Update: Backroompdx is hosting a dinner conversation with Yung Ho Chang this Friday. Tickets ($65/e) are still available. More info on their website.

Raphael, "La Donna Velata or La Velata (The Woman with the Veil)," c.1516

PAM presents Raphael's Woman With a Veil, on view October 24 - January 3, 2010. On loan from the Medici collection, the museum will be showing "one of the most important paintings of the Renaissance" alone for your curiosity and contemplation.

Exhibition • October 24, 2009 - January 3, 2010
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, "The sleep of reason produces monsters," c.1798

Reed College is bringing David Rosand to speak on Things Never Seen: Graphic Fantasy and the Dreaming Draftsman. The lecture, happening in conjunction with the Cooley Gallery's ongoing The Language of the Nude: Four Centuries of Drawing the Human Body exhibition, will "address a basic tenet in the long tradition of Western aesthetics: the distinction between fantasia and mimesis." Rosand is a professor of art history at Columbia who specializes in Renaissance visual culture.

Art history lecture • 7pm • October 26
Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Vollum lecture hall

MP5 presents Blue. Curator TJ Norris invited Matthew Haggett, Todd Johnson, and Victor Maldonado to interpret the open theme of "blue" in the lofts. Highlights include Spherelab: Blue, a site-specific installation using adhesive-backed-vinyl applied directly to walls and other surfaces by Haggett, Blue Velvet, a group show interpreting the classic Lynch film organized by Johnson, and a curatorial experiment by Maldonado featuring a collection of "funny, dirty or politically incorrect jokes." The show runs October 24 - December 27, 2009.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • October 24
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st • 503.998.4878

This Sunday, Disjecta hosts Play, "an evening of interactive installations, performance and single channel screenings." Dustin Zemel and Ben Popp collaborated on an interactive video "environment" headlined by visiting experimental filmmaker Kenny Reed. "Installation, screenings and audio segments offer an intimate showcase and variety of media works exploring image and sound while creating an atmosphere of dialogue, wonder and PLAY."

One night interactive installation • 7pm-midnight • October 25
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Processions

The coordinators of Alberta' Appendix Project Space present Processions: an Elaborative Cartography at PSU's Recess Gallery (dept. of architecture). The work is a collaborative installation by Maggie Casey, Zachary Davis, Joshua Pavlacky and Benjamin Young: "Navigating the topology of the individual, the group, and emergent form, the exhibition is an exploration of process and its structure. Processions is an ecology of making. Composed of a series of hung arcs, each informed by its companion, the resulting structure exists as a material pause in an evolution of possible choices." The artists recommend that viewers show up to the reception promptly, "as the piece is best experienced over the transition from daylight to dusk."

Artist talk • 4pm • Shattuck Hall Annex • October 23
Opening reception • 5pm • Shattuck Hall Terrace • October 23
Recess Gallery • Shattuck Hall • 1914 SW Park

Zahid Sardar

Zahid Sardar, author and designer of New Garden Design and San Francisco Modern, is lecturing this week for PNCA & OCAC's MFA in Applied Craft & Design program. Sardar has written and lectured for many years on architecture, interiors, garden design, craft, and design.

Scholar lecture • 6:30-7:30pm • October 22
Craft & Design Studios • The Bison Building • 421 NE 10th

Ellen Dissanayake at UW's Burke Museum

Ellen Dissanayake will be giving next week's MFA in Applied Craft & Design lecture. Dissanayake is "an independent scholar, author, and lecturer... whose Darwinian viewpoint provides a broader understanding of the arts than is customary in most theoretical approaches: the arts are integral to human nature and they evolved to help individuals adapt to their physical and social environments."

Scholar lecture • 6:30-7:30pm • October 29
Craft & Design Studios • The Bison Building • 421 NE 10th

MFA in Applied Craft & Design students hard at work, from their blog

If you're curious about PNCA & OCAC's new MFA in Applied Craft and Design, here's your chance to get to know the students and their ideas. In conjunction with the ongoing Call + Response exhibition, the Museum of Contemporary Craft, PNCA, and OCAC present a Pecha Kucha-inspired night. Pecha Kucha is "a concept that grew out of the Tokyo design community, featuring a series of concise presentations." MFA in Applied Craft and Design students will present ideas and images in a modified format of roughly 3.5 minutes each.

Student presentations • 5:30pm • October 21
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Unrelated: Art on Alberta, the organization that coordinates community artistic endeavors in NE Portland, is seeking volunteers. In addition to an open board position, they need an Alberta street historian, an Art on Alberta historian, volunteer writers to contribute to their blog and newsletter, a media assistant, and a gallery assistant. Learn more about these volunteer positions here.

Tom Cramer's opening

Tom Cramer is lecturing this weekend at Laura Russo in conjunction with his ongoing exhibition of new work.

Artist lecture • 11am • October 17
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st • 503.226.2754

Professor and Composer Ye Xiaogang

In China Design Now-related news: PAM is hosting China Music Now, a panel discussion exploring the state of musicians in China. Eric Priest, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon specializing in Chinese intellectual property law, will join Ye Xiaogang, widely regarded as one of the leading composers in China today, to discuss the following questions: "How do musicians in China make a living? Who is their audience? And how is the business of music changing in China?"

Panel • 4pm • October 18
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

October's STOCK dinner is happening this weekend. The concept: "Stock is a monthly public dinner event and presentation series, which funds small to medium-sized artist projects. Organized by artists Katy Asher, Amber Bell and Ariana Jacob and hosted by Gallery Homeland in Portland, Oregon, diners pay a modest $10 for a dinner of homemade soup and other local delicacies and the chance to take part in deciding which artist proposal will receive the evening's proceeds. In other words, the dinner's profits immediately become an artists grant, which is awarded according to the choice of the diners. Winning artists will present their completed work at the following Stock dinner." RSVP required! Contact portlandstock@gmail.com.

Art dinner • 6-8pm • October 18
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th • portlandstock@gmail.com

Portland Mural Defense is facilitating Art Spark this month. They'll explore the importance and history of murals in Portland, and muralist Robin Dunitz will be present.

Art chat • 5-7pm • October 15
Art Spark @ Zaytoons • 2236 NE Alberta

Gretchen Hogue

Ongoing at Ditch Projects: Gretchen Hogue's ESCAPE ROUTES/disposable comfort. "Unearthing new meaning in images pilfered from the detritus bins of the electronic age, ESCAPE ROUTES/disposable comfort constructs psychic landscapes for internal weather patterns. The models from an industrial safety catalog populate a distracted world of imperfect isolation and impenetrable protection. Endless loops trace the pulse of elusive escape routes, plotted and re-plotted, the internal blueprints for self-preservation."

Exhibition • October 10-31, 2009
Ditch Projects • 305 S 5th Ave #190 Springfield, OR • info@ditchprojects.com

Deep Leap Microcinema presents Sign Languages tonight. The films in tonight's screening explore "notions of language, semiotics, translation and communication," featuring work by Stephanie Barber, Les Leveque, Oliver Laric, Ben Russell, Catarina Simoes, James Whipple, Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa, Frank Zadlo, Aleksandra Domanovic, Nathaniel Stern, Diane Borsato, Erik Bünger, and more.

Film screening • 9pm • October 12
@ Valentine's • 232 SW Ankeny

The Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society

Tomorrow Cinema Project is screening The Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society: Dream Films 1926-1972. Artist and curator Zoe Beloff will present a selection of works from the Freud-inspired Society. "Ranging from the touching to the ecstatic, these amateur films explore the inner lives of Society members and are a true combination of science and spectacle."

Film screening • 7:30pm • October 13 • $6
Cinema Project • 11 NW 13th Ave • 4th Floor

China Design Now exhibition entrance (photo Jeff Jahn)

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably heard that PAM is about to launch China Design Now, a traveling exhibition (from London's Victoria & Albert Museum) on contemporary Chinese design. The show "explores the recent explosion of critically compelling design and architecture projects created in China, contextualizing the impact of rapid economic development on these projects in the country's major cities." In conjunction with the exhibition, many spaces around Portland are hosting Chinese-related exhibitions and events - check out the CDN blog to learn more.

The show's opening weekend is being kicked off with two related lectures at the museum. On Saturday, John Jay, global executive creative director of Wieden + Kennedy and founder of their Shanghai office, will present China Youth Now, an exploration of "the latest media, technology, and fashion created to appeal to Chinese youth today." On Sunday, Beth McKillop, director of collections and keeper of the Asian Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, will present Creativity in the Era of Globalization, in which she will discuss "the changing economic and cultural contexts that have fueled an explosion of creativity in Chinese graphic design, fashion, and architecture in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing."

Of course, keep an eye on this space for more news & reviews related to CDN.

Exhibition • October 10, 2009 - January 17, 2010
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Carl Diehl

Another gallery celebrating the PNCA centennial this month is Worksound with Memory/Frequency. They'll be featuring sculpture, sound, video, and photography by Carl Diehl, Tracey Cockrell, and Lennie Pitkin, all faculty at PNCA.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • October 9
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

Anna Weber

Nationale is featuring a new series of paintings and drawings by Anna Weber, whose work is "inspired by geometry, architecture, maps, textiles, sign painters, symmetry, balance, falling, and floating."

Opening reception • 6-8pm • October 9
Nationale • 2730 E Burnside • nationale.portland@gmail.com

UO Portland is opening a new gallery space at their downtown White Stag building. The "White Box's" inaugural exhibition will be Inspiration China (an informal tie-in to PAM's upcoming China Design Now): "For Inspiration China, the students created individual art pieces--in various forms of technology and media--that reference and re-interpret Chinese antiquities from selected pieces of the JSMA [Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, on the Eugene campus] collection. The new work is presented in a modern context to establish a dialogue between old and new, past and present."

Opening reception • 5-7pm • October 8
White Box • 24 NW 1st • White Stag Building

Dorothea Lange, c.1939

PSU's Littman Gallery is exhibiting Dorothea Lange in 1939, a collection of FSA photographs presented by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission. During the Great Depression, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) hired photographers like Lange to "portray the suffering of rural Americans in terms understandable to the urban middle class." Lange became known for her extraordinary work as an American documentarian, and this series has an obvious and important relevance to our delicate economic situation today. The show will run through November 25, 2009.

Reception • 5-7pm • October 8
PSU Littman Gallery • 1835 SW Broadway • Smith Building Rm 250

(More: Mack McFarland at PSU's White Gallery and Mary Warner at PCC's Cascade Gallery.)

Anne Wilson

Chicago-based artist Anne Wilson will be lecturing twice this week in Portland. Wilson is a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a renowned craft artist who coined the term "sloppy craft." First, she'll present Liminal Networks at Reed College: "Employing familiar, domestic materials, including table linen, bed sheets, human hair, thread, and lace, Wilson explores the larger themes of time, loss, private and social rituals." Wilson's second appearance will be a craft dialogue with Josh Faught, Nan Curtis, and Jessica Jackson Hutchins on the topic of "sloppy craft" at PNCA. The dialogue is anticipation of the exhibition on that theme at MoCC in 2010-2011, co-curated by Faught and MoCC curator Namita Gupta Wiggers. (Keep an eye on this space for an interview with Wilson.)

Artist lecture • 7pm • October 8
Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd • Vollum Lecture Hall

Craft conversation • 1-3pm • October 10
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • Swigert Commons

(Much, much more: Kartz Ucci at Clark College, MulvannyG2 at UO White Stag, Matthew Stinchcomb of Etsy at CYAN/PDX for PNCA, Jacqueline Ehlis at PAM, and Martin Kersels at MoCC for PNCA.)

Still from Janie Geiser's "Magnetic Sleep"

Cinema Project & Pacific University are screening Magnetic Sleep by Janie Geiser. The film is a nine-part serial about a woman hypnotist, Marceline, and her journey across an ever-changing landscape. This textual/cinematic project "channels" early experimental filmmakers such as Man Ray and Maya Deren.

Film screenings • 7:30pm • October 6 & 7 • $6
Cinema Project • 11 NW 13th Ave • 4th Floor

The Oregon Cultural Trust is celebrating Oregon Day of Culture... week(?!). From October 1-8 they're sponsoring music, theater, ethnic festivities, and some visual arts. Visit the official website to learn more about related events throughout the state.

Imogen Cunningham

Our neighbors up north are also exploring local artistic heritage. A Concise History of Northwest Art opens this weekend at the Tacoma Art Museum. The exhibition is drawn primarily from TAM's permanent collection and will include work from the mid-1800s to the present day from Washington, Oregon, western Montana, Idaho, British Columbia, and Alaska.

Exhibition • October 3, 2009 - May 23, 2010
Tacoma Art Museum • 1701 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, Washington

Kimi Kolba

Pushdot presents Linger by Kimi Kolba. Kolba's photography focuses on the contemporary night landscape, asking the viewer to allow themselves time to adjust to the images the way their eyes take time to adjust to the darkness of night. She explores "the new, the northwest urban and industrial, and the psychological" in the surrounding landscape.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • October 2
Pushdot Studio • 1021 SE Caruthers • 503.224.5925

(More.)

Kartz Ucci, "an opera for one"

TILT Export presents installation artists Kartz Ucci at the PCC Rock Creek Helzer Gallery. In an opera for one, Ucci hired soprano Deanna Pauletto to sing a capella Pablo Neruda's book of poetry, "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair." The piece was recorded in a 16-story, cement-encased stairwell and a color-coded score was composed based on Ucci's interpretation of the relation between color and its emotional vibration. The resulting installation is a "hauntingly romantic" response to this effort. This ongoing exhibition runs through October 30, 2009. The artist talk will be in the school's Forum, Building 3, followed by a reception in the gallery.

Artist talk • 3:30pm • October 2
Artist reception • 7-9pm • October 2
Helzer Gallery, PCC Rock Creek • 17705 NW Springville Rd • Building 3

Léonie Guyer

The fall 2009 season of PSU's MFA Monday Night Lecture Series (hereafter "PMMNLS") begins next week with Léonie Guyer. "Guyer makes drawings, paintings, and site responsive installations. Her work explores the interconnection between idiosyncratic shapes and the spaces they inhabit."

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • October 5
PSU • 1914 SW Park Ave • Shattuck Hall Rm 212 at Broadway & Hall

Ryan Pierce at Elizabeth Leach (photo Jahn)

PORTstar Ryan Pierce is exhibiting Written from Exile, his debut at Elizabeth Leach. The large-scale acrylic paintings "examine our world after the end of the industrial era, projected human migration patterns, and the remains of civilization. Pierce poses the questions: Who will be displaced by climate change and where will they go? How will they get there and how will they be accepted? What will happen to the things they've left behind?"

Opening reception • 6-9pm • October 1
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521

(More.)

Finished mural by Jo Jackson and Chris Johanson in North Portland's Albina Green Park

Sorry for the late notice but the new Chris Johanson and Jo Jackson mural in North Portland will be unveiled today from 12-8PM at Albina Green park. It is at the corner of N Albina and Sumner and there will be bands, drum circles, etc.

British artist Mary George presents Camouflage Party at Rocksbox: "So I think, what if... what if I went outside my little cave studio to find the world blown away like in an episode of the Twilight Zone? I'd have to survive on the contents of my studio and whatever else I could find lying around. ... I could satisfy cravings for the consumer past by inventing packaged experiences that maximize on the environment's meagre offerings. If there was a crate of Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil for instance (good odds that it would survive the big one), I might invent a method for enjoying its nostalgic odour of carefree beach related memories. It wouldn't be easy to transition from this time of being able to have all kinds of things that seem like necessities, so I have started working now, before it's too late." Opening night features a live performance by PISS featuring shredder Mary George at 9pm.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • September 26
Rocksbox Fine Art • 6540 N Interstate • 503.516.4777

Jenene Nagy, "Flooded"

The Archer Gallery presents the 2009 Clark College art faculty biennial. Featured artists include Bobby Abrahamson, Lisa Conway, Ray Cooper, Kowkie Durst, Kathrena Halsinger, Beth Heron, Carson Legree, Martha Lewis, Dara Muldoon, Jenene Nagy, Stephanie Robinson, Ben Rosenberg, Blake Shell, Senseney Stokes, Jak Tanenbaum, and Sally Van Gorder. The show will run September 29 through October 24, 2009.

Opening reception • 4-7pm • September 29
Archer Gallery at Clark College • 1933 Fort Vancouver Way • Penguin Union Building (PUB)

Donald Morgan

Donald Morgan's Black Moon Rising is currently showing at Ditch Projects: "Employing imagery based in the forest, such as tangled undergrowth, spider webs and the architecture of fire look-outs, the pieces in Dark Moon Rising take advantage of the interstices between the two and three dimensional. The inter-related sculptures and paintings function together as a hard-edged geometric landscape, creating an ersatz wilderness engendered by temporal and spatial shifts, the confluence of warmth and coldness, and interplay between the flat and the volumetric as well as the near and the far." The exhibition will be up through October 3, 2009.

Closing reception • 7-10pm • October 3
Ditch Projects • 303 S 5th AVE #190 Springfield, OR • info@ditchprojects.com

Gary Wiseman and Meredith Andrews present Inside, Outside, Upside Down, a one-night Last Thursday installation at Appendix. The artists write: "...The difference between fantasy and reality seems infra-thin. I like the idea of time and space folding. I want to go home. Nine dimensions seem so ambiguous and arbitrary. In fact (after earning her PhD at Oxford my X-friend the physicist told me) kindness is all that matters. Befuddled, I am honestly trying to tell you the truth but it is hopeless. I can't talk that fast."

Opening reception •6-11pm • September 24
Appendix Project Space • South alley between 26th and 27th off NE Alberta

The other Alberta alley gallery space, now named Little Field Gallery, presents FRAME by Jordan Tull. "FRAME examines the role of the audience as subject to the object. The installation is a model of space fragmented. FRAME explores how space and time connect vision to experience."

Opening reception • 5-10pm • September 24
Little Field Gallery • North alley between 28th and 29th off NE Alberta

Neighborhood Diaries is a compilation of Portlanders' neighborhood-specific memories, compiled and put to music by Abraham Ingle, who's also spearheading the Portland version of Papergirl. The project begins its exhibitions with the King/Vernon Diaries at Together Gallery this Last Thursday - bring your MP3 player to download the tour. Upcoming events include the Downtown Diaries at ON Gallery for October First Thursday, the Buckman Diaries for First Friday at Second Nature Gallery, and the Boise/Elliot Diaries at the Waypost on October 11. Visit the website for more details.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • September 24
Together Gallery • 2916 NE Alberta • 503.288.8879

Ward Shelley, "Stability," installation view

The first lecture for PNCA's MFA in Visual Studies will be given this week by Brooklyn artist Ward Shelley, who "specializes in large-scale projects that freely mix sculpture and performance."

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • September 24
The Lab at the Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis

David Eckard, still from "Prestidigitation: A Folly in Eleven Acts"

The third and final craft conversation from MoCC's ongoing Call + Response exhibition is also happening this week. PNCA professors David Eckard and Anne Marie Oliver will discuss the artist/art historian interactions they had in the months leading up to the exhibition. (Read Oliver's essay on Eckard's Prestidigitation here.)

Craft conversation • 1pm • September 26
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Still from "MY CHINA NOW"

In conjunction with the upcoming China Design Now exhibition (lots more on that later), the NW Film Center presents Lens on China, a film series that "explores the perspectives of Chinese and western filmmakers whose works reflect on the broad currents of contemporary change in Chinese society. As China's past and future collide, the works by these media artists provide unique insight into the social and aesthetic confusions, obstacles and opportunities being navigated in the interstices between history, daily reality, and the future's promises." A long series of varied and interesting Chinese films will be screened through the end of December, 2009. The series will be kicked off this week with Good Cats by director Ying Liang at 7pm on Thursday, September 24. Check the NW Film Center website for more details and the full schedule of screenings. Unless otherwise noted, films will be shown at PAM's Whitsell Auditorium.

Jonas Mekas

The Cinema Project is screening Jonas Mekas' Walden this week. In Walden, Mekas "documents his casual visits with other filmmakers, artists, and intellectuals across the changing seasons of 1960s New York... the film's heightened spontaneity of camera movement and sense of edgy immediacy helped define New American Cinema, while Mekas' use of a simple diaristic approach fills the film with poetic reflections and charming realism." Featured luminaries include Allen Ginsburg and Hare Krishna hippies, the Brakhage family, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Timothy Leary, and Edie Sedgwick. Of his films, Mekas writes "Of course, what I faced was the old problem of all artists: to merge Reality and Self, to come up with the third thing."

Film screening • 7:30pm • September 23 • $6
Cinema Project • 11 NW 13th • 4th floor

Jordan Stone

Deep Leap Microcinema, a new film curatorial project by Jesse Malmed, presents Palimpsests, a collection of local and international video films. Featured artists include Yoshi Sodeoka, Matt McCormick, Jesse Malmed, Antoine Catala, Jordan Stone, Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa, Joel Holmberg, Martijn Hendriks and Andrew Fillipone. There will also be specially commissioned musical performances by Jeffrey Brodsky and Banjo Performs Keyboard.

Film screening • 8pm • September 24 • $6
Deep Leap Microcinema @ the Artistery • 4315 SE Division

PAM presents Shine a Light: A Night at the Museum: "Stay up late and watch the galleries come alive with participatory art created for the evening by PSU's Art and Social Practice Program, led by artist Harrell Fletcher and Jen Delos Reyes." Events include live bands in the sculpture court, art "dowsing," printmaking demonstrations, art-inspired beer, games, video installations, and more.

Participatory museum event • 6pm-midnight • September 19
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

This month's Art Spark is hosted by Art on Alberta at Vendetta: "Fancy yourself a surrealist artist? Intrigued by all things Dada? Eager to explore the real roots of punk? Got an affinity for community and collaboration? Art on Alberta will engage Art Spark groupies in some Exquisite Corpse games with curious others..."

Art conversation group • 5-7pm • September 17
Art Spark @ Vendetta • 4306 N Williams

Brian Libby, still from "Creamery Birds"

Brian Libby presents The City Onscreen, a collection of short films featuring Portland architecture and design. In addition to four films by Libby, the screening includes work by Matt McCormick, Rob Tyler, Karl Lind, and Andrew Curtis, as well as a 1955 CBS News documentary about Portland preparing for nuclear war called "The Day Called X." The City Onscreen is part of Libby's ongoing "Designs on Portland" discussion series.

Film screening • 6:30pm • September 17
Design Within Reach • 1200 NW Everett

Pat Boas, "breathing," from "What Our Homes Can Tell Us"

The Marylhurst Art Gym presents Pat Boas - Record Record. The exhibition features four series that "comment in very quiet ways on the text and images in The New York Times," as well as a new series of digital works, What Our Homes Can Tell Us, that "captures language found in the artist's home and places of importance to her extended family." The show runs from September 13 - October 28, 2009, and includes two artist talks.

To learn more about Pat Boas, check out PORT's 2006 review of her Mutatis Mutandis show and PAM's video of Boas' recent artist talk at the museum.

Opening reception for Record Record • 3-5pm • September 13
First artist talk • 12pm • October 8
Second artist talk • 7:30-8pm • October 16
Marylhurst Art Gym • 17600 Pacific Highway Marylhurst, OR • 503.699.6243

Laura Corinne Hayes, "Illuminated Recollections" (installed)

Laura Corinne Hayes presents Illuminated Recollections at the Alpern Gallery.

Artist reception • 6-9pm • September 11
Alpern Gallery • 2522 NW Vaughn • 503.347.7689

Micah Malone

Micah Malone sells out this weekend at Worksound. In Sell Out, Malone asserts that "the desire to make a living from one's artistic practice can be as emotional, conceptual, poetic and honest as any other reason for making art." The exhibition revolves around a sculpture and its dissemination, including photographs made by capturing the sculpture's reflection and a series of text pieces made from light rope.

Opening reception • 9pm • September 11
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

Gregory Green, WCBS Radio Caroline: The Voice of the New Free State of Caroline, 89.3, 1995-2007

In their first collaboration with TBA, Lewis & Clark's Hoffman Gallery presents Broadcast, guest curated by Irene Hofmann, Executive Director of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore. The exhibition "explores the ways in which artists since the late 1960s have engaged, critiqued, and inserted themselves into official channels of broadcast television and radio." Thirteen works will be featured by an international group of artists, including single-channel monitor-based videos, video-projection works, photography, installations, and interactive broadcasting projects. The artists employ the strategies of broadcasting and re-broadcasting, following two major impulses: "an iconoclastic, aggressive position, at times intended to question FCC regulations, or a more cooperative and collaborative position." Broadcast certainly has a heavyweight lineup with; Dara Birnbaum, Chris Burden, Gregory Green, Doug Hall, Chip Lord and Jody Procter, Christian Jankowski, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, neuroTransmitter, Antonio Muntadas, Nam June Paik, TVTV/Top Value Television and Siebren Versteeg. The exhibition will run from September 8 to December 13, 2009.

Artist talk with Gregory Green • 4pm • September 8
Opening reception • 5-7pm • September 8
Hoffman Gallery • 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road • 503.768.7687

On 9/9/09 Modou Dieng is curating a one night show of 9 video artists titled Echo Gap at Valentines. Lineup includes; Arnold Kemp, Sari Carel, Posie Currin, Stephen Slappe, Kelley Rauer,Sean Carney, David Eckard, Hannah Piper Burns, and some talentless blond hack with a blog.

Echo Gap • 8:30pm • September 9 • one night only
Valentines • 232 S.W. Ankeny

Donal Mosher, from "October Country"

Disjecta presents Donal Mosher's October Country, "an investigation of the artist's life and family through photography, film, and narrative writing... considering the nature of human interaction, experience and the measures we take to find a place for ourselves within contemporary society."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • September 5
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Fourteen30 presents LA-based artist Bobbi Woods. She "culls from the glut of ready-made images crowding our collective consciousness, resulting in 2-D and video works that simultaneously bait and beguile."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • September 4
Fourteen 30 Contemporary • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.236.1430

(More.)

Bean Gilsdorf, "Assembly, line, image, system," installation view

Bean Gilsdorf's Assembly, line, image, system opens this week at Linfield. Using life-size prints from ten different automobiles, Gilsdorf constructs a large-scale installation from fabric, paint, dye, bleach, and thread that sweeps along the circumference and runs beyond the enclosure of the gallery's four walls, building a continuum of color and implied motion. The project explores the notion of using near-weightless materials to create monumental work. The show will be open from Wednesday, September 2 through October 10, and Gilsdorf is flying up for the artist reception on Saturday.

Artist reception • 2-5pm • September 5
Linfield Fine Art Gallery • Miller Fine Arts Center • 900 SE Baker St, McMinnville • Directions on their website.

MK Guth, From the set of Allegory of Possible Hopes and Fears, "I Will See You on the Other Side (bed)"

MK Guth presents Terrain Change, an installation of new work at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery. "Featuring chandelier clouds and umbrellas made of sweaters and hats, video and photography, loggers and mermaids, Terrain Change poses the question: Who do you become when your environment disappears? When your life is defined by your profession, who are you without it? Through the use of mythic characters, Guth examines the very contemporary issues of climate change, the changing global economy, and the American cult of the career."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • September 3
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521

(More.)

Jersey Devil, Red Cross House, Islamorado, Florida

OCAC & PNCA present the first lecture for their joint MFA in Applied Craft & Design program. Steve Badanes is a founding member of Jersey Devil, a design/build practice specializing in innovative and energy-efficient structures. Badanes, known for the both the practice and the teaching of design/build, is currently a professor at the University of Washington.

Design lecture • 6:30-7:30pm • September 2
Bison Building • 421 NE 10th

Antoine Catala, still from "TV"

Here's PORT's short list of TBA:09 picks. We're primarily a visual arts (not performing arts) publication, so consider this a by-no-means-complete list of visual arts highlights.

•Psychedelic Soul, a collaboration between Kristan Kennedy and Cooley Gallery curator Stephanie Snyder. In conjunction with Reed's upcoming exhibition, The Language of the Nude, PICA and the Cooley have organized "two unique projects that fold past and present into a vivid dream of the future." The project features a video installation by Antoine Catala and a live performance by Brody Condon, both of which relate to other pieces the artists have in the festival. Event times & details on the TBA schedule.

•National Park, an installation at THE WORKS by Fawn Krieger. "During her residency at PICA, Krieger will construct a stage set as national park. The structure takes its cues from Lewis & Clark, museum dioramas, Superstudio, and the U.S.'s post-war middle-class tourism pastime, the roadtrip."

•Forever Now and Then Again, an installation at THE WORKS by Jesse Hayward. Inviting direct audience manipulation, Hayward "builds and paints objects in his studio that are then reimagined through a collaborative installation practice, articulating a space wherein boundaries are blurred. The sculptural commingles with the painterly, the coactive with the drawn..."

•We Are Legion, a web based installation at THE WORKS by Stephen Slappe. Mining audience & participants' photo albums for evidence of "contemporary cultural indoctrination," Slappe's web project "creates a never-ending army of costumed youth."

•The Oregon Painting Society will give one of their signature performances on Friday, September 11 at THE WORKS. In collaboration with Dragging an Ox Through Water, The Slaves, Woolly Mammoth Comes to Dinner, and Kent Richardson, OPS will use home-crafted objects and sounds to "take you deeper into the mystery."

•Movements, a sound sculpture/installation by Ethan Rose at THE WORKS. Featuring over 100 carefully timed and placed music boxes, Movement's "tinkering creates a sensation of a shifting texture, housed in a visually stimulating acoustic environment."

•Block Ice & Propane, a multimedia performance by cellist Erik Friedlander. Based on recollections of childhood family car vacations, the piece evokes truck stops, long, lonely highways, and stark panoramas. The highly intimate work is accompanied by projection of photographs taken by his father, famed photographer Lee Friedlander.

Rose McCormick

The final installment in NAAU's Couture series opens this weekend. Rose McCormick's Grande Ronde is an "art environment." She writes: "The achievement of this work is in it's conception, the finished show a fossil of the experience of discovery. It may be that viewing it is not enough, it may be that you have to have made it as well. But what it strives to do is offer the blueprint for you to create your own experience." The opening reception features lemon bars and lavender iced tea.

Opening reception • 12-3pm • August 30
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

Appendix will be showing Finder Keeper, an installation by Zachary Davis "concerned with seekers and unexplored landscapes."

Opening reception • 6-11pm • August 27
Appendix Project Space • South alley b/w 26th & 27th on NE Alberta • appendixspace@gmail.com

The Appendix folks are also helping establish a similar new space down the street. The space will be featuring Daniel Wallace's newest project, the result of the artist in residence program at The Dude Ranch, which "considers our relationship to light, materiality, and the parameters of visual perception."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • August 27
New Alberta project space • North alley b/w 28th & 29th on NE Alberta

Karl Burkheimer

MoCC's Craft Conversations series continues this week. Part of the ongoing Call + Response exhibition, these conversations give artists and art historians a chance to dialogue publicly about their craft. The second conversation features Matt Johnston, assistant professor, department of art, Lewis & Clark, and Karl Burkheimer, associate professor and head of wood department, OCAC.

Art dialogue • 5:30pm • August 27
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Shusaku Arakawa, Untitled, from the portfolio No! Says the Signified, 1973

Word and Image/Word as Image opens this weekend at PAM. "Featuring works by artists from Albrecht Dürer to Ed Ruscha, this exhibition examines the relationship between word and image in prints over the course of more than 500 years, from the Renaissance to today."

Exhibition • August 22 - November 29, 2009
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

This Saturday in support of the Art of Touring, Fontanelle gallery is presenting readings and performances from four of the touring musicians and editors in the show/book: Sara Jaffe (Erase Errata), Rebecca Gates, Tara Jane Oneil, and Julianna Bright (The Golden Bears).

Readings and Performances • 6pm • August 22
Fontanelle • 205 SW Pine St, Portland OR 97204

Avalon Kalin

Avalon Kalin presents The Idiosyncratic Element is the Precursor to Change at PSU's Autzen Gallery. "For over a year, Kalin has been working with local cafe proprietor Jonathan Legare as the artist-in-residence of his southeast cafe and community resource center, LEGARE'S. The title of Kalin's exhibition is an aphorism authored by Legare himself. Acting as an experimental documentary installation, Kalin's show uses Legare's life and times as a starting point, and engages Legare's particular interests." The show runs August 18-28, 2009.

Opening reception • 6pm • August 22
Autzen Gallery • 724 SW Harrison Street • Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, rm 205

MP5's ambitious group exhibition, performance, and music series Manor of Art opens this weekend. Following in the tradition of Portland group experiences like the Modern Zoo, Manor of Art presents over 100 artists transforming the yet-to-be-renovated rooms of MP5's Studios building. The event lasts for 10 days, and also includes a series of music shows and experimental theater performances. More information and the full schedule is here.

Opening event • 6-9pm • August 14
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st Ave • 503.998.4878

Ryan Sarah Murphy

Also launching this weekend at MP5: TJ Norris' The Grid will open in the MP5³ exhibition space. The Grid features 27 international artists using small-scale works to explore the concept of the grid, "seen as a way to organize, divide and separate... both ideas and formalities." The show runs August 14 - October 17, 2009, and will have its opening reception next weekend.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • August 22
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st Ave • 503.998.4878

"Anti-sociologist" Patrick Rock is spending 6 days living in a bunker under Ditch Projects, using the time to "obsessively and painstakingly construct a physical manifesto of Oregonian identity designed to turn the viewer into salt at a single glance." The experiment will culminate in a "neo-pagan anti-potluck" this weekend, followed by a performance by PISS at 10.

Opening happening • 7-10pm • August 15
Ditch Projects • 303 S. 5th AVE Springfield, OR • info@ditchprojects.com

Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat

Disjecta presents the kick-off show of Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat's Time Machine tour. Using reading, slide projection, digital video, records, and real-time rendered audiovisual performance, they'll "set the dials and push the levers while guiding you through the fourth dimension!" Matt McCormick will open for Time Machine with his musical project "Very Stereo." $5.

Time performance • 8pm • August 15
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Edward Jeffrey Kriksciun

Nationale presents Edward Jeffrey Kriksciun's Brickthrough, a showcase of recent cut-outs that examine negatives & positives. Kriksciun "explores how this relates to our surrounding environment and affects our internal selves: what do we see/ what do we get out of it/ how can we make things better/ do we cut away the negative/ and if we do, are we left with just with the positive."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 14
Nationale • 2730 E Burnside • nationale.portland@gmail.com

Jeffry Mitchell, "Sphinx," 2008, selected to receive one of PAM's Contemporary Northwest Art Awards

PAM's monthly artist talk series will be led this week by Jeffry Mitchell. He'll lecture about a work from the collection that "delights, puzzles, or inspires him." Meet in the Hoffman lobby before the talk; join him and others in the lobby for happy hour after.

Artist talk • 6-8pm • August 13
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

From "Incompletely"

Gallery Homeland presents Incompletely, a group exhibition curated by Calvin Ross Carl. Calvin Ross Carl, Derek Franklin, Ashley Sloan, Josh Smith, Bailey Winters and Gary Wiseman "explore themes of incompleteness and insufficiency through formal, conceptual and emotional means."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 7
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th • info@galleryhomeland.org

(More.)

Michele Russo, "Untitled (blue and gray abstract)," 2002

The final installment in the NW Film Center's summer artist spotlight series is tomorrow. Three short films exploring local artists will be shown: Jon Stewart's A Painter's Vision: Michele Russo, Wendy Wells Jackson's Louis Bunce, Portland Painter, and Sarah Swanberg's Jack McLarty: Painting is My Language.

Film(s) screening • 7pm • August 6
NW Film Center • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium

Garry Winogrand, "Centennial Ball, Metropolitan Museum of New York, 1969" c.1975

Charles Hartman presents Faces: Vintage and Contemporary Photographic Portraits. Combining 19th and 20th century photographic masterworks and contemporary images, the exhibition explores "the fundamental tension in photography between point of view and composition." Artists include Ansel Adams, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Harry Callahan, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Arnold Newman, Frederick Sommer, and Garry Winogrand, with Corey Arnold, Daido Moriyama, Mark Steinmetz and Issei Suda, and more.

Opening reception • 5:30-8:30pm • August 6
Charles Hartman Fine Art • 134 NW 8th • 503.287.3886

While you're down at Tractor, check out the Everett Station Lofts' annual summer Rooftop Exhibit chaos-a-thon: "Once a year the hub of Portland's young, hip, gritty art scene merges with its seasoned career artist neighbors to throw a colossal celebration of visual art, music, performance art, gourmet food with a contemporary flair, and cash bar." There is also a Scion funded event with DJ's etc at Igloo so "The Lofts" will definitely be the scene on Thursday.

Group opening party • 6-10pm • August 6
Everett Station Lofts • 328 NW Broadway

(More.)

Bethany Hays

Bethany Hays presents I Am a Containerful of Memories at PSU's Autzen Gallery: "These domestic landscapes present a record of human activity and speak to the importance of everyday routine... The viewer is asked to consider the fictional nature of memory, which like the bronzing of baby shoes, distorts experience in an attempt to preserve it." Exhibition runs August 3 - 14, 2009.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 8
Autzen Gallery • 724 SW Harrison Street • Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, rm 205

Vanessa Calvert

Vanessa Calvert presents A Space of Flows at PSU's MK Gallery. Calvert "explores the construct of cyberspace by creating an interactive lounge where space disconnects from place and begins to operate outside linear progressions." Exhibition runs August 3 - 14, 2009.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 8
MK Gallery • 2000 SW 5th Avenue • Art Building, 2nd floor rm 210

Amy Stein, "Struggle"

Amy Stein is giving an artist talk and book signing this weekend in conjunction with her Domesticated show at Blue Sky (PORT review here).

Lecture & book signing • 3pm • August 1
Blue Sky Gallery • 122 NW 8th • 503.225.0210

Michelle Ramin

FalseFront presents Michelle Ramin's Need It/Got It. The project explores the contemporary phenomenon of collecting and trading friends: "As social networking sites expand daily, this interactive exhibit physically invites visitors to find their 'best friends,' place them on the show postcard and trade the cards during the opening reception... Participants are welcome to drop off their cards throughout the run of the show (through August 23), all of which will be added to the exhibit." Grab a postcard from the website here.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • July 30
FalseFront Studio • 4518 NE 32nd • 503.781.4609

Celebrating their one-year anniversary, Appendix presents Geofront, a multi-site project featuring 15 artists working in light, sound, soil, structure and movement. Maps to the six installation sites are available at Appendix.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • July 30
Appendix Project Space • South alley b/w 26th & 27th on Alberta

Robert Rauschenberg, "Patrician Barnacle," 1981, exhibited in "Marking Portland"

As part of the ongoing Marking Portland exhibition, PAM is having a tattoo expo this weekend. "Skinvisible" is a "one-day celebration of the art of tattoo through fashion, music, performance, multimedia, and tributes to Portland's most accomplished tattoo artists." A very high-priced 3-Ring Floor Show is happening at 3pm and 7pm.

Museum expo • 12-9pm • July 25
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Studio Gorm

The first of the Museum of Contemporary Craft's Call + Response conversations is happening this weekend. Product design team Studio Gorm (University of Oregon) and art history professor Robert Slifkin (Reed College) will discuss their interactions leading up to the exhibition and Slifkin's new essay, Studio Gorm's Anxious Utopianism.

Craft lecture • 1pm • July 25
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Disjecta presents Egocentric, an exhibition by PNCA's first group of MFA students (class of 2010): "We struggle in solidarity, yet create work which reflects our distinct voices. Superseding expectations at every juncture, we are your art destiny."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • July 23
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Alice Channer

Pied-à-terre presents Alice Channer's I Cannot Tell The Difference Between One Thing And Another. Open Saturdays 12-3pm.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • July 23
Pied-à-terre • 904 SE 20th Ave Apartment 5 • info@pied-terre.com

Lots going on at the U of O's White Stag Block this week. On Wednesday they're featuring Building a Collaborative City, a panel discussion about working across disciplinary boundaries to "make Portland great." Panelists include artist, dancer, and organizer Linda K. Johnson; designer, architect and developer Kevin Cavenaugh; and author, editor, and publisher Randy Gragg.

Panel discussion • 6pm • July 22
White Stag Block • 70 NW Couch

Michael Salter, "if you don't buy it from us it's not our problem"

On Thursday they're featuring Beautiful Soup: An Assessment of Current Visual Culture. The talk is presented by South Waterfront artist-in-residence Michael Salter, "an obsessive observer of contemporary visual culture, where graphics and corporate identities, signage and symbols, are used to communicate the culture of commerce."

Artist lecture • 6pm • July 23
White Stag Block • 70 NW Couch

Joseph Park, "still life #2," oil on panel

The Portland Art Museum's next APEX installation opens tomorrow. It features recent work by Joseph Park: "Inspired by film noir and animation in his early work, Seattle-based artist Joseph Park's recent paintings comprise a complex visual structure built upon reflections and foreboding narrative situations from a range of photographic sources."

Exhibition • July 18 - November 15, 2009
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Ongoing at the Portland building: Nickolus Meisel presents Lumberjack Azeltine Valentine, a mixed media installation.

Exhibition • July 10 - August 7, 2009
Portland Building • 1120 SW 5th

The University of Oregon presents Free Culture: Creating Copyright and Copyrighting Creation, a "psychedelic learning environment." Attorney and U of O alum Peter Shaver will join the members of Portland's electropop trio YACHT to talk about the current state of copyright law and its impact on creative work. They'll draw the audience into a creative re-authoring of copyright law in real time.

Interactive lecture • 6:30pm • July 16
White Stag Building • 70 NW Couch

George Johanson, with "Great Port City"

The Northwest Film Center presents In the Studio, a series of three short films produced by PCC documenting three former PNCA professors, all "established Northwest masters." The films feature Eunice Parsons, Harry Widman, and George Johanson.

Film screening • 7pm • July 16
Northwest Film Center • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium

Also happening Thursday: The NWFC is hosting Art Spark at the Hotel deLuxe. Andy Blubaugh, filmmaker and instructor will set-up and film a scene.

Art chat • 5-7pm • July 16
Art Spark at Hotel deLuxe • 729 SW 15th

The Northwest Film Center is showing a retrospective of the films of art historian, photojournalist, and filmmaker Agnès Varda, who writes: "In my films, I always wanted to make people see deeply. I don't want to show things, but to give people the desire to see." The first film, Cléo From 5 to 7 is showing this Friday and Saturday. The retrospective runs through August 9 - details and full schedule here.

Photo of "Wildlife" by Karolina Sobecka, 2007 by Frank Pichel

PNCA presents Boundary Crossings: An Institute in Contemporary Animated Arts from July 13 - 24, 2009. "With the advent of digital technologies, the appearance of hybrid moving images has emerged as the norm, affecting boundaries between live action, animation, image processing, and compositing as porous as the platforms of display that host them. Through re-defining animation and the manipulated image, animated art forms are being pushed beyond the movies to permeate our cultural landscape." The Institute is a series of private workshops and public lectures and screenings featuring instructors from the PNCA Intermedia department. It will begin with a public opening in PNCA's Feldman gallery of animated installation work by Jessica Mein, Daniela Repas (with Todd Tawd and Thornton C. Wilson), and Marina Zurkow. More details on the Institute here.

Public opening reception • 6-8pm • July 13
Pacific Northwest College of the Arts • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

Terry Toedtemeier

Worksound is hosting Portraits, curated by Mark Woolley. The show is dedicated to the life and work of Terry Toedtemeier, a gifted photographer who for over 20 years lovingly built the photographic collection at the Portland Art Museum. Work by Toedtemeier was selected in consultation with his widow Prudence Roberts and local art dealer Jane Beebee. The exhibition also features photography by 17 talented artists, both established and emerging, from Portland and Los Angeles: Holly Andres, Tim Gunther, Stewart Harvey, Wei Hsueh, Jim Leisy, Jacob Pander, Ann Ploeger, Mason Poole, Christopher Rauschenberg, Alicia J. Rose, Eric Sellers, Stephen Scott Smith, Aaron Thomas, Lorenzo Triburgo, Gus van Sant, and Carol Yarrow.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • July 10
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

(More: Gallery Homeland, 12x16, Ditch Projects, and Portland goes to Astoria.)

Nomad Museum of Body Adornment

Presumably in conjunction with Marking Portland, PAM's next installment of the artist talk series features Blake Perlingieri, local piercing artist and owner of the Nomad Museum of Body Art. As usual, the artist will lead a discussion on a work of art in the collection that "delights, puzzles, or inspires him." Meet in the Hoffman Lobby.

Artist lecture • 6-8pm • July 9
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Cyrus Smith

Cyrus Smith presents In Search of the Miraculous at PSU's Autzen Gallery. The show "is in pursuit of the epic moment in art and culture. Cyrus hopes that you will be able to make it to his exhibition, but if not, he suggests you watch the 1988 all star slam-dunk competition on YouTube, which could serve as a suitable substitute." July 6 - 17.

Artist reception • 6-9pm • July 11
Autzen Gallery • 724 SW Harrison Street • Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, rm 205

Ty Ennis

NAAU presents the next installation in the Couture series: Ty Ennis' You'll Love It Here: The Lilac City Track Murders '96-'98, a multimedia installation of drawing, photography, and sculpture. Ennis' "preparation for this exhibit has involved one of the most thorough examinations to date of Spokane's most infamous serial killer, Robert Lee Yates. His nearly 2 year endeavor documenting murder sites, scouring of all available literature and fleshing out the lives effected during this capsule of time in Spokane, demonstrate a type of artistic discovery that questions the role art can play in the historical record. By lending a sympathetic and informed eye to the memory of events more so remembered through hard-line fact alone, Ty builds a revisionist history using unique visual and written documents."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • July 3
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

Jennifer Locke presents CRISIS 40, a performance at Rocksbox. The exhibition will remain up through August 2.

Opening performance • 9pm • July 4
Rocksbox Fine Art • 6540 N Interstate • 503.516.4777

Michael Brophy, "Start"

Michael Brophy presents Silence, an exhibition of recent paintings at Laura Russo.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • July 2
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st • 503.226.2754

(More.)

From Jeremiah Zagar's "In a Dream"

This weekend, the Northwest Film Center presents the first of their summer artist spotlights. They're screening In a Dream, a film directed by Jeremiah Zagar about his father, artist Isaiah Zagar. They'll be showing it twice on Saturday and once on Sunday.

Film screening • July 27 & 28
NW Film Center • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium

Varnithorn Christopher

Varnithorn Christopher presents Free Space at PSU's MK Gallery. The project is "is a non-curated gallery experiment by based on the belief that everyone is an artist. From Monday, June 29, 2009 to Thursday, July 9, 2009, Christopher invites anyone to come and exhibit their artwork at the MK gallery." A complete catalog will be created at the end of the exhibition.

Exhibition • M-F, 9am-5pm • June 29 - July 9
MK Gallery • 2000 SW 5th Avenue • Art Building, 2nd floor rm 210

Floating World Comics presents the 3rd annual animation festival at the Holocene, featuring "mind melting video art and psychedelic animation from the secret world of motionography." Visit their website for more info on the 3+ hour line up of Flaspar, Deelay Ceelay, Show Cave Best of Videocation and more.

Animation festival • 8pm • June 25
Holocene • 1001 SE Morrison

The ever-changing art at Store for a Month

The final week of John Brodie's Store for a Month is kicking off with a lecture by Philippe Le Blanc. "The Strategy of Sur-Distinction: building a cathedral inside the megastore" is loosely based on Le Blanc's work for sale at The Store, I Win, You Lose: The art of Art in capitalist culture. If you haven't made it down to the store yet, don't miss your chance - its last days are Wednesday, June 24 through Sunday, June 28, 12-7pm.

Artist lecture • 7pm • June 24
Store for a Month • 1216 SE Division • 503.235.8029

Elizabeth McClellan

Appendix presents Sediment, a collection of indoor/outdoor drawing environments by Elizabeth McClellan. Due to size and showing constraints, Outdoor works will be up through June 27th.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • June 25
Appendix Project Space • South alley b/w 26th & 27th on Alberta

Justin Gorman

Justin Gorman's ThirtyThousandSecons opens this weekend in Milepost 5's MP5³. "This photo documentation project derived from an increasing interest in pedestrian patterns on eight-second avenue and the responsibility of local government to stop or control these patterns..." Work by Anthony Conrad, Kalina Torino, Jessica Weitzel, and Luke Heinrich will also be opening in the Hallways spaces.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • June 20
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st • 503.998.4878

Gorm Studio

MoCC presents Call + Response: "Drawing on the musical concept of 'call and response,' this exhibition provides a platform for artists and art historians to engage with each with other in dynamic conversation. This multi-layered exhibition features works by eight pairs of art and art history faculty members from colleges and universities who have taught in Oregon for roughly ten years or less. Through multimedia content, contextual writing, the presentation of studio works and public programs, this project celebrates and provokes the recent influx of ideas [on craft] brought to Oregon by these faculty members..."

Exhibition • June 18 - October 31, 2009
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Continuing the tradition of slightly fluffy summer group fun, Fourteen30 presents Summer Show, featuring Mike Bray, David Corbett, Hamlett Dobbins, Alex Felton, Corey Lunn, Jenene Nagy, Devon Oder, Nicholas Pittman, Patrick Rock, Jennifer Shimatsu, and Nick Van Woert.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • June 19
Fourteen30 Contemporary • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.236.1430

This month's ArtSpark is presented by local art collective Nowhere at Rontom's. The theme is Icebreaker: "an easy way to meet new people involved with Portland arts."

Art social • 5-7pm • June 18
ArtSpark at Rontom's • 600 E Burnside

PSU & Disjecta present It's Possible, an exhibition by graduating students in the MFA in Contemporary Art Practice program at PSU. Exhibiting artists include Katy Asher, Steve Baggs, Vanessa Calvert, Varinthorn Christopher, Damien Gilley, Bethany Hays, Avalon Kalin, Laurel Kurtz, Sandy Sampson, Rebecca Shelly, Cyrus Smith, and Eric Steen.

Opening reception • 4-8pm • June 14
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Amar Kanwar, from "A Season Outside"

The Cinema Project is screening a series of films by New Delhi-based filmmaker Amar Kanwar. His films "exist at the crossroads of documentary, visual poetry and philosophical meditation; linking legends and ritual objects to new symbols and public events, which trigger emotional and intellectual disturbances in the viewer." The first night features two mid-length films, the second night features several shorts.

Film screening 1 • 7:30pm • June 17
Film screening 2 • 7:30pm • June 18
Cinema Project • 11 NW 13th AVE 4th Floor • 503.232.8269

Kevin Yates

Ditch Projects presents Kevin Yates' Alluvium. Yates "uses photorealistic miniature sculptures to intricately render a delicate disaster, creating a destroyed suburban landscape and the solemn reflections of the flood that ruined it."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • June 13
Ditch Projects • 190 S. 5th St. Springfield, OR • info@ditchprojects.com

Portland Art Museum

Editor-in-chief of Portland Spaces Magazine Randy Gragg is lecturing at PAM for the next installment of the Artist Talk series. He'll be discussing the museum's main building as a work of art, exploring the collaboration between architect Pietro Belluschi, Museum Curator Anna Belle Crocker, and Harry Frederick Wentz, a teacher at the Museum Art School, which brought the building to fruition in 1932. The talk meets at 6pm in the Hoffman Lobby.

Artist lecture • 6-8pm • June 11
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Aloïs Godinat, "Déchirure (Tear)," 2007

Swiss-born artist Aloïs Godinat is exhibiting at Pied-à-terre from June 11 - July 2, 2009.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • June 11
Pied-à-terre • 904 SE 20th Ave Apt 5 • info@pied-terre.com

M.C. Escher, "Relativity," 1953

Virtual Worlds: M.C. Escher & Paradox is opening tomorrow at PAM. "Printmaker Maurits Cornelis Escher (Dutch, 1898-1972) created visual puzzles that astonish with their mathematical rigor and their patent absurdity. This exhibition traces the development of the artist's work from his early stylized depictions of landscape and architecture to his later use of repeated geometric patterns..."

Exhibition • June 6 - September 13, 2009
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Louis Bunce, "Harold Street #4," 1974

Also opening at PAM tomorrow: PNCA at 100, a retrospective of the the artist-faculty, students, and alumni of PNCA, formerly the Museum Art School, since 1909. "Ranging from portraiture and regional landscapes to modernist abstraction and postpainterly idioms, the artists of the school introduced ideas from the larger world of art to Portland and made them part of the vocabulary of Northwest art."

Exhibition • June 6 - September 13, 2009
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Attush ceremonial robe, Ainu textile, photo courtesy of Sanae Ogawa

Parallel Worlds is opening tomorrow in the pavilion at the Japanese Garden. Held in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Portland-Sapporo Sister City Association, the exhibition features traditional ceremonial robes created by Ainu artists from Hokkaido and Native American artists of the Pacific Northwest.

Exhibition • June 6 - 28, 2009
Japanese Garden • 611 SW Kingston Avenue • 503.223.1321

John Brodie's much-anticipated Store for a Month is having its opening party for First Friday. This art project and temporary retail storefront is open from June 3 - 28, 2009, Wed-Sun, 12-7pm. Store for a Month features work by over 60 local artists made specifically for the store, and occasional fresh-baked pie.

Opening party • 6-10pm • June 5
Store for a Month • 1216 SE Division • 503.235.8029

(More.)

D.E. May, "Marker"

D.E. May presents Black Page, new drawings at PDX Contemporary. All of the work is presented in thick, plastic archival document holders, which offer "a surprising tactile quality and a screen-like presentation: x-ray, film, radar." May was a finalist in PAM's 2008 CNAA's.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • June 4
PDX Contemporary • 925 NW Flanders • 503.222.0063

(More.)

Social practice artist Laurel Kurtz has collaborated with local unofficial street vendor Bill Harrelson to help realize his dream of a backscratcher museum. "Harrelson and Kurtz will debut the curbside museum in the gallery setting in order to highlight their collaboration and share Harrelson's collection with others. Also on display are nine drawings of Harrelson's 'imaginary' backscratchers that have been put onto paper by the artists Lori Gilbert, Mark Jondahl, Walter Lee, Ralph Pugay, Ben Rosenberg, Sandy Sampson, Amy Steel, Vicki Lynn Wilson and Jason Zimmerman." The exhibition runs at PSU's MK Gallery June 1 - 12.

Closing reception • 6-9pm • June 12
MK Gallery • 2000 SW 5th Avenue • Art Building, 2nd floor rm 210

Micki Skudlarczyk, "Well Finished," installation view

Micki Skudlarczyk's Well Finished is currently on view at Launch Pad. During her artist residency in Mexico in 2008, Skudlarczyk "developed a relationship with the small slaughter community in & around the village of Cholul, where she experienced the process of animal slaughter from start to finish first hand. Well Finished investigates the artist's philosophical & emotional struggle between her reverence for the animals that we eat & her dismay at the pain & fear they sometimes experience at the moment of death." She'll be giving an artist talk and slide lecture on the experience and installation this weekend on the final day of the show.

Artist lecture • 1pm • May 31
Launch Pad Gallery • 534 SE Oak St. • 971.227.0072

Joshua Pavlacky

Joshua Pavlacky presents Towards the Scrambled Egg, "an installation exploring landscape and spatial manipulation" at Appendix Project Space.

Opening reception • 8pm-12am • May 28
Appendix Project Space • South alley b/w 26th & 27th on NE Alberta

The ZooBombers' Holy Pyle minibike sculpture has found a permanent home. Designed in conjunction with local artists Brian Borello and Vanessa Renwick, the Pyle has been relocated to 13th & W Burnside. The unveiling party this weekend starts at the Holy Rack at 10th & SW Oak at 4pm and will parade to the new location around 5.

Public art party • 4pm • May 29
ZooBombers • Downtown

Beth Van Hoesen, "Sally," 1979

California artist Joseph Goldyne is lecturing this week on northern California printmaking and its relationship to Beth Van Hoesen's prints, on view at PAM through August 16, 2009.

Arts lecture • 6-7:30pm • May 28
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Anna Karina, 1966

The NW Film Center presents a special screening of Jean-Luc Godard's Made in USA, his final collaboration with Anna Karina. "Boldly cartoonish, from its color schemes to its quotation-marked characters to its treatment of screen violence, Made in USA is dedicated to American crime movies (specifically those of Sam Fuller and Nicolas Ray), and is a politically fueled deconstruction of the genre." There will be two screenings every day this weekend.

Film screenings • May 22 - 24, 2009
NW Film Center • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium

Katy Asher presents Box Set: The M.O.S.T. Remastered at PSU's Autzen Gallery. For the show, "Asher reconfigures the gallery space into a museum displaying the complexities and rewards of working as part of a collaborative arts group." Box Set creates an "interpretive archive space" exploring the activities of the former M.O.S.T. art/social group. The show runs May 18 - May 29, 2009.

Closing reception • 6-9pm • May 29
Autzen Gallery • 724 SW Harrison Street • Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, rm 205

Sandy Sampson presents Parallel Conversations at PSU's MK Gallery. The show "is not so much an exhibit as it is a hub of activity. Sampson will introduce you to some people she has met and learned from. The events scheduled are all participatory, she invites you to engage with each other and the neighborhood around the gallery, and bring what you know to share with others." It runs from May 18 - May 29, 2009.

Closing reception • 6-9pm • May 29
MK Gallery • 2000 SW 5th Avenue • Art Building, 2nd floor rm 210

Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Mierle Laderman Ukeles is giving the final 08-09 PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture next week. Ukeles is a New York based artist "known for her feminist and service oriented artwork. In 1969 she wrote a manifesto entitled Maintenance Art Proposal for an Exhibition, challenging the domestic role of women and proclaiming herself a 'maintenance artist'."

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • May 18
PSU • 1914 SW Park Ave • Shattuck Hall Rm 212 at Broadway & Hall

Matthew Green presents Hunks and Punks at Rocksbox, a "humorous exploration into the myths, constructs, and visual tropes surrounding contemporary male identity."

Opening reception • 7-11pm • May 16
Rocksbox • 6540 N Interstate Ave • 503.516.4777

Sanford Biggers, "Blossom," installation view

Sanford Biggers' installation Blossom goes on view at PAM this weekend. Exploring themes of identity and history, Blossom is a "mixed media work incorporating a massive tree, found piano, and Biggers' compositional reworking of Billie Holiday's 1939 jazz anthem Strange Fruit, a harrowing portrayal of lynching in the American South." Keep an eye on PORT for a fantastic interview with the artist.

Exhibition • May 16 - August 30, 2009
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Thelma Johnson Streat, "Red Dots, Flying Baby, and Barking Dog," 1945

Art on Alberta's 10th annual Art Hop is happening this weekend. They're featuring the work of Thelma Johnson Streat (1911-1959), an internationally acclaimed artist from Portland and the first black woman to have her work exhibited at MOMA. 50 of her paintings will be on view at venues throughout Alberta. The Art Hop's theme this year is "Coming Home," and there will be a wide variety of art exhibitions, street performers, vendors, music, dance, and theater.

Street fair • 11am-6pm • May 16
Art on Alberta • 17 blocks of NE Alberta

Pat Boas, "Reading & Writing #4 (Mildred's Hand)," installation view

Local artist and writer Pat Boas is speaking this week for PAM's artist talk series. She'll discuss a work in the museum that "delights, puzzles, or inspires her." The talk departs from the Hoffman lobby, and returns after for conversation and happy hour.

Artist lecture • 6-8pm • May 14
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

901 Jefferson, ongoing project by Pyatok Architects

Architect Michael Pyatok is speaking this week at the UofO on The U.S. Housing Crisis: The Role of Design. He'll speak in Portland and in Eugene.

Architect lecture • 6:30-7:30pm • May 13
White Stag Block • 70 NW Couch St. • Event Room

Gerhardt Knodel

Artist Gerhardt Knodel is lecturing on Examining Fiber and Material Studies in Contemporary Art and Culture this week at OCAC. Inspired by the keynote address he gave at the 2008 International Fiber Symposium, Knodel's talk explores the subject of "materiality": the meaning of material-based experiences in contemporary life.

Artist lecture • 6pm • May 15
Oregon College of Art & Craft • 8825 SW Barnes Rd. • Catlin Gabel Cabell Center Auditorium

Matt Bors

Art Beat Week 2009 at PCC starts Monday. Highlights include lectures by editorial cartoonist Matt Bors (May 11), photography critic Chas Bowie (May 12), and local artist Storm Tharp (May 14). Check out the schedule of events for more info.

Frances Stark

LA-based artist Frances Stark is speaking on Monday for PMMNLS. She works in drawing, collage, sculpture, and textual commentary.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • May 11
PSU • 1914 SW Park Ave • Shattuck Hall Rm 212 at Broadway & Hall

From Approx L

Worksound presents Approx L, a "cumulative project involving performance, curation, installation, sound and video," spearheaded by Bethany Ides. "Aiding in the project are approximately 15 participants from across the US and Canada all born with (some variant spelling of) the name, plus a coterie of non-natural L[indsay]s who have adopted transitional monikers for the project."

Opening reception • 7-11pm • May 8
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

At Pied-á-terre

Ongoing at Pied-á-terre: New York-based artist and writer Ben Carlton Turner presents The Sound of 500 Speer 9 mm. Luger Shells Dropped from a Height of 119 Inches at 550 West 21st Street New York, NY, 10011, on April 8th, 2009, 10:37 p.m. Gallery hours are Saturdays, 12-3pm. Update: Due to popular demand, Pied-á-terre will hold a reception for the show on May 14.

Exhibition • May 2 - 23, 2009
Reception • May 14 • 6-8pm
Pied-á-terre • 904 SE 20th Ave Apt 5 • info@pied-terre.com

Dinh Q. Lê, "I am Large. I Contain Multitudes (1)"

Dinh Q. Lê is exhibiting a new body of work at Elizabeth Leach this month. Signs and Signals from the Periphery utilizes sculpture and photography to "address a system of signs that have developed in Vietnam which signal the availability of certain goods and services."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • May 7
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521

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Bruce Conner

Cinema Project, NW Film Center, and the PDX Film Fest are co-sponsoring a screening Bruce Conner's film works. In Memorium is a two part exhibition of fourteen short films by Conner, "a pioneer in the art of sculptural assemblage and found footage collage film making." A list of films and more background about Conner can be found on the Cinema Project website.

Screening Night 1 • 7pm • May 5
NW Film Center • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium
Screening Night 2 • 7:30pm • May 6
Clinton Street Theater • 2522 SE Clinton

From "Bum Equipment" curated by Cartune Xprez

The second night of the Bruce Conner screenings marks opening night of PDX Film Fest 2009. Video installations will be at Gallery Homeland from May 6 - 24, featuring Bum Equipment, a 3-part video installation curated by Cartune Xprez showcasing work from over 20 international artists. Most other screenings will be at the Clinton Street Theater; learn more about the schedule and events here. Opening night performances at Gallery Homeland start at 9pm.

PDX Film Fest opening part • 7pm-midnight • May 6
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th

Paul Gauguin, "Manao tupapau (The Spirit of the Dead Keep Watch)," 1892

Richard Brettell, chair of art and aesthetics at the University of Texas at Dallas, is lecturing this weekend at PAM. His lecture, Paul Gauguin's Pilgrimmage: Lima, Paris, Pont Aven, and Papeete, explores the life and career of French Impressionist Paul Gauguin.

Art historian lecture • 2-3pm • May 3
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

MIT professor Anne Whiston Sprin is lecturing next week for UofO's Architecture & Allied Arts department at the White Stag building. In Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs and Reports from the Field, Sprin documents hundreds of Lange's photos and the descriptions she wrote of them.

Historian lecture • 5:30pm • May 6
White Stag Building • 70 NW Couch

Mark Dion

Mark Dion is lecturing next week for PMMNLS: "Appropriating archaeological and other scientific methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects, Dion's often fantastical curiosity cabinets, modeled on Wunderkabinetts of the 16th Century, exalt atypical orderings of objects and specimens."

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • May 4
PSU • 1914 SW Park Ave • Shattuck Hall Rm 212 at Broadway & Hall

Stephen Slappe, from "Shelter in Place"

NAAU presents the next installation of Couture: Stephen Slappe's Shelter in Place, a 3-channel video installation that is "the culmination of five years of research... Freely combining fiction and nonfiction, this three-channel video installation focuses on two teenagers in West Virginia in the mid-1980s. The characters exist in a media environment that imposes and magnifies their worst fears. Yet even in such a hopeless world, they discover a miraculous way to share subcultural influences. While referencing a specific time and place, Shelter in Place presents a thematically timeless allegory of connectivity and cultural exchange."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • May 1
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

(More!)

Lincoln Barbour, "Loading Dock"

Office PDX presents My West Coast. A group of photographers were asked to take a series of images that define the West coast with Polaroid Land Cameras. Five Polaroids will be showcased from each of the following photographers: Alicia Rose, Barbara Kinney, Chris Walla, Jan Sonnenmair, Jeff Selis, Jon Jensen, Lincoln Barbour, and Tony Secolo.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • April 29
Office PDX • 2204 NE Alberta • 888.355.7467

Maggie Casey, "Stairs"

Fiber artist Maggie Casey presents a new site-specific installation at Appendix. Casey explores "a space-based narrative in 3-dimensional drawing."

Opening reception • 6-11pm • April 30
Open critique & discussion • 7pm • May 6
Appendix Project Space • South alley b/w 26 & 27th on NE Alberta

Basil Childers, image of the Museum of Contemporary Craft

Part 5 of 5 of the PNCA+MoCC community conversations regarding PNCA's acquisition of the Museum of Contemporary Craft is happening this week. Panelists include Victoria Frey (executive director of PICA), Linda K. Johnson (founder of South Waterfront Artist in Residence program), Elizabeth Leach (owner of Elizabeth Leach Gallery), and Tom Manley (PNCA president).

Panel discussion • 6:30pm • April 30
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson

Local filmmakers Joanna Priestley and Joan Gratz are screening Words Worth a Thousand Pictures: Contemporary Animation About Language this Thursday. Priestly's Missed Aches and Gratz's Puffer Girl will be premiered in addition to five award-winning international films on the use of language and text in animation.

Film screening • 7:30pm • April 30 • $9
Hollywood Theater • 4122 NE Sandy

MP5 is having their bi-monthly opening this weekend. In MP5³ they're featuring Jenevieve Tatiana's Parlor Games: "Those in play here are between modernism and marginality: the endgames of the monochrome and the game theory of social networks, a-chronologically articulated through found web 2.0 information and reshuffled salon-style as sculptural elements." In the hallways there will be installations by Gary Wiseman and Meredith Andrews, Christine Bailey Claringbold, and John Graeter.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • April 26
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st Ave • 503.998.4878

Doug Blandy

Doug Blandy, director of the institute for community arts studies at the University of Oregon, is speaking this Monday for PMMNLS. He'll address community engagement, research, and education in arts institutions.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • April 27
PSU • 1914 SW Park Ave • Shattuck Hall Rm 212 at Broadway & Hall

Basil Childers, image of the Museum of Contemporary Craft

Part 4 of 5 of the PNCA+MoCC community conversations regarding PNCA's acquisition of the Museum of Contemporary Craft is happening tonight. Panelists include Nan Curtis (PNCA faculty), Stephanie Snyder (Cooley director & curator), Linda Tesner (Hoffman director & curator), and Namita Gupta Wiggers (MoCC curator).

Panel discussion • 6:30pm • April 23
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis

*Update: Mayor Adams reverses his Coliseum position and will take another week to explore alternative sites for minor league baseball stadium. Still the basic issue will focus on the details of this "Entertainment District". Will is be a disneylandish-faux-downtown model (ugggh) or something more civic and rewarding?

Brian Libby over at Portland Architecture has been all over the ridiculous plan to demolish the Memorial Coliseum, one of the very few truly excellent mid-century modern buildings in Portland. He even interviewed one of the original SOM architects behind it.

Portland reflected in the Coliseum's curtain wall of glass

The question is, does Portland want to become known for tearing down excellent buildings for the sake of minor league sports teams? Or instead, is this an opportunity to find a better use for a civic jewel that we haven't made full use of recently? Why not turn this civic space into something even more civic?

But First, Let's Rally:

Put on by Mr. Libby, architect Stuart Emmons and AiA Portland, PORT readers have "been cordially invited to a rally opposing the demolition of Memorial Coliseum, one of the great landmarks of Portland Architecture and one of America's most architecturally significant arenas ever constructed - a mid-century modern gem."

When & Where: Tuesday, April 21 at 6PM at the American Institute of Architects' Center for Architecture, at 403 NW 11th Avenue

...(more)

Gustave Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I," 1907

As part of the ongoing Jewish film festival, the NW Film Center is featuring Stealing Klimt tomorrow night. This documentary recounts the decades-long struggle of Austrian-born Maria Altmann to recover five Gustave Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis in 1938, and hanging in the Austrian National Gallery since 1945.

Film screening • 7pm • April 21
NW Film Center • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium

Abelardo Morell, "Camera Obscura: View of Central Park Looking North-Summer"

Photographer Abelardo Morell is speaking at PAM next week for Photolucida. "A professor of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art, Morell is known for his images of exterior scenes transposed onto quiet interior settings through the use of the camera obscura."

Artist lecture • 7-8pm • April 24
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Neighborhood Public Radio (NPR) is lecturing on Monday for PMMNLS. They're a guerrilla radio group who critique the more famous NPR through community-based, noncommercial programming broadcast streaming on the Internet or through low-power portable FM transmitters.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • April 20
PSU • 1914 SW Park Ave • Shattuck Hall Rm 212 at Broadway & Hall

Joan Son, "Origami"

The Japanese Garden is featuring Paper Arts in the Pavilion. "Paper plays an important part of many Japanese celebrations," and the use of paper in fine arts and craft has a storied cultural history. An array of Japanese paper styles by local artists will be displayed during the exhibition.

Paper arts • April 18 - 26
Japanese Garden • 611 SW Kingston Avenue • 503.223.1321

Jim Lomamasson's "Exit Wounds" installed at NAAU

Jim Lommasson's Exit Wounds, formerly at NAAU, is currently installed at PCC Rock Creek's Helzer Gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition there will be a panel discussion with Iraq and Afghanistan vets this afternoon, followed by a gallery reception.

Panel discussion • 3-4:15pm • April 16
Helzer Gallery • 17705 NW Springville Rd. • Building 3

Still from the Ottawa Animation Festival

The NW Film Center presents the best of the 2008 Ottawa International Animation Festival. The "Best of Ottawa" program presents festival award winners, audience favorites, and other entries in a variety of genres and forms. Screenings of these short segments run from April 17 through April 25. You can view the full schedule here.

Metro Arts is leading this month's ArtSpark with a performance and discourse on arts integration for youth.

Community conversation • 5-7pm • April 16
Armory Café • Portland Center Stage • 128 NW 11th

Eric Steen presents Building in the Post Apocalypse at PSU's MK Gallery: "An exhibition that documents and explores possible options of community, collaboration, and education through socially engaged practices." In addition to the artist reception, the show features several events, including a "Public Social University" and screening of a series of sci-fi films, The Man Who Could Work Miracles and Panic in the Year Zero & The Man From Earth. The full list of events can be found here.

Film screening • 10pm • April 13
Public Social University • 3-6pm • April 16
Artist reception • 6-9pm • April 16
Film screening • 9pm • April 16
MK Gallery 2000 SW 5th Avenue • Art Building, 2nd floor rm 210

Tim Dalbow, "Hood"

The Linfield Gallery presents Volcanoes, new paintings by Tim Dalbow. He writes: "A painting is an attempt at a solution. The blank canvas is a proposed problem and the process of making a painting is a hypothesis. Painting is not an exact science but I do believe it is a science. Each painting is an excuse to ask the question again."

Exhibition • April 15 - May 13, 2009
Linfield Gallery • 900 SE Baker St., McMinnville • Miller Fine Art Center

Jessica Skloven, 2008 winner

Newspace is seeking submissions for their 5th annual juried exhibition, which will be on view in August 2009. All photographic themes and processes are accepted, but work must have been created within the past three years. Selected photographers will participate in the exhibition, and one will receive a solo show at Newspace and a $500 award. Submissions are due May 29. Details here.

(More opportunities: public art & gender identity. Larry Sultan for PMMNLS.)

Damien Gilley, "Air Math"

Damien Gilley presents Air Math at PSU's Autzen Gallery. In this exhibition, "Gilley visually reconfigures the urban environment to provide alternative viewing experiences that complicate rational space... The works question the reliability of vision through the presentation of illusionistic wall drawings, indeterminate landscapes, modular forms, and compositions that extend the parameters of 'flatness'." Gilley will be in attendance at the gallery on April 18 from 10am to 4pm.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • April 11
Autzen Gallery • 724 SW Harrison Street • Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, rm 205

Chen Qiulin, "The Garden No. 4"

China Urban opens this week at Reed's Cooley Gallery. This exhibition of contemporary Chinese art "explores the historical and contemporary Chinese city - as representation, model, catalyst, and socio-political construct." Before the reception begins, calligrapher Dr. Yang Jiyu will enact a public performance of the calligraphy of Hong Kong artist Tsang Tsou Choi (1921-2007) - the "King of Kowloon" - on the glass walls of the gallery. A full list of related lectures and events can be found here.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • April 9
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Library

(More: Michael Knutson lectures @ PAM, MoCC & PNCA continue their community conversations.)

Preston Wadley, "The Colonial Gaze"

Expanded Narrative: The Photographic Image in Mixed Media Constructions opens this week at Clark College's Archer Gallery. Featuring work by Theresa Batty, Ian van Coller, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Nathan Lucas, Amy Pruzan, Jacinda Russell, and Preston Wadley, Expanded Narrative explores the use of the photographic image within the constructed object.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • April 8
Archer Gallery • 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • Penguin Union Building

Danielle Colen, "Untitled (panorama series)"

Pied-á-terre is featuring a pair of photographs by Danielle Colen. Interested in exploring a heightened rather than a transformed reality, Colen presents views through an anonymous office window, offering a meditation on the relationship between pictoral space, gallery space, and the outside world.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • April 5
Pied-á-terre • 904 SE 20th Apt. 5 • info@pied-terre.com

(More: SRO Video @ the Art Gym, PDX/LA collaboration @ MP5, Michael Rakowitz for PMMNLS.)

Matt King, "Tater"

Matt King's Science Diet is at Fourteen30 this month: "Seductive and sickening, King's recent sculptures aggressively assert their position as commodity while questioning the relationships between desire, comfort and the complicity that keeps the system in place. King reconstitutes the images and objects of a marketed culture in ways that reorient their latent meanings. His banal and pleasurable source materials - dollar store items, height indicator strips, drinking straws, and even cat food - feel both unexpected and significant."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • April 3
Fourteen30 Contemporary • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.236.1430

(More: Updated! Worksound.)

W.J.T. Mitchell

Scholar W.J.T. Mitchell is speaking this evening on The Future of the Image at PNCA. Mitchell, editor of the interdisciplinary journal Critical Inquiry, is associated with the emergent fields of visual culture and iconology. He is known for his work on "the relations of visual and verbal representations in the context of social and political issues."

Visual studies lecture • 6:30pm • April 1
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

(More speakers: Okwui Enwezor for FATE and Peter Kreider for China Urban.)

Terry Toedtemeier

In April, Blue Sky is featuring Early Work by Terry Toedtemeier. This body of work comes from around 1975, when he co-founded Blue Sky. In the midst of a "brief, intense investigation of the possibilities of infrared photography," Toedtemeier was still interested in capturing gestures and the human, or sometimes animal, figure. This subject distinguishes these images from his later work, when he turned primarily to landscape. Blue Sky will also be exhibiting shows by Alexis Pike and Andy Freeberg, as well as select images by Abelardo Morell, who is in town as keynote speaker for the upcoming Photolucida conference.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • April 2
Blue Sky Gallery • 122 NW 8th • 503.225.0210

(More.)

Michael Reinsch

Sponsored by the RACC, Michael Reinsch presents a temporary installation at the Portland Building that examines notions of labor. "The project will start with piles of materials and tools and will change and develop throughout the month as he explores his relationship to his art as work, the ways in which others think about work, how his job affects his art process, and how all of this is informed by current events. Reinsch states "My work is never done.'" Reinsch is launching the project with a full 8 hour shift today (March 30), and can be found working in the Portland Building from 8-10:30am Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for the duration of the exhibition.

Installation • March 30 - April 24
Portland Building • 1120 SW 5th Avenue

Stephen Shore's poignant and jaw dropping photo taken outside "K Falls"

MoMA's Into The Sunset show charts the persistent role of photography as commentator on the West and Stephen Shore's photograph taken outside Klammath Falls is the poster child. It opens Sunday.

Ken Johnson's NYT's review discusses the trend but this is nothing new to Portlanders.

Last year Wild Beauty provided a similarly sardonic spectacle and video artist/filmmaker Matt McCormick made this very subject the core of his last solo show at Elizabeth Leach Gallery. Todd Johnson's interesting curatorial project at Gallery Homeland in 2008 also beat MoMA to the punch. I do think Wild Beauty answered Ken Johnson's longing for something that was so bleak. Luckilly the book is still available.

MK Guth, "Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping," final installation, NY Park Ave Armory

Local artist MK Guth, who works in video, sculpture and performative social exchange projects, is lecturing this week for PMMNLS. Guth's project Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping was included in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, and subsequently installed in the APEX gallery at PAM. Guth is also a founding member of the Red Shoe Delivery Service.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • March 30
PSU • Shattuck Hall Annex Room 212 • Corner of SW Broadway & Hall

Mr. Shiro Nakane (left) & Dr. Makoto Suzuki

Renowned Japanese garden professionals Dr. Makoto Suzuki of Tokyo Agricultural University and Mr. Shiro Nakane of Nakane & Associates will lecture next Tuesday at the Japenese Garden. They will both present on the topic The Japanese Garden: Past, Present, and Future. Tickets are $10, space is limited, reservations can be made here.

Artisan expert lectures • 6-8pm • March 31
Japanese Garden • 611 SW Kingston Avenue • 503.223.1321

In case you missed White Noise or were there during the rock'n but impossible to see anything opening, here's your last chance to catch a nice warehouse show with a lot of energy and several standout pieces by Stephen Scott Smith, Damien Gilley (probably the most talked about MFA student in Portland) and the show's curator Jhordan Dahl (another must watch artist/curator combo, she's a got a great deal of verve).

White Noise closing reception • 7-11 PM • March 26
Worksound • 820 SE Alder

Herb and Dorothy Vogel

Megumi Sasaki's Herb and Dorothy is airing this weekend. The film documents the story of Herb and Dorothy Vogel, who came from modest means but still managed to put together "one of the largest and most important private collections of minimalist and conceptual art in the world... In an age of the commodification of art by wealthy 'investors,' Herb and Dorothy offer a rare and uplifting example of people for whom art is about love, not profit." Note PORT first broke the story that the Vogel's had given 50 works of art to the Portland Art Museum here.

First screening • 2pm • March 28
Second screening • 4:30pm • March 29
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park

Alice Neel, "Andy Warhol," 1970

The final installment of the NW Film Center's 2009 art film series screens next weekend. Alice Neel, Andrew Neel's documentary about his grandmother, explores the life of the portrait painter who was a "self-described collector of souls." She captured an amazing range of cultural figures, including Andy Warhol, Bella Abzug, Allen Ginsberg, and Annie Sprinkle, sacrificing much of her own life to pursue her art.

Film screening • 4pm • April 4
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park

David Horvitz's traveling box game is coming to the Pancake Clubhouse. What's in the Box! is "a multi-stage touring project, instigated by David Horvitz and Lukas Geronimas, in collaboration with Renata Christen, The Black Hole Space and curator Terri C. Smith, The Madiman Arts interaction Center, and all those that participate in the project." Breakfast will be served at 9:30 sharp.

Box Game • 9:30am • March 21
Pancake Clubhouse Historic Township and Activity Destination for the Living Arts • 906A NE 24th Ave • pancakeclubhouse@gmail.com

The Canoe Group and the Portland Center for the Performing Arts are leading this month's Art Spark. They'll be discussing PCPA's new cultural video project, and director Robyn Williams will present new opportunities for artists and arts organizations. Art Spark's host rotates monthly. Snacks this month courtesy of PCPA.

Community conversation • 5-7pm • March 19
Art Bar • SW Broadway & Main

The Portland Art Museum currently holds quarterly Museum Family Days that feature hands-on art making activities related to the current exhibition. Thanks to a recent gift to the Art Access Endowment, PAM is now offering free admission on these days, starting Sunday, March 22.

Roy Lichtenstein, "The Head," Barcelona, 1992

The NW Film Center's ongoing art film series continues this weekend with Vincent Gérard and Cédric Laty's By the Ways: A Journey with William Eggleston. The film explores the life and creative history of photographer William Eggleston. The crew tracked him from Memphis to Rome and beyond over the course of several months, "building an incremental portrait of the world as seen through the artist's eyes."

Also coming up in the series: A double-billing of The Universe of Keith Haring and Conversations with Jean-Michel Basquiat on Sunday, March 22, and a double-billing of Roy Lichtenstein: Tokyo Brushstrokes and Ellsworth Kelly: Fragments on Wednesday, March 25.

Eggleston screening • 3pm • March 21
NW Film Center • 1219 SW Park • Whitsell Auditorium

(More: PNCA Intermedia Film Fest, films by Ben Rivers.)

Mel Katz, "Four in the Center"

Sculptor Mel Katz and painter Roll Hardy are speaking this weekend at Laura Russo in conjunction with their ongoing exhibitions. Keep an eye on this space for a very special Mel Katz interview, coming soon...

Artists lecture • 11am • March 14
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st • 503.226.2754

François Boucher, "Conspiration de putti (Cupids in Conspiracy)," c.1740

Heather MacDonald, curator of European art at the Dallas Museum of Art, presents A Seraglio of Men: Female Patrons and Male Artists in the Age of Madame De Pompadour at PAM. MacDonald will discuss "how female patrons shaped the development of the visual arts in France during the 18th century." Of course, part of the ongoing La volupté de goût exhibition.

Curator lecture • 2-3pm • March 15
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Tim Colley

Tim Colley presents I Remember Everything at Rocksbox. Colley's books and videos focus on the "collection, hording, and re-contextualization of contemporary media, pop-culture imagery, and mass manufactured objects re-processed through manic, tireless re-construction."

Opening reception • 7-11pm • March 14
Rocksbox • 6540 N. Interstate • 503.516.4777

Danridge Geiger, "Work in progress"

Gallery Homeland presents TransFixed, a group exhibition curated by Victor Maldonado. Inspired by "mapping the diversity and fusion of contemporary culture," Maldonado selected artists he worked with at PNCA whose work "aided [him] in understanding the value of contemporary Fine Arts practices now." Featured artists include Sara Nyquist, Laura Hughes, Danridge Geiger, Calvin Ross Carl, and Rainbow Ross.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • March 13
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th • info@galleryhomeland.org

The Oregon Department of Kick Ass presents Hunker Down to Rise Above, a series of short films curated by Vanessa Renwick. The films "focus on folks taking matters into their own hands, be it within bike culture, hobo culture, kitchen culture or just plain ol' falling in love." Admission is $5.

Films screening • 7pm • March 13
The Waypost • 3120 N Williams • 503.367.3182

Richard Serra, from Tappeiner's "Thinking on Your Feet"

The NW Film Center's art film series continues this week with Maria Anna Tappeiner's Richard Serra: Thinking on Your Feet. This film portrait depicts Serra speaking articulately on his monumental sculpture, influences, historical context and public controversy. The next two installments in the art film series are: Wendy Keys's Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight on March 14 and a double-billing of Adam Kahan's Andres Serrano and Lucy Allen's Damien Hirst: Addicted to Art on March 17.

Film screening • 7pm • March 11
NW Film at the Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park

Sol LeWitt, "Incomplete Open Cube," 1974

Local artist, curator, and writer TJ Norris will speak this Thursday at PAM on Incomplete Cube by Sol Lewitt and Marcel Duchamp's Boîte-en-valise, Series F. This is the second in PAM's new series of artist talks. The talk will depart from the Hoffman entrance and continue in the museum café after the tour for happy hour until 8pm.

Artist talk • 6-8pm • March 12
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

PSU's Autzen Gallery presents: I Hope This Finds You Fearless in the Wilderness, an installation by Evertt A. Beidler. The exhibition brings Messages From the Middle of Nowhere to the viewer: A code of ethics, a belief system, and the resolve to act upon them that was developed in isolation; where no one was watching.

Artist reception • 6-8pm • March 7
PSU Autzen Gallery • 724 SW Harrison Street • Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, rm 205

(More PSU! MK Gallery, Littman Gallery.)

Kim Fisher, "Lunar Eclipse"

Fourteen30 presents Under a Vanishing Night: New Work from L.A., featuring Kim Fisher, Sayre Gomez, Richard Jackson, Brian Kennon, and Natascha Snellman. Deeply connected to the city of Los Angeles and its many venerable art institutions, the artists work from the palpable energy of LA's light-polluted "vanishing night."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • March 6
Fourteen30 Contemporary • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.236.1430

(More.)

Martin Kersels, "Fat Iggy 2"

LA-based artist Martin Kersels is lecturing this weekend for RAW. Kersels works in sculpture, audio, photography and performance, and is co-director of the Program in Art at the California Institute of the Arts.

Artist lecture • 7pm • March 7
Reed College Arts Week • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Eliot 314

Jean-Baptiste Chardin, Les Attributs des arts et les rècompenses qui leur sont accordèes (The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards Which Are Accorded Them), 1766

New Yorker art critic Adam Gopnik is lecturing at PAM this Friday. In Madame De Pompadour In The Age Of Voltaire, Gopnik will discuss "the world of luxury, wealth, and leisure reflected in the art of Mme de Pompadour's time and the growth of radical new ideas about man, nature, and liberty that began in the era." There will be a book signing following the lecture, and a parent discussion on Saturday.

Critic lecture • 7-8pm • March 6
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Michael Lazarus

In conjunction with his exhibition tend to forget at Elizabeth Leach, artist Michael Lazarus will lecture Thursday afternoon at PNCA.

Artist lecture • 12:30-1:30pm • March 5
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

Now more than ever we need to support arts education in public schools: Portland's only primary art school, Buckman Elementary, is having their annual art show & sell this Friday and Saturday. The event features food, kid-friendly entertainment, and lots of art for sale, with 30% of proceeds going to benefit the school.

Art Show & Sell • 5-9pm • March 6
Day 2 • 10am-5pm • March 7
Buckman Elementary • 320 SE 16th Ave • 503.916-3506

Mel Katz at Laura Russo Gallery

Mel Katz presents Aluminum Sculpture at Laura Russo. After 50 years of practice, Katz's work has stayed modern and clean. His sculptures have become progressively more flattened, exploring the silhouette and positive and negative space.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • March 5
Artist lecture • 11am • March 14
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st Ave • 503.226.2754

(More.)

Ken Tomita, "body"

Project Chaboo, a collaboration between fifty artists and designer Ken Tomita, will be exhibiting reinterpreted furniture at Gallery Homeland. "Chaboo was designed with the intention of creating an affordable piece of furniture made of high quality materials that is also attractive, simple, and highly versatile."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • March 4
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th • info@galleryhomeland.org

Cliff Evans, from "Empyrean"

Multimedia and video artist Cliff Evans is exhibiting Empyrean, a digital installation, at PCC Cascade. Using appropriation and photomontage-based animation, Evans draws from pop/Internet culture to create images that are "as mesmerizing as disturbing, as unassuming as complexly beautiful, and as mechanical as organically decomposed or rotten." Art historian Christine Weber will speak next week on Evans work in the Moriarty Arts Humanities Building (MAHB 222).

Opening reception • 11am-1pm • March 5
Art historian lecture • 1-2pm • March 10
PCC Cascade Gallery • 705 N. Killingsworth St.TH 102 • cascade.gallery@pcc.edu

The Linfield Gallery presents 21st Century Iconographic Clayworks. Curated by Nils Lou, the exhibition features 24 of "some of the most masterful and influential artists working with clay in the United States today."

Opening reception • 6-8pm • March 4
Linfield Gallery • 900 SE Baker St. McMinnville • 503.883.2804

Martin van Meytens, portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette at age 12, 1767-68

In connection with the ongoing Madame de Pompadour exhibit, art historian Melissa Hyde will speak this Sunday on Painted Women In The Age Of Madame De Pompadour. Her lecture explores "representations of women and the role cosmetics and fashion played in the French court during the lives of Mme de Pompadour, Mme du Barry, and Queen Marie Antoinette."

Historian lecture • 2-3pm • March 1
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

(More: George Tice lectures at PAM, Modou Dieng speaks for PMMNLS, the nowhere art collective opens at Disjecta.)

Oregon Painting Society

Student-organized Reed Arts Week begins next week. This year's theme is SUB PRIME 2009, "a celebration of uncertainty and incompleteness, and a refusal to value the pinnacle at the expense of the ascent." From March 4 - March 8 there will be exhibitions, lectures, workshops, performances, and more, so make sure to peruse the schedule. Featured artists include Kasper Hauser, Eugene Tsui, Hot Little Hands, Jason Lazarus, Martin Kersels, Tao Lin, Sarah Ross, Dan Shapiro, Oregon Painting Society, Jorge Lucero, Neal Medlyn, Jeffrey Baker, and blackblack.

Arts Festival • March 4 - 8
Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

(more including films on artists and the Zero Film Festival)

Michael Kenna, "Broadway Bridge, Study 2, Portland, Oregon, USA," 2004

An unprecedented amount of photography appears in this year's TAM Biennial. Participating photographers Michael Kenna, Doug Keyes, Isaac Layman, and Susan Seubert are lecturing on the subject this week at the Tacoma Art Museum. They will be discussing "photography's role in fine art and commercial imagery." Rebecca Cummins, Associate Professor at University of Washington School of Art, will moderate a panel conversation.

Lecture & discussion • 11am-4pm • February 28
Tacoma Art Museum • 1701 Pacific Avenue Tacoma, WA 98402 • 253.272.4258

Tom Holmes, "I Make Stuff Up"

Curated by Gabrielle Giattino, I know nothing of the weather when I know it is either raining or not raining. opens this Thursday at PNCA's Feldman Gallery + Project Space. Drawing its title from Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logioco-Philosophicus, a series of statements about the nature of logic, the show highlights strategies for making art that "willingly defy the necessary usefulness of logic and language." Featured artists include Erica Baum, Ellie Ga, Tom Holmes, Justin Matherly, Andrea Merkx, Jenny Perlin, and Vicente Razo. Artist Andrea Merkx will lecture on Wednesday about the show, curator Gabrielle Giattino will give a tour before the reception, and artist Ellie Ga will give a final presentation on Friday.

Artist lecture • 12:30-1:30pm • February 25
Curator tour • 12:30-1:30pm • February 26
Opening reception • 6:30pm • February 26
Artist presentation • 12:30-1:30pm • February 27
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

Matthew Green will perform Solo Jams at Appendix Project Space this Thursday. The piece begins promptly at 7pm, and elements from it will be on view 3-7pm for the following three Thursdays.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • February 26
Appendix • NE Alberta • in the south alley between 26th & 27th

Jerry French and Charles S. Anderson

PNCA and Office PDX present a lecture by design leaders Jerry French and Charles S. Anderson. French is the founder of French Paper, the only independently owned paper mill in the US, and Anderson is the founder of CSA Design, a firm that "approaches design as a continuous evolution inspired by the highs and lows of art and print culture."

Design lecture • 6:30-8:30pm • February 25
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

Althea Thauberger, "La Mort e La Miseria," digital video still

B.C. media artist Althea Thauberger is speaking this Monday for PMMNLS. Her recent video and photography work features collaboration with her subjects, "inviting both sympathetic and critical reflection of tropes relating to individualism and self-expression, romanticism and nature and aspects of youth cultures with which she identifies."

Artist lecture • 7:20pm • February 23
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Artist live/work space Milepost 5 is launching two new bi-monthly exhibition series, MP5 Cubed and The Hallways. Curated by TJ Norris, MP5 Cubed will feature Kate Fenkertitled's Strange Attractor. On the first floor of the hallways, which are curated by Sara Cella, Derek Franklin and Calvin Ross Carl are showing Against Peter Halley : Reconsidering Rothko. Nicole Linde is exhibiting Flights of Fancy on the second floor, and Chris Haberman's El Corridor of Love will be on the third floor. Opening night features a live musical performance by Color Guard. The shows run through April 10.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • February 21
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st • 503.998.4878

Bruce Conkle & Marne Lucas, "Sleepwalking Salmon Woman and Primitive Artist," as played by Lucas and Conkle

The Marylhurst Art Gym presents Bruce Conkle and Marne Lucas's Warlord Sun King: The Genesis of Eco-Baroque. Coining the term "eco-baroque," this collaborative duo "seeks to combine a sensibility to the natural world that includes acknowledgment of many of its baroque, over-the-top manifestations that are not unlike the excesses of the Baroque era. If you imagine the Palace of Versailles crossed with the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, you will be ready for Warlord Sun King." The exhibition runs through March 25.

Preview reception • 3-5pm • February 22
Marylhurst • 17600 Pacific Highway Marylhurst, OR • 503.699.6243

Glenn Adamson

In case you missed the note in Alex's fantastic interview of Glenn Adamson, here's a reminder: He'll be lecture at the University of Oregon in Eugene on Friday, and at their Portland White Stage building this weekend for the Museum of Contemporary Craft's ongoing Craft Perspective series.

Lecture 1 • 4-5:30pm • February 20
U of O • Lillis Hall • 955 E. 13th Ave. Eugene
Lecture 2 • 2:30pm • February 21
White Stag Block • 70 NW Couch Street

Liza Ryan, "SPILL," installation view

In conjunction with her ongoing exhibition at the Cooley Gallery, SPILL, artist Liza Ryan will discuss her work this Friday in Reed's Eliot Hall.

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • February 20
Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Eliot Hall Room 304

An installation by Anna Gray & Ryan Wilson Paulsen, from OpenWidePDX

PNCA alumni Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen have made art out of tragedy with their new book, Integrating a Burning House, which focuses on the September 2008 fire that destroyed their home. They'll read from the book tomorrow.

Artist book reading • 6:30pm • February 19
Allied Works Architecture • 1532 SW Morrison

Lise Graham, "Untitled (red)"

Considered Space opens tomorrow at Clark College's Archer Gallery. This group exhibition explores "the presentation of space in painting, real and perceived." To examine this question, artists use techniques ranging from traditional tools of perspective and scale to the integration of three-dimensionality through materials and constructions. All featured artists are regional: Jesse Hayward (Portland), Mark R. Smith (Portland), Grant Hottle (Portland), Adam Sorensen (Portland), Cara Tomlinson (Portland), Ben Buswell (Portland), and Lise Graham (Seattle). The show picks up a thread from curator Jesse Hayward's The Hook Up at NAAU almost two years ago. Spatial exploration has since become a hot theme around this town - in the words of another PORTstar, is this space camp? Considered Space will run from February 17 through March 14.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • February 18
Archer Gallery • Clark College, Penguin Union Building, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • 360.992.2246

Daniel Payavis, "Shadow of a Book"

For its inaugural exhibition, east side space Pied-à-terre presents two works by Daniel Payavis. Shadow of a Book and Book draw from recent movements such as Suprematism, Russian Contructivism, and early Abstraction, as well as the ancient tradition of still life, to become "playful and thoughtful, aligning a respect for tradition with a dedicated interest in pursuing the new." This project by McIntyre Parker is open Saturdays and by appointment.

Exhibition • Through February 28
Pied-à-terre • 904 SE 20th Ave Apt. 5 • info@pied-terre.com

Portland's Japanese Garden

On Monday (for President's Day), the Japanese Garden is having a free admission day. Take advantage of the opportunity to experience what has been described as the most beautiful Japanese garden outside of Japan, and while you're there, catch the beginning of the 2009 season of the Art in the Garden series. From February 15 - February 22, calligraphy by Master Calligrapher Yoshiyasu Fujii of Tokyo will be on display in the pavilion with work by members of the Meito Shodo Kai. You can find the Japanese Garden above the Rose Gardens at 611 SW Kingston Avenue.

(More... Lectures by: Clement Tobias-Lange, and PMMNLS with Mark Beasley.)

Launch Pad's 4th Annual Love Show

Launch Pad Gallery presents their 4th Annual Love Show. With a staggeringly long list of participating artists, this year's open-call salon exhibition on the complexity of love has outgrown its britches and moved to the Olympic Mills Commerce Center. Partial proceeds from the show will benefit the Oregon Food Bank and Buckman Arts Elementary. See a list of participating artists and participatory events on Launch Pad's website.

Opening party • 7pm-12am • February 13
Olympic Mills Center • 107 SE Washington

Looking for something heart-free to do on VDay? Don't miss the opening of Shoot You - Shoot Me at Rocksbox. This joint exhibition by Moudou Dieng and Damien Gilley "examines the relationship between contemporary guerrilla warfare, high fashion, and the artist's approach to the creative process, while attempting to breakdown the predictability of perceived artistic production, display, and the consumption of mass imagery." This short term exhibition will be open from February 14 through March 1.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • February 14
Rocksbox Fine Art • 6540 N Interstate • 503.516.4777

Eugene Delacroix, "Christ on Lake Genesareth"

PAM is premiering a new artist talk series with MK Guth this week. At 6pm, Guth will lead museum visitors from the Hoffman Lobby on a tour through the galleries to discuss Eugene Delacroix's Christ on Lake Genesareth and Jeff Koons's Lifeboat. Afterward there will be discourse and happy hour until 8 in the museum café.

Artist talk • 6-8pm • February 12
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Also, UPDATE: We apologize for any confusion, the Sara Greenberger Rafferty lecture is this Thursday. Rafferty is an artist/comedian who lives and works in New York, is co-editor of North Drive Press, and has published widely on art and comedy.

Artist chat • 12:30-1:30pm • February 12
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

George Johanson

PNCA emeritus professor George Johanson is lecturing tomorrow on An Artist's Look at Lascaux. Johanson will discuss his recent trip to France, re-examining the prehistoric cave art of Lascaux in terms of "what these mysterious images tell us about the nature of painting and the nature of homo sapiens as visual thinkers."

Artist lecture • 6:30-8:30pm • February 10
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

Rick Lowe in front of duplexes designed by Rice students as part of Lowe's Project Row Houses, from the NY Times

Artist / activist Rick Lowe is speaking at Jimmy Mak's this Monday for the second installation of Portland Spaces' Bright Lights Discussion Series. Lowe is the founder of Houston's Project Row Houses, "a nonprofit arts organization, established by African-American artists and community activists to create a positive presence in Houston's Northern Third Ward community." Lowe's mission is to use art and the community it creates to revitalize inner city neighborhoods, and he'll be speaking about "the new intersections of art and urbanism." The Bright Lights Discussion Series happens the second Monday of every month at Jimmy Mak's.

Artist discussion • 6pm • February 9
Jimmy Mak's • 221 NW 10th • 503.295.6542

Julie Ault & Martin Beck, "Installation" at Secession 2006

Artist, author, and curator Julie Ault is speaking Monday for PMMNLS. One of the co-founders of 30-year-old social arts collective Group Material, Ault's work "emphasizes interrelationships between cultural production and politics."

Artist lecture • 7pm • February 9
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

François Boucher, "Les Confidences Pastorales," 1745

La volupté du goût: French Painting in the Age of Madame de Pompadour opens tomorrow at PAM. "Organized in collaboration with the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours, France, this international loan exhibition celebrates the patronage of Madame de Pompadour. As the official mistress of Louis XV, Pompadour indulged her 'voluptuous taste' in art to inspire some of the most sumptuous and sensual paintings in history." Among the most famous mistresses in history, Madame de Pompadour was an influential 18th century arts patron whose tastes often dictated the fashion of the day. The exhibition includes over 50 paintings commission or collected by Pompadour, including works by François Boucher, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre, and Carle Vanloo.

Exhibition • February 7 - May 17
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

(More: Gallery Homeland, MK Gallery, Autzen Gallery.)

Worksound presents White Noise, a group exhibition on stagnation. Inspired by Portland snow and the struggling economy, 23 artists from the Pacific Northwest & Los Angeles have interpreted this broad theme through video, installation, and other multimedia works. Featured artists include Kevin Abell, Jaclyn Campanaro, Thor Drake, E*Rock, Danridge Geiger, Damien Gilley, Evan B. Harris, Danielle Higgins, Yoni Kifle, Sarah Jane McKinley, Sarah Meadows, Tamar Monhait, Mason Poole (LA), Nick Raffel, Noah and Nathan Rice, Kent Richardson, Rebecca Shelly, Stephen Scott Smith, Corey Smith (LA), Rebecca Steele, Aaron Thomas (LA), and Dylan Walker.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • February 6
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

(More - updated.)

Sarah Greenberger Rafferty

Sara Greenberger Rafferty is lecturing at PNCA this Thursday as part of their MFA Chat series. Rafferty lives and works in New York, is co-editor of North Drive Press, and has published widely on art and comedy.

Artist chat • 12:30-1:30pm • February 5
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391

Eva Lake

Eva Lake will be exhibiting Target Photomontages at PCC Rock Creek's Helzer Gallery. Building on her lifelong obsession with targets, which as a teenager she would steal from the Ashland Police Rifle Range, Lake has layered these target images with beautiful women from nostalgia to modern pop stars, exposing the complex femininity beneath the "babe."

Artist lecture • 3pm • February 6
Opening reception • 4-6pm • February 6
Helzer Gallery @ PCC Rock Creek • 17705 NW Springville Road • Building 3

Sandy Roumagoux, "Stonefield Beach Quartet"

In celebration of Oregon's sesquicentennial (150th birthday), Blackfish presents Oregon Seen. This group exhibition of Blackfish members celebrates Oregon & Oregonians, offering artists the opportunity to express both pride and concerns about their home state. On February 14, Oregon's birthday, long time Blackfish member Paul Missal will lecture on Oregon's artistic heritage. Special Oregon Modernist works will be on loan for the lecture, including works by Charles Heaney and Louis Bunce.

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

(More - UPDATED.)

Vanessa Renwick, from "Toxic Shock," 1983

Watch: Curator Marc Moscato presents A Not Too Distant Past: Film & Video From Underground Chicago, a collection of short experimental and documentary videos examining the Chicago's radical history. Featured filmmakers include Vanessa Renwick, Frédéric Moffet, Dara Greenwald, Kartemquin Films (a 1970s student group at the Art Institute of Chicago), The Videofreex (a late 1960s underground video collective out of upstate New York), and Marc Moscato. Tickets are $5.

Video screening • 8pm • February 5
The Waypost • 3120 N Williams • 503.367.3182

Film: Like to make film? Like to bicycle? (It's Portland, of course you do.) The 7th Annual Filmed By Bike festival is soliciting bike-themed shorts. All submissions must be under 8 minutes, and the deadline is February 15. Read all about it here.

Brain Awareness 2k9: OHSU's The Right Brain Initiative is hosting a lecture on learning, the arts, and the brain next week. The panel discussion will be moderated by John Frohnmayer, former chairman of the NEA. Featured speakers include two leading researchers on the arts and cognition, Drs. Michael Posner and Helen Neville, and two members of Portland's creative community, famous advertiser Dan Wieden and Chris Coleman, artistic director of Portland Center Stage. After the lecture there will be a "creativity reception" with major Portland/Oregon arts groups. Tickets are $20 + fees.

Panel lecture • 7pm • February 2
Portland Center for the Performing Arts • 1111 SW Broadway • 503.248.4335

Edgar Arceneaux, "The Alchemy of Comedy... Stupid" at the 2008 Whitney Biennial

LA-based multi-disciplinary artist Edgar Arceneaux is speaking at next week's PMMNLS. Arceneaux "explores the origins and laws of our physical reality, using strategy in which linear logic is subverted and destabilized to create a space of experimentation." Recent works include The Alchemy of Comedy... Stupid at the 2008 Whitney Biennial, featuring actor David Alan Grier working out an introspective and frequently awkward comedy routine.

Artist lecture • 7pm • February 2
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Liza Ryan

Reed's Cooley Gallery presents SPILL, a film and photography installation by LA-based artist Liza Ryan. Ryan's work explores the liberation of the human psyche from the dimensions of reality, focusing on the psychological experiences of release and dispersal. The exhibition continues through March 8, featuring an artist talk in February in Reed's Eliot Hall room 314.

Exhibition • January 29 - March 8
Artist talk • 6:30pm • February 20
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Hauser Memorial Library

Stephanie Robison, "Oversight"

The Tacoma Art Museum's 9th NW Biennial opens this weekend. TAM has had one of the more enduring annuals featuring regional artists, but in past years it has been a bit overcrowded and Seattle-skewed. Once again, there are only 5 Portland artists represented, but there should be some goodies. Stephanie Robison will be taking over the courtyard with a majorly expanded version of the above installation. (Note: Due to tinted glass, her piece will not be visible at night during the opening, so make the trip north early to see this gem in daylight.) The exhibition runs through May 25.

Opening reception • 7:30-10pm • January 31
Tacoma Art Museum • 1701 Pacific Avenue Tacoma, Washington • 253.272.4258

From "Undone"

Karl Burkheimer and Jenene Nagy have organized a group show of work by post-bac students at the Oregon College of Art & Craft. Undone showcases projects in wood, ceramics, metals, photography and drawing and painting by a group of artists who have come to OCAC to "further their artistic practice in an art and craft environment," in a "re-investigation of art and learning." Featured artists include Soraya Sayani, Molly Purnell, Jacie Friedkin, Matt Wicks, Kimo Nelson, Pat Krishnamurthy, Johanna Keefe, Suzanne Lussier, Betany Porter, and Stephanie Brachmann. The show will run at Disjecta from January 31 through February 14. Gallery hours are Thu-Sun, 12-5pm, but watch out for unexpected closures- Disjecta's had some scheduling issues with performances and gallery availability in the last few shows.

Exhibition • January 31 - February 14
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate • 503.286.9449

Appendix gallery is opening its 2009 season with Pushup: new work by Calvin Ross Carl, Zack Davis and Joshua Pavlacky.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • January 29
Appendix Project Space • In the alley b/w 26th & 27th on NE Alberta

Janice Vitkovsky, "Beneath the Surface II"

Bullseye presents an exhibition of work from Scotland's North Lands Creative Glass. Due North celebrates the legacy of glass making in Scotland's highlands, featuring Jane Bruce, Lisa Cahill, Mel George, Deborah Horrell, Steve Klein, Dante Marioni, Catharine Newell, Robin Provart-Kelly, Bruno Romanelli, Louise Tait, and Janice Vitkovsky.

Exhibition • January 27 - March 21
Artist panel • 2-4pm • March 22
Bullseye Gallery • 300 NW 13th • 503.227.0222

Shigeru Takato, "Cologne V.," 2004

Lewis & Clark's Hoffman Gallery presents reGeneration, a group photography exhibition. Selected by three curators from Musée de l'Elysée, the show highlights some of the best work from emerging photographers around the globe. In an effort to explore the future of 21st century photographic practices, the curators used one question to guide their selections: Will this image be known in twenty years? Amongst over 150 remarkable images, featured work includes Keren Assaf's Untitled (Israel), an attempt to understand Israeli culture through the comparison of its aspirations with the American dream; Shigeru Takato's Cologne V. (above), part of his Television Studios series that exposes the hollow and blatantly artificial environments of the studio; and Untitled from Nicholas Prior's The Age of Man, where the photographer explores childhood as a social, not biological, construct.

Exhibition • January 22 - March 15
Hoffman Gallery • 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd • 503.768.7687

MK Guth, Ties of Protection and Safekeeping

MK Guth will speak in the APEX Gallery at PAM this weekend about her installation Ties of Protection and Safekeeping. Read about the installation at the Whitney Biennial here.

Artist lecture • 2-3pm • January 25
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Michael Brophy, "Day"

PMMNLS is back with celebrated local artist Michael Brophy, who paints vivid and often desolate images of the Northwest landscape.

Artist lecture • 7pm • January 26
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Jesse Durost, "Flags, Smoke, Comfort and Conflict"

Fourteen30 presents the work of Portland-based Jesse Durost and LA-based John Sisley. Durost's Fabrications explore his "own vocabulary of architectural forms." In ENDGAMES, Sisley also creates a new spatial language, through "the erased or destroyed photograph, the lost or, unseen film, and the damaged record."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 23
Fourteen30 • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.236.1430

Two new exhibitions are opening Thursday at the Museum of Contemporary Craft:

Mandy Greer, "Dare alla Luce," installation shot

Mandy Greer presents her installation Dare alla Luce. The term is an Italian idiom for giving birth that translates to "to give to the light." Simultaneously "mythical and mundane," the installation uses sewing, crochet, braiding, and beading processes to "collapse the language and materials of the ordinary with the spectacular and the epic."

Exhibition • January 22 - May 31
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Darrel Morris, "COACHES and athlete"

MoCC will be the first West Coast institution to exhibit Darrel Morris' large embroidered works, featuring pieces from 1999-2008. Best known for "intimate and nostalgic snapshot-sized pieces," with this body of work Morris approaches new territory in scale, color, and line. Clipping figures from print media, Morris creates sharply graphic line drawings with thread.

Exhibition • January 22 - May 31
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Don't miss the panel discussion opening night. Stefano Catalani, curator from the Bellevue Arts Museum, will join MoCC curator Namita Wiggers and artists Mandy Greer and Darrel Morris for the latest lecture in MoCC's Craft Perspectives series.

Rachel Whiteread

Internationally renowned British sculptor Rachel Whiteread will be exhibiting recent sculpture and works on paper in the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art at PAM. Using a variety of casting techniques, Whiteread "works with the empty and unexamined spaces" of domestic objects "rendering negative space as positive sculptural form." Her work explores both the form and reimagined meanings of quotidian objects and the materials she casts them in.

Exhibition • January 17 - May 3
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SE Park • 503.226.2811

This month's Art Spark, hosted by the Gilt Club, features Oregon College of Art & Craft president Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson. She will discuss the future of OCAC, and its relationship to the Portland arts community.

Discussion group • 5-7pm • January 15
Art Spark at the Gilt Club • 306 NW Broadway

Theresa Redinger

PCC Sylvania's North View Gallery presents Making Camp, a group exhibition that capitalizes on the campus's treehouse setting. Featuring two artist-made tents, this 13 person show celebrates the outdoors with a wide range of media, from watercolor to video.

Opening reception • 11:30am-1:30pm • January 15
North View Gallery • 12000 SW 49th Ave • CT 214 Building

Chelsea Geringer

Curator Gail Brown presents The Next Iconoclasts at OCAC's Hoffman Gallery. The group exhibition focusing on altered expectations and revisionist identities, "features dramatically innovative work with evolutionary responses to historic precedents."

Opening reception • 4-7pm • January 15
Hoffman Gallery • 8245 SW Barnes Road • 503.297.5544

Darth Vader Tries to Clean the Black Sea With Brita Filter, 2000

On Monday, Bulgarian-born artist Daniel Bozhkov will speak for PSU's MFA Monday Night Lecture Series. Classically trained, Bozhkov incorporates his skill in Old Master techniques such as fresco to provide a basis for performance, video, and conceptual projects. Bozhkov invades modern worlds - from genetic science to shopping malls - as an "intruder/outsider" who introduces new strains of meaning into closed systems.

Artist lecture • 7pm • January 12
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Stephen Chalmers

First Friday got lost in the holiday shuffle this month, but there are several interesting shows opening this weekend. Newspace is featuring the work of photographers Stephen Chalmers and Nan Brown. Chalmers explores "psychologically charged spaces... while he coolly detaches such imagery from its popular tropes." His series Transience depicts Snowbirds, and the culture surrounding full time RV habitation. Brown's work looks at a similar American subculture. Trailers Collected depicts "the individualism and freedom intrinsic to American rural life," combating the trailer trash stereotype with an honest look into the diverse community of trailer owners and travelers.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • January 9
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th • 503.963.1935

(More: Autzen Gallery, MK Gallery, PAM.)

Jason Adkins

PCC's Cascade Gallery presents Modern Salvage, a group exhibition that reexamines late Modernist formal aesthetics. The show asks what it means to create work in this vernacular when it has been co-opted by the sleek commercial lines of IKEA. How do we reconcile the "classical" reductive aesthetic with the highly marketable department store Modernism? Featured artists include Matthew Letzelter, Kim McKenna, Sterling Lawrence, Matthew Green, Jason Adkins, and Jeff Koons.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • January 9
Curatorial lecture • 4-5pm • January 26
PCC Cascade Gallery • 705 N. Killingsworth • Terrell Hall Room 102

The Social Practices students in PSU's MFA program present Extraordinarily Ordinary in PSU's White Gallery. The exhibition is the first in an experimental series showcasing the ongoing work of the Social Practices students. Student work and interactive projects will be on display in the White Gallery on a rotating basis - and this week's opening reception features a larger-than-life crossword.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • January 8
PSU White Gallery • 1825 SW Broadway • Smith Building South Wing 2nd Floor

Drake Deknatel, "Watch the Night," 2003

Elizabeth Leach presents Berlin Portraits, an exhibition celebrating the life and work of Drake Deknatel (1943-2005). Deknatel began this series after discovering a photograph of himself as a child, dressed in his father's flight jacket. The paintings explore childhood memory and experience, repeating the forms of child and adult until representational figures begin to blur back into abstraction, recounting the greater narrative of the image. Deknatel lived and worked in Seattle for over 20 years, but continued to maintain a studio in Berlin, where he exhibited widely.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 8
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521

(More.)

Laura Fritz, Evident (installation/detail view)

The first big show of 2009 opens this week: Laura Fritz will launch the 2009 segment of NAAU's Couture exhibitions with Evident, one of the most anticipated shows of the series. Conceived and designed specifically for Couture, Evident also marks Fritz's first full scale solo appearance in Portland since 2003. (Although Interspace and Caseworks 13 made notable appearances.)

Critically well-received, Fritz's installations elegantly manipulate and distort their surroundings, exploiting the cognitive dissonance created when space is subverted and no explanation is provided. She retains a high degree of control over her material even as she leaves meaning fully open ended, allowing "human nature to expose itself as a response and rationalization of the unknown."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 7
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny St. • 503.231.8294

Lucky Dragons photographed by Michael Demeo

PSU's MFA Monday Night Lecture Series (PMMNLS) returns next Monday for winter quarter. The first presenter of 2009 will be the music/performance/installation group Lucky Dragons. Made up of Luke Fischbeck, Sarah Rara, and collaborators, "Lucky dragons are about the birthing of new and temporary creatures--equal-power situations in which audience members cooperate amongst themselves, building up fragile networks held together by such light things as skin contact, unfamiliar language, temporary logic, the spirit of celebration, and things that work but you don't know why."

Lecture • 7:30pm • January 5
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Left: Jerry Walker, "Target For One," Right: cary doucette, "blau 1 (detail)"

12x16 is bringing in the new year with Jerry Walker and gallery member cary doucette. Walker was a Portland Pop Pioneer, who adopted the 1960s & 70s NYC Minimalist edge. Although he exhibited in the Portland Art Museum, his work remained largely obscure until his estate sold the collection after his death. Complementing Walker's Minimialist constructions are the parts and pieces of cary doucette. This show exposes the concept behind his work through raw materials, presenting unfinished structures like an architect might present a model.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 2
Artist reception • 2-4pm • January 4
12x16 Gallery • 8235 SE 13th #5 • 503.432.3513

Terry Toedtemeier's Soliton, Oregon Coast, 2004

The Northwest Photography Archive has established a memorial fund in honor of Terry Toedtemeier, which will fund a book of his photographs, more info on the fund at the bottom of the page here.

The NPA site also states that a memorial service will be held at the Portland Art Museum on Sunday, January 4. It will begin at 2 p.m. with a viewing of the Wild Beauty exhibition, followed by a memorial program at 3 p.m. in the Fields Ballroom in the Museum’s Mark Building. The program will include remarks by friends and family and a slide show of Terry’s work.

Suggestion for the cabin fevered in our unthawing city... if you do nothing else this weekend check out Wild Beauty at PAM, the show ends January 11th.

Ready to brave the snow? Catch the artist reception for Mixed Magic at PSU's Autzen gallery. This group exhibition uses comedy and playfulness to address more complex subject matter, approaching humor as an important tool to get us through difficult social and economic times. The show closes on December 22.
Update! The reception is canceled due to inclement weather. Check to see if PSU is open before stopping by to see the show.

Artist reception • 6-8pm • December 19
Autzen Gallery at PSU • 2000 SW 5th Ave • 2nd Floor Neuberger Hall

KBOO's Art Focus will hold a tribute to Terry Toedtemeier this Thursday morning. Guests include Jane Beebe of PDX Contemporary (his dealer), John Laursen (co-author of Wild Beauty), and his widow and co-curator, Prudence Roberts.

Radio Tribute • 10:30-11am • December 18
KBOO 90.7fm in Portland

Ben Peters

The 46th Ann Arbor film festival is coming to the NW Film Center. The longest running experimental film festival in the country, this year's tour features 31 of the best short films in the festival, split into two programs. Wednesday's program features works from Ben Peters' Frog Jesus to Josh Rankin's I Met the Walrus. Thursday's program includes Kelly Sears' The Drift, Semiconductor's Brilliant Noise - and many, many more on both nights.

Film Screening Part I • 7pm • December 17
Film Screening Part II • 7pm • December 18
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium at PAM • 1219 SW Park

This weekend, a group of PNCA students will screen movies, a collection of short experimental film, at Gallery Homeland. Featured artists include Jacob Winfield, Ryan Tesar Freeman, Kevin Tinnell, Morgan Alexandra Ritter, Joey Lusterman, Chris Bovden, Bryan Colombo, Adrienne Huckabone, Israel Lund, Sarah Burke, Julia Perry, Brennan Broome, and Jim Hill.

Film Screening • 7pm • December 12
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th

Fourteen30 presents Impossible Instruments / Future Flags, a group exhibition organized by artist Nathaniel T. Price. Using science fiction as a point of departure, the show takes on manifestations of the uncanny and the strange in human experience. Exhibiting artists include Alex Felton, Kristan Kennedy, Corey Lunn, Chris Johanson, M Blash, Dana Dart-McLean, Rob Halverson, Steven Wirth, Jo Jackson, Nathaniel T. Price, Arnold J. Kemp and Bobo.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • December 12
Fourteen30 Contemporary • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.236.1430

The Mmm...Video series has started at PSU's MK Gallery. Lasting through most of December, the series begins with Robert Barta's Capri (through the 7th), followed by Alex Hubbard's Collapse of the Expanded Field 1-3, and Matthew Green's Home of the Radical.

Video series • December 1 - 22
PSU MK Gallery • 2000 SW 5th AVE • 2nd Floor

Michael McManus and Alexandra Schmidt

The Cooley gallery presents a performance orchestrated by Stephanie Gervais and Alexandra Schmidt. In Love: Personified, Schmidt and fellow performer Michael McManus "embark upon a journey from one kind of fear to another." This romantic/erotic performance, exploring youth and beauty, begins with the blast of a shofar, and ends with the pair embracing in a bathtub "replete with a thousand goldfish." The performance will be followed with music by Zoe Roller from 5-6pm. After the music, stay at the Cooley for Dreamtime with David Reed - bring your sleeping bag, and get comfy in the gallery to watch a screening of two video works by David Reed, in conjunction with the end of David Reed's Lives of Paintings at the gallery.

Performance • 4-5pm • December 8
Music • 5-6pm • December 8
Screening • 6-9pm • December 8
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Hauser Memorial Library

Alexander Herzog, "picture 10"

Alexander Herzog presents I Found the Cure at 32 at Gallery Homeland. He writes that his work is "a collision of cultural anthropology and phenomenological experience." Extrapolating many formal elements from the history of painting, Herzog "pushes and pulls the segments of the image into space."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • December 5
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th • info@galleryhomeland.org

(More.)

Tony Fry

Australian design theorist Tony Fry will be the next PNCA+Five Ideas Studio speaker. Design Futuring, Culture and the Coming Age of Unsettlement will address two major questions: "How can design, as a positive force for change, be made to happen? And, how can design become a re-directive practice leading towards sustainment?" Fry is a contributing editor to the Design Philosophy Papers as well as director of "sustainability consultancy" Team D/E/S.

Design lecture • 12:30pm • December 5
PNCA • Gerding Theater at the Armory • 128 NW 11th Ave

Stephen Scott Smith, "Bunnysmith"

The Mark Woolley Gallery is celebrating their 15th anniversary this month with Stephen Scott Smith's Selections from ME9. Smith's provocative work explores identity, competitive art world marketing and artist branding, narcissism, modernity vs. nature and more through photography, video, installation, performance and painting.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • December 4
Mark Woolley Gallery • 817 SW 2nd Ave • 503.224.5475

(More.)

This Monday, come to the Holocene to celebrate the release of Psilo Design's 3rd Portland Funbook. The last two were fabulous proof that art and music in Portland are fun, and this year's is even oversize. Monday's release party will also be a benefit for Amnesty International.

Funbook3 Release Party • 9pm • December 1
Holocene • 1001 SE Morrison • $9

Orlo, publisher of the Bear Deluxe magazine, is celebrating their 15th birthday this Wednesday at the Someday. Exploring a variety of methods to "use the creative arts to explore environmental issues," Orlo's primary recent focus has been on Bear Deluxe. They'll release issue 28, their special contemporary arts issue (featuring images by PORT's own Ryan Pierce), at the party. The party will also feature cupcakes, cake, games and a placard-drawing contest. Free to Orlo members, or $5-$10 donation.

Orlo Birthday Party • 6:30-10pm • December 3
Someday Lounge • 125 NW 5th AVE

Hamza Walker

Before the Funbook party, don't forget PMMNLS! This week's lecture features curator Hamza Walker, interviewed a couple of years ago on PORT here. Since 1994, Walker has served as Director of Education/Associate Curator for The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago, a non-collecting museum devoted to contemporary art, and has received the 1999 Norton Curatorial Grant and the 2005 Walter Hopps Award for curatorial achievement.

Lecture • 7:30pm • December 1
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Still from "Zidane"

This weekend, work off the holiday madness from the perspective of famous soccer player Zidane. The NW Film Center is screening Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, directed by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Pareno, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You can learn more about this ground breaking experimental film from Arcy's September review. Check out showtimes, and buy tickets online, at the NW Film Center site.

From "Wild Beauty" at PAM

In conjunction with PAM's ongoing exhibition, Wild Beauty: Photographs of the Columbia River Gorge, the NW Film Center will present three film series that reflect the history of the Columbia River and the enormous changes the river has undergone. The first is happening this Sunday, and features three short films: The Columbia River Gorge: A Natural History, Sagebrush Sailors, and Singing Waters: Where Rolls Oregon. Visit the NW Film Center for showtimes and more information, and keep an eye on their site for the next two installments, on December 14 and December 28.

Matthew Higgs, tonight's PMMNLS speaker, will be following his lecture with a dance party at SE industrial night club Branx. Sponsored by the PSU Art dept., "Art is to enjoy disco" features Matthew Higgs on the decks, and a last chance to shake your tailfeathers before weighing them down with turkey.

Dance Party • 10pm-2am • November 24
Branx • 320 SE 2nd

François Boucher, "Portrait de Madame de Pompadour," 1756

Patrice Marandel, Chief Curator of the Center for European Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is speaking this Sunday at PAM. Marandel will explore Madame de Pompadour, trendsetter in 18th century French culture, in a special advance lecture for PAM's February exhibition, La volupté du goût.

Curator Lecture • 2-3pm • November 23
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Matthew Higgs, "What Goes Around Comes Around"

Next week's PMMNLS features NYC-based curator, critic, and artist Matthew Higgs. Since the early 1990s, Higgs has sought to explore the overlapping connections between the three practices, developing an ongoing, inter-generational dialogue between artists through exhibitions and his own work.

Lecture • 7:30pm • November 24
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Rae Mahaffey, "Fig. 704 Brackets"

Rae Mahaffey and Sherrie Wolf are speaking this weekend at Laura Russo. Mahaffey's Engineering, an exhibition of painting, prints and glass, and Wolf's Animal Life paintings are on view at the gallery through the end of November.

Artists Lecture • 11am • November 22
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st • 503.226.2754

Jiro Yonezawa, "Araumi"

Jiro Yonezawa's Dream Weaver is on view in the pavilion at the Japanese Gardens through November 30. Traditionally trained in bamboo arts in Beppu, Japan, Yonezawa lived and worked for many years outside of Portland before his recent return to Japan. His bamboo basketry and sculpture combine a mastery of traditional forms with a unique, elegant contemporary sensibility.

Exhibition • November 15 - 30
Japanese Gardens • 611 SW Kingston Avenue • Garden Pavilion

Allora & Calzadilla, still from "Under Discussion," from "Beyond Green" at Lewis & Clark

Next week: Stephanie Smith, director of collections and exhibitions and curator of contemporary art at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, will speak at PSU. Smith, who has published and curated widely on issues of art and sustainability, curated Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art, originally exhibited at the Smart Museum, currently on view at Lewis & Clark's Hoffman Gallery.

Lecture • 7:30pm • November 17
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

The Boxlift Building artists are having their annual open studio. Come by this weekend for music, refreshments, and work by 16 artists, including Eugenia Pardue, Mark and Rae Mahaffey (who has a show up at Laura Russo this month).

Open Studios • 4-10pm • November 15
12-5pm • November 16
Boxlift Building • 333 NE Hancock St. • boxliftbldg@gmail.com

Icelandic artist Asmundur Asmundsson's The Good Works opens this weekend at Rocksbox. Asmundsson "creates a subterfuge," believing that "our foundation as a civilized people has eternal possibilities and is despite (or because of) the dreadfulness of contemporary tastelessness, based upon freedom seeking the genuine." Asmundsson will also be lecturing this Friday at PSU.

Artist lecture • 6-8pm • November 14
PSU • 2000 SW 5th AVE • Room AB200, 2nd Floor Art Building

Opening reception • 7-11pm • November 15
Rocksbox • 6450 N Interstate AVE • 971.506.8938

Jens Hoffmann

Jens Hoffmann, international curator, art critic, and author, will present "What is a Curator? From Exhibition Maker to Author" this week at PNCA. Curating is difficult business, and this lecture should be an interesting exploration of questions of contemporary art.

Curatorial lecture • 6:30pm • November 12
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • Swigert Commons

Don't miss this: For the holidaze, PAM is offering two for one admission every Thursday night, 4-8pm, through January 8, 2009 (the end of the Wild Beauty exhibition).

Dan Gilsdorf's Interiotrope is opening at Disjecta tomorrow. Gilsdorf "creates subtle and mysterious narratives from simple mechanisms." With Interiotrope, he has transformed the exhibition space, "infiltrating the gallery and breach[ing] surfaces which normally delineate interior space."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • November 8
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate Avenue • 503.286.9449

(More! And PMMNLS.)

LEFT: Nick van Woert, RIGHT: Nicholas Pittman

Nick van Woert and Nicholas Pittman are bringing New Construction to Fourteen30. Responding to changes in technology and contemporary life through invention rather than reflection, the artists attempt to create a sense of order out of our times through abstract works of relief construction, sculpture, and painting. It's good to see Fourteen30 bringing this space back to participating in First Friday.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • November 7
Fourteen30 • 1430 SE 3rd AVE • 503.236.1430

(More.)

Storm Tharp, "Twins at a Funeral"

Storm Tharp is exhibiting ARM & ARM at PDX Contemporary. This new body of work continues his "lengthy investigation into the relationship between human nature and artfulness, form and function." Nine major works will be featured, exploring portraiture, painting, film, and one ambitious sculptural piece. Tharp, who was reviewed by PORT last year, named this exhibition such that "in all forms of its meaning, 'two' is revealed. 'Two' and what it conjures, is the basis by which the work for this exhibition was made."

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

(Many more - updated!)

Chang-Ae Song, "MASS - Black Disaster"

Pacific Currents opens this week at Clark College's Archer Gallery. The show features nine contemporary artists of Asian heritage working in a broad range of mediums to explore Asian historical traditions through modern issues and experience.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • November 5
Archer Gallery • Penguin Union Building, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • 360.992.2246

Roxanne Jackson, "Soft Spot"

Clay As Sculpture is currently showing at the Alexander Gallery at Clackamas CC. The exhibition, which explores the use of ceramics in sculpture, features work by Roxanne Jackson, J.D. Perkins, and Micki Skudlarczyk. It is open through November 19.

Reception • 3-5pm • November 6
Alexander Gallery • Niemeyer Center, 19600 Molalla AVE, Oregon City

Sherrie Wolf, "Courbet's Allegory"

The Art Gym at Marylhurst presents Homage, re-enactments, copies and tributes by Sherrie Wolf, Brad Adkins, Christopher Rauschenberg and Michelle Ross. Originally conceived when Wolf presented her full scale copy of Gustave Courbet's 1855 oil painting The Painter's Studio: Allegory of Seven Years of My Artistic and Moral Life, curator Terri Hopkins decided to seek out other artists who were exploring imitation and homage: Rauschenberg's Eugène Atget project, Adkins's visual performance re-enactments, and Ross's Small Wild Things. Hopkins suggests that these artists projects are inspired less by a Levine-like desire to question authenticity, then an interest in homage, re-creation, and experimentation. The show runs through December 7.

Preview reception • 3-5pm • November 2
Marylhurst Art Gym • 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy 43) Marylhurst, OR • 503.699.6243

Mammalian Diving Reflex, from "Accepting the Possibility That I May Ruin My Eyes

Next Monday's PMMNLS speaker is Darren O'Donnell, writer, director, social acupuncturist, designer and artistic director of Mammalian Diving Reflex. MDR claims to "smash ideas together at high speeds to see what pops out, inadvertently producing ideal entertainment for the end of the world." Here's to hoping the world doesn't end on Tuesday, but just in case, go see this lecture.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • November 3
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

MK Guth's project at the Whitney Biennial

MK Guth is bringing her installation at the Whitney Biennial to PAM's APEX gallery. For Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping, Guth traveled across the country, asking community members "What's worth protecting?" Their answers were handwritten on red flannel ribbons, and incorporated into a continuous braid, referencing Rapunzel's epic braid. PAM writes that the project "poignantly embodies the diverse voices of America in today's complex times." Don't miss PORT's exclusive interview with the artist last January.

Exhibition • November 1, 2008 - March , 2009
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park AVE • 503.226.2811

The North Coast Seed Building, one of Portland's many great artist work spaces, invites the community to join them "on the wrong side of the tracks" for an open house this weekend. The building is made up of three separate warehouses constructed over thirty years, beginning in 1911. Originally zoned only for industrial use, artists working in the space in the early 1990s were nearly evicted by the fire marshal. Due to the intervention of a sympathetic member of the City of Portland's Bureau of Buildings, an artist's work was reinterpreted as a manufacturing process, and the North Coast Seed Building became an officially sanctioned artist space. Artists currently working in the building include Cynthia Lahti and Jason Traeger.

Open House • 5-9pm • November 1
North Coast Seed Building • 2127 N. Albina AVE

History of Honey

In conjunction with the ongoing Beyond Green exhibition at L&C's Hoffman Gallery, PORT's own Ryan Pierce is exhibiting The End of Death and Taxes. The large-scale paintings depict humans rebuilding society after the end of industry. It is a utopian exploration of what it would mean to create a sustainable environment by "redrafting human society around the health of natural systems." The exhibition is on display on the first floor of the Miller Center for the Humanities.

Exhibition • Through December 7
Hoffman Gallery • 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd. • 503.768.7687

David Reed, "#453," 1996-2000, Collection Neues Museum Nürnberg

Abstract painter (and Reed alumnus) David Reed is speaking this Wednesday at Reed College. The lecture will be followed by a public reception at the Cooley for David Reed: Lives of Paintings, on view through December 9.

Artist lecture • 7pm • October 29
Reed College Vollum Lecture Hall
Exhibition • October 29 - December 9
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Hauser Memorial Library

Ursula von Rydingsvard, "Damski Czepek"

Ursula von Rydingsvard will launch this year's Visiting Artists & Scholars program at OSU. She came to PAM a year ago to speak on the occasion of the exhibition of Pod Pacha last year. von Rydingsvard is best known for her extraordinary monumental cedar sculptures and installations.

Reception • 6pm • November 6
Lecture • 7pm • November 6
OSU • 875 SW 26th St. Corvallis • C&E Auditorium LaSells

Matt McCormick, still from "Towlines"

Artist / filmmaker Matt McCormick will be next week's PMMNLS speaker. Locally and nationally acclaimed, McCormick is known for such films as The Subconcious Art of Graffiti Removal, Towlines, and The Problem With Machines (That Communicate). His playful films offer "witty, abstract observations of contemporary culture and the urban landscape."

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • October 27
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

Been following development of the new bridge with us? An urban design panel is convening next Tuesday to discuss the "process, design considerations, and the next step." Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail: A New Bridge Over the Willamette will feature international bridge designer Miguel Rosales, AIA, and TriMet Design Manager Sean Batty, ASLA. You can preview documents related to the planning process on TriMet's site.

Urban Design Panel • 12-1:30pm • October 28
AIA Portland • 401 NW 11th AVE • Main Conference Room

Melody Owen, "Giraffe"

Over the past decade, philanthropist Leslie Durst has been privately commissioning a different local artist each year to create a unique edition of twelve objects. The Butterfly Effect will showcase the works publicly for the first time. The visual effect may be somewhat hodge podge, but it should be an interesting chance to see a somewhat rare example of the role of modern patronage. Artists include Christine Bourdette, Inge Bruggeman, Rachel Denny, Kristy Edmunds, Eleanor Erskine, Sally Finch, Kay French, Jörg Jakoby, Melody Owen, and Jenny Rideout.

Exhibition • 12-6pm • October 21 - 25
PICA • Leftbank Building • 240 N Broadway

Buster Simpson, "Incidence," installed at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. Photo by Russell Johnson.

Next week's PMMNLS features Buster Simpson, a widely known environmental and site-specific artist. His public installations seek to actively engage the viewer and the surrounding environment, such as Incidence shown above, which responds to ambient atmospheric conditions of light and the reflections on the water. Simpson's work includes major infrastructure projects, site master planning, signature sculptures, museum installations, and community projects.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • October 20
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

logo ©Drive By Press

This Saturday, Drive By Press is holding a printing party at The Life, featuring their mobile print making studio. Come by, make your own print or t-shirt, and enjoy a Saturday night art party at the Everett Station lofts.

Printing party • 6:30pm • October 18
The Life Art • 625 NE Everett St. #107 • 971.544.1365

Reminder: Nominations are due Monday, October 20 for the Henry's new Brink Award. Nomination guidelines can be found here.

Todd Johnson

Ongoing: Photographer Todd Johnson's Dangerous Territory is on view at PNCA. This politically timely exhibition "revolves around the ideas of competition, survival, technology and destruction."

Exhibition • October 12 - November 30
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson

Cloud Eye Control, from "Under Polaris"

PICA presents Under Polaris, a "multimedia Arctic experience" by Cloud Eye Control. Created while the group was in residence with PICA, the hybrid performance is "a multi-media quest through expansive arctic landscapes, mythical creatures and the ethereal Aurora Borealis." Cloud Eye Control is a collaborative performance group from Los Angeles, comprised of Chi-wang Yang, Miwa Matreyek, and Anna Oxygen. Tickets to the event are $10.

Performance • 2:30-6:30pm (all ages) • 8:30pm (21+) • October 19
PICA • Leftbank Building • 240 N Broadway

Thomas Zummer, 2002, Portrait of 'Odex', graphite and pure carbon on paper, 42 x 30

PNCA & FIVE Idea Studio present "Models of Critical Production," a series of workshops, seminars, and lectures led by Saul Ostrow and Thomas Zummer. Ostrow and Zummer are both established artists, critics, curators, and scholars, and will critically examine modes of contemporary art practice. The noon-time chats are free and open to the public.

Saul Ostrow Lecture #1 • 12:30 - 1:30pm • October 14
Tom Zummer Lecture • 12:30-1:30 • October 15
Saul Ostrow Lecture #2 • 12:30 - 1:30pm • October 16
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson, in Commons • 503.226.4391

Jim Lommasson, "Arturo Franco: Wilsonville, OR"

The next NAAU Couture show opens this Friday. Jim Lommasson presents Exit Wounds, a documentation of the lives of returning veterans, exhibiting concurrently with the November elections. The exhibit combines Lommasson's photographs with photographs and words by the participants, exploring their transitions from the battlefield back to home life.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • October 17
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny St. • 503.231.8294

The Linfield gallery is opening .meta, a group show curated by TJ Norris.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • October 15
Artist discussion • 4-5pm • November 12
Linfield Gallery • 900 Baker St. McMinnville • Miller Fine Arts Center

Tired of talking heads? There are some arts amazing lectures coming up in the next week.

Garth Clark, courtesy of MoCC

Craft "visionary" Garth Clark will be speaking at PNCA on Thursday. Clark works out of NYC as a gallery owner, curator, writer, historian, and one of craft's preeminent intellectuals. He'll be presenting How Envy Killed the Crafts Movement: An Autopsy in Two Parts, co-sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Craft, the Oregon College of Art & Craft, and the Pacific Northwest College of the Arts. The lecture is free and open to the public, but he sold out the Whitsell auditorium the last time he was in town, so get there early.

Craft lecture • 6:30pm • October 16
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • Swigert Commons

Andrea Zittel, A-Z Raugh Furniture, 2007

The PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series (hereafter known as PMMNLS) is kicking off with a bang this Monday with Andrea Zittel. This internationally acclaimed artist focuses on creative, sustainable living through the development of hand-crafted furniture, clothing, homes, and vehicles for "contemporary consumers." The O interviewed her in anticipation of her presentation. Keep an eye on Friday posts for a truly fantastic list of weekly speakers in this season's PMMNLS series.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • October 13
PSU • 1914 SW Park • Shattuck Hall Room 212

This might be a little far to go for a screening, but we wanted to give a nod to Portland artists abroad: United State of Mind, v.4 of the Portland-based Odds and Ends video series, will be screened on October 11 at the Taipei Biennial as part of the Urban Nomad Film Festival. Congrats to the filmmakers listed above!

Happening a little more locally: Rererato is featuring the film and sculptural installations of Brandon Boan. Preserve Then Rewind explores the disruption of history through the slow recording of the process of everyday objects changing over time.

Opening reception • 6pm • October 11
Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd AVE • 732.407.4418

April Surgent, "An Afternoon with Ethan"

Bullseye presents Traces of Ourselves, an exhibition developed through the joint residency of Jiri Harcuba and April Surgent. Harcuba is a master Czech engraver whose work explores the dialog between self, society, history, and present. During their residency, Surgent, an up-and-coming American artist, refined her technique in glass engraving, expanding upon the themes of contemporary travel and culture. The exhibition runs from October 7 through November 22.

Opening reception • 5:30-7:30pm • October 10
Bullseye Gallery • 300 NW 13th AVE • 503.227.0222

Ben Killen Rosenberg

Ben Killen Rosenberg's Thank You For Having Me opened today at PSU's MK Gallery. Last year, Rosenberg began a series of paintings to introduce the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series. The paintings vary from an interpretation of the lecturing artist's work, imitation, portraiture, etc. Open through October 30.
Artist reception • October 23 • 5-7pm
MK Gallery at PSU • 2000 SW 5th AVE • 2nd Floor

Peter HappelChristian, "Familiar Wilderness"

Peter HappelChristian's Near the Point of the Beginning opens this Thursday. HappelChristian researched a cartographic site along the Ohio River called "The Point of Beginning," which marks the beginning of a grid system that constructs boundaries in the American landscape. Through his research, HappelChristian explores human interaction with the natural world. The exhibition runs from October 9 through October 30.

Artist lecture • 5-7pm • October 9
Artist reception • 5-7pm • October 11
Autzen Gallery at PSU • 724 SW Harrison St. • 2nd Floor

Harry Dodge & Stanya Kahn, still from "Masters of None"

TBA:08 On Sight: The New Absurdists closes tomorrow! Don't miss your last opportunity to experience the installations of Tamy Ben-Tor, Harry Dodge & Stanya Kahn, Lizzie Fitch, Jacob Hartman, Corey Lunn, Jeffry Mitchell, and Ryan Trecartin.

On view 12-6pm • Last day October 4
On Sight at THE WORKS • Leftbank 240 N Broadway

drawing by Samantha Wall

Curated by Selina Ho, Reverse Reality is an artist residency and exhibition project that sent four Hong Kong young artists to Portland for a month to create new work informed and inspired by their experiences. Artists Beatrix Bang, Doris Wong, Hanison Lau, and Florian Ma translated their tradition working methods through the lens of their experiences in Portland, fostering a cultural dialogue between contemporary American and Chinese art. Included in this mix Portland artist Samantha Wall has a room devoted to her highly kinesthetic drawings of grappling women.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • October 3
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

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Alfred A. Monner, "Sand Dunes Along the Columbia River with the Snow-Capped Peak of Mt. Hood in the Distance," 1934

Wild Beauty: Photographs of the Columbia River Gorge 1867-1957 opens this weekend at PAM. The exhibition features roughly 250 historic photographs that illustrate "the majesty of the Columbia River Gorge through nine decades of profound transformation." Check the exhibition website for related lectures and events.

Exhibition • October 4, 2008 - January 11, 2009
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Also coming soon to PAM: Making Merry: The Circus and Carnival in Graphic Art. October 11, 2008 - January 4, 2009. More details can be found on the exhibition page.

Jen DeNike, still from "Flag Girls"

Quality Pictures presents Jen DeNike's Flag Girls, the first video installation in their "Video Trifecta" series. Recreating a found 1918 postcard depicting women wrapped in the American colonial flag, DeNike's Flag Girls are able to free themselves from the flag's "oppressive hold," humming the national anthem as they unwrap themselves and exit off-stage nude. The video has been well received in England and New York, described in the Guardian as "a suggestion of American nationhood perhaps being transfixed by almost terminal self-doubt."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • October 2
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

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Bean Gilsdorf, "Tinker, Tailor"

Bean Gilsdorf's Handsome opens this week at the Albina Press coffee shop, featuring nine mixed-media panels. "Each work in Handsome features a single figure: a stylized company man in the mode of mid-century advertising illustrations. Each man observes, gestures, or manipulates as he is engaged in some mysterious pursuit, the motive for which is unseen."

Show • October 1 - 31
Albina Press • 4637 N. Albina AVE • 503.282.5214

Christopher James Brown

PCC's Cascade Gallery is featuring the work of Christopher James Brown. Tooling Around breaks free of the binary of art/craft, using glue, ink, and wood to create "non objective works of art." Utilizing extensive knowledge of furniture making and the basic forms of Modernist design, Brown "formulate(s) new conjectures of mastery." His exhibit will be on view October 1st through November 5th.

Opening reception • 4-7pm • October 1
Artist talk • 4-5pm • October 8
PCC Cascade Gallery • 705 N Killingsworth in Terrel Hall, Room 102 • 503.978.5326

Mark Dombrosky, APEX installation view

This Sunday, current PAM APEX artist Mark Dombrosky will speak about his "artistic process and intentions." Dombroksy's work examines the social atmosphere of an American town, typically utilizing found scraps of paper to offer a glimpse into the lives of strangers. This installation presents a series of cardboard homeless signs found in the streets of Tacoma and Seattle, his careful embroidery over the script "reveal[ing] as much about language and place as human relationships and individual psychology," (Jennifer Gately). The exhibit will be on view at PAM through October 26.

Artist lecture • 2pm • September 28
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Vicki Lynn Wilson, conceptual drawing for "Fung-US"

Opening this weekend: The 2008 Natural Cycles installation on Trillium Trail at Tryon Creek State Park. A collaborative project between the RACC, Oregon State Parks, and Friends of Tryon Creek State Park, the Natural Cycles project brings temporary forest art installations to the Trillium Trail each year. The five artists featured this year are Brennan Conaway, Portland, Oregon (Invader); Lee Imonen, Dexter, Oregon (The Source Series); Julie Lindell, Seattle, Washington (Nontrivial Pursuit); Jen Pack, Warrenton, Oregon (Forevergreen Tuffet) and Vicki Lynn Wilson, Portland, Oregon (Fung-US). The 2008-2009 installations will be unveiled on Saturday, followed by a $100/plate fundraising dinner. A free family day will be held on Sunday with hands-on art activities along the trail.

Forest art installation • September 27, 2008 - Summer, 2009
Tryon Creek State Park • Close-in Portland, see website for directions

Bruce Conkle's Do You Feel Lucky Punk?

Rocksbox presents Bruce Conkle, "de facto king of the Pacific NW eco-art-geeks," currently showing Eco Takers at the State University of New York at SUNY Oswego. Friendlier Fire is "an exhibition of the prime-evil, using the primordial poop of the earth and the detritus of our caffeine fueled society hell bent on self-destruction."

Opening reception • 7-11pm • September 27
Rocksbox • 6540 N Interstate • 971.506.8938

Devon Oder, "Bleed #7 (Cloud)"

Jeanine Jablonski's new gallery, Fourteen30, debuts this Friday with Devon Oder's Breaking Light. Oder's work uses film and lenses to manipulate photography and create surreal, mysterious landscapes. The exhibition's title refers to the physical processes of breaking up the Polaroid chemical emulsion and distorting light through trees, prisms, lenses, etc. Her images challenge "both the technical processes [of photography] and the phenomenological experience of the viewer."
A specialty art bookstore will also open inside the gallery, including works published by Museum Paper (Stockholm), 2nd Cannons (Los Angeles), Nieves (Zurich), and JRP|Ringier (Zurich).

Inaugural Reception • 6-9pm • September 26
Fourteen30 Contemporary • 1430 SE 3rd AVE • 503.226.1430

Hilary Pfeifer, "Natural Selection," installed at Ogle

This week's Art Focus on KBOO will feature Hilary Pfeifer. She'll be speaking about her Natural Selection exhibition on view at Ogle Gallery this month. The installation consists of a small greenhouse, filled with plants following a very human process of mate selection. You can also hear her speak at the gallery this Saturday.

Radio Interview • 10:30-11am • September 25
Art Focus • 90.7 FM • Live Stream

Artist lecture • 1pm • September 27
Ogle Gallery • 310 NW Broadway • 503.227.4333

Eric Tillinghast, "Verticle Multichrome"

Tonight the Oregon Arts Commission is unveiling two new site-specific public works at PSU. Eric Tillinghast's Verticle Multichrome and Steven Beatty and Laurel Kurtz's JUICY II will appear in the ceiling alcove on the second floor of the Ondine residence hall. Learn more about recent and upcoming OAC public art exhibitions in this PDF.

Unveiling • 6-8pm • September 19
PSU Ondine Hall • 1912 SW Sixth Avenue

Lena McGrath Welker, "[chart] folio"

PCC Rock Creek's Helzer Gallery presents Lena McGrath Welker, winner of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation award. The latest work in her Navigation cycle, Navigation [chart] is "an intellectually and physically complex installation that investigates our responses in times of grief and loss." Using maps, texts, and symbols, Welker charts our search for answers in the night sky. Welker will speak on this and related work in early October in PCC Rock Creek's Forum (Building 3).

Exhibition • September 22 - November 12
Artist talk • 3pm • October 3
Helzer Art Gallery • 17705 NW Springville Rd. Building 3 • 503.244.6111 x3434

Hildur Bjarnadottir, "Blue Doodle"

Icelandic artist Hildur Bjarnadottir will speak this weekend at Pulliam Deffenbuagh. One of four artists currently featured in Blurring the Line: art of thread, Bjarnadottir adopts the "handwork" of her native Iceland as she "unravels its traditions within the context of contemporary art."

Artist talk • 11:30am • September 20
Pulliam Deffenbaugh • 929 NW Flanders • 503.228.6665

Also happening this weekend: Come to PAM this weekend for their annual book sale. Get your hands on art books, auction catalogs, and more for great prices and a great cause: All proceeds benefit the museum.

Saturday, September 20, 10am - 5pm
Sunday, September 21, 12pm - 5pm
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • Mark Building

From suddenly.org

The Cooley Gallery is holding a reception & "unfolding event" for Suddenly: where we live now. Swing by the gallery from 5-7pm to check out the installed works, then head over to the Student Union for Psychedelic Sprawl, "music, conversation, disorientation, food, and drink," featuring presentations and performances by Mostlandia. You can follow this ongoing series of exhibitions and public events at www.suddenly.org.

Reception • 5-7pm • September 21
Psychedelic Sprawl (Student Union) • 7-10pm • September 21
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Hauser Memorial Library

From "Volume"

Don't miss Volume's curator tour by PORTstar Jeff Jahn this weekend. He'll be joined by several artists to talk about the work in the show, which was positively reviewed by the Mercury and the Willamette Week. Learn more about the exhibition here, and check out photos from the show on Flickr. Also, don't miss the lecture next week by Arun Jain, Chief Urban Designer, City of Portland.

Curatorial tour • 2pm • September 21
Lecture • 7pm • September 23
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

Fanny Van Duyn, ca. 1907

Tomorrow night, Newspace hosts an Oregon Chautauqua program from the Oregon Council for the Humanities. Carol Glauber will lecture on four distinctive female Northwest photographers between 1852 and 1917. These women emerged from at least 233 women working at the time, documenting "the Columbia River Gorge, Native Americans, and the early development of the Klamath Basin [to] provide a window into [Oregon's] history that reflects community, culture, and gender."

Lecture • 7pm • September 17 • Free
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

This month's ArtSpark has relocated to the ArtBar in the PCPA building. The discussion will be hosted by Arts Partners, an initiative to connect artists and arts organizations with schools. They'll be outlining upcoming opportunities for artists interested in working in classrooms.

ArtSpark • 5-7pm • September 18 (and every 3rd Thursday)
ArtBar • SW Broadway & Main • 503.432.9205

"The sculpture competition that's one part Iron Chef and two parts Junkyard Wars."
That says it all- come check out the festivities, featuring a wild and crazy sculpture competition, music, food, a beer garden, and more. All proceeds benefit the School & Community Reuse Action Project (SCRAP). More info and schedule of events can be found here.

Competition 11am - 2:30pm • Festivities until 7pm
September 13 • SE 2nd @ Main & Salmon

Michael Rakowitz, "paraSITE"

Lewis & Clark's Hoffman Gallery presents Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art. The exhibition features an international group of artists exploring "the convergence of art, design, and sustainability," and this is its only stop in the Northwest. Three overlapping themes guide the grouping of the works: objects, structures, and processes/networks. Each features a creative restructuring of humans' relationship to our world, such as Michael Rakowitz's paraSITES (above). These portable structures, inflated and heated by the air from city buildings, offer an "unconventional" shelter for the homeless. The exhibition runs through December 7.

Opening reception • 5-7pm • September 11
Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark • 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd. • 503.768.7687

PSU's second year MFA candidates in studio & social practice will be showing their work at the Autzen gallery. Side by Side features artists Katy Asher, Steve Baggs, Vanessa Calvert, Varinthorn Christopher, Damien Gilley, Bethany Hays, Avalon Kalin, Laurel Kurtz, Sandy Sampson, Rebecca Shelly, Cyrus Smith, and Eric Steen. The exhibition runs from September 8 through October 4, and there will be a closing reception for the artists.

Closing reception • 5-7pm • October 4
PSU Autzen Gallery • 724 SW Harrison St.

Jim Kazanjian

Jim Kazanjian's Untitled works seek to produce an "entropic" series of images. Fragmenting photographic space, Kazanjian attempts to break down the "linear" visual plane, and create something entirely new in its reconstruction.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • September 5
Pushdot Studio • 1021 SE Caruthers St. • 503.224.5925

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The Yes Men

TBA starts this week, and hidden amongst the opening night activities is one of the most exciting shows on this month's First Thursday circuit: The first major exhibition of The Yes Men. This artist/activist group has become (in)famous for infiltrating events like the GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, and successfully obliterating perceived limits of social and business norms. For TBA, they've installed KEEP IT SLICK: Infiltrating Capitalism With The Yes Men at PNCA. KEEP IT SLICK features "elaborate costumes, slapstick videos, outrageous posters and props ... exhibited alongside new works produced for this exhibition." The Yes Men will also present a workshop this weekend giving insight into their methods and How to be a Yes Man.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • September 4
Workshop • 3-4pm • September 6
PNCA Feldman Gallery • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

Much more!

Eugenia Pardue, from "Anomaly"

Described as "almost sculptural," Eugenia Pardue's painting transforms the Linfield Gallery into a site specific installation. Using tools to "braid, mold, and weave" her thick paint, Pardue's work crawls off the canvas to interact with the viewer.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • September 3
Artist talk • 4pm • September 24
Linfield Gallery • 900 SE Baker St. McMinnville at the Miller Fine Arts Center • 503.883.2804

Portland's art community has truly been stepping up to reexamine and re-imagine our fair city as it grows, and, more importantly, to guide its growth. Continuing the discourse opened by exhibitions like last month's PDXplore and the recently opened Suddenly, PORT's own Jeff Jahn is curating Volume, which opens this weekend at Worksound. Volume, Jahn's first non-institutional warehouse show since 2005, surveys "how Portland's art scene addresses, redirects, abuses and redefines space." Housed in one of the oldest buildings on the eastside, Worksound is especially well suited to the exploration of the development of the city and its once gritty/industrial Central Eastside (Arts) Industrial District. The exhibit features a lecture in late September by Arun Jain, Chief Urban Designer, City of Portland.

Opening reception • 7-9:30pm • August 30
Also open for First Friday
Lecture • 7pm • September 23
Worksound • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

More, more, MORE happenings this weekend after the jump.

$Wilcox_Manufractured.jpg$
Dominic Wilcox, "War Bowl"

Manuf®actured opens this Thursday at MoCC. The exhibition explores the use of "labor-intensive craft practices" to take apart and remold mass produced objects and materials. The wide variety of work examines questions of "overabundance, appropriation, [and] reuse." MoCC will, as always, stay open for the First Thursday artwalk next week.

Exhibition • August 28, 2008 - January 4, 2009
Lecture • 6:30pm • September 18
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Jesse Hayward's installation, progressed

Jesse Hayward's innovative and interactive installation at Jáce Gáce has been building since it opened for First Friday. Come experience and celebrate the results this Friday.

Closing reception • 6-10pm • August 29
Jáce Gáce • 2045 SE Belmont • 503.239.1887

Artist Fritz Haeg w/ naturalist Mike Houck

Suddenly: where we live now opens today at Reed's Cooley Gallery. It is "an ongoing set of visual art exhibitions, a reader, and a series of public programs" seeking to explore new ways to shape the natural and urban landscape. Featured artists include Fritz Haeg, Marc Joseph Berg, Michael Damm, Zoe Crosher, Frank Heath, Oscar Tuazon, and Metronome Press. During TBA, curator Stephanie Snyder will lead a tour through Fritz Haeg's Animal Estates. In late September, there will be a public reception in the Cooley Gallery, followed by the "unfolding event" Psychedelic Sprawl in the Reed Student Union, put on by the citizens of Mostlandia and others. Finally, a series of symposia on the exhibit is happening in October.

Exhibition • August 26 - October 5
Public reception • 5-7pm • September 21
Unfolding event • 7-10pm • September 21
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Hauser Memorial Library

Andrew Brandou

Painter Andrew Brandou presents his lush landscapes at Grasshut. Innocent at first glance, his playful animal characters often reveal a mischievous - or downright twisted - twist that adds a wicked delight to his bright colors and careful brushwork. This weekend's opening reception of from the Funk Drawer, Brandou's Grass Hut mini-show, features a breakfast catered by the Screen Door, so RSVP soon to grasshut.corp@gmail.com.

Opening reception (and breakfast!) • 11am - 1pm • August 31
Grass Hut • 811 E Burnside • 503.445.9924 • RSVP to grasshut.corp@gmail.com

Diane Jacobs, "Doing Time"

The first solo show at Disjecta's new space is opening tomorrow. Formerly scheduled at PAC, Diane Jacobs presents The Writing's on the Wall. Taking an "an interactive and experiential" approach to American racism, the exhibition looks at the impact of incarceration and the ramifications of institutional racism.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 23
Disjecta • 8371 N Interstate AVE • 503.286.9449

This weekend at Rererato, Dustin Zemel brings us a series of video installations titled Stare Hard. Using a variety manipulated footage and loops, Zemel's work "explores the visual density of our highly produced films and television programs."

Opening reception • 6-8pm • August 23
Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd AVE • info@rererato.com

Not coincidentally, Episode 2 of Rererato TV will air at 4pm the same day, featuring music, performance, and a discussion of Zemel's work.

Ethan Jackson, from "Polyopticon VI"

NAAU's next Couture exhibition opens this week. With Orbis Viridus Obscurus, photographer Ethan Jackson will convert the entire gallery space into a "living camera obscura." The project is a continuation of his exploration of the camera obscura in Polyopticon VI, where he used mirrors, lenses, and "baffles" to distort and convert space in an abandoned ranch dwelling in Wyoming. Jackson defines the camera obscura as a "participational optics... that defines a conceptual space that is difficult to tackle directly."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 20
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny St. • 503.231.8294

Michihiro Kosuge, "Arbor Series Sculpture"

Michihiro Kosuge and Gina Wilson are speaking this weekend on their current exhibitions at Laura Russo. Kosuge's Recent Sculpture explores "the relationship between man and nature seen in an influence by both architectural form and the natural environment." Featured works include The Arbor Series, towering columnal forms that are "solemn and spiritual." Wilson's New Paintings are playful abstractions of the human figure, "offbeat and distinctive... soft and intimate."

Artists' talk • 11am • August 16
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st AVE • 503.226.2754

Rocksbox is bringing us a pair of solo exhibitions by Jo Nigoghossian of NYC (left) and Natascha Snellman of LA, CA (right). Nigoghossian's Happy Hour "create(s) a psychologically charged atmosphere of visual discomfort" using "voyeuristic" video and sculpture in a psychosexual explorations of bar scenes, 70s film aesthetics, crowds, anxiety, and more. Snellman's We Children of the Zoo takes a different path through the human psyche via the "unstable frontier between what we consider human and what we still define as animal." Borrowing her exhibition title from the film Christiane F., she combines site-specific sculpture and collage.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • August 16
Rocksbox Fine Art • 6540 N. Interstate • 971.506.8938

Vicki Lynn Wilson

Surface Tension opens this month at Gallery Homeland. The exhibition features past and future artists from the gallery's annual summer series, Scratching the Surface. The series "embrac(es) the Willamette River's powerful role in promoting culture through community and exploration." Featured artists include Josh Arseneau, Vicki Lynn Wilson, Marc Dombrosky, Shannon Eakins, Tim Folland, Jesse Hayward, Sean Healy, Ben Stagl, Grace Luebke, Mack McFarland, Gary Wiseman, Dana Vinger, Jo Ann Kemmis, John Vitale, and Adam Ross, as well as video recaps of several past projects.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 8
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th AVE • 503.819.9656

Bobby Grossman, "Andy Warhol: Cornflakes," 1978

Traveling exhibition Bande à part (Band of Outsiders) is coming to Augen Gallery NW this month. A reference to the 1964 film by Jean-Luc Godard, the show is a collection of photographs from the New York underground scene in the 60's, 70's, & 80's. It is an "inside" look at the self-proclaimed "outsiders," including photography by Billy Name, Danny Fields, Leee Black Childers, Anton Perich, Roberta Bayley, Godlis, Marcia Resnick, and Bobby Grossman. This show is timed nicely with the Famous Faces exhibition at the Maryhill Museum.

Opening reception • 5-8:30pm • August 7
Augen Gallery NW • 716 NW Davis • 503.546.5056

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Dan Attoe, "You Are Vulnerable Just Like the Rest of Us," 2006 (View 1)

Dan Attoe & graphic novelist Craig Thompson are speaking this week at PAM. They'll present their shared artistic influences, and "reflect on the contemporary American experience." Attendees are invited to visit the CNAA galleries for a discussion following the lecture. Unfortunately, the event conflicts with the First Thursday artwalk... So scheduling might be an issue.

Artist lecture • 6pm • August 7 • Museum Admission applies
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811

Gertrud and Otto Natzler

Gertrude and Otto Natzler, "pioneers in modern ceramics," have been collaborating for almost forty years. They came to California in 1938 after fleeing from Austria during WWII, and have since produced over 25,000 works out of their LA studio. MoCC presents The Ceramics of Gertrud and Otto Natzler, a retrospective and tribute. If you missed the members-only preview, come by MoCC next week during First Thursday.

Exhibition • August 2, 2008 - January 25, 2009
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

Jesse Hayward's installation in progress

Jáce Gáce describes Hayward's character as one "in the spirit of throwing caution to the wind and letting the chips fall where they lay," and in The Nursed Meeting of Fallen Renewal he "has created a situation of controlled chaos." His work breaks boundaries and allows the viewer to reset them, building a "living installation that will inevitably change throughout the course of the month."

Opening reception • 6-10pm • August 1
Closing reception • 6-10pm • August 29
Jáce Gáce • 2045 SE Belmont • 503.239.1887

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Andy Warhol, "Marilyn" (1981)

The Maryhill Museum of Art is exhibiting Andy Warhol and Other Famous Faces. The show features an impressive collection of Warhol's pop icon portraits. It also traces his influence on pop and contemporary art, including portraits by Jasper Johns, Chuck Close, Takashi Murakami, Robert Rauschenberg, and many more. It's worth the trek - the museum is open 7 days a week, including all holidays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through November 15.

Exhibition • July 19 - November 15
Maryhill Museum • 35 Maryhill Museum Drive Goldendale, Washington • 509.773.3733

Alexis Pike, "Red Chairs, Bliss, Idaho"

Photolucida promotes dialog and development in the photography community through annual spring Portfolio Review sessions between photographers and reviewers. This year, they've added a summer review session, and this weekend you can check out the work of participating photographers in the Portfolio Walk. Half the photographers will present from 6-7:30, and the other half will present from 7:30-9. In addition to the portfolios, the winners of Photolucida's first Oregon Awards (M. Bruce Hall, Alexis Pike, and Sika Stanton) will be exhibiting their work.

Portfolio Walk • 6-9pm • July 26
Art Institute of Portland • NW Davis & 11th • 2nd Floor

Brian Borrello installation view

Brian Borrello will talk about his wonderful current exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculpture, Ars Brevis, Vita Longa Saturday, July 26, 11:30 at Pulliam Deffenbaugh.

A quintessential Portlander, I often run into him in coffee shops. He is also the author of some of the most successful public art in the city, like his Max train yellow-line stops.

Here's his statement,"My work is an interpretation of the relationship between nature and man's place in its continuum. I look for the evidence of the becoming, the existence and the death of the living being - the marks and residual signs of the activity of life."

Cat Clifford

Cat Clifford, one of the recipients of the recent Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, will be speaking as part of the NW Film Center's Northwest Tracking series. She'll discuss, and screen excerpts from, her influences, from Joan Jonas' Wind (1968) to The Wizard of Oz.

Artist lecture • 6pm • July 24 • $7
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

Also, for you early birds: Happening today: Interested in learning more about Portland's alternative art venues? Rererato is chatting with Cyrus Smith on KPSU this afternoon. They'll be talking about the art space, Rererato the movie, Rererato TV, and more...

Rererato on the air! • NOON - 1pm • July 21
KPSU • 1450 AM or streaming on their website

It's Disjecta, again... and again... and again. Long time Portlanders are probably pretty familiar with this promotional routine, and have already formed their opinions. For those of you who don't know the history, PORT takes a look back and a look forward after the jump. (More.)

From Promenade, photo by Yalcin Erhan

Bill Will, July South Waterfront Artist in Residence, has collaborated with AiR director Linda Johnson on an "an unrepeatable episodic performance event." Featuring dance and lighting against Will's installation "set," they have prepared "a thoroughly orchestrated and singular event in which every gesture and offering, explicit to nuanced, is performative." The event is free, all ages, and picnics are encouraged.

Live Performance • Gathering an hour before sunset • July 19
South Waterfront Neighborhood Park • SW Moody & Curry

Melody Owen, "useless, incorruptible, secret"

In addition to her current show at Liz Leach, Melody Owen is exhibiting useless, incorruptible, secret at Caseworks in Reed's Library. She'll be lecturing on her work this week at Reed College.

Artist talk • 7pm • July 17
Reed College Theater • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • 503.777.7251

We're notorious around Portland for our struggles with money management. This weekend: Come to Newspace for It's Not About the Money, But Let's Talk About it Anyway, a lecture by Erik Schneider of Quality Pictures. The talk explores the photography marketplace, and from the perspective of both artists and collectors.

Fiscal Lecture • 11am-1pm • July 20
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

Pearl District "Art Boxes"

Orlo is a non-profit organization that uses a creative arts approach to environmental issues. They publish Bear Deluxe, an environmental magazine, and have launched a new project in the Pearl and Alphabet districts. Artboxes are boxes containing Bear Deluxe magazine that have been decorated by local artists, including Chris Haberman, Jennifer Mercede, Lukas Ketner, Jason Lockett, and Annette and Joe Thurston. ("Read more" for locations.)

Also currently installed in the Pearl District: The RACC presents an installation by Scott Sonniksen. Falling Light, which is incorporated into the structure of the MachineWorks building, is constructed of concrete blocks coated with colored epoxy glaze, installed in such a way that it creates a surface that subtly reflects light. The installation looks at the interplay of light created by dense downtown building, and the use of red is "a nod to the many historic brick buildings that once populated this district."

Downtown installation • Through July 25
MachineWorks • 1455 NW Northrup

First, a party: MoCC is hosting their second annual Craft PDX Block Party this weekend. The free event features demonstrations by local craft artists, live music, lectures in MoCC's "Lab," and lots of kid-friendly activities. Last year's was a lot of fun, so make sure to come down and celebrate the beginning of MoCC's second year in the DeSoto building.

Block Party • 11am-6pm • July 13
Museum of Contemporary Craft • North Park Blocks, NW 8th & Davis • 503.223.2654

Next, some discourse: Bridges are a big deal in this city. Just as the Willamette defines our geographical (and in some ways cultural) boundaries, its bridges, as well as that "little" one to the north, define much of our city's urban landscape. PORT has long advocated for creative, aesthetic bridge design: See our bridge design contest, and recent coverage of the urgent need to build a beautiful and "green" new I-5 bridge. This Monday, Portland Spaces magazine invites you to learn more about the proposed bridge from OMSI to OHSU. It will be the first new bridge across the Willamette in "a generation," and play an important cultural role in connecting our two major science institutions. OHSU Provost Lesley Hallick and OMSI President Nancy Stueber will be presenting their proposals for the bridge, and how this relates to both institutions' future expansion plans. This is part of the magazine's "Bright Lights Discussion Series."

Bridge lecture • Doors at 5:30, Talk at 6pm • July 14
Portland Spaces Magazine Hosted by Jimmy Mak's • 221 NW 10th AVE

Gregory Grenon, "Unspeakable Hair"

Husband and wife team Mary Josephson and Gregory Grenon are exhibiting (individually) at Laura Russo this month. In Full Length Feature, painter Josephson has expanded her media to deepen her exploration of narrative and storytelling traditions. Grenson's Unspeakable Hair is a survey of lithographs and prints that take an "incredibly honest" look at the human form and character. They'll both be presenting lectures on their work this weekend.

Artist talk • 11am • July 12
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st AVE • 503.225.2754

Cat Clifford, "Two Chairs"

The Contemporary Northwest Art Awards will be on view at PAM through September 14. They're hosting a unique event in for the exhibition: An open to the public celebration, featuring the exhibition, live music, light refreshments, and a no-host bar. The best part? It's free! But space is limited, so reserve your ticket ASAP.

Exhibition celebration • 6-9pm • July 25
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park AVE • 503.226.2811

Many eastside galleries skipped their openings last weekend due to the 4th of July, so here's our Friday artwalk picks, part II.

Taylor Deupree

Newspace is showing their annual juried exhibition, curated this year by accomplished Portland artist TJ Norris. He describes the chosen photographs as an exploration of the "essence and fragility" of the "selective and concealed moment in time."

Opening reception • 7-10pm • July 11
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

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Rose Bond, installation

The NW Film Center presents an evening with media and installation artist Rose Bond. They'll screen stories and images from several of her installation pieces, including her recent ELECTRO-FLUX, originally created as a multi-channel public installation for the Platform Animation Festival. Bond's work "explor(es) the intersection of high art and low art, film and architecture, and interior/exterior installation."

Screening • 7:30pm • July 10
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

Since Friday is 4th of July, many east side galleries are postponing their openings for a week (keep an eye out for those picks next week). Here's a sampling of galleries that are rocking it for the holiday weekend:

Grasshut is having an all day party to celebrate Fireworks, The Americans, a group show featuring around 40 artists and their take on Americana. Hot dogs, lemonade, beer, and fireworks will accompany the art to make you truly feel proud of your Independence.

Opening reception • Noon • July 4
Grass Hut Gallery • 811 E Burnside • 503.445-9924

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Installation view of scale photo of Portland metro, 1ft = 1 mile

PDXplore: Designing Portland opens tomorrow at PNCA. The project invites members of the local design and architecture community to reimagine Portland and construct a model of its growth in the next few years. It's being launched with a talk next week by five local designers and architects; Rudy Barton, Carol Mayer-Reed, Michael McCulloch, Richard Potestio, and William Tripp. As Brian Libby points out, Portland's at a crucial moment of development, and it's essential to get the community involved in the discussion of where - and how - to go from here.

Designer talk • 6-9pm • July 8
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

There will be a second panel discussion later in the month, In the Round: Collective Leadership, featuring five local leaders: Sam Adams (mayor elect of Portland), David Bragdon (president of Metro), Tom Hughes (mayor of Hillsboro), Gil Kelley (Director of Planning, Portland), and Alice Rouyere (Executive manager, Gresham). It's a golden opportunity to actually bring design and city leadership together to confront the issues at hand.

Leader Roundtable • 6-9pm • July 22
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

In a somewhat bewildering move, there's another interesting talk on the future of art and Portland's fabric conflicting with the first PDXplore talk. Milepost 5 is hosting a panel discussion on the future of living and working for artists in Portland...(more)

Robert Rauschenberg

Blue Sky Gallery will be honoring Robert Rauschenberg this month with an exhibition of some of his recent photographs. The prints originate from a trip to China in 1985 as part of the Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Exchange. Many of the images had remained unused until 2008, when he collaborated with Bill Goldston to create this series of 12 prints. It is a rare opportunity to see some of the work that was in process when this great artist died earlier this year.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • July 3
Blue Sky Gallery • 122 NW 8th AVE • 503.225.0210

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Northwest Designer Craftsmen

This Thursday, High Tech/Low Tech is opening at the Oregon College of Arts & Crafts. The exhibition, comprised of work by members of the Northwest Designer Craftsmen, explores the dichotomy of old and new present in craft design. While craft is based in low tech artisan roots, craft artists are still often "the first in the art world to explore the development of new materials and methods." The exhibition runs through August 24.

Opening reception • 4-7pm • July 3
OCAC Hoffman Gallery • 8245 SW Barnes Rd. • 503.297.5544

The influential Jacqueline Ehlis (a favorite of collectors) is the next Couture stipend show at NAAU. As always, her work explores the perimeters of painting, material and space but what really differentiates her work this time out is the fact that this is a non-commercial show. Previous solo outings at Savage in 2005 and 2002 were critically and financially successful. Thus, expectations are high as the first A-list Portland artist in NAAU's Couture series, which previously opened with the quirky Lo-Fi & geek-tastic BYOTV, followed by the ambitious but slightly scattered multimedia melange of Infinitus (decent but not quite Lee Bul or Doug Aitken's level of multimedia focus). By comparison Ehlis tends to bring a no nonsense, rigorous studio-oriented approach that makes her top shelf shows a must see (even for other dealers).... be there.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • July 2
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny St. • 503.231.8294

Eva Lake, "New Duo 1 & 2" from the "Richter Scale" series

ArtTalk's summer season has started. Although the PSU MFA Monday night lecture series is taking a break, they're still interviewing artists each Monday afternoon on KPSU. This Monday, they're interviewing local painter Eva Lake.

Art Radio • Noon-1pm • Mondays through July 28
ArtTalk • 98.3FM on campus • Streaming on KPSU.org

Historic image of the Waterfront, from Linda Wysong

Linda Wysong, the June Artist in Residence on the South Waterfront, will be giving her final performance tours in her Backyard Conversations series. Footprints Along the River explores the Waterfront's history, and you can join the tour tonight at 5pm or Saturday, June 28 at 11am. Tours meet at the AiR studio, 3623 SW River Pkwy @ Gains in the John Ross Tower. Don't miss Wysong's closing reception on Saturday night, where she'll air the series of video portraits she's created to put a human face on the construction projects. You can preview an excerpt on YouTube here.

Closing reception • 8-10pm (Screening at 9pm) • June 28
AiR Studio • 3623 SW River Parkway

The closing event for the Portland Mural Show is happening this weekend. It's your last chance to check out the "snapshot of extant murals around Portland," as well as work by new Portland muralists. The rocking block party features 37 artists painting live, as well as a painting performance and a variety of musical guests.

Closing party • Noon-6pm • June 28
Olympic Mills Gallery • 107 SE Washington St.

Tahni Holt's Information Studio is happening this weekend. Participants (four at a time) will be following instructions given over headphones to the best of their ability. The "audience"-created performances will be recorded, and put online in a secret place where only you - and the people you choose to share the link with - can see. Participation is free, but spots must be reserved (see times below) by contacting Holt at hello@tahniholt.com or 503.708.5801.

Performance times: Every 30 minutes from 3pm-7:30pm Friday June 27, from 5pm-9:30pm Saturday June 28, and 2pm-4pm Sunday June 29.
PSU Smith Center • 1825 SW Broadway

This is the beginning of a series of nine interactive projects in, around, and about the Smith center commissioned by PSU through Oregon's Percent for Public Art program.

Brittany Powell

Brittany Powell's Smith Project started running last week. Powell has created six postcards of rarely celebrated views of the Smith Center, placing stacks of them at each site. The postcards are free while supplies (30,000) last, so come get one to send your loved ones a little view of PSU.

Raquel, Portland Comic

It's happening TONIGHT. Spanish friend of Worksound Raquel created a fabulous comic about her experiences living in Portland for the last three months. Worksound is throwing a release / goodbye party for her and her comic, as well as the release of Suspect Parts' 7". Music features Sad Horse, Suspect Parts, Fred Valez and Philip Kruse, and DJ: Nolita. It's also a good chance to catch the PNCA MFA show if you missed the opening.

Release Party • 9:30-midnight • June 19
Worksound PDX • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

Eliza Ferdinand & Molly Enright

PNCA graduate Eliza Ferdinand is back in town for "a night of multidisciplinary artwork and fun" at Gallery Homeland. Interactive sculptures will be installed throughout the space, and Ferdinand will be debuting a duo performance with Molly Enright, followed by a musical set by her group Dang Momma.

Installation & performance event • 8pm • June 20
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th • info@galleryhomeland.org

The "cool school" of the Ferus Gallery, circa 196?

The documentary The Cool School is airing tomorrow night on Public Broadcasting's Independent Lens series. The film looks at the history of the Ferus Gallery, "which nurtured Los Angeles's first significant post-war artists between 1957 and 1966." Founded initially by Walter Hopps and Ed Kienholz, the small gallery launched and/or solidified the careers of the likes of Ed Ruscha, Craig Kauffman, Robert Irwin, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella... and on, and on, and on. The documentary of this incredibly important institution was co-produced by our very own Oregon Public Broadcasting. (And one has to wonder: If OPB has such success getting funding, why can't Portland arts institutions do the same?)

View it locally on OPB at 11pm, June 17. You can learn more about the film here, and view the OPB schedule here (look for "Independent Lens").

nakane lectures a portland japanese gardens

Shiro Nakane at work

The Japanese Gardens and PNCA are co-sponsoring a lecture by internationally renowned Japanese garden landscape architect Shiro Nakane. Nakane will address the challenges of preserving and revitalizing traditional methods with modern design aesthetics, and the unique problems presented by designing for longevity.

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • June 16
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson • Swigert Commons

Experimental music, art, and performance space Rererato is celebrating their first anniversary this weekend with Rererato TV. The above list of artists and performers will come together to create a "music and art variety show in front of a live studio audience" - you! The show will later be broadcast online.

Live TV! • 6pm • June 14
Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd • info@rererato.com

From the Ottawa Animation Film Festival

There's lots going on at the NW Film Center. This weekend, they're airing the best of the 2007 Ottawa Animation Festival. In its 32nd year, the festival drew submissions from over 70 countries, and this 90 minute screening features the best of the final 97 entries.

First screening • 7pm • June 13
Second screening • 6pm • June 15
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

On Thursday, they're screening the best of the 34th Northwest Film & Video Festival. This touring program features the best of the best in contemporary northwest film making, and several visiting artists will be in attendance.

Film screening • 8pm • June 12
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

Do you make film? The NW Film Center is seeking submissions for the 35th Northwest Film Fest. Entries are due by August 1. More info can be found here.

The final lecture for the 2007-2008 season of the PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series is happening tonight. Director, activist, and writer John Malpede will speak about his socially radical performance art. In 1985, Malpede founded the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), "the first performance group in the nation comprised primarily of homeless and formerly homeless people." Malpede's work through the LAPD and other radical performance pieces, which often include collaborations with dancers, poets, artists, architects, and other directors, has earned him a reputation as "a nationally acclaimed theater radical and social visionary." This lecture is especially relevant in light of our fair city's struggles with gentrification.

Artist lecture • 7:30-8:30pm • June 9
PMMNLS • 5th AVE Cinema • SW 5th & Hall

Susan Harlan

Susan Harlan is delivering a different take on the glass mania invading Portland this month. Her series Invisible Territories features natural specimens preserved in glass slides, then digitally printed onto fused enamel glass panels. Fusing organic specimens into glass, Harlan's work explores and exposes the natural world in a way that breaks from the "organic" forms often found in blown glass sculpture.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • June 6
Artist Glass Conference reception • 6-9pm • June 20
Pushdot Studio • 1021 SE Caruthers St. • 503.224.5925

More below the cut.

Holly Andres, "Untitled" from "Sparrow Lane"

The slightly unnerving photography of Holly Andres will be featured this month at Quality Pictures. Her Sparrow Lane series explores adolescent girls "on the cusp of acquiring forbidden knowledge" - a metaphor for the transition to womanhood, as well as a tribute to the rich fantasy life of childhood. Each photograph is carefully posed, using familiar iconography to suggest discovery, while withholding narrative cues to force the viewer to come to his or her own conclusion about the action in the scene. This mystery, combined with Andres' use of twins and other girls eerily similar in appearance, creates a strange and surreal atmosphere that invites the viewer into the other-world of the young girls.

UPDATE: Amber, the young woman in the above photograph, was recently diagnosed with Ewig's Sarcoma, a rare form of juvenile cancer. Andres and QPCA are selling 50 limited edition signed 8x10 prints of the above photograph for $50 each. All proceeds from these sales will go to Amber, as well as partial proceeds from the sales of larger prints. Please contact QPCA at 503.227.5060 or info@qpca.com to inquire.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • June 5
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

Much more below the cut, including a selection of local glass shows happening in conjunction with the upcoming Glass Conference.

Amy Yoes, "Sign Language", in Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY

Amy Yoes is lecturing tonight for the ongoing PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series. Yoes' work focuses on ornamental and architectural space. She has recently began to integrate animation and light, as her work simultaneously becomes more and more three dimensional.

Artist lecture • 7:30-8:30pm • June 2 • Free!
PMMNLS • 5th AVE Cinema • SW 5th & Hall

Klaus Moje, "The Portland Panels: Choreographed Geometry" (detail)

PAM's Klaus Moje retrospective opens this weekend. Spanning thirty years of his career, the exhibition explores his extensive work in glass, "from his early carved crystal glass pieces, to the development of layered patterned glass vessels, to his recent multi-panel fused works." In preparation for the show, Moje has been working at Bullseye Glass to create a special installation, The Portland Panels: Choreographed Geometry. This massive four-panel work, composed of more than 22,000 strips of fused glass, is "a stunning technical achievement."

Exhibition • May 31 - September 7, 2008
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park AVE • 503.226.2811

In June, Ted Sawyer, Director of Research and Education at Bullseye Glass Company, will lecture on the Portland Panels and their relationship to Moje's body of work.

Lecture • 2-3pm • June 8 • $10
PAM • 1219 SW Park AVE • 503.226.2811

In July, Rae Mahaffey, Martha Pfanschmidt and Tom Prochaska will lead a panel discussion exploring their own work in glass, and how it relates to Moje's work and the greater context of glass art.

Panel discussion • 6pm • July 10 • $10
PAM • 1219 SW Park AVE • 503.226.2811

Horatio Hung-Yan Law tai chi on portland south waterfront

Horatio Hung-Yan Law, "T'ai Chi for 1,000"

As part of the South Waterfront's Artist in Residence program, Horatio Hung-Yan Law presents China-on-Willamette. The project, which was exhibited for the month of May, consists of two installations, Chopsticks Terrace Rice Field and Bamboo Great Wall. With these installations, Law has sought to explore how Portland might have developed if the Chinese population hadn't been driven out by the anti-immigrations laws passed by Congress in 1882. The project culminates this weekend with a final installation, T'ai Chi for 1,000. This is a rain or shine participation event for people of all ages and levels of T'ai Chi experience - wear comfortable clothing and shoes!

Closing event • 10-11:30am • May 31
South Waterfront Park • SW Moody & Curry

Back in February, NE art, music, and delightful mayhem space Rererato was in serious danger due to zoning issues. They closed up shop for a while, but in the last few weeks they've reemerged with their experimental music series. This Friday, the art space makes its triumphant return with An Evening of Mad Science. This multimedia performance features "the off-kilter music, collaborative stage props, storytelling and thespianism of local Portland bands Les Flaneurs, Dr. Something and the Poppin' Fresh Love Engines and Spirit Duplicator." Music, drama, and audience-participating quiz shows - they're back with a vengeance.

Multimedia performance • 7pm • May 30 • $4
Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd AVE • info@rererato.com

madids by sean carney at pancake clubhouse historic township

madids by sean carney at pancake clubhouse historic township

Sean Carney, attribution unspecified

'Tis the week for exciting and eccentric performances. The Pancake Clubhouse presents Sean Carney's lecture on "the lost species Madids." The lecture is part of Carney's Modern Conditions of Production, a series of performances aimed at "retaliat[ing] against the mundane nature of our day to day lives." Carney keeps a blog of his projects here.

Performance Presentation • 8pm • May 30
Pancake Clubhouse Historic Township • 906a NE 24th AVE • 503.936.6513

Melissa Dyne, from "Glass"

Melissa's Dyne's Glass opens this week at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Using industrially produced skyscraper glass, Dyne explores "the line between art and craft," through the properties of the window pane, glass in its simplest form.

Exhibition • May 29 - August 10
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654

There will be a series of related events this summer at MoCC. This Thursday, there will be a panel discussion led by the Cooley Gallery's Stephanie Snyder. From Idea to Production: Craft in Conceptual Art Making features Melissa Dyne, M.K. Guth, and Namita Gupta Wiggers as they discuss "the relationship between concept-driven art, industry and craft." Thursday, May 29, 7pm. Free.

Three more Dyne events below the cut.

Keith Boadwee, "Intersection"

Rocksbox presents This is a New Low, by shock artist Keith Boadwee. (In)famous for anal painting and a general obsession with his genital region, Boadwee's work has been described as "intelligent and irritating, repulsive and appealing". Intensely, inescapably physical, Boadwee toys with, and perhaps overextends, the visceral metaphors of the body. It is, indeed, an "uneasy alliance."

Opening reception • 7-11pm • May 24
Rocksbox Fine Art • 6540 N. Interstate Ave. • 971.506.8938

Louis Bunce mural at PDX, 1953, from the Portland Public Art blog

There's some interesting art programming happening this week on OPB television.

The Art Makers explores the idea that Modern art is a century old in Portland. Although critics have a habit of positing a radical split - even conflict - between the young Portland art scene and preceding generations, the truth is that Portland has been an edge-of-contemporary art city for many, many years, and today's artists are deeply rooted in that history. The Art Makers goes back to the early 20th century to explore how Portland became such an "art-friendly place," drawing a relationship between early innovators such as Harry Wentz, C.S. Price, and Louis Bunce, and modern artists (interviewed) such as Lucinda Parker, George Johanson, Jack McLarty and the late Mike Russo. It airs at 9pm on Thursday, May 22, on OPB TV.

Earlier in the evening, you can catch this week's Art Beat, Everybody's Art. The episode explores the role of public art in Portland's community: "Whether you love it or hate it, or don't even notice it, public art is all around us. Where does it come from, who makes it, and what does it add to our communities and our state?" The show first airs at 8pm on Thursday, May 22, on OPB TV. It will re-run on Sunday, May 25, at 2am and 6pm.

From the Journal of Short Film

The Ohio-based quarterly DVD series The Journal of Short Film has featured over a hundred filmmakers in its first ten volumes, exploring a wide range of genre and video style. The first geographically-themed collection, the eleventh volume features Portland's extraordinary film culture. It was assembled by local film maker and curator Karl Lind, and will be released on May 20.

The NW film center will screen the DVD at 7pm on May 28 at the Whitesell Auditorium. There will be an after-screening party at 9pm at Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny.

From the scavenger hunt

The students of the PSU MFA Social Practice Program are launching a weekly summer events series, A lot of ______. The events will take place each Sunday, May 18 - June 29, at Neighborhood Projects, a vacant lot on 15th & Alberta made available by architect Matthew Beitz as an off-site classroom space for the MFA students. The series aims to "engage the surrounding neighborhood by providing a platform for communication and collaboration." The first event is the Pepsi Rocket Ship Moon Voyage Launch!, hosted by Cyrus Smith. The full schedule of events is behind the cut.

Weekly Event • 3pm • Sundays, May 18 - June 29
Neighborhood Projects • 15th & Alberta • cyruswsmith@yahoo.com

Also happening this weekend on Alberta: Art on Alberta's Art Hop. The festival features four musical stages, as well as over 150 artists, guilds, face painters, and street performers. The three featured artists this year are Adrienne Cruz, Tripper Dungan, and Analee Fuentes. Alberta will be closed off for the festival between 12th and 30th on Saturday, 11am-7pm. The parade starts at 3pm.

Jess, "Echo's Wake"

In conjunction with the Cooley Gallery's Jess exhibition, the back room and Cinema Project present Jess: An evening of experimental film, music, food, and conversation. Bring your own dinner, and come discuss the work of seminal Beat artist Jess Collins, before previewing a series of films "directly or indirectly inspired by Jess."

Film presentation • Doors at 6:30, Film at 7:30 • May 16 • $6
Cinema Project • Podkrepa Hall • 2116 N. Killingsworth

Also: Come down to Reed this weekend for a public tour of the Jess exhibition with curator Stephanie Snyder.

Curator tour • 2pm • May 17 & 18
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Reed College

Cyan Bott

Each year at the Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) ends in the undergraduate thesis and Post-baccalaureate exhibitions. The exhibition showcases the culmination of work developed during the students' education at the college, displaying a wide range of media and multidisciplinary approaches. Because there are forty students exhibiting this year, the show has been split into two venues.

BFA Thesis: May 5 - 27
Opening reception • 4-7pm • May 16
Worksound PDX • 820 SE Alder • mojomodou@gmail.com

Post-baccalaureate: May 5 - 27
Opening reception • 4-7pm • May 15
OCAC Hoffman Gallery • 8245 SW Barnes Rd. • 503.297.5544

Also happening soon at OCAC: The Metal & Ceramics Sale. "Buy local and support Portland artists" - the sale features functional ceramic pieces and affordable handmade jewelry created by OCAC students.

Art sale • 10am-5pm • May 17 & 18
OCAC • 8245 SW Barnes Rd. • 503.297.5544

Cloepfil's Anne Sachs building in NW Portland

Tonight, local starchitect Brad Cloepfil will be the guest for Portland Spaces' bright lights discussion series. It all goes down at 6:00 at Jimmy Mak's, no cover... Doors open at 5:30 (get there early). Will Cloepfil and Gragg jam out? ....on kazoo's? ...or at least have a drummer for wise-ass rimshots?

Let's hope the increasingly bleak design outlook for the I-5 interstate bridge is addressed. We need a serious architect to shepherd this increasingly penny-wise pound foolish project... the only way to insure the billions of dollars spent on the largest new bridge project on the west coast doesn't simply become a XXL overpass. How... (more)

Harry Widman, "Mother and Daughter"

PCC's ArtBeat Week starts next Monday. The annual festival, which has run since 1989, boasts over 80 events on PCC's five campuses, all of which are free and open to the public. This year's featured artist is internationally recognized painter Harry Widman, whose work Mother and Daughter (above) has been added to PCC's permanent collection.

The festival runs May 12 - 16 on the Cascade, Rock Creek, Southeast Center, and Sylvania campuses. For a list of artists and activities and a schedule of events, visit the ArtBeat website.

TJ Norris, "Infinitus" (still)

The next Couture exhibition opened this week at NAAU. TJ Norris' Infinitus, the third and final component to the installation series Tribryd, is a "multimedia video lounge" that asks you to experience "the entire globe manifesting itself through interconnected man-made mini malls." The show runs May 7 - June 22, with an opening reception this weekend.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • May 10
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny St. • 503.231.8294

Jess Collins

Reed's Cooley Gallery presents an exhibition of work by seminal Beat Generation artist Jess Collins, known simply as "Jess" (1923-2004). Originally a chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project, Jess abandoned science and became an artist to protest nuclear weapons. Jess: To and From the Printed Page explores his relationship with printed materials, "as food and inspiration for his literary, esoteric vision." The traveling exhibition was organized by iCI.

Exhibition • Tue-Sun 12-5pm • May 9 - July 20
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Reed College

Also: Don't miss the artist talk by Margot Voorhies Thompson at Laura Russo, in conjunction with her Inventing/Adapting exhibition.

Artist talk • 11am • May 10 •
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st AVE • 503.226.2754

Leigh Ledare

Opening this week at Small A: Every Picture Tells a Story... Or At Least is a Picture, curated by Jo Jackson and Chris Johanson, featuring the work of twelve contemporary artists.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • May 8
Small A Projects • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.234.7993

Justine Kurland

Photographer Justine Kurland is lecturing at PNCA this week. Kurland became well known after her participating in the 1999 group show Another Girl, Another Planet, in which she displayed "large tableau pictures of neo-romantic landscapes inhabited by teenaged girls." Her work continues to explore issues of feminine identity, including her PICA exhibition in 2005. We're lucky to have Kurland around these parts quite frequently.

Artist lecture • 12:30pm • May 7
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

Also: Roger Ballen is lecturing in conjunction with his exhibition at QPCA.

Artist lecture • 7pm • May 7 • $5
PICA • 224 NW 13th AVE

Heejung Kim, "Karma"

This Monday, two exhibitions curated by Midori Yoshimoto are opening at OSU's Galleries. The combination of Heejung Kim's series The World Between and Sarah Pucill's video installation Stages of Mourning creates "an unexpected, cross-cultural encounter of two women artists." Kim's sculptures and handmade books, in the Fairbanks Gallery, use unusual materials to create objects that explore Buddhist symbolism and Kim's own meditations on the great questions: meaning of life, meaning of death, meaning of existence... In the adjacent West Gallery, Pucill's video installation takes a Western approach to the symbolism of death, exploring the depth of psychological anguish one experiences when trying to cope with the loss of a loved one.

Opening reception • 11:30-1:30 • May 5
Fairbanks Gallery • 106 Fairbanks Hall • OSU Campus

Curator lecture • 6pm Reception 7pm Lecture • May 7
LaSells Stewart Center • 100 LaSells Stewart Center • OSU Campus

Joe Glasglow

Newspace presents Peripheral Vision by the Inner Light Group. Founded in 1986 by Shedrich Williames, the photography group now includes over 20 members working in a wide variety of styles. This exhibition explores the physical and metaphorical possibilities when considering our visual periphery: "Does it exist only in the mind of the photographer? Or is seeing with peripheral vision a physical process that keeps one alert to all that may be happening in the corners and around the edges of an image."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • May 2
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

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Werner Herzog film still

During the month of May, the NW Film Center will be featuring A Quest for the Sublime: The Films of Werner Herzog. A central figure in the 1970s New German Cinema movement, Herzog has risen to prominence with acclaimed films from his early Aguirre to the more recent Grizzly Man. His films are characterized by his "disregard [for] the distinction between narrative film and documentary in pursuit of a more profound truth."

The series begins on Friday, May 2nd with his 2007 film Encounters at the End of the World, an exploration of Antarctica in "all its stark beauty." The film airs at 7pm in the Whitsell Auditorium.

For the full schedule and ticket purchasing information, visit the NW Film Center site.

Roger Ballen, "Untitled"

South-Africa based artist Roger Ballen will present the U.S. debut of nine images from his new series this month at QPCA. Acclaimed for his documentary portraits of the small villages of South Africa, Ballen has recently begun taking a more directorial approach. In addition to his new images, Ballen will be showing select works from his Outland and Shadow Chamber series, in which he initially began to explore the theatrical methods that allow his subjects to become active participants in the making of his photographs. There will be a book signing in the gallery following Ballen's May 7 lecture at PICA. For those up north, visit the QPCA website for the Seattle lecture date.

Opening Reception • 6-9pm • May 1
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060
Artist lecture • 7pm • May 7 • $5
PICA • 224 NW 13th AVE

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The 2008 PDX Experimental Film Fest starts this week. Check out our review of last year's festival right here. For a full schedule of film fest 2008 events, visit their website.

The festival will open with a reception at Gallery Homeland for the installation Surreal Systems. Curated by Mack McFarland and Stephen Slappe, the installation features work by 13 artists "[e]xamining networks of colonialism, nature, motion, observation, pyramid schemes, and memory." Other PDX Experimental Film Fest events at Gallery Homeland include Proving Ground with Travis Wilkerson on May 1, and The First Ever Experimental Filmmaker Karaoke Throwdown on May 2.

Opening reception • 6:00pm - 12:00 AM • April 30
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th AVE • info@galleryhomeland.org

Coming up this weekend: The Fifth Annual Stumptown Comics Fest! This year's guest of honor is Mike Richardson, writer and publisher at local favorite Dark Horse Comics. Other exhibitors include Nicholas Gurewitch, Scott McCloud, Craig Thompson, and many more. And don't miss the opening party, put on by Spark Plug Comics.

Opening party • 8pm-late • April 25
Guapo Comics & Books • 6416 SE Foster Rd. • 503.772.3638

Comics Festival • 10am-7pm • April 26 & 27 • Tickets Required
Lloyd Center Doubletree • 1000 NE Multnomah

Chris Haberman

The Goodfoot is opening a duo show this week for Last Thursday featuring Chris Haberman and Mario Robert III. The two artists share a colorful, "folk"-like style, created on and with a variety of untraditional media. Haberman is a highly prolific local artist and curator, and Robert III hails from El Paso, TX, with a background in carpentry.

Opening reception • 5-11pm • April 24
The Goodfoot • 2845 SE Stark • 503.239.9292

Rudolph M. Schindler, "Lovell Beach House," Newport Beach, CA, photographed by Marvin Rand

The NW Film Center presents German experimental filmmaker Heinz Emigholz's Schindler's Houses. The latest in Emigholz's series Architecture as Autobiography, the film explores "a selection of buildings designed by the Viennese architect Rudolph M. Schindler," who completed his most important work in the 1920s in Los Angeles.

Film Showing • 7pm • April 23 • $4-$7
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

Setareh Shahbazi, "Secret Affinities"

PICA and the PSU Monday night lecture series present a talk by influential curator Regine Basha, who has worked for the past 15 years in Montreal, New York, and Austin. Her career has primarily focused on "realizing context-specific situations for the production of new work," including her work in the 90s with artist collectives Mayday Productions and the Brewster Project. Her "recent and upcoming exhibitions include an exhibition about listening with Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello (Lora Reynolds Gallery), an exhibition with Berlin-based Setareh Shahbazi (Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara [see above]), and a town-wide sound sculpture project in Marfa, Texas called The Marfa Sessions (Ballroom Marfa)." Read more about Basha here.

Curator lecture • 7:30-8:30pm • April 21
PSU Lecture series • 5th Ave Cinema • 510 SW Hall

Jeff Jahn, "Eutrophication" (detail) site specific installation

PORT's own Jeff Jahn will be speaking next week on his site-specific installation, Eutrophication. Jahn will discuss his wide artistic influences, including Robert Irwin, Robert Smithson, Donald Judd, Paul Klee, Sol LeWitt, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as his relationship to architecture and the aesthetic effects of his musical interests.

Artist talk • 7-8pm • April 22
PNCA • 825 NW 13th• Manuel Izquierdo Gallery (3D building)

On Saturday April 19th @ 7pm, The Video Gentlemen present "Media Archeology," the second in-studio live broadcast as they continue to program their BYOTV installation at NAAU. Featuring research and analysis, questions and answers from Stephen Slappe and a really intriguing presentation by art historian Kate Mondloch (come to the gallery and phone in your ?'s):

Static Age: The Early Years of Television Culture A presentation by Stephen Slappe
This program of archival 16mm films examines the early years of television as a technological and cultural phenomenon. The program includes behind-the-scenes glimpses at television studios as well as references to television in popular culture from the 1930's to the 1960's.

Look at This: The Problem of Participation in 1970s Video Installation A presentation by Kate Mondloch
Look at This scrutinizes how media objects and their customary viewing regimes actively define the relationship between bodies and screens in media installation art. The talk complicates the notion of an inherently progressive, liberatory "spectator participation" that is celebrated in most accounts of media installation by detailing the ways in which screens are also capable of generating oppressive viewing conditions that strictly delimit the viewer's interaction with the work.

Mondloch states: "As in everyday life, screens and their illuminated moving images can offer a sort of siren song-calling spectators to largely involuntary behavior, begging them to look and pay attention, and to discipline themselves and their bodies in the process. The talk analyzes a series of influential closed-circuit video installations that intentionally explore the "architectures" of media spectatorship, including Frank Gillette and Ira Schneider's pioneering Wipe Cycle (1969), Bruce Nauman's video corridor works (1969-72), and Dan Graham's Present Continuous Past(s) (1974). I analyze how these early video works employ two apparently contradictory processes. Artists underscore the coercive nature of screen-based viewing by varying the arrangement of cameras and monitors-combining live and pre-recorded feedback, inverting viewers' images, divorcing cameras from their monitors, introducing time delays, and so on. Simultaneously, however, the technological apparatuses themselves arguably impose precise kinesthetic and psychic effects upon their audiences. This discrepancy between active and passive viewership presents an unresolved paradox for the artform's criticism."

The new Milepost 5 building is launching its arts programming this week with Self Projections. Video, film, sound and installations by 19 artists will be exhibited throughout the first floor of condos. Curated by Gary Wiseman, the show explores the idea that perception is innately personal and unique, and that art is in many ways about sharing that perspective.

The venue itself is an interesting Portland development. Milepost 5 is a new condominium development in far-out NE that is styling itself as "affordable and sustainable live/work spaces for artists in a supportive and interactive, community setting" - that is currently being pushed by Gavin Shettler. With the economic and real estate situation being what it is, one has to wonder if selling condos to build an artist's community from scratch might be even an more ambitious project than the recently closed Portland Art Center. It's another intriguing idea... But is it viable? I suppose you can come to the opening and find out.

Opening reception • 8pm-midnight • April 18
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st AVE • 503.724.6933

Nan Curtis

In True Colors, Nan Curtis uses quotidian objects such as cotton, lighters, and carpet to explore "family, social taboos, sex, and pregnancy." At once playful and slightly unnerving, her work challenges the social conventions that we rely upon to approach these touchy and yet utterly human subjects.

Opening reception • 6pm • April 16
Linfield Gallery • 900 SE Baker St. McMinnville • 503.883.2804

chris bennett at chambers

Chris Bennett, "Fence (diptych)"

Chambers presents New Antiquarians, a group photography exhibition. Five artists toy with 19th century "antiquated" photography techniques, updated with modern sensibilities and aesthetics. Featured artists include Leanne Hitchcock, Rachel Heath, Christine Laputa, Chris Bennett, and Sika Stanton.

Opening reception • 5:30-8:30pm • April 17
Chambers Fine Art • 207 SW Pine St. #102 • 503.227.9398

Marie Watt, "Space Between Clock and Bed"

PSU has launched a radio program to complement their Monday night lecture series. From 12-1pm each Monday on KPSU, hosts Alex McCarl and Cyrus Smith will be interviewing the visiting artists from the lecture series. (Note: You can stream KPSU broadcasts live from their website.) Tomorrow's guest will be Marie Watt.

Check the schedule and learn more about the interviewees on the ArtTalk Blog.

MidTown Arts Center, Eugene, OR

In 2005, Carole Zoom purchased a building in Eugene with the goal of providing a shared space for non-profit arts organizations. By offering them highly reduced rent for three years, the organizations were able to raise sufficient funds to purchase the building from her, and it is now the Eugene MidTown Arts Center (above), home of the Eugene Ballet and 7 other arts organizations.

Zoom is interested in creating a similar space in Portland. It would follow a similar model: She would purchase the building, non-profit arts organizations could move in for very low rent, and over time the building would be purchased from her. This is an excellent opportunity to create a much-needed hub for non-profit arts in Portland, but Zoom needs to assess interest in the project before she can go forward.

To that end, she will be hosting an informal meeting to discuss the project at 6pm on Wednesday, April 16. For more information about the project and the location of the meeting, please contact Carole Zoom at carolezoom@mac.com.

Jenene Nagy & Stephanie Robison, "Sitelines" (detail)

Sitelines, a joint exhibition by Stephanie Robison and PORT's own Jenene Nagy, explores ways that painting and sculpture can intertwine and reinvent the gallery space.

Opening reception • 3-5pm • April 13
Gallery talk • 12pm • April 30
Art Gym Main Space • Marylhurst University, 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy 43) • 503.636.8141, ext. 3383

pdx oregon bikes

Oregon Handmade Bicycles at PDX Airport

Ten custom bicycles are currently on display at PDX airport's artOBJECTS showcase in Concourse E. The bikes are all handmade in Oregon, and "demonstrate [the] combination of engineering skills, precision metal craftsmanship, cutting edge design, and passion for cycling" that has made Portland (& Oregon)'s bike culture so legendary. Because the bikes are only viewable by passengers, a short video about the exhibit and participating framebuilders will be available at the RACC's website. You can also view pics on bikeportland.org.

Ongoing exhibition • April 3 - early October
PDX International • 7000 NE Airport Way

Damien Gilley in the Portland Building

Damien Gilley, "PlusMinus" (detail)

Damien Gilley's PlusMinus is currently on view at the Portland Building. The large-scale installation uses vinyl tape to create elegant architectural drawings on the walls, playing with "the phenomenology of perception."

Ongoing exhibition • On view 7am - 6pm, M-F • April 7 - May 2
Portland Building • 1120 SW 5th AVE

Joe Thurston, "Strenuous Life"

This Friday, the Jupiter Hotel is hosting the Buckman Bash, an art auction and benefit for Buckman Elementary, Portland's own arts elementary school. The event features emcee Andrew Dickson and solo musical performances by James Mercer (The Shins) and Stephen Malkmus (The Jicks), as well as a student art show including animated shorts. Some excellent local artists have donated their work, including Storm Tharp, Joe Thurston, Scott Wayne Indiana, Marlana Stoddard Hayes, Eugenia Pardue, PORT's own Jenene Nagy, and more.

Buckman Bash • Doors at 7pm • April 11 • $50
Jupiter Hotel • 800 E Burnside

Can't make the bash? Swing by the school for the 18th annual Art "Show & Sell":
Friday, April 11 • 5-9pm
Saturday, April 12 • 10am-5pm
Buckman Elementary • 320 SE 16th AVE

Ken Shores at Museum of Contemporary Craft

Ken Shores, "Feather Fetish"

Generations: Ken Shores opens this week at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. The exhibition "seeks a new understanding of Shores' work in the context of his role as a student, teacher, leader, artist and foundational figure in the American Craft Movement," placing his work in the context of his "home, travels, and experience."

Exhibition • April 10 - July 23
Artist Lecture • 2pm • May 4 • Free, in The Lab
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis St. • 503.223.2654

MoCC's next "Excellence in Craft" lecture is also happening this week. Paul Smith, Director Emeritus of the American Craft Museum (now Museum of Arts & Design), will speak on Reflections: Twentieth Century Studio Craft Movement - Current Observations.

Lecture • 7pm • April 10 • $5
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis St., The Lab • 503.223.2654

Storm Tharp, "The Duke of Albuquerque"

Storm Tharp will be lecturing tonight as part of the ongoing Monday night MFA lecture series at PSU.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • April 7
PSU Lecture Series • 5th AVE Cinema • 510 SW Hall

Lauren Clay, "Prism Pile"

The Archer Gallery at Clark College presents Dialogue: A group exhibition of six artists whose work "spans the divide between two-and three-dimensional art, creating a dialogue on image and form." Many of the artists are Seattle-based, which adds a more buttoned-down formal quality to the show than the more energetic Portland-based work.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • April 8
Archer Gallery • Clark College, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • Penguin Union Building (PUB) attached to Gaiser Hall

Matt McCormick, from "The Problem of Machines that Communicate"

As part of the Northwest Tracking series, the NW Film Center presents An Evening with Matt McCormick. The Portland filmmaker will be present at the screening of two of his recent films, The Problems of Machines that Communicate (2008 - premiered at SXSW), and Future So Bright (2007), as well as a series of short music videos and experimental projects.

Film Showing • 9pm • April 9 • $4 - $7
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

Kate Simmons, "Storm Warning"

The PSU graduating MFA exhibition series begins next week. The shows run in two week cycles, and feature "work ranging from obsessive marks on paper to video and mixed-media installation ... that demonstrate[s] intellectual rigor and aesthetic diversity." There will always be two shows running simultaneously, in the Autzen and MK Galleries. The first run is from April 7-18 (opening receptions listed below). You can view the full list of future exhibitions on the art dept.'s website.

Kate Simmons • Opening reception • 6-8pm • April 10
Autzen Gallery • PSU, Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, 724 SW Harrison St.

Amy Steel • Opening reception • 6-8pm • April 10
MK Gallery • PSU, Art Building, 2nd Floor rm 210, 2000 SW 5th Ave.

Chris Held, "Overstock," installation view

"o•ver•stock v: 1. vti to stock more of something than is necessary or desirable 2. vt to graze an area with more livestock than it can support n an excessively large supply of something."

Chris Held explores the quasi-religion built around the modern commodity in Overstock, on view this month at Jáce Gáce. Positing that in modern culture, products have replaced the promise of love and happiness that once came from religion, Held has created an immense shrine of boxed goods, topped with a microwave in place of a religious figure.

Opening reception • 6pm-midnight • April 4
Jáce Gáce • 2045 SE Belmont • 503.239.1887

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24 hour drawpocalypse at cosmic monkey comics

David Chelsea

It's a comic marathon! Comic artists from all over the region will gather this weekend at Cosmic Monkey Comics to create a 24 page collaborative work in 24 straight hours of work. Come watch, cheer them on, enjoy refreshments, and get pumped up for the upcoming late April Comics Fest.

Comic Marathon • 10am - 10am • April 5 - April 6
Cosmic Monkey Comics • 5335 NE Sandy Blvd • 503.517.9050

Eva and Franco Mattes, "Jenna Varun"

On view this month at the Augen Gallery is Eva and Franco Mattes' Avatars and Other Images from Alternate Universes, an extension of their recent exhibition 13 Most Beautiful Avatars. The prints emerge from avatars built in the Mattes's exploration of Second Life, an online virtual world where users can create the ultimate idealized self. Borrowing from Pop Art sensibility, the Mattes have brought Warhol's influence into the 21st century, "scrutiniz[ing] simultaneous concepts of 'beauty' and 'reality', [and] pointing to the heightened relevance of a post-20th-century cult of superficiality."

Opening reception • 5-8:30pm • April 3
Augen Gallery NW • 716 NW Davis • 503.546.5056

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Katherine Ace, "Animals on the Inside"

The 19th Annual CAP art evening and auction is happening this Saturday. The auction, which features artist Katherine Ace amid many wonderful works, benefits the Cascade AIDS Project. This year's theme is Cirque (whimsical), and the event will also feature the finest in Portland food and entertainment.

Art auction & social • Doors open at 5pm • April 5
Oregon Convention Center • 777 NE MLK Blvd. • Exhibit Hall C

Jenene Nagy

Jenene Nagy will be lecturing on her APEX show at PAM this Sunday. The talk will explore "her working practice, its history, and inspirations."

Artist talk • 2pm • March 30 • Free to members, or with cost of admission to the museum.
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park AVE • Andrée Stevens Room

Coming up at PAM: The next Miller Meigs show will be Ed Ruscha - on loan from the Broad collection. As PORT pointed out when everyone was all in a tizzy over the Broad revelation, LACMA's loss is already turning out to be our gain.

Brittany Powell & Jill Bliss

Opening on Last Thursday is Brittany Powell & Jill Bliss's project Califoregon. Powell is a native Oregonian and Bliss is a native Californian. After meeting at CCA and both finding themselves landing in Portland (it's the northern expansion!), they decided to unite their native aesthetics and bring us this collaborative exhibition of drawings, cut-outs, screen prints, and more - all celebrating the growing hybrid that is Califoregon.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • March 27
Office PDX • 2204 NE Alberta • 888.355.7467

Make sure to check out the review of BYOTV below.

If you like what you read, come down to NAAU this week for the following Week One transmissions: "From infomercials to local news, genre westerns and classic sitcoms, familiar forms are aflutter. Amplified to the point of distortion, these audio-visual vernaculars are rewired by: Linda Austin, Lili White, Nerve Theory, Jesse England and Taly & Russ Johnson. This week's offerings also include abstract illusions from Marchi Wierson and elusive allusions from Ryan Dunn. And don't miss Bosko Blagojevic's typo-corrected rendition of Richard Serra and Carlotta Fay Schoolman's famous media critique Television Delivers People."

New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

The Living Room Theater is launching Art Spark: Every third Thursday, interested parties gather in their lounge to chat about art. It's a private business looking to break into the art scene, but it sounds like it could be a promising event. Each month there will be a different host from the local art scene, who gets "6@6" - 6 minutes at 6pm to say or do whatever they want, followed by open discussion. March's host is Arts & Culture Commissioner Sam Adams. The event is free, but space is tight, so they ask that you RSVP.

Creative discourse • 5-7pm • March 20 (and every 3rd Thursday)
Living Room Theaters • SW 10th & Stark

ellen lupton at museum of contemporary craft

Ellen Lupton

In conjunction with PNCA, the Museum of Contemporary Craft presents a lecture by Ellen Lupton. Theorizing that design is a form of creativity that is accessible to all, Lupton's The Design-It-Yourself Revolution "explore(s) how technology is combining with social movements to create greater access to design tools and creativity."

Excellence in craft lecture • 7pm • March 20 • $5
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • The Commons

The first exhibition in NAAU's Couture series opens next week with The Video Gentlemen's BYOTV. The show is in response to the U.S.'s decision to end all analog television broadcasting in February, 2009: "Pre-empting the scheduled program of obsolescence, The Video Gentlemen's BYOTV network launches a six-week season of special reports engaged with this technocultural turn." The signal will be broadcast from NAAU, and visitors are encouraged to "Bring Your Own TV," or borrow one from the gallery, "intercepting transmissions from their immediate airspace."

Exhibition • March 19 - April 27
Update! Opening reception • 5-8pm • March 22
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

If you're looking for a little more action this weekend, check out these events:

k sims fashion at pancake clubhouse

K Sims

The Pancake Clubhouse presents local designer K Sims' recycled fashion show. She'll be debuting designs that explore "deconstruction, luxury, reincarnation, beauty, and individuality," all accompanied by a saw and theramin performance.

Fashion show • 8pm • March 15
Pancake Clubhouse • 906a NE 24th Ave • pancakeclubhouse@gmail.com

UCA theater

Gallery Homeland will be hosting the United Church of America, a traveling political theater group, featuring the constitutional Prophet "BCG" and his newest political sermon "Make America." GH invites you to "Come celebrate your country with a Constitutional Communion!"

Political theater • 7pm • March 14 & 15 • $6
Gallery Homeland 2505 SE 11th AVE • info@galleryhomeland.org

Dave O'Johnson, "Loiter"

Rocksbox presents Man Friends Forever, a joint-show with California's Dave O' Johnson & Brian Wasson. Rumor has it there will be a pig roast at the opening!

Opening reception • 7-11pm • March 15
Rocksbox Fine Art • 6540 N Interstate AVE • 971.506.8938

Anissa Mack's The Last Full Weekend Each September is opening this weekend at Small A. The show collects pieces from Mack's Durham Fair and Durham Fair (10th Anniversary Edition) series. Having grown up attending the Durham Fair, for these projects Mack created pieces to enter in all 73 craft categories at the fair, exploring and interrogating American craft rituals and traditions. This show is the first time these pieces have been exhibited outside the fair.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • March 8
Small A Projects • 1430 SE 3rd AVE • 503.234.7993

In conjunction with the exhibit, Mack will be speaking for this Monday's (March 10) PSU lecture series at 7:30pm at the 5th Ave Cinema, SW 5th & Hall.

Ann Ploeger

Pushdot Studio is celebrating the gallery's official reopening in their new location with Ann Ploeger's In Between. The series reinvents the self-portrait, exploring "uninhabited spaces... in which stillness lends itself to the specificity of being there." The photographs encourage the viewer to reflect on how these images represent moments in the artist's life and self, while using light and color to create a sense of location that invites the viewer into the moment.

Opening Reception • 6-9pm • March 7
Pushdot Studio • 1021 SE Caruthers • info@pushdotstudio.com

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laura fritz at quality pictures contemporary art

Laura Fritz, still from "Interspace"

QPCA will be unveiling their fourth "Qproject." Interspace is a "fully immersive" video installation by Laura Fritz. The installation continues Fritz's exploration of what happens inside the viewer's mind as expectation and perception are manipulated by a "purposeful and provocative vacuum."

mark hooper at quality pictures contemporary art

mark hooper at quality pictures contemporary art

Mark Hooper, "Untitled (from the series There:Here)"

Also opening at QPCA: Mark Hooper's There:Here, an exhibition of large-scale photographs that "use metaphorical events and tools to address enabling and predicting change on the physical, psychological or spiritual level."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • March 6
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

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Nubar Alexanian, "Man on the Box (recreation)"

Join curators Stephanie Snyder, Stuart Horodner, and Mack McFarland this Saturday for a walk-through of the latest exhibition in PNCA's Feldman Gallery & Project Space. Untraceable explores "artists' responses to political control, violence and torture."

Artist & Curator walk-through • 11am • March 1
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

French Philosopher Jacques Ranciere's lecture at PNCA promises to be the heaviest talk we will experience in 2008. He's pretty much the art world's favorite intellectual these days. To familiarize yourself a tiny bit here's what he thought of Guantanamo Bay and here's a decent interview related to his book "The Politics of Aesthetics."

According to PNCA's press release, Ranciere as emeritus professor at the University of Paris VIII, is considered "one of the five leading intellectuals in the world today." (Either that or he has one of the five best publicists...) Ranciere will be making his first visit to Portland to speak as part of FIVE Idea Studios, and will speak on the subject of "What Makes Images Unacceptable." I rather doubt he will discuss what makes philosphers unacceptable though.... (kidding aside, this should be good.)

PNCA
February 29, 2008, 6:30pm, Swigert Commons

Fresh Impressions: Letterpress Printing in Contemporary Art @ OCAC
Opening reception on Thursday, February 28 from 4:00-7:00pm

Curated by artists Inge Bruggeman and Heather Watkins, the show explores the relevance of letterpress printing in contemporary art, while seeking to define its significance to current art making practices.

The exciting lineup of participating artists include Abra Ancliffe, Jan Baker, Amy Borezo, Sarah Bryant, Macy Chadwick, Julie Chen, Wendy Fernstrum, Heather Green, Carl Haase, Diane Jacobs, Alicia McKim, Heidi Neilson, Erin Newell, Amy Pirkle, Robin Price, Harry Reese, John Risseeuw, Regula Russelle, Wilbur Schilling, CB Sherlock, Amy Sterly, and Rachel Wiecking (an artists to watch).

OCAC's Hoffman Gallery
8245 S.W. Barnes Road
Portland, OR 97225

Miguel Rio Branco, "Blue Panther"

This weekend, Quality Pictures is hosting a lecture/brunch. Curator Erik Schneider will discuss the concept, technique, and market behind the photographic exhibition The Man Show. Admission is free, but space is limited, so RSVP to info@qpca.com or 503.227.5060. Note: It will also be your last chance to check out Brian Ulrich's Thrift.

Artist lecture & brunch • 10:30-11:30am • March 1
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

Happening further south this weekend in LA: Portland's own GLARE Quarterly is having the release party for issue #3 this Saturday at MOCA @ 4:30PM (Pacific Design Center).

Happening tonight: Photojournalist Joel Preston Smith will be lecturing at Newspace on the four months he lived in Iraq in 2003, documenting "Iraqis' daily lives, rituals, and struggle to survive-both before and after the U.S. invasion."

Artist slide lecture • 7pm • February 26 • Free
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

Later this week, Newspace will be hosting their third annual silent auction. The proceeds benefit their educational programs and "contribute to the strength of the organization." The auction is on February 29, and is $10 at the door for non-members. For more information, visit their website.

Reed is also hosting the final lecture in the Working History series. Kianga Ford will discuss her Counting installation, which "examines racial identity through an intermingling of textual narrative and abstract mathematics." The lecture will be followed by a closing reception for the exhibition in the Cooley Gallery.

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • February 27
Reed College, Eliot 314 • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

Stephen Scott Smith, "gorillasmith series"

For their final exhibition in their space below the Wonder Ballroom, the Mark Woolley Gallery presents ALPHABET SOUP: Labeling, Identity, Stigma, Pride. They're still looking for artists to submit work that explores "the external and internal dimensions of the sexual labels G, L, B, T, Q, I, A, SGL, 2S and more." The exhibition will also include a non-juried wall for all artists to express themselves on the subject.

Click here for submission guidelines. The deadline is March 1, at 5:30pm.

Opening reception & dance party • 5pm - late • March 8
Woolley at Wonder • 128 NW Russell St. • 503.224.5475

Closing party / Goodbye to the space • 5pm - late • March 21

WNTR WRKS drawing

PICA and Cartune Xprez present an animation festival with "the last breaths of winter." There will be screenings of videos by Takeshi Murata, Bruce Bickford, Josh Mannis, and more, as well as music/video/theater performance featuring Hooliganship and others, and musical interludes by DJ Beyonda.

Animation festival • 9pm • February 24 • $6, 21+
Holocene • 1001 SE Morrison

Installation Shot of Io Palmer & "Janitorial Supplies" 2007-8

Continuing the Working History lecture series, Io Palmer will speak this Friday at Reed College. Her installation Janitorial Supplies "explores the history of African American labor, class, and physical adornment."

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • February 22
Reed College Eliot 314 • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

Faith Ringgold will also be lecturing at Reed on her work Marlon Riggs: Tongues Untied, A Painted Story Quilt on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 3pm in Kaul Auditorium.

Philippe Blanc, from "Limelight"

There will be a curatorial talk on Limelight this weekend, featuring PORT's own Jeff Jahn. Check out the gallery website for statements on smelly cheese, video, and the excellent body of work that makes up this exhibition.

Curator talk • 2pm • February 24
Alexander Gallery • 19600 Molalla AVE, Oregon City • 503.657-6958

roadside attraction at PSU autzen gallery

Stephanie Robison, "Cloud Cover with Bricks"

On Monday, Stephanie Robison and Paula Rebsom's Roadside Attraction will be opening at PSU's Autzen Gallery. Using landscape photography and studio sculpture, Roadside Attraction "explores ways in which we, as a culture, mediate our interactions with nature. "

Opening reception • 5-7pm • February 18
Autzen Gallery • PSU, Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, 724 SW Harrison St.

The reception is immediately before the Monday night MFA lecture series. This week, the Center for Land Use Interpretation will be speaking.

Jenene Nagy false flat at Portland Art Museum

Jenene Nagy, from "False Flat"

PORT's own Jenene Nagy will be bringing her site specific installation work to PAM's APEX series. Open through June, the exhibition pushes Nagy's exploration of "the need to invent idealized spaces ... that blur the boundaries between built and natural environments." PORT reviewed her breakout False Flat show last fall.

Exhibition • February 16 - June 22
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park AVE • 503.226.2811

Nick Cave, installation at the Chicago Cultural Center

One of the artists from Working History (previously reviewed here) is speaking this week at Reed. Nick Cave will discuss his Sound Suit installation, a series which was originally inspired in 1991 by the beating of Rodney King. The lecture is the first of four lectures from the exhibition. There will be a reception held after Cave's talk.

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • February 15
Reed College Vollum Lecture Hall • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Opening reception • 8-10pm • February 15
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

While you're there: Don't forget to check out Laura Fritz's Caseworks 13, which closes February 17.

Liz Obert

The Linfield Gallery will be showing Liz Obert's Observations from the Nicoya Peninsula. This is the first exhibition of Obert's work inspired by her travels to Costa Rica - and a chance for chilly Portlanders to fantasize a little about warmer cultures and climes.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • February 13
Linfield Gallery • 900 SE Baker St. McMinnville • 503.883.2804

Whether or not you're sick of the bumper sticker campaign, this is a great opportunity to bring the quirky side of Portland art to the politicos. Keep Portland Weird is looking for work for a March exhibition in City Hall. There is no submission fee, and the deadline is Friday, February 15. Visit their website for more info.

Art on Alberta Annual Meeting

If you're more interested in talking about how to keep Portland weird (or just artistic), come to the annual Art on Alberta meeting, featuring keynote speaker Commissioner Sam Adams. Buffet is $5.

Meeting • 6:30-8pm • February 13
Zaytoon in the Alberta Arts District • 2236 NE Alberta St. • info@artonalberta.org

Army Private First Class John E. Brown of Troy, Ala. (left) was killed in Iraq on April 14, 2003, Private First Class David N. Simmons of Kokomo, Ind. was killed on April 8, 2007 in Baghdad (right) Images courtesy of Kent Gallery, NYC

Ok, I must admit... I'm easilly annoyed by a lot of political art that simply rides a wave of dissatisfaction (most war art is just propoganda) but maybe Emily Prince has found a way to keep from merely "taking dictation" from the nightly news and making one-dimensional art. Sure, she makes drawings of servicemen killed in Iraq but there must have been more to this than just that if Robert Storr had decided to put her in the Venice Biennale last year. Storr is notoriously wary of political art as this pre-biennale interview points out.

5th Ave Cinema | Monday, February 11th, 7:30pm | 510 SW Hall St. (free)

Richard Deacon's Dead Leg, 2007

In 1987 Richard Deacon won Britain's prestigious Turner Prize, tomorrow he will speak on his work and concerns as they relate to his wonderful current installation in the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. Deacon's show is part of the Miller-Meigs series (aka the best curatorial programming arc the city of Portland [or Seattle, only the Frye come close] has ever experienced... considering weve already seen Roxy Paine, Damien Hirst, Richard Rezac, Kehinde Wiley, Pierre Huyghe, Ursula von Rydingsvard and Sophie Calle. In other words, this is a must see... and you can hear the artist this time.

February 8th
6:00 PM @ Portland Art Museum's Whitsell Auditorium
$5 members - $10 nonmembers

The 31st Portland International Film Festival starts today! This 17 day festival, hosted by the NW Film Center, includes award winning film from all over the world, showing at several venues around the city. For more information, including film listings and schedule updates, visit the PIFF website.

Motoya Nakamura, "Hoop"

23 Sandy presents March Fourth, an exhibition of Motoya Nakamura's photography of the beloved Portland marching band. The highly cinematographic images explore the band performing and behind the scenes, providing a lush insight into the circus-like world of March Fourth.

Artist reception • 6pm • February 8
Slide lecture • 7pm • February 20
23 Sandy Gallery • 623 NE 23rd AVE • 503.927.4409

Cherie Hiser at 23 Sandy

Cherie Hiser, "1972"

While you're at the gallery, head back to the slide room to check out Visions of One. Cherie Hiser has been "model and muse" for many of photography's legends, from Ruth Bernhard and Jerry Uelsmann, to Lee Friedlander, Judy Dater, and Stu Levy, and this exhibition showcases her collection of portraits.

Opening reception • 6pm • February 8
23 Sandy Gallery • 623 NE 23rd AVE • 503.927.4409

In pursuit of beauty and social commentary, IGLOO presents the mixed-media work of Modou Dieng. !Hey Lover combines painting, photography, found objects, and installation to explore the "humanity, topography, and pastiche of forms" in contemporary life.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • February 7
IGLOO • 325 NW 6th #102 • 503.724.7300

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Since First Friday came so quickly this month, a couple of galleries decided to bump it to First Wednesday. Opening this week:

Michael Patterson-Carver at Small A

Michael Patterson-Carver, "1967 School Children's March"

This month, Small A Projects will be featuring the drawings of Michael Patterson-Carver. State of the Union explores the history of social injustice and protest in the United States. Each drawing displays a group of protesters fighting one of the many battles that has shaped American history. By contrasting drawings of such historical groups as the suffragettes with modern illustrations of the "state of the union" (and his own struggle against the Patriot Act), Patterson-Carver seeks to highlight the dark hypocrisy at work in politics today. However, the smiling faces on the protesters reminds us that with action, there is hope.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • February 6
Small A Projects • 1430 SE Third • 503.234.7993

Julia Gardner at Vino Paradiso

Julia Gardner

A more local history can be found at Vino Paradiso. Julia Gardner will present her (literally) layered personal view on the buildings and spaces that have shaped Portland and its history. Beginning with industrial urban photographers, Gardner uses resin to layer found objects, paint, and ink, creating a uniquely Portland narrative within each work.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • February 6
Vino Paradiso • 417 NW 10th AVE • 503.284.4471

Kate Pocrass is a social practice artist from San Francisco who uses a telephone messaging service to direct people to "off the beaten path" destinations. She prefers to make people "stop and look with intention, not going from point A to B quickly." An alumnus of the Bay Area Now 4 triennial it should be interesting to hear about any off the beaten path destinations in Portland.

5th Ave Cinema | Monday, February 4th, 7:30pm | 510 SW Hall St. (free)

Lucy Orta

Designer and artist Lucy Orta will be lecturing next week at Reed College. In projects such as "Refuge Wear," "Body Architecture," and "Nexus Architecture" (1992-2002), Orta's work explores ways to visualize the concept of "Social Link." She's a pioneer in the development of "socially driven and sustainable design solutions, alternative systems, and products."

Artist lecture • 7pm • February 5
Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Vollum lecture hall

This group exhibition, curated by Todd Johnson, examines "the mythology and romanticism of the American western frontier." What lingering effect does the notion of the pioneer and Manifest Destiny have on the making of contemporary photography? The artists in this show explore what is still captivating about "the legends and myths of the Wild Wild West."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • February 1
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th AVE • info@galleryhomeland.org

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Philippe Blanc, from "Limelight"

This weekend, Limelight, curated by PORT's own Jeff Jahn, is opening at the Alexander Gallery at Clackamas Community College. The show explores the tricks and techniques that artists use to catch the eye - and, more importantly, how an artist goes about holding the viewer's attention.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • February 2
Alexander Gallery • 19600 Molalla AVE, Oregon City • 503.657-6958

Opening this week at Rererato: Two Thousand Kilometers in Two Weeks: Photographer Michael Cogliantry Takes on India in a Rickshaw. In December 2006, Cogliantry traveled from the Malabar Coast of Cochin (Kochin) to Hyderabad, documenting his travels along the way. For this exhibition, Cogliantry presents a series of self portraits taken during the trip, forming a "unique narrative" that expresses his journey of self discovery through the eyes of a fictional character. There will also be a book signing at the opening.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • January 31
Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd AVE • info@rererato.com

Johann Neumeister

This weekend, ROCKSBOX presents Austrian artist Johann Neumeister's Psychopsychoanalysis. For this installment of the project, Neumeister will be focusing on the concept of "mother." On opening night he will be available as Dr. Herbert Dreadful, setting up office in the gallery for free Psychopsychoanalytical sessions. Neumeister cites chance, improvisation, connecting people and working with his surroundings as influences on his work.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • January 26
ROCKSBOX • 6540 N Interstate AVE • 971.506.8938

Jesse Hayward at Tilt and Tilt 2 Year Anniversary

This weekend, Tilt is celebrating two fabulous years as an increasingly integral part of the Everett Station Lofts. The party features excellent food, drink, and company, and the closing reception for Jesse Hayward's One None Done.

Anniversary party + closing reception • 7-11pm • January 25
Tilt Gallery & Project Space • 625 NW Everett #106 • 908.616.5477

Nice Trim at IGLOO

While you're in the neighborhood, swing by IGLOO for the closing reception of Nice Trim, a group show featuring animation and works on paper.

Closing reception • 7-10pm • January 25
IGLOO • 325 NW 6th AVE #102 • iglooarts@gmail.com

Arline Fisch, "Silver Anemone necklace"

This week, Arline Fisch is speaking at the Museum of Contemporary Craft as part of the Excellence in Craft series. In Elegant Fantasy: A Journey through Textile Techniques in Metal, Fisch will discuss her 50+ years weaving together the techniques of jewelry, sculpture, and metal working with the structure of textiles and fabric.

Artist lecture • 7pm • January 24 • $5
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis St., The Lab • 503.223.2654

Sarah Johnson, "I Still Want to be Popular (detail)"

Chambers is launching a solo exhibition by Sarah Johnson this week. Johnson uses colorful gum drops to write billboard-sized messages, combining "candy's seductive veil with taboo confessions" to explore the conflict of expectation and disappointment.

Opening reception • 5:30-8:30pm • January 24
Chambers Fine Art • 207 SW Pine St. #102 • 503.227.9398

Kianga Ford, "Counting (installation detail)"

Working History opens next week at Reed's Cooley Gallery. The exhibition pairs work by contemporary African American artists with related historical artifacts and ephemera. As they share semantic space, the relationship between the objects reflects upon the ways that African American artists have "re-purposed historical documents, material craft histories and folk art forms as indispensable vehicles for social and political critique."

Working History: African American Art & Objects • January 22 - March 2
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • 503.777.7251

Harriete Estel Berman, "Yellow & Orange UPC Identity BEAD Necklace"

Two wearably lovely exhibitions are opening this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Framing: The Art of Jewelry explores the distance created between the viewer and the object when jewelry is presented to the public as an art object, and how this distance can be played with to bend the art/adornment relationship.

Framing: The Art of Jewelry • January 19 - May 11
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis St. • 503.223.2654

Mindy Herrin, "Abstracted Fruit necklace"

The second exhibition, Touching Warms the Art, uses the medium of jewelry to obscure that distance. The jurors of this show asked artists to "put aside preciousness," focusing instead on creating work that engages the viewer physically and mentally and invites touch and delight.

Touching Warms the Art • January 19 - March 23
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis St. • 503.223.2654

James O'Keefe and other artists show at the MHCC Visual Arts Gallery

James O'Keefe

There are several interesting group shows opening this Friday, beginning with Weight, an installation exhibition curated by Pat Barrett. Each piece explores the physical, psychological, and/or psychic impact of "weight." The show features northwest artists Charles L. Forster, Ellen George, Tim Miller, James O'Keefe, Penitents, Kirsten Rian, Stephanie Speight and Jack Walsh, and PORT's own Jeff Jahn.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • January 18
Artist talk • 1pm • January 30
MHCC Visual Arts Gallery • 26000 SE Stark St., Gresham • 503.491.6075

(more exciting shows under the cut)

Hap Tivey speaks at Elizabeth Leach Gallery

Hap Tivey, "Blue for Barnett"

Hap Tivey will be speaking at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery this week in conjunction with his Sands of the Ganges exhibition, on view through March 1, 2008.

Artist talk & reception • 5:30-7:30pm • January 18
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th AVE • 503.224.0521

Henk Pander speaks at Laura Russo Gallery

Henk Pander speaks at Laura Russo Gallery

Henk Pander, "Tower"

Also speaking this weekend: Henk Pander and J.D. Perkin will be lecturing at the Laura Russo Gallery. Pander, a Dutch painter, will be discussing his plein air and studio watercolors currently on view at the gallery. Portland native Perkin will be discussing his figural ceramics that are showing at the gallery, inspired by yoga and meditative poses.

Artist(s) talk • 11am • January 19
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st AVE • 503.226.2754

Ryan Jacob Smith, "Sorry"

As part of their Winter 07-08 workshops, the IPRC is hosting three talks by artists who've made a career out of their art. Each workshop will explore the business side of the artist's field, and the insights and wisdom they've gained from their experience. All of the talks are free, but pre-registration is required.

The first talk is Thursday, January 17, by freelance illustrator and gallery artist Ryan Jacob Smith. The second talk is by comic artists Jesse Reklaw and Dylan Williams, and the final talk is by graphic designer Briar Levit.

More information is available on the IPRC Calendar.

Emily Ginsburg at OSU's Fairbanks Gallery

Emily Ginsburg, "Social Studies #14"

PNCA professor Emily Ginsburg will be exhibiting her work at OSU's Fairbanks Gallery. Habitual combines selected prints from Ginsburg's Social Studies series with her video Blink to explore "the idiosyncrasies of the familiar." Ginsburg's work encourages us to consider the processes of social interaction, communication, and behavior in our day to day lives.

Exhibition • January 14 - February 6
Fairbanks Gallery • 106 Fairbanks Hall • OSU Campus

Chris Haberman, "Cindy Sherman"

Opening this weekend at 23 Sandy is Chris Haberman's Something for Nothing. Haberman is a strong presence in Portland, working prolifically from the curating side as well as the production side. This exhibition features his vibrant paintings, inspired by "comic books, curbside discards and popular culture." There will also be an artist slide show and lecture a few days after the opening, titled Something for Nothing: My Life.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • January 12
Artist lecture • 7pm • January 15
23 Sandy Gallery • 623 NE 23rd AVE • 503.927.4409

Portland is unique as a scene defined mostly by its artists, not its institutions or galleries and there are several interesting out of town art shows for Portlanders opening in the next few days.

Adam Sorensen's National Park

Today Adam Sorensen makes his debut at Seattle's James Harris Gallery. Sorensen's break out solo show at Elizabeth Leach last year had us expecting more and this looks like a serious effort. His work was even collected by the CW network last year. (Sorensen has switched his representation in Portland to PDX Contemporary Art too)... (more)

Brian Ulrich, "Untitled Thrift (Pricer 2)"

This Friday, Brian Ulrich's Thrift is opening at Quality Pictures. The photographs are from a chapter of Ulrich's Copia project, which explores consumerism in American culture. When the American government responded to the tragedies of 9-11 by encouraging citizens to shop, Ulrich began the Copia project as a direct response to what he perceived as the equation of patriotism and consumerism. The project currently features three chapters, Retail, Backrooms, and Thrift.

As part of the opening event, Quality Pictures is hosting a clothing drive to benefit Portland's thrift stores. They request that people bring a quality item of clothing to donate to the reception, which will feature a beer and wine tasting with food by Planet B's Modern Tastes.

Opening reception • 6-9m • January 11
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

Dan Senn, from "Air Lift, Lilt"

A new exhibition is opening at PSU's Autzen Gallery next week. Dan Senn's Air Lift, Lilt is "an installation of kinetic, inflatable, sound sculpture." The project utilizes Senn's broad background in both music composition and ceramic sculpture.

Artist reception • 5-7pm • January 7
Autzen Gallery • PSU, Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, 724 SW Harrison St.

If you like to mix your sights and sounds, you might also want to check out the third annual Children of the Revolution Festival. The Festival was conceived as a way to unite musicians and artists with members of the unique Portland community. This year features a huge list of great Portland artists, including Corey Smith, Yoni Kifle, Roxanne Jackson, Brad Adkins, and many, many more.

The festival is happening this weekend, January 5 & 6th, at Audiocinema, from 2:30pm-12:30am. Presale tickets are available at Jackpot Records for $10 for one day or $15 for two days.

Jesse Hayward

For the month of January, Tilt exhibits Jesse Hayward's One None Done. Hayward's work combines the sculptural with the painterly and drawn, blurring boundaries and lending a "heightened leeway" to form and color. The site-specific installation creates "sweeps of gesture" throughout the space.

Opens January 4th
Closing reception • 7-10pm • January 25
Tilt Gallery and Project Space • 625 NW Everett St. #106 • 908.616.5477

Hiroshi Watanabe

This month, Newspace presents Ideology in Paradise, a series of photographs by Hiroshi Watanabe. In this beautiful exhibition, Watanabe gives the viewer a glimpse into the normally off-limits world of North Korea. Although accompanied by government-appointed handlers, Watanabe was able to capture many charmingly human moments in the people he portrays.

There will be a free artist lecture and slideshow at 1pm on Saturday, January 5.

Opening Reception • 7-10pm • January 4
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

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Hap Tivey, "Sand Grain"

This month, Hap Tivey's Sands of the Ganges opens at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery. Created with canvas, acrylic, and LEDs, these light sculptures are a gorgeous antidote to the dark Northwest winter. The show derives its title from a Sanskrit metaphor for infinity, and each work explores theoretical concepts just this side of abstraction, such as a proton or the wavelength of speech.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • January 3
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th AVE • 503.224.0521

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Chuck Close documentary with PAM and the NW Film Center

Chuck Close, "Self Portrait/Pulp"

In conjunction with PAM's ongoing exhibition, Chuck Close Prints, the NW Film Center presents a documentary by Marion Cajori. Chuck Close explores the artist's process over 82 days as he "re-invents" portraiture.

The film is screening on December 22, 23, and 30 at the Whitsell auditorium. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the NW Film Center. Also: The PAM exhibition is only on view through January 6, so hurry in if you haven't made it yet.

Oregon Regional Arts and Culture Council

From January through June 2008, the Regional Arts & Culture Council is offering artist workshops. Topics range from legal concerns to marketing to applying for grants to unusual mural painting. Most classes are $25, with some additional fees. Registration is open now, and space is limited, so hop on over to the workshop site to learn more and sign up.

Michael Brophy Book Signing at Laura Russo

Michael Brophy, "Night Truck"

In conjunction with his December exhibition, Michael Brophy will be signing his book Here, There, Nowhere at the Laura Russo Gallery this weekend. Brophy will also speak about the show at 1:30pm.

Book signing: 1-3pm | Saturday, December 15
Laura Russo Gallery | 805 NW 21st AVE | 503.226.2754

This Saturday, come participate in MK Guth's national traveling project, Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping, an "interactive braid sculpture." Participants are asked to write their response to the question "What is worth protecting?" on a piece of flannel fabric that will be woven into an ever-growing braid. The project will start in Portland, MK Guth's home territory, and stop in Boise, Atlanta, Houston, and Cleveland on its way to the 2008 Whiteny Biennial. If you can't make it downtown this weekend, online participation will be available at mkguth.com beginning Saturday.

11am - 7pm | Saturday, December 15
Portland Center Stage in the Gerding Theater at the Armory | 128 NW 11th AVE

Fernando D'Agostino, "Blue and Gold"

This week, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery is having a holiday reception to celebrate Fernando D'Agostino's Flight Studies, which is currently on view in their Video Window. D'Agostino collaborated with biomechanist Dr. Bret Tobalske, using "state of the art" flight imaging technology to capture the beautiful elegance of birds in flight.

Holiday reception: 5:30 - 7:30pm | Thursday, December 13
Elizabeth Leach Gallery | 417 NW 9th AVE | 503.224.0521

This weekend, PICA & the NW Film Center present a screening of the entire filmography of Danny Williams, accompanied by the live music of composer T. Griffin and Catherine McRae. Williams was a lover and collaborator of Andy Warhol.

Screening: 7:30pm | Saturday, December 8
NW Film Center | PAM's Whitsell Auditorium | 1219 SW Park AVE

czech modernism at NW Film Center

Also starting this weekend: The NW Film Center's Czech Modernism series. The 12-part retrospective explores Czech film from the silent era to the Communist takeover in 1948, exploring the work that built the base for the more well known Czech New Wave Cinema. The first film is On the Sunny Side (1933), directed by Vladislav Vanura. The films run from December 7 - 30. Click here for the full schedule.

First screening: 7pm | Friday, December 7
NW Film Center | PAM's Whitsell Auditorium | 1219 SW Park AVE

Cory Clayton Jones

Pushdot Studios is relocating, and having an open house this First Friday for people to come check out their new space. The gallery will have its grand reopening celebration in early 2008, and Pushdot is looking for submissions of digital, multi-media, and film work. So come down this Friday to explore the new space and learn more about submitting your work.

Opening Reception • 5pm • December 7
Pushdot Studio • 1021 SE Caruthers • info@pushdotstudio.com

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Kurt Weiser at the Museum of Contemporary Craft

Kurt Weiser

Kurt Weiser is speaking this weekend in conjunction with Eden Revisited, his exhibition that is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Weiser's work explores the interaction of traditional ceramics and intricate, hand painted narratives.

Artist lecture: 6pm | Friday, December 6
Museum of Contemporary Craft | 724 NW Davis | 503.223.2654

Jenene Nagy at the Troy Laundry Building

Jenene Nagy at the Troy Laundry Building

Jenene Nagy, "Slope"

If you want to get even closer to the artist, come down to the historic Troy Laundry building this weekend. 20+ artists are having open studios, including PORT's own Jenene Nagy.

Open studio: 5-9pm | Friday, December 7
12-6pm | Saturday, December 8
Troy Laundry Building | 221 SE 11th

Michael Brophy, "Ruin"

Coming back strong after September's studio fire, Michael Brophy is exhibiting this month at the Laura Russo Gallery. Here There Nowhere "explore[s] the evolution of the Northwest landscape." His subtle, elegant paintings build upon historical reference to create a "mythic impact."

Opening reception • 5-8pm • December 6
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st AVE • 503.226.2754

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Stewart Harvey

Tomorrow night, photographer Stewart Harvey will discuss his collection of New Orleans images. The three year project spanned pre- and post-Katrina, and is both visually and narratively rich in its portrayal of the city and its inhabitants.

Artist lecture: 7pm | Tuesday, December 4
23 Sandy Gallery | 623 NE 23rd AVE | 503.927.4409

Laura Fritz speaks at Reed College for Caseworks 13

Laura Fritz, "Case Works 13" (detail)

Video and installation artist Laura Fritz is speaking at Reed College this weekend on Case Works 13. For the exhibition, Fritz inverted the Case Works vitrines in the Hauser Library, mirroring the interior to create a mysterious world of endless vanishing points and beautiful, yet uneasy organic forms. Fritz has exhibited throughout the country, and is one of the recipients of the NAAU Couture awards.

Artist lecture: 4:30pm | Sunday, December 2
Reed College | 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. | Eliot 314

Ann Gale speaks at PAM

Ann Gale, "Gary with Dark Wall"

Ann Gale will also be lecturing this weekend, in conjunction with her APEX exhibition at PAM. This Seattle-based figurative painter explores the psychology of her sitters through the fragmentation of her portraiture.

Artist lecture: 2pm | Sunday, December 2
PAM | 1219 SW Park Ave

Jason Traeger at PCC's Cascade Gallery

Traeger is a young artist whose name keeps coming up in town and the work reminds me of a cross between Marsden Hartley and Tal R... which is a promising semiotic stew that looks quasi military. Also of note The Cascade Gallery is now being programmed by one of Portland's premier artists Jacqueline Ehlis (currently showing in Las Vegas Diasora), suddenly exhibitions in North Portland are becoming more serious.

Portland Community College: Cascade | Nov 28-Jan 8 | Opening: Wednesday, November 28, 4-7pm
705 N Killingsworth | Terrell Hall 102

Every winter, the Talisman Gallery members team up with a variety of regional artists for their annual juried exhibition, which launches with a benefit silent auction. This year, 40% of the proceeds go to AFTA, an organization supporting arts education in Portland schools.

Opening Reception: 5:30-9pm | November 29
Talisman Gallery | 1476 NE Alberta St. | 503.284.8800

Matthew Hurst, from "Visualizing the Blogosphere"

Don't miss this art blogging event!

In the November issue of Art in America, PORT's own Jeff Jahn participated in a round table discussion lead by Peter Plagens exploring the world of art blogging. This week, PORT is organizing Avant Blog, a panel discussion to follow up on the article, and expand upon the issues raised in Plagens' conversation. Panelists include: Erin Langner, Communications Assistant at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle and a regular contributor to Hankblog, Carolyn Zick, of "Dangerous Chunky". Amy Bernstein of PORT and Jeff Jahn, co-founder of PORT. Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator Portland Art Museum, will serve as moderator and provide further historical perspective on art publishing.

It's an important revolution in cultural writing and we'd like to encourage all bloggers to come and participate in the extensive Q&A that will follow the panel. Help us break ground in cultural communications!

Hosted by PNCA | Thursday, November 29,7-9pm
1241 NW Johnson St., Swigert Commons | jeff At portlandart.net

Benedikt Ender

This weekend, German performance/installation artist Benedikt Ender's exhibition WW III: The General of Freedom opens at Rocksbox. Ender recently participated in Documenta 12, and was last in Portland for TBA 2006 with his installation The Temple of Something Higher.

Opening reception: Rocks Box Fine Art | Saturday, November 24, 7-12pm
6540 N Interstate AVE | 971.506.8938

Shohei Imamura

This Friday, the NW Film Center is showing the first in a series of films by Shohei Imamura (1926 - 2006). This Japanese filmmaker "excelled at exposing the realities of the human condition and the basic instincts, rational and otherwise that drive human behavior."
The first film, Vengeance is Mine, airs on Friday, November 23, at 7pm. Click here for more info on the full series.

Also showing this weekend at the NW Film Center: Helvetica, directed by Gary Hustwit, which explores the effect of typology and design on communication and our daily lives.

And continuing this week, the films of Lech Majewski, with The Garden of Earthly Delights. Majewski gained his reputation writing the screenplay for Basquiat.

Michael Kenna at Charles Hartman Fine Art

Michael Kenna, "Eglise Abbatiale, Mont St. Michel, France"

This month, Charles Hartman Fine Art is exhibiting the Mont St. Michel series by Michael Kenna. The haunting black and white photographs explore the quieter moments on the beautiful French island. Kenna will be signing copies of his accompanying book during the reception.

Opening reception: Charles Hartman Fine Art | Saturday, November 17, 3-6pm
134 NW 8th AVE | 503.287.3886

More Saturday events below the cut.

Mary Kelly, from "Post-Partum Document"

This Friday, NYU art historian Eve Meltzer is lecturing on The Love of Language and the Politics of Dis-Affection: Mary Kelly's Post-Partum Document. Kelly's extended project, developed from 1973-1977, explored her relationship to her son over the first four years of his life.

Reed College | Friday, November 16, 4pm
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. | Eliot 314

This just in: Reed is full of great lectures this weekend! On Saturday, Peter Kreider will be discussing The China Syndrome. Kreider is currently exhibiting in the Cooley Gallery with Marko Lulic as part of a joint Cooley & PICA project.

Reed College | Saturday, November 17, 4:30pm
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. | Eliot 314

For those of you who arent as sick of my own voice as I am... I'll be on KBOO radio's Art Focus program tomorrow at 10:30 Am (Pacific Time). On the dial you can find them at 90.7 FM and for the rest you can stream it online here. Julie and I will probably discuss this month's Art in America article on art blogs, Portland's art scene and my other upcoming projects.

Also note on November 29th as a followup to Peter Plagens Art in America article this month PNCA will be hosting Avant Blog a panel discussion about the online publishing revolution as it relates to serious art blogging. It's a heavy duty lineup and I encourage all bloggers who can make it to attend and chime in on the Q and A. 7-9PM in the Swigert Commons of PNCA: free

The panel:

Erin Langner: The Communication's Assistant for The Henry and frequent contributor to hankblog... her master's thesis explored podcasting for museums

Carolyn Zick: Longtime blogger of the personal POV art blog Dangerous Chunky fom Seattle

Amy Bernstein: PORT's very own

myself, again (I apologize)

Moderator: Bruce Guenther, chief Curator of PAM, because he can handle both the snark and the issues of "seriousness" in an emerging art media, besides the historical precedents for blogging have historical roots that pre-date the internet.

Stewart Harvey & Colleen Hoyt

This week, 23 Sandy Gallery is opening a group exhibition to celebrate the winter solstice. Night Moves features 14 local photographers exploring the nocturnal world, from city streets to their own bedrooms.

23 Sandy Gallery | November 15 - December 22
623 NE 23rd AVE | 503.927.4409

Do-Ho Suh

If anything is worth the drive out to Corvallis, this is it. Internationally renowned artist Do-Ho Suh is speaking this week at OSU. Born in Seoul, Korea, Do-Ho Suh relocated to the U.S. after receiving his MFA in painting, and has since received wide recognition for his sculptures that "defy conventional notions of scale and site-specificity." Do-Ho Suh represented Korea in the 2001 Venice Biennale, and has exhibited his work all over the world.

Oregon State University | Wednesday, November 14, 7pm
LaSells Auditorium | 541.737.4745

Beth Campbell speaks at PNCA

Beth Campbell

Also this week: PNCA Artist-in-Residence Beth Campbell will discuss her work on display in the Feldman Gallery and the Project Space.

PNCA | Thursday, November 15, 6:30pm
1241 NW Johnson St. | 503.226.4391

Gary Hill

Gary Hill, recipient of the Leone d'Oro Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and the MacArthur "genius" Award in 1998, will be lecturing next week at Reed College. Hill's work in electronic media, video, and performance since the 1970s has earned him the international reputation of being one of the most important artists of his generation. The ongoing shows by Marco Lulic and Peter Kreider at the Cooley Gallery and Caseworks 13 by Laura Fritz in the Library will open before the lecture as well.

Reed College | Tuesday, November 13, 7pm
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. | Vollum Lecture Hall

Boxlift building artists

On both Saturday and Sunday, the artists in the Boxlift Building (formerly 333 Studios) will open their studios in conjunction with a group exhibition curated by Mark Woolley. Participating artists include Ballyhoo Photography, Natasia Chan, Pat Clemens, Compass Rose Studios, Erin Galvez, Sarah Kamsler, Kelly Kerwick, Una Kim, Josie Koehne, Nicole Linde, Mulysa Melco, manuel Mondejar, Eugenia Pardue, Julianna Paradisi, Ellen Shade, smashbox photography, John Sulahian, and Scott Sutton. Opening night features music by Deja Nu.

Opening reception: Boxlift Buildng | Saturday, November 10, 4-10pm
333 NE Hancock St. | boxliftbldg@gmail.com

Also, Working Artists presents Unifying Themes, a group exhibition showcasing their members in the Carton Service Building. Featured artists include Sabina Haque, Kindra Crick, Gus Reed, Hillary Atiyeh, Adrienne Fritze, Talus Fritze-Moor, Brooke Mackenzie and Richard L. Young.

Opening Reception: Working Artists Gallery | Saturday, November 10, 6-10pm
2211 NW Front AVE #102 | 503.445.1268

Marie Sivak Mortality's Veil (2006) carved English limestone

Sculptor Marie Sivack and painter Sherrie Wolf are speaking this weekend at the Laura Russo Gallery. They'll be discussing their respective exhibitions on view at the gallery through November 24.

Laura Russo Gallery | Saturday, November 10, 11am | 805 NW 21st AVE | 503.226.2754

This week the Portland Advertising Federation (PAF) is hosting the 50th annual Rosey Awards, which celebrate the "world class" work in communication arts coming out of the Northwest. In conjunction with the awards ceremony, the gallery at the Portland Art Institute will be showing selected entries through November 6, and then featuring the award winning work exclusively from November 8-28.

The ceremony will be held Wednesday, November 7 at 5:30pm at the Gerding Theater in the Portland Armory.

Conceptual artist Tom Marioni is speaking this weekend at Reed College. Marioni's work is guided by his interest in Zen Buddhism, and its emphasis on locating the extraordinary within the ordinary and focusing on the process over the product. He's received acclaim for his 1970 project The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art, which involved gathering with friends for drinks and conversation, and was documented only by photograph.

Reed College | 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., Eliot Hall, room 314 | Saturday, November 3, 4:30pm | free

And while you're at Reed College, don't forget to swing by the library and check out Laura Fritz's Caseworks 13, on view from November 2 on. Described as "perceptual architecture," the show promises to really shake things up in the Hauser Fundome. Official opening TBA and talk on December 2nd but it's up now.

Avantika Bawa at PSU

Anavtika Bawa

Also happening in the world of education this weekend: Avantika Bawa's Sit, Stack is opening at PSU's Autzen Gallery. Combining objects built in her studio with site-specific installation, Bawa "puts the act of drawing into the service of sculptural design" by integrating hand drawing with architectural supports. Her use of functional materials and delicate hand work make her work subtle and candid.

Opening reception: Autzen Gallery | PSU, Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, 724 SW Harrison St. | Saturday, November 3, 5-7pm

Sincerely, John Head

Sincerely, John Head is having their first solo exhibition this month at Small A. The central focus of BOX SET: Car Show is SJH's 1977 Ford Ranchero, but it is only one element of their ongoing BOX SET project. Inspired by the 1977 album Foghat Live, "the year 1977, parking lot culture and fandom," BOX SET explores the physical traces of the "ephemera of fanaticism" and the way the legacy is constructed and packaged. Previous BOX SET projects include the Studio Sessions project for PICA's 2007 TBA festival.

Opening Reception • 5-8pm • November 2
Small A Projects • 1430 SE 3rd Ave. • 503.234.7993

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from left: Robert (Bob) Alexander, John Reed, Wallace Berman, Unknown Female and Walter Hopps at Ferus Gallery LA 1959

The NW Film Center will be screening Morgan Neville's Cool School. The documentary explores the rising influence of the west coast - more specifically, Los Angeles - on the American art scene after the 1950s. Featured figures include Walter Hopps and Irving Blum, John Altoon and Billy Al Bengston, Frank Gehry, and Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell.

NW Film Center | Whitsell Auditorium
Screening Friday, November 2 & Saturday November 3 at 7 & 9pm, and Sunday, November 4 at 5 & 7pm.

The cultural heavy hitter of Portland's fall visual arts season isn't at PAM, Reed or PNCA.... it's William Kentridge at Lewis and Clark College. I've been aware of Kentridge forever but have never been able to take in a large exhibition of his work, which though rooted in 90's identity politics seems to remain very valid today... showing the way for current hotshots like Raymond Pettibon, Marlene Dumas, Peter Doig, Cecily Brown and even Germans like Daniel Richter and Neo Rauch's psychedelic/contemplative figuration. The fact that Kentridge does it all mostly with charcoal is impressive and pretty much outclasses all but Pettibon and Richter as a preeminent existential figurative artist.

Here's what L&C has to say:

Wiliam Kentridge: WEIGHING...and WANTING is a solo exhibition of the internationally recognized South African artist William Kentridge in charcoal drawings and video projection. In the film, Soho Eckstein Johannesburg, one of the recurring characters who inhabit Kentridge’s work, looks inward, with MRI scans of his brain representing a conceptual terrain of loss, regret, and reconstruction. The landscape drawings are those of the derelict mining areas outside of Johannesburg.

A truly interdisciplinary artist with a background in political science, philosophy, theater, and fine art, Kentridge funnels the conceptual and aesthetic concerns of these disciplines into his installations, which combine the projected and drawn image.

November 1 – December 16, 2007
Opening reception: 5 to 7 p.m. November 1, Curator's Talk, 5 p.m.
Hugh M. Davies Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

This exhibition is made possible by Davies, whom I got to meet in San Diego a few weeks ago. Thank you!

Oliver Boberg, "Seite 5 / Page 5"

Quality Pictures has scored the first Northwest exhibition of German artist Oliver Boberg. He will be showing large-format photographs from his Seiten/Pages series in their west gallery, as well as films from his Nacht-Orte / Night Sites series in their rear project space. Boberg draws inspiration from comic book traditions in his use of multiple-image layouts that explore how the very meaning of an image is altered by its relationship to other imagery. Boberg forces the viewer to draw connections between the images in each piece, creating an alternate reality through his careful construction of object, scene, and perspective.

Don't miss his lunchtime lecture at noon on Friday, November 2 at the Weiden + Kennedy building. This lecture is a free PICA event.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • November 1
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

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There's no holiday like Halloween for the creatively (and creepily) inclined. Rererato invites you to come celebrate in style amongst the Spaghetti, with four bands, loads of candy, and no cover.

Rererato | Wednesday, October 31, 7pm-late | 5135 NE 42nd AVE | info@rererato.com

Fritz Haeg's Edible Estates project for Tate Modern

Ok there are tons of lectures in Portland but the one tonight at PSU looks like a keeper. Fritz Haeg recently completed a vegetable garden for Tate Modern and generally I'm impressed with his desire to push art students to think outside of traditional studio practices and the gallery system. Besides he has a genuine manifesto attacking my least favorite western tradition, the front lawn. I love the idea of radical gardening, and practiced a bit of it as an undergrad at Illinois Wesleyan Univeristy (planting swiss chard in the flowerbeds). Also, it looks like Haeg has as show tentatively scheduled for October 2008 at Reed's Cooly gallery too (sorry Stephanie I just can't stop paying attention, this is another winner.. and this just HAS to happen).

5th Ave Cinema | Monday, October 29th, 7:30pm | 510 SW Hall St.

Kurt Weiser's Eden Revisited at Museum of Contemporary Craft

Kurt Weiser, from "Eden Revisited"

The Museum of Contemporary Craft is showing a retrospective of Kurt Weiser's ceramics since the 1970s. Weiser builds and paints traditional vessels to build elaborate and beautiful narratives. This is the first stop for Eden Revisited on its national tour.

Museum of Contemporary Craft | October 31 - January 6 | 724 NW Davis St. | 503.223.2564

Spaghetti: A Rhinestone Studded Suburban Dream and the Plastic Afterlife Rodeo Show opens this weekend at Rererato. The Western themed group show and performance features a wide range of local and national artists and their multitudinous media, as well as special performances by the Plastic Afterlife Rodeo Show.

Opening reception: Rererato | Saturday, October 27, 7-10pm | 5135 NE 42nd AVE | info@rererato.com

slideluck potshow in nyc

Slideluck Potshow NYC

It's happening tonight: Satisfy your belly and your eyes, and come down to the Portland Slideluck Potshow. The concept is that everyone brings something delicious to eat & drink, and once libations have been consumed, you're treated to a slideshow of local and international artists. Check out their website for details.

The Cleaners @ the Ace Hotel | Thursday, October 25, Potluck 7pm, Slideshow 9pm | 403 SW 10th | 503.546.8520

Noah Nakell's Lightship at the Portland Building

Noah Nakell, "Lightship"

Noah Nakell's installation Lightship is on view through November 9th at the Portland Building. As you approach the space, the viewer faces with a window mostly covered by a blind. Peering through the gap, one sees a night time scene featuring ocean swells and a small home, and a simple domestic scene is visible through the windows of the home. Presented by the RACC, the project explores the way that screens and mediated experience are increasingly substituted for meaningful interaction in modern society.

Portland Building | 1120 SW 5th AVE | Open M-F, 7am-6pm

Mike Maxwell at Fifty24PDX

Mike Maxwell

Also ongoing through November: Upper Playground presents Mike Maxwell's Memories for Memoirs in associated with Fifty24PDX. Maxwell's paintings explore "human ancestry and learning about your past as a way to better understand ones self." He strives to present us with the notion that the past is an integral part of our selves, and our present.

Fifty24PDX | 23 NW 5th AVE | 503.548.4835 | Open W-Sat, 12-7pm

Tom Cramer speaks at Laura Russo Gallery

Tom Cramer, "Pipe Dreams"

Portland institution Tom Cramer is speaking this Saturday at the Laura Russo Gallery in conjunction with his exhibition, New Work. This is a rare opportunity to see the artist lecture about his work - you can get a preview with PORT's podcast of his introduction to these new paintings.

Laura Russo Gallery | Saturday, October 20, 11:30am | 805 NW 21st AVE | 503.226.2754

Check out more interesting artist conversations this weekend under the cut.

An art show and silent art auction are being held this weekend at the Ace Hotel to benefit Bitch Magazine, which recently relocated to Portland. Hosted by Marie Fleischmann, the event features the art of Hannah Stouffer, Eva Lake, Shannon Wheeler, Amy Ruppel, Nikki McClue, the Guerrilla Girls and more, as well as great local music and drinks. Tickets are sliding scale $15 - $45, and can be purchased at brown paper tickets.

The Cleaners @ the Ace Hotel | Saturday, October 20th, 7pm | 403 SW 10th | 503.546.8520 | 21+

Also happening this weekend: The Crumpacker Family Library Art Book Sale at PAM! Need to bolster your art books, or just looking for that perfect coffee table adornment? Thousands of used and new art books and exhibition catalogs will be on sale this Sunday from noon to 5pm at the James F. & Marion L. Miller Gallery. Proceeds benefit PAM. Click here for more info.

From "A Walk Into the Sea"

As part of their special screenings series, the NW Film Center is showing a double feature this weekend: director James Crump's Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe will be accompanied by director Esther Robinson's A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Andy Warhol Factory. Both films place their often infamous subjects within a fascinating cultural context, exploring the social world that made these artists difficult - and great. The films will be screened October 19-21 at various times - visit their website to learn more.

Crypto-Zoetropical Pursuit

Last month Carl Diehl put out a call for the crypto-zoetropical, and this weekend he'll be screening the results. Come down to Rererato this Friday, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the "infamous Bigfoot filmstrip," to see the showcasing of Diehl's collected film project, accompanied by live experimental music and performance. The show is $4, and begins at 7pm, Friday, October 19th, 5135 NE 42nd AVE.

Kojo Griffin at Quality Pictures Contemporary Art

Kojo Griffin, "Death of an archetype: the trajic mullato in Barrack Obama"

Kojo Griffin's An Acausal Connecting Principle is opening this week at Quality Pictures. These paintings break away from his former, more cartoony style to create a more traditionally painterly body of work flush with darkly humorous references to contemporary pop-culture and politics. Griffin, a participant in the 2000 Whiteny Biennial and the 2006 Seville Biennial, is a major coup for Quality Pictures, and not to be missed.

Opening Reception • 6-9pm • October 18
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

Allan McCollum, "Natural Copies From the Coal Mines of Central Utah"

Allan McCollum is speaking tonight for PSU's Monday night lecture series. McCollum's work is deeply engaged with shape and form, and how that affects the identity of objects and individuals. In 2005, he began the Shapes Project, which seeks to create a unique shape for every individual in the world, aiming for the peak population in the mid-21st century.

5th Ave Cinema | Monday, October 15th, 7:30pm | 510 SW Hall St.

Wendy Huhn at the Museum of Contemporary Craft

Wendy Huhn, "Work"

Mixed-media textile artist Wendy Huhn will be lecturing this weekend on her work. Huhn was one of the participating artists in the Museum of Contemporary Craft's CRAFT IN AMERICA: Expanding Traditions exhibition, which closed a few weeks ago.

Museum of Contemporary Craft | Sunday, October 14, 2pm | 724 NW Davis St. | 503.223.2654

Michael Wilson

Rake Art is holding a benefit for artist Michael Wilson, who lost both his studio and his home in the tragic Brophy studio fire two and a half weeks ago.

Rake will be serving a Cajun luncheon for $25/plate this Sunday to accompany a sale of Wilson's works. 100% of the proceeds go to Wilson's rebuilding fund. The RACC has also set up a rebuilding fund for Wilson - visit their news page for information on how to contribute (donations are tax deductible).

Rake Art Gallery | Sunday, October 14, 2pm | 325 NW 6th AVE | $25/plate

Conkle's The La La Zone Expedition, Haze Gallery (2004)

It isn't news that a Portland artist is having a New York solo show, Dan May and Harrell Fletcher (among others) have done so recently. The difference is the way the gallery, Jack The Pelican Presents, is promoting Bruce Conkle's show... as part of a visual arts renaissance in PDX. Old news to us of course, but it's nice they noticed. We probably have have as many artists as Williamsburg but it's different because Portland's scene is lifestyle and value driven (eco sustainable & measuring man by something other than man)... not money or fame driven. Portland is the US city where America's "conscience" seems to be most active and well developed.

The gallery is also right that Conkle (who spent years in the late 80's working for Leo Castelli etc.) is awfully good. Conkle's 2004 exhibit at Haze gallery, The La La Zone Expedition, is one of the best solo shows I've seen anywhere in the last 10 years and it managed to address genocide, exploration, conquest and ecology. It did so in a way a that a lot of Brooklyn artists can't do without a stunting sense of a city slicker gone camping irony. Conkle, being half Swiss, half Portlander and probably half goblin... has no problems presenting the ridiculousness of Western Civilization's ecological, militaristic and humanistic dilemmas. One of Conkle's existential snowmen in a freezer got a bit of attention in Miami last year even.

Here is part of what the gallery press release is saying: "Bruce Conkle... De facto king of the Pacific NW eco art geeks and self-styled 'misfit at the crossroads,' he creates 'Lament for Middle Kingdom Earth,' a quirky eco-absurd installation that restages contemporary ideas about nature and community in a pre-modern world of fairytale landscape."

Conkle, like a lot of Portland's best artists is not represented in Portland and we tend to see his work in numerous group shows where he has been woodshedding his ideas. Here's an interview we did years ago. All I can say is, Bruce you better make us look good!

Opening reception • 7-10pm • October 12
Jack The Pelican Presents • 487 Driggs Ave. (at 9th), Brooklyn New York • 718.782.0183

Paul Yurkovich

For the month of October, Newspace will feature the top three photographers from their 2006 National Juried Exhibition, which was juried by Christopher Rauschenberg and Jennifer Stoots. Although the artists are exhibiting separate shows, their images are united by an obsessive deconstruction of their environment. In his series The Garden, Todd Stewart attempts to share the wonder that he observes in his young children's experience of the natural world. With his rich, green imagery, Stewart invites the viewer to feel this same simple pleasure, as he attempts to explore the relationship between individual creativity and the "natural" process of creation. Paul Yurkovich's Along the Road takes us into the world of the American road trip. Rather than picture the "sights", Yurkovich seeks to capture the dreamlike roadside visions that rush past, lingering only as "sustained afterthoughts." Finally, Rishi Singal's Condition of Urbanity takes us back into the city, documenting his investigations into the forms and (dis)order with which we build our cities. From Western Europe to New Delhi to New York City, Singal has documented his patient exploration of the development of the modern urban world.

Opening Reception • 7-10pm • October 5
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th Ave. • 503.963.1935

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Jacqueline Will in DRAWN at Archer Gallery at Clark College

Jacqueline Will, "Evacuation 63b"

The first exhibition of the academic year at Clark College's Archer Gallery opens tonight. DRAWN: Explorations in Line is an investigation into the tradition of drawing and its potential for expansion through technology. The show features work by Northwest artists Cat Clifford, Heidi Preuss Grew, Robert Hanson, Linda Hutchins, Naomi Shigeta, Keith Tilford, Samantha Wall, and Jacqueline Will.

Archer Gallery | Wednesday, October 3, 4-6pm | Penguin Union Building, Clark College, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA | 360.992.2246

Tom Cramer, "Aviary"

This month, Portland's unofficial Artist Laureate is exhibiting his latest work at the Laura Russo Gallery. By holding on to what he understands as traditional creative values, "art driven by emotional content," Tom Cramer has become a bridge between Oregon's historical artists and Portland's young, hyper-new contemporary art scene. Cramer's current work blends painting and wood carving, building beautiful, labor-intensive reliefs that reflect the influence of his travels to India, Egypt, and Europe.

Opening reception • 5-8pm • October 4
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st Ave. • 503.226.2754

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Corin Hewitt, from "Toad in a Hole (Portland, OR)"

Tonight marks the beginning of the 2007-2008 PSU Monday Night Lecture Series. The first lecture is by Corin Hewitt, who's also currently exhibiting at Small A Projects. Hewitt's credentials include participation in a group show at the Whitney, and a place in their permanent collection, as well as exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe. His work addresses memory and the interplay between loss and replacement (an admittedly ubiquitous subject these days), through photography, performance, and the use of cheap, ephemeral materials.

5th Ave Cinema | Monday, October 1st, 7:30pm | 510 SW Hall St.

Construct/Re-Construct

This weekend, the group exhibition Construct/Re-Construct will be opening at the Cathedral Park Building in St. Johns. The show de-constructs (if you will) the physicality of the creative building process, and explores the dialog between an artist and his or her materials. The list of participating artists promises a complex and interesting series of installations: Josh Arseneau, Francesca Berrini, John Brodie, Tiffany Lee Brown, Clare Carpenter, Cathy Cleaver, Nancy Cushwa, Kristina DiTullo, Tore Djupedal, David Hacker, Helen Heibert, Harrison Higgs, Scott Wayne Indiana, James Jack, Horatio Law, Todd Leninger, Seth Nehil, Liz Obert, Kelly Rauer, Anya Shapiro, Benjamin Stagl, Andy Stout, Robert Wilhelm, Karen Willey, and Linda Wysong. It will run through October 27.

Opening Reception: Cathedral Park Building | Saturday, September 29, 5-8pm | 6635 N. Baltimore AVE

The fourth annual Stumptown Comics Fest is happening this weekend. The festival, which has moved to the Llyod Center Doubletree, features a wide range of celebrated comics artists, including Mike & Laurel Allred, Peter Bagge, Carol Lay, Shaenon Garrity, Sarah Oleksyk, Ted Rall, and Matt Wagner. Many small press publishers will be represented, including local legends Dark Horse Comics, as well as a variety of comics-friendly organizations. The weekend full of panels, workshops, and exciting artist tables is officially kicked off with the Stumptown Pre-party Friday night at Guapo at 8pm. And don't miss the Sunday workshops exploring digital creation techniques, distribution, and interactive work, put on by PNCA instructor Neal Skorpen.

Learn more at the official Stumptown Comics website.

Plazm #29

It's happening tonight: Plazm is having a release party for Issue #29. The theme is collective memory, and it features the art of Sue Coe, Yoko Ono, Art Chantry, Storm Tharp, and Todd Haynes, conversations with JD Samson, Yoko Ono, and Jessica Jackson Hutchins, new writings from Robert Mackey and Domenick Ammirati, a Pdx musical memory map, taxonomy of meth labs, the End of War, explosions, and, of course, much, much more. The party will include performances by Evolutionary Jass Band, Hooliganship, and Glass Candy, as well as the screening of a film by Vanessa Renwick.

Ace Hotel | Wednesday, September 26, doors at 8pm (music at 9pm), $3 | 1022 SW Stark | 503.228.2277

Steve Gibson, Dene Grigar, Justin Love, and Jeannette Altman at the Archer Gallery

Live performance art at the Archer Gallery

This weekend, the Archer Gallery at Clark College is hosting a night of live multi-media performance featuring Steve Gibson, Dene Grigar, Justin Love, and Jeannette Altman. An Evening of Digital Music, Interactive Dance & Electronic Literature in Live Performance will begin with Gibson's Virtual DJ, which combines motion-activated electronic music, dance, virtual reality & robotics, followed by the premier of Grigar and Altman's The Rhapsody Room, a piece that utilizes movement, language and live digital poetry. The night will wrap up with a live DJ/VJ set by Love and Gibson, so come with your dancing shoes on.

Archer Gallery | Friday, September 28, 1pm & 7pm | Penguin Union Building, Clark College, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA | 360.992.2246

Kim Manchester, from "Object Place"

Seen previously in the Knitting Olympics and at Reed College Arts Week, Portland craft artist Kim Manchester will be featured this autumn at PCC's North View Gallery. Manchester's exhibition, Object Place, pairs photography with swatches of decorative wallpaper to explore the traces of self left behind in empty domestic space.

Opening reception & artist talk: PCC North View Gallery | Thursday, September 27, 3pm | Sylavania Campus, 12000 Southwest 49th AVE, CT Building Room 212 | 503.977.4264

DC Comics Artist Matt Clark, from "Superman Batman"

This Wednesday, Organism is having a special screening of Hank Willis Thomas & Kambui Olujimi's The Making of Winter in America. Winter in America is one of the seminal works in Organism's Model Behavior exhibition, which will be closing in just one week. Curator (and PORT co-founder) Jeff Jahn cites the very powerful film as "one of the 10 best video art pieces done in the past 10 years."

After the screening of The Making of Winter in America, join Jeff and DC Comics artist Matt Clark for a discussion on Model Behavior.

Organism | Wednesday, September 26, 6:30pm | 1231 NW Hoyt #101

Early class at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts

OCAC founder Julia Hoffman teaches class in her home

2007 marks the centennial anniversary of the Oregon College of Arts & Crafts, one of the premier art schools in the Northwest. They've been celebrating all year with a wide variety of exhibitions and events, and this weekend they're holding a free event to invite the community to join them in their celebration. Festivities include face painting, hands-on arts and crafts, an alumni art sale, lively entertainment, and food, beverages, and OCAC memorabilia.

Read about the remaining centennial events under the cut.

For more information on the OCAC centennial celebrations, visit their events page.

OCAC | 8245 SW Barnes Rd. | 503.297.5544

The season is in full swing here in Portland, and everybody's abuzz about art. Here's your chance to hear what the artists have to say for themselves.

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Ursula von Rydingsvard, "Pod Pachą"

In conjunction with her exhibition, Ursula von Rydingsvard will be lecturing this Sunday at PAM on her last decade of sculpting.

Born in 1942 into a German refugee camp, von Rydingsvard emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1950, and later studied art at Columbia. Her often monumental sculptures, characterized by wooden, organic forms, have since elevated her to a major force in the art world. She received the 2007 Rome Prize, and her exhibition at PAM includes a series of drawings she completed during her residency in Italy.

von Rydingsvard will lecture at 2pm on Sunday, September 16, in the Whitsell Auditiorium. Tickets are $10 for non-members, and can be purchased online or at the museum box office.

Not making it to the Jupiter this weekend? Check out these openings.

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The annual Affair at the Jupiter Hotel is happening this weekend. In the four years since it began, Portland's own Art Fair has become an essential venue for the cross-pollination of local artists, dealers, galleries, and curators, and one of the major forces encouraging the development of a Portland art market, or "art ecology."

"Read more" for details.

Curator Namita Gupta Wiggers is speaking this Tuesday on Craft in America, the current exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Craft.

Tuesday, September 11, noon | 724 NW Davis St | 503.223.2624

Bruce Davidson, "Hero"

This Saturday, photographer Bruce Davidson is lecturing at PAM. This highly influential artist received the first ever NEA grant for photography, and has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1958. Davidson will be lecturing at 6pm on September 8, in the Whitsell auditorium. Tickets are $25 for non-members. Click here for more information.

Also happening this weekend: San Francisco-based artist Lucas Murgida will be performing at Rocks Box Fine Art. The Good runs from 6-11pm on Saturday, September 8, at 6540 N. Interstate AVE.

Jason Kelly, "Untitled"

For the month of September, the Newspace Center for Photography presents a joint show featuring Jake Shivery's Contact Portraits and Jason Kelly's Mylarsian Dreams. Shivery's work, named for the technique of contact printing directly from 8x10 negatives, is a collection of meditative, highly process-oriented photography.

Kelly's Mylarsian Dreams breaks away from the notion of "reality-based" photography. He coated his studio in mylar, creating bending and reflecting patterns of light that become like ghostly entities in the photographs, bearing little resemblance to what is visible to the naked eye.

Opening Reception • 7-10pm • September 7
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th Ave. • 503.963.1935

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Melia Donovan, from "The Clandestine Periphery"

It's time for PICA's annual Time Based Art Festival. In its fifth year, TBA is a 10 day festival (September 6 - 16) that uses visual art, sound, theater, installation, lectures, and everything else under the sun to explore themes in contemporary art.

"Read more" for our visual arts picks, and a volunteering opportunity that will earn you a free pass.

Darren Waterston from The Flowering (The Fourfold Sense) 2007 Pigment print with letterpress and hand-coloring 18 x 13 inches

For those of you who have been hungering for a museum-level show of paintings... a painter's painter so to speak, well look no farther than the sensuous and haunting work of Darren Waterston at Lewis and Clark's Hoffman Gallery. Sure, the lecture and reception conflict with First Thursday but it's impossible to see the art properly through those crowds anyways. If you are all about painting this is your ticket and an opportunity to rub elbows with this very adept painter.

Details on this two part exhibition...(more)

Claire Cowie, "Homunculus (hyena)"

For the month of September, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery presents Homunculi, the painting and sculpture of Claire Cowie. Homunculi explores the life that can be imbued into the creations - or creatures - of the artist, and toys with the threat that these beings may turn on their creator. The often mythological results are simultaneously dark and playful, and very visually lush.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • September 6
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th Ave. • 503.224.0521

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Marko Lulic

On Tuesday, September 4, the Reed College Cooley Gallery will reopen after summertime renovations. (Can the the horrible carpeting and wainscoting truly be gone?) The following night they'll be celebrating their first show in the new space. This commissioned exhibition is a duo show between Marko Lulic and Peter Kreider, in collaboration with PICA's TBA festival, exploring "the invisible bonds between objects and the structures that support them." Opening night festivities feature a public reception with live music and a BBQ.

Wednesday, September 5, 6pm | Cooley Gallery | 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. | 503.777.7251

Ursula von Rydingsvard, "Pod Pachą"

From September 1 through December 2, 2007, PAM presents the work of German-born artist Ursula von Rydingsvard. The exhibition features the monumental hand-carved Pod Pachą, accompanied by a series of drawings completed by von Rydingsvard during her residency in Italy as a recipient of the 2007 Rome Prize. This will be the first showing of von Rydingsvard's work in the Northwest, and the first time she has shown her drawings.

Jenene Nagy

Jenene Nagy's solo show False Flat opens this Wednesday at the Linfield Gallery, the center of the Visual Arts department at Linfield College.

Wednesday, August 29, 6-8pm | Linfield Fine Art Gallery | 900 SE Baker St. McMinnville, OR | 503-883-2804

Rembrandt, "Self-Portrait as St. Paul (detail)"

The ongoing Rembrandt show at PAM is closing on Sunday, September 16. In conjunction with the closing of the exhibition, PAM will present Rembrandt: The Artist and His Collection, a lecture by Professor Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. exploring how Rembrandt's personal collection of artistic and natural treasuries influenced his work. The lecture is on Friday, September 7 at 7pm in the Whitsell Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for non-members, and are available online or at the museum box office.

There will also be a symposium, Rembrandt and Beyond, the following day featuring Dr. Ronni Baer, H. Rodney Nevitt Jr., Ruud Priem, and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. The symposium is on Saturday, September 8, from 10am to 2pm. Admission is $25, and includes a box lunch. Tickets are available online, or at the museum box office.

Yoram Wolberger, "White Bunny #1"

Organism presents Model Behavior, an exhibition exploring the role of modeling in contemporary visual culture. The show pushes the boundaries of the "fine art" milieu into the worlds of physics and comic books, including Matt Clark of DC Comics. Other featured artists include Hank Willis Thomas, Yoram Wolberger, Weppler & Mahovsky, and many more.

Opening Saturday, August 25, 7-9:30pm | Organism | 1231 NW Hoyt St. #101 | info@artorganism.org
Show runs through September 30, Hours 12-5 Sat & Sun

Kevin Darras

The Rake Art Gallery is holding a benefit for local designer Kevin Darras, who was injured in a car accident. Clothing screen-printed with Darras' designs will be raffled off, and large prints will be for sale. The benefit also features fire & contortion performances, and cameo appearances by local saucy celebs.
Friday, August 24, 8pm | Rake Art Gallery | 325 NW 6th AVE | 503.914.6391

Heidi Schwegler, "Utopia Sighs"

This weekend, Tilt Gallery and Project Space will exhibit Utopia Sighs, a project featuring sculpture, video, live performance, and sound by Heidi Schwegler. In collaboration with balloon artist Kelvin Chun, Schwegler will present a one night only performance exploring the "delight, chaos and inescapable trauma of the toddler's party." Don't miss this special event, as Tilt will only be open this one night for the month of August.
Saturday, August 18, 6pm. | Tilt Gallery and Project Space | 625 NW Everett #106 | 908.616.5477

Kehinde Wiley, "Entry Into Paris of the Dauphin, the Future Charles V"

After being rescheduled due to illness, Kehinde Wiley is finally in Portland! He will lecture on "The World Stage" in conjunction with his exhibit at PAM's Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art.

Check out this interview with Wiley from the Today Show.

Saturday, August 18, 2pm at the Whitsell Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for members, $10 for non-members, and must be purchased in advance at the museum box office. Tickets already purchased are valid for the rescheduled date.

The city is hosting two roundtables to discuss issues that were raised during June's creative capacity townhall. The four broad threads to be covered are:
-Artists
-For-profit creative businesses
-Non-profit creative organizations
-Arts education and the new Arts Partners program
The roundtables are on September 17 and September 25, 6:30-8pm at City Hall, 1221 SW 4th AVE. Space is limited to 50 people per thread each night. Please RSVP.
If you missed the townhall, you can watch it here.

Lots of lectures this weekend, starting with:

Hayden Herrera lectures on Friday Kahlo

Frida Kahlo, "Roots"

Hayden Herrera presents Frida Kahlo: Her Life and Art at PAM. Herrera has published widely on Kahlo, and wrote narration for the award-winning documentary Portrait of an Artist: Frida Kahlo.
Sunday, August 12, 2pm, the Whitsell Auditorium. $10 for non-members.

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From ACVC 2007

Audio Cinema presents the second annual Audio Cinema Visual Collective Exhibition, featuring a diverse group of West Coast artists working in many different media. Audio Cinema's 10,000 square foot warehouse space allows for installation, performance, and wall-mounted art to function harmoniously in a single exhibition.

Opening Friday, August 10, 6pm-2am. $5 donation (a portion of the proceeds will be donated to P:ear).
On view August 11 & 12, 12-6pm, sliding scale donation.
Audio Cinema | 226 SE Madison St. | 503.467.4554

Local performance and installation duo Sincerely, John Head are hosting a fundraiser on their own behalf at Tiga. Scott Porter will get his hair done on the tailgate of a '77 Ranchero in the parking lot while live DJs spin some of the music inspiring the ongoing SJH box set. There will be cheap raffle tickets for a variety of prizes, and $2 will be added to every bill to benefit the group.

Tiga | Tuesday, August 7, 6-10pm
1465 NE Prescott | 21+

The RACC presents Below Marquam, an installation in the Portland Building Installation Space by Benjamin Stagl. The project will transform the space into a view from below the east end of the Marquam bridge. With Below Marquam, Stagl is opening a dialog into our creative relationship with urban space. He hopes to eventually build a light-based installation under the bridge itself.
Below Marquam will be on view from August 6 - September 4 at 1120 SW 5th Ave.

The annual Mostlandia championships are upon us! Sponsored this year by Gallery Homeland in conjunction with Scratching the Surface, the championships feature navigation, cigarette rolling, singing, skating, and a variety of other bizarre and exciting activities on August 4th & 5th. Only Citizens and children under 12 may participate, but everyone is invited to come enjoy the festivities and root for their favorites. Check out the schedule for more information.

Justin Gorman and Caleb Freese at Jace Gace

Justin Gorman & Caleb Freese

Hot new Belmont gallery + waffle house Jáce Gáce presents Get Yourself an Education, featuring the photography and design work of Justin Gorman and Caleb Freese.

Opening Reception • 6pm-12am • August 3
Jáce Gáce • 2045 SE Belmont • 503.239.1887

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Joe Thurston, "Correspondence"

For the month of August, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery presents Then, Quite Suddenly, We Were Simply No Longer Anywhere, an exhibition by Joe Thurston. Thurston's painstakingly hand-carved relief paintings expose the labor of the relief process, while exploring the tactile possibilities of the painted surface.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 2
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th Ave. • 503.224.0521

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Rererato presents Zzzzz... (Between the Sheets), a group show exploring sleep and dream related art. The opening reception this Saturday features several local Portland bands, and promises not to be a sleepy affair.
Opening Reception • 4-9pm • July 28
Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd Ave. • info@rererato.com

Tonight! Don't miss the screening of Odds and Ends 2 at the Rake Gallery. Curated by Karl Lind, this is a follow up to last winter's popular video collection Odds and Ends at Gallery Homeland.
Friday, July 27, 8pm. $7 suggested donation. 325 NW 6th Ave.

Naoto Nakagawa, "Forest of Eden"

Naoto Nakagawa is lecturing tomorrow at PAM. Nature Up Close: The Landscape Reinvented will explore the history of Nakagawa's work since the 1960s, and his unique expression of the natural world.
Friday, July 27, 5:30pm. The lecture is free, but reservations are required as seating is limited. Find out more here.

There's been a lot of buzz surrounding the opening of the new DeSoto arts building in the north park blocks (and don't worry, PORT is working on its own). The Museum of Contemporary Craft will inhabit the core of the building, with four major Portland galleries filling the beautiful spaces along the block: Froelick Gallery, Augen Gallery, Charles Hartman Fine Art, and Blue Sky Gallery.

Well, the moment is finally here, and to celebrate, they're having a block party. Come by on Sunday to inaugurate the new spaces, take in some panel discussions and artist demonstrations, and rock out to some great local music. The party runs from noon until 7:30pm, and is centered at 724 NW Davis. Check out the complete schedule of events, and this short video on the Museum's transition to the new space.

To drum up further support for their grand reopening, the Museum of Contemporary Craft is also having a (sold out) benefit gala Saturday night. Attendees will be wined and dined while they preview the Museum's first exhibition in their new space and bid on a variety of cultural goodies.

Philip Iosca, Untitled

Through September 1, Chambers will be exhibiting the work of Jenny Strayer and Philip Iosca, united in the exploration of gender. Iosca's Holy Glory, My Private Parts Public, My Public Parts Private re-contextualizes words, images, and objects, challenging themes of masculinity and sexuality. Strayer will present 20th Century Women, a series of photomontages from 1930s and 1940s ephemera that highlight the highly stereotyped femininity of that era.

Opening Reception • 5:30-8:30pm • July 19
Chambers Fine Art • 207 SW Pine St. #102 • 503.227.9398

Here is a chance to hear noted Art Historian Sue Taylor's very popular lecture on Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

Sue is a corresponding editor for Art in America and the cornerstone of Portland State University's art department. She often focuses on psychoanalytic elements of artist works, having published books on Jackson Pollock as well as Hans Bellmer in, "The Anatomy of Anxiety" published by MIT press. She is currently working a monograph on Grant Wood. If you can make this free mid-day lecture I highly suggest it.

Tuesday July 17th 12:00 PM, free
PSU's art building room # 200
Corner of SW Jackson and 5th

Sunday, July 15: Roxanne Jackson is giving an artist talk at the Portland Art Center in conjunction with her show Lost Wisdom. It starts at 2pm, and there is a $2 fee for non-members.

Monday, July 16: The Back Room Anthology release party! 6:30pm at Podkrepa Hall, featuring live music, an open mic, and the brand new Anthology of the Back Room publications. Admission is $8, or free with the purchase of the book, and tickets can be purchased here.

Kehinde Wiley, "Entry Into Paris of the Dauphin, the Future Charles V"

This Saturday, Kehinde Wiley will lecture on "The World Stage" in conjunction with his exhibit at PAM's Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art.

Saturday, July 14, 2pm at the Whitsell Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for members, $10 for non-members, and can be purchased here, or at the museum box office. This event is air conditioned.

*Update: The lecture has been canceled due to an illness Wiley picked up in India this week (he is being treated in New York though). The lecture will be rescheduled before August 19th and any tickets purchased will be honored or refunded.

**Update: The lecture has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 18, at 2pm, still in the Whitsell auditorium.

Manuel Neri, "Mujer Pegada Series No. 8"

Work downtown? Spend your lunch break at PAM this Wednesday and get a guided tour of the Manuel Neri exhibition by curator Bruce Guenther.
Wednesday, July 11, 12:15pm. Tour meets at the front entrance. Free to members, or included with museum admission.

Rembrandt, "Self-Portrait as St. Paul (detail)"

In conjunction with the ongoing Rembrandt exhibition, the Portland Art Museum presents "Rembrandt True and False," a lecture by Walter Liedtke, curator of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The lecture will explore the attribution confusion that arises between Rembrandt and his followers.

The lecture is on Sunday, July 8 at 2pm. It's free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Visit the PAM calendar for more information.

John Mann, 1st Place

The Newspace Center for Photography presents Among Us and Curious, their 3rd annual national juried exhibition, curated by Darius Himes. In the chaotic world of 21st century photography, where the multiplication of technology has led to a proliferation of images from anyone, anywhere, Among Us and Curious has sought to restore the critical filter and deliver a strong, cohesive body of work. Neither focusing on the most diverse nor the most technically proficient photographs, the jurors selected images that possessed an "enigmatic script" that would contribute to the overall unity of the show. Himes suggests that "playfulness, mystery, fauna, fancy, and the presence of others among us" should resonate throughout the exhibition.

Opening Reception • 7-10pm • July 6
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th Ave. • 503.963.1935

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Gabriel Manca, "To Rise or Raise in the Air in Apparent Defiance of Gravity"

For their final show in their 2nd AVE space, Froelick presents Gabriel Manca's New Work. In his return to Froelick, Manca is exhibiting a series of new work featuring collage, found objects, and repurposed commercial art. He uses subtractive techniques to create surreal landscapes out of reused mass-market lithographs and encaustic wax.

Opening reception • 5-8:30pm • July 5
Froelick Gallery • 817 SW 2nd • 503.222.1142

Bryan E. Schellinger makes his Portland debut

Quality Pictures presents Bryan E. Schellinger's New Works, his premier solo exhibition in Portland. Schellinger's highly formal, layered paintings take their influence from the minimalist and op art movements of the 60s and 70s, returning to the notion that the process of painting, rather than the product, is an end unto itself. The opening reception will feature ice sculptures, introducing an element of immediacy.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • July 5
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

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Patrick Rock is one of those really rare Portland artists, he's from Portland. With an MFA from SFIA in new genres this is the infamous guy who showed the 30 foot inflatable wiener at Fresh Trouble and co-curated the rambling Haunted show last year, so we will see how well the chaos serves his latest effort. It should be a good move to have a tight exhibition space like this, fewer options usually = better, more concise decisions. More people should be doing this sort of alt-space thing.

The first show at his new alt-space, Rock's Box... comes with the perfect title, "Portland? Fuck Portland!" (July 4th- August 13th). Hopefully it adds a little something to the ubiquitous summer group show. In this case it maps the influence of Oregon on Oregonians. Yup each of the 13 artists in the show grew up in Oregon and about a quarter of the artists in the show no longer live in the state. With names like Storm Tharp, Malia Jensen, Joey Macca, Natasha Snellman, Jeanine Jablonski, Molly Vidor, Donald Morgan and PORT's own Katherine Bovee, etc... it should be worth the trek to the new North Interstate Arts District (ok it's just Rock's Box and a really great Arco gas station).

Opening: July 4th 5-11PM

Location: 6540 N.Interstate ave. @ Portland Blvd/Rosa Parks Way.

Mass Transit Directions: Take: Max Yellow Line towards Expo Center (aka North) get off at the Portland Blvd. stop... it's the black concrete building on the east side of the street, right next to the Yellow Line stop

Gallery Hours: Sat-Sun 12-6 / or by appointment at: #971.506.8938

To kick off Animation Inside Out, their contribution to Platform, PNCA is hosting a street party from 8pm-midnight on June 28. The party, which features street entertainers, food vendors, and the rockin' sounds of March Fourth, is on NW 13th between Johnson & Kearney, and includes a walking tour of the juried animation exhibition that extends throughout the Pearl.

Get more info here.

Artists from THE HOOK UP will be discussing their work at the NAAU this Saturday.
June 23, 1-3pm, 922 SE Ankeny St.

Trina Robbins is lecturing at PNCA as part of a week-long intensive on comics and graphic novels.
June 25, 7pm, 1241 NW Johnson St.
Free with RVSP: 503-821-8891.

Me, you, you. a ventriloquy

Small A presents "Me, you, you. a ventriloquy," a group exhibition organized by Carter Mull, featuring Amanda Ross-Ho, Carter Mull, Jennifer West, Jesse Willenbring, and Michael Zahn. June 20-July 28, 2007.
Opening reception Wednesday, June 20th, 7-9pm, 1430 SE 3rd.

Dryden Goodwin, FLIGHT

As part of PNCA's Platform International Animation Festival, London-based artist Dryden Goodwin will be showing FLIGHT, "a fugitive escape path across five interlinked spaces," for the first time in the U.S. FLIGHT is a blend of film, drawing, and sound installation. An artist lecture accompanies the film at PNCA on June 14, 6:30pm.

Joel Jonientz, "Self Portrait as a Girl"

In preparation for their big move, Froelick Gallery presents Road Show: A Juried Exhibit on Motoring Culture. This summer Froelick is moving into a space at NW Davis & Broadway built in 1914 as a DeSoto Auto dealership. For their last hurrah in their old building, Froelick is exhibiting a spirited group show that explores the themes of car travel and the open road.

Opening reception • 5-8:30pm • June 7
Froelick Gallery • 817 SW 2nd • 503.222.1142

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Dani Johnson

This First Thursday, Timbuk2 is hosting a charity event at the Ace Hotel. Local artists Michelle Ramin, Marshall Stokes, Justin Gorman, and Dani Johnson will be selling one-of-a-kind artist canvas bags to benefit their charities of choice. June 7, 7:30pm at The Cleaners - Ace Hotel, 10 SW Stark.

Dan Graham, from Catalogue Raisonné

New York-based artist Dan Graham is lecturing tonight for PSU's Monday night lecture series. Graham's versatile work has been identified as everything from minimalism to architecture to installation art, and he has exercised influence on American art as both artist and critic since the 1960s. The free event starts at 8:15pm at the Fifth Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall.

Also at PSU this week: The opening of Walter Lee's MFA thesis exhibition, "Have you met Walter Lee," which runs June 4 - 15 on the second floor of the PSU arts building, 2000 SW 5th Ave #210. The artist will be discussing his work at noon on June 6, followed by an opening reception at 6pm.

Rembrandt's Self-Portrait as St. Paul (detail)

Generally, we cover contemporary art here but it goes without saying that Rembrandt, as the premier post-Italian renniasance western humanist artist (rivaled only by Shakespeare and Beethoven) transcends his period. In fact, he's a great deal more famous/influentual now than when he died in 1669.

I'll spare you all the fluff you will be bombarded with about the Portland Art Museum's show titled Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art. It's comprised of works from the Rijksmuseum while that rock of western culture is rennovated, so lucky us. If you dont live here, it's a good time to visit as this is also the only West Coast stop and the weather is great...(more)

Robert Smithson, from Spiral Jetty

Saturday, June 2: The Cinema Project is having an outdoor triple-screening of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970), Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels (1978), and Richard Serra's Railroad Turnbridge (1975-6). Enjoy these short films under the stars at 8pm in the Artemisia Garden & Gallery, 110 SE 28th.

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Unfinished installation view of The Hook Up

This month the New American Art Union presents The Hook Up, curated by Bay Area transplant Jesse Hayward. The Hook Up deals with the relationship of art to the wall, how flat space influences media and installation, and the effect of the wall as a unifying element in exhibition. This highly anticipated show introduces new work that might subvert your expectations from participating artists.

The Hook Up features three artists from the 1999 Oregon Biennial who woke up Portland's gallery scene forever, Sean Healy, Brenden Clenaghen, and Jacqueline Ehlis, as well as Ellen George, TJ Norris, Jeff Jahn (PORT's ubiquitous co-owner), and newcomers Stephanie Robison and PORT's own Jenene Nagy.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • June 1
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny Street • Tel.503.231.8294

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The Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission is sponsoring a lecture by Michael Munk: "The Portland Red Guide: Sites and Stories from our Radical Past." The free lecture is at 7pm on Wednesday, June 6, at the Eliot Chapel, First Unitarian Church, and will be followed by a reception.

In further arts education news, Kristan Kennedy of PICA is curating a show at PSU's Littman Gallery in the Smith Center, 1825 SW Broadway. Exit 07 features the work of 12 PSU seniors, and closes on May 30. Visiting hours are Monday through Friday, noon to 4pm.

Also at PSU: A "Senior Showcase" in the PSU Art Building, 2000 SW 5th Ave., running from May 24 through June 7. Visiting hours are Monday through Thursday, 9am to 5pm, and the closing reception is on Thursday, June 7 from 5-8pm. MFA students at PSU will be holding open studios during the reception.

The 13 day Mississippi:May show kicks off with an opening party this Saturday, May 19. It's a group show filling an immense North Mississippi warehouse, bylined as "15 artists. 50,000 square feet." Organized by graffiti artist Joshua Wallace, M:M hopes to showcase talented local artists who don't make it into the standard Portland gallery rounds. The group works in a wide variety of media and styles, and the format of the show promises to be both fascinating and frenetic. For more info on the genesis of M:M, check out the Willie Week editorial.

Update: From the 26th through the 31st, there will be a silent auction in an alcove of the M:M warehouse to benefit performance artist and former Sprockettes member Trish Ruppert, who suffers from Acquired Subacute Demyelinating Neuropathy, as well as OHSU research on the autoimmune disorder.

Also this weekend: the opening reception for Third Thing Projects, a collaboration between Chris Knight and 2006 Oregon Biennial artist Ben Buswell. The show is at the Alexander Gallery in the Niemeyer Center on the Clackamas Community College Campus, and the opening reception is Saturday, May 19th, from 1-3:30pm.

Lee Walton speaks for the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series.
Monday, May 14, 8:15pm.
5th Avenue Cinema Room 92
510 SW Hall St. 5th Avenue Cinema (at the corner of SW 5th & Hall on the PSU Campus)
Free
http://www.pdx.edu/art/

Click to see full video.

Walton received his MFA from the California College of the Arts, and is currently on the interdisciplinary faculty at the Parson's New School of Design. His experientalist work ranges from "traditional" drawing to video installation to large scale public performance. Walton's work has appeared in Portland before at The Best Coast in 2003, and again in 2005 as part of the Fresh Trouble exhibition (disclosure: curated by PORT co-owner Jeff Jahn). His lecture tonight will cover current work, such as the Getting a Feel video and performance project (pictured above), and after the lecture Walton will be working with students to create a series of semi-public performances.

The annual Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) art auction and benefit is happening this Saturday, May 12, at the Oregon Convention Center's Portland Ballroom. Unfortunately, the success of this event tends to undermine the local art market by fostering bottom-line art pricing. CAP would do Portland's art community a great service by broadening the range of objects beyond art in its auction, leaving only those artists who are able to sell above gallery prices. This would hopefully also set a good example for the imitators who have followed CAP's success- although CAP does sometimes set new price points, smaller auctions tend to be even more guilty of subverting the Portland art market.

Tonight: Urban Honking presents the first event in a new series of symposium-style arts & culture "talks," featuring a lecture by Matthew Stadler and presentations by Greg Borenstein, Claire Evans, Aaron Flint Jamison, and the films of Charles & Ray Eames. 7pm, Thursday May 10, Mississippi Ballroom, free.

Also tonight: A double-feature screening of films by PICA artist in residence, Arnold J. Kemp. Suspiria & Prince of Darkness will be showing at the Clinton Street Theater at 7pm, followed by a meet and greet with Kemp.

Found on the Willie Week's wire: Northwest architect David Miller from the Miller/Hull firm is speaking at the Portland Art Museum. His lecture, "Objects/Fields: Recent Architecture of Miller/Hull," will cover the firm's latest work, which ranges from stylish urban condos to elegant educational facilities (pictured: the Tillamook Forest Interpretive Center). Find him Tuesday, May 8 at 7pm in the Fields Ballroom in the Marks Building at 1119 SW Park Ave. The lecture is free, and followed by a dessert reception.

There are a lot of events and openings tonight but here are the two best bets:

Small A shows Bob Linder & Will Rogan Hear The Wind Sing.
The New York based Linder and San Francisco based Rogan have been friends for over a decade and implicit in their work, is a both a celebration and an insistence of the physicality and presence of things that is also central to Haruki Murakami's text and title that is borrowed for the title of this exhibition. They will both be speaking at The PSU lecture series on Monday May 7th as well (8:00 PM @ 5th ave cinemas)

Opening Reception • 5-8pm • May 4 - June 2
Small A Projects • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.234.7993

The other bet is a curator's talk @ Tilt, 625 NW Everett #106 (7:00 PM):

Atlanta based curator Advantika Bawa discusses Blank, which opened at the Everrett Lofts yesterday. It's a solid show featuring Traci Talasco, Brett Osborn, Fred Jesser, Victoria Fu, Johnathan Field, Craig Drennan, Lauren Clay and Bawa.

Yes, me again I apologize; PORT will be introducing our newest news/openings writer shortly. About First Thursday? As usual it looks like most of the edgier shows will be in the alt spaces like the Everett Station Lofts (I wont go over the shows there, just go). Here are some of better looking non-alt shows:

Din Q. Le @ Elizabeth leach Gallery

Ever a favorite when he's in town Le has had a longstanding presence in Portland but after being in the 2005 Venice Biennale his woven photographs have been in great demand. I'm excited to see the video work as well.

Opening Reception • May 3 • 6 to 9p
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th Ave • Tel. 503.224.0521

Nathaniel Shapiro's Point of Purchase @ Manuel Izquierdo Sculpture Gallery (PNCA)

If the image above "Hot Seat" is any indication, this might be the edgiest of the establishment shows this month... excluding Kehinde Wiley at PAM of course.

Opening Reception • May 3 • 6 to 9p
PNCA • 825 NW 13th Ave • Tel. 503.226.4391

...(much more)

Two new shows at the Museum that look quite interesting and another lecture at PSU.

Melinda Stone • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Mar 19 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue • Cinema Room 92
Free

A filmmaker, curator, and teacher, Melinda Stone has produced over twenty films and videos, as well as numerous outdoor cinematic productions. Stone has a deep affinity for the American West and road travel; the subjectivity of her work often extends from historic research and the mining of cultural conditions found immediately in the land. Stone’s whimsical sensibility and romanticism surface in her ongoing interest in amateur productions and experimental screening practices, which often incorporate live music and participatory sing-alongs.

Kehinde Wiley • Portland Art Museum
Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art
1219 SW Park Avenue • 503·226·2811
sun 12p – 5p, tues-sat 10a – 5p, til 8p th-fri
adults: $10, members: free

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Kehinde Wiley
Entry of Paris of the Dauphin, 2005
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of Kehinde Wiley Studio

This exhibition features six of Wiley's recent provocative paintings that illuminate complex art historical references and superb hyperreal technique. Drawn from private collections across the country, the paintings explore current issues of style, class, dignity, and prejudice in metaphorical terms and allegorically inspired portraits.
Curator: Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

The Drawn Line • Portland Art Museum
Helen Copeland Gallery and Adams Foundation Foyer
1219 SW Park Avenue • 503·226·2811
sun 12p – 5p, tues-sat 10a – 5p, til 8p th-fri
adults: $10, members: free

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Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Elijah in the Desert Fed by Ravens
c. 1619-20. Portland Art Museum

This exhibition features some 65 European and American drawings from the Museum's permanent collection. The objects are organized according to three themes that are artists' favorites - the figure, the portrait, and the landscape. Ranging from the 18th century to the present, these works present a great variety of approaches to these subjects. From spontaneous sketches to highly finished sheets, these drawings give the viewer an opportunity to study the ways in which drawing mediums such as watercolor, wash, gouache, crayon, chalk, charcoal, and graphite can be handled.
Curatorial Team: Annette Dixon, Bruce Guenther, Marnie Stark, and Jennifer Gately

Passing Out Heart Game, Emily Bulfin & Tahni Holt

In case you missed it in Melia's post earlier, here's all the info on what looks to be one of the best group shows of the year...(more)

There’s a PSU lecture, a show opening without a public opening and an opening night party for the PDX Film Fest with a curated show of video, installation and sculpture.

Mid-month openings always stick out, especially if you want to become social again.

Today is the first day of Wid Chambers latest show and Thursday April 19th will be the official opening night for what Wid is calling "Picking Up The Pieces" at his eponymous gallery. He's a kind of digital David Reed. I confess, I like to talk with Wid because he's the only art person I know here who can talk about electric guitars and Soldano amplifiers, etc. and his understanding of sound definitely resonates with his art. (What, you thought I only think about art?).

Opening April 19th: 5:30-8:30

Chambers Gallery
207 SW Pine St. # 102
(503) 227-9398

For those of you who are interested in making these chilly nights a little more lively, here's what is happening at Valentine's this week: (read more)

PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series • Tonight: Walter Lee Projects Presents: A Night of YouTube

Walter Lee Projects Presents: A Night of YouTube • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Mar 19 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92
Free

PSU MFA candidate and You Tube practitioner Walter Lee will host a night of You Tube selections and a discussion about web based platforms in relationship to contemporary art.

Ok I'll be out of the country but if you are in Portland definitely catch Dan Cameron, Senior Curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York at the Portland Art Museum, for a lecture entitled “Gone Global.” He is schedualed to discuss the differences and similarities in Asian and American Contemporary Art, based on his own global art experiences. Ask him about the Huang Yong Ping retrospective up at the Vancouver Art Gallery. We haven't seen much of the new contemporary Chinese art in Portland beyond the Cao Fei video I curated into this show in 2005. Still in many ways Portland is much closer to Asian cities than New York.

The museum text says, "The Intersection of Words and Experience will explore the fundamental changes in art-making concepts, theories and practices after 1960. With the speakers representing influential theorists, critics, curators, authors and professors, audiences will be introduced to diverse perspectives on the shape and direction of contemporary art today. Topics will center on how conceptual art and art making practices have changed the physical reality of the object and in turn our viewing experience."

To these eyes it seems like there is a more of an active engagement with history, now that the whole idea about the death of history has become even more silly than the death of painting. One trick with historicised Asian art is that most Americans have so little historical knowledge about their own country, let alone Chinese or Indonesian history. Then there is the whole bit about how Asian cities make even New York seem like a slow paced pokey place.

April 15th

2:00 @ Portland Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium, $5 members - $10 nonmembers (These were better attended when the PAM lectures were free)

The Mercury also had a very short interview with Cameron

Bruce Conkle • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Mar 19 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92
Free

Bruce Conkle loves snowmen, coconuts, fairy tales, Sasquatch and gingerbread. He is interested in creating work which uses art and humor to address contemporary attitudes toward nature and environmental concerns, including deforestation and global warming. His work often deals with escapism, artificial worlds and man's place in nature and frequently examines what he calls the "misfit quotient" at the crossroads.(pr)

THIS JUST IN FROM THE DESK OF HARRELL FLETCHER:

"Because of a visiting artist's schedule change we will be doing something different for the PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series on April 16th (that's in a week). MFA Candidate Walter Lee, known for his Walter Lee Projects on YouTube such as this one, will host an open mic night of sorts in which audience members will be offered the opportunity to present work found on YouTube that they deem worthy of public attention on the big screen. To make the evening come together as fluidly as possible, Walter will take recommendations and create a playlist all week leading up to the presentation. To be included as a presenter please e-mail Walter as soon as possible at wfrancislee@gmail.com. There will be a Q and A after the screenings in which we hope to discuss the relevance of YouTube and other web based platforms in relation to contemporary art practice. As always the public is invited. Tell a friend."

Ted Apel's Potential Difference (detail)

At New American Art Union, curator TJ Norris offers invisible.other a subtle group show about subtleties that will probably be squished somewhat at the official opening tonight. Most of the work has a controlled whiteness or transparency about it that requires a calm quiet environment. Tighter and more curatorially controlled than most recent group shows in Portland city limits, it showcases the idea of liminality more than the various participants who are: Ted Apel, Daniel Barron, Richard Chartier (2002 Whitney Biennial), (PORT's own) Melia Donovan, Leif Elggren, Ty Ennis, Thomas Koner, Michael Paulus, Susan Robb, Steve Roden, Abi Spring and my favorite in this show, Laura Vandenburgh. Her work takes on a lot more intimacy without frames.
Opening reception • 7-10pm • April 6-29 4
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny Street • Tel.503.231.8294

Naomi Nowak's Bower

Pretty in Ink: featuring new work by Meg Hunt, Miniature Mouse and Naomi Nowak... it looks pretty and errrr kitschy (but in a well executed, maximum effect way).
Opening Reception • 6-9pm • April 6-29
Grass Hut • 811 East Burnside • 503.445.9924

Wolfgang Tillmans' "Stripped" at Pulliam Deffenbaugh

Pulliam Deffenbaugh is putting a new spin on one of the tiredest group show concepts of all time, the Still Life. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a massive Willem Kalf fan and I'm completely excited about this more adventurous take featuring a very nice Wolfgang Tillmans along with an eclectic mix of Andy Warhol, Uta Barth, Thomas K. Conway, Morris Graves, Richard Hoyen , Isaac Layman, Laura Letinsky, McDermott & McGough, James Martin, Jeffry Mitchell, Vik Muniz, Raymond Pettibon, David Rosenak and Jay Steensma. OK now that is one wild still life lineup.
Opening Reception - 6-8pm - April. 5-28
Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery 929 NW Flanders Tel. 503.228.6665

Gregory Grenon's "Then You Turn Around" at Laura Russo Gallery

Gregory Grenon gets a lot of silly guff for being successful, attitudinal and edgy (not exactly a crime for an artist eh?). I think his best work speaks volumes about the awkward even "rough around the edges" moments between individuals. If anyone wonders where Chris Johanson fits into Portland's long standing figurative tradition just look at Grenon and Robert Colescott. Also showing is, Jack Portland. Frankly, he is lucky to be alive after a serious health crisis in Italy (he had great influence on younger artists like Tom Cramer and Jacqueline Ehlis and it's good to see him this month).
Opening Reception 6-9pm April 5-28
Laura Russo Gallery 805 NW 21st 503.225.2754

...more

Susan Robb • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Mar 19 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92
Free

Susan Robb received her MFA from the University of Washington and did her undergraduate work at Syracuse University. She was awarded in 2005 the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, and has exhibited her work internationally. Susan Robb describes her recent work as an investigation of dysphoria brought on by a combined sense of dissatisfaction with culture and isolation from nature. Robb often looks to her environment for answers creating a strategic disordering of common elements that produce an ideological hybrid between flesh, nature and technology.(pr)

Robb currently has a piece in TJ Norris' show invisible.other at the New American Art Union. NAAU is open Thursday-Sunday 12-6. It officially opens on Friday.

small A will hold an off-the-normal-schedule-of-events opening for their end of March through April show tomorrow night from 5-8pm. A solo show of work by Josh Shaddock dubbed It goes without saying will include video, photographs, text pieces and…one painting. Shaddock, who showed with the gallery in their December group show Green Light Green Light, is a New York based artist who has also shown at White Columns, in Lisbon and in San Francisco.

Josh Shaddock • It goes without saying
small A projects
Sat • Mar 31 • 5-8p

Marko Lulic, Hard and Soft No.2, 2002/05, fiberplate, wood, varnish, 450 x 650cm.

Marko Lulic Lecture at Reed College, Eliot Hall, room 314
Wednesday, March 28, 7 p.m. (free)

Ok there have been a heap of lectures in Portland recently but this is one of my top 3 this Spring (the other two are Dan Cameron April 15th and Rosalind Krauss May 20th at PAM). Here is a link to Lulic's most recent exhibition. (note the invaluable Cooley Gallery will be closed for rennovations [no more carpet!] till September, Lulic will have the re-opening show).

I'm extremely excited about Marko's work, he's an artist who explores old new ideas with a great deal of panache. The work infuses the dead ends of politics, architecture and other forms of power with the sense that their circle no longer holds us with their once tighter a grip, while pointing out the lingering pervasiveness of that grip. Thanks to Marjorie Meyers for making this happen...(more)

Please forgive the cross promotion, Ultra and the WWeek have already posted and I've been tardy on this:

Organism's first big fundraiser of 2007 is the Toast Gala, a special evening with a four course dinner celebrating a diverse sample of Portland's visual artists at the Screendoor. Wines by Panther Creek (space is limited so RSVP with payment by March 29th).

The guestlist is already shaping up to be an impressive catalogue of movers, makers and shakers (with some interesting new to town faces who haven't gotten involved before). We plan to do more of these to put the spotlight on many other deserving artists.

Celebrated artists (both emerging and established, all actively showing outside the region):

James Lavadour
Matt McCormick
Sean Healy
Ellen George
R. Scott Porter & Nat Andreini (Sincerely John Head)
Katherine Bovee & Philippe Blanc
Brenden Clenaghen
Carson Ellis

Why wouldn't you want to buy these artists dinner? Also, we intend to do more of these as a way to give back to the hardworking artists. We chose Screendoor because of its excellent food, elegant yet warm Donald Judd meets the South decor and the fact that it's a favorite with artists, rockstars, ad people, professional snowboarders etc., its got a great mix of elegance with no boring. Panther Creek is simply one of the best winemakers available anywhere.

Details: Organism's Toast Gala, will celebrate a diverse sample of Portland's nationally/internationally active during an exciting 4 course dinner at one of Portland's new favorite restaurants: Screendoor, along with award winning wines by Panther Creek. You've never been to the Screendoor like this special private event, dress festive.

Music by Ponderosa (spacefolk cello and banjo)

Cost: $75, RSVP with Check or Credit card by March 29th.

Checks can be made out to: Organism Toast Gala, PO Box 17247, Portland, Oregon 97217

Credit Card payments can be taken at this site.

Time/Place: April 2nd 7:00 PM at Screendoor, 2337 East Burnside

This fundraising event benefitting Organism will also provide a sneak peek at our exciting Spring exhibition "Model Behavior" a group show featuring Hank Willis Thomas, Yoram Wolberger and many others. We plan to program at least 4 shows per year with a focus on quality over quantity.

Shaun O'Dell • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Mar 19 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92
Free

Shaun O'Dell is a painter, illustrator, videographer and musician who explores the intertwining realities of the human and natural orders. The symbolic lexicon in his work becomes a historiographic mapping of mythic narratives about humans, nature, time, and the development of cultural and nationalistic ideologies. He examines how America's long-time addiction to the technological and ideological suppression of nature has helped create a culture of denial.

O'Dell has exhibited his work at many venues, including the Jack Hanley Gallery in San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Hammer Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Whitebox in New York, and the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York. His work is held in the permanent collections of the SFMOMA, M.H. deYoung Memorial Museum and the Berkeley Art Museum. O'Dell received his MFA from Stanford. He is the recipient of the 2006 Diebenkorn Teaching Fellowship from the San Francisco Art Institute, 2005 Arttadia Award, 2004 SECA Award from the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art and a 2002 Fleishhacker Foundation Award. He is currently teaching at the San Francisco Art Institute and is the co-organizer of The New New Masses, a lecture series on Art and Politics. (pr)

What happens when artists turn a social construct into an exhibition? It mostly depends on the caliber of the artists... In this case it's very high.

Curator Cris Moss took a series of "Dude's Night Out" emails and curated a show around it.
March 12-April 13th at Linfield College.
Opening March 16th: 6:00 PM

The artists: Bruce Conkle, Sean Healy, Jesse Durost, Todd Johnson, David Corbett, Jesse Hayward, Marne Lucas and Paul Middendorf. Conkle has a lot of buzz amongst the other artists for some kind of hypnotic coconut soundsystem, a direct result of his residency in Rio I suspect...and Paul Middendorf is bringing his recent PS1 "Emergency" project. The ever mysterious Todd Johnson, Portland's best/most intelligent deadpan conceptual photographer has reappeared as well. Lucas apparently got in by having, "the biggest pair of balls," no word on how that study was conducted. Yes, it's in McMinnville (a.k.a. wine country) but it sounds like this one is worth the trip.

The Linfield exhibit is free and open to the public. The Linfield Fine Art Gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The gallery will be open during spring break, March 26-30.

To reach the gallery from 99W, turn east on Keck Drive at the McMinnville Market Center in south McMinnville. Turn right at the first street onto Library Court. The art gallery is located in the second building on the left, Building B. Parking is available on the street and in the lot west of Nicholson Library. For a campus map click here, go to Miller Fine Arts Center is number 56. For more information, call 503-883-2804.

Marc Joseph • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Mar 12 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92
Free

New York photographer Marc Joseph's recent work has focused on book and record shops, framing glimpses of old and new objects as they float through and arrange themselves within the logic of the market, not the abstract logic of art as commodity, but the specific logic of the corner store, the small, peculiar places that expose us to the books and records that matter to us, and which shape our ways of seeing. Joseph has had exhibitions at the Bernard Toale Gallery in Boston, Western Projects in Culver City CA, and PICA in Portland, and is currently exhibiting at the Cooley Gallery at Reed College from JANUARY 23 – MARCH 11, 2007. (pr)

A lecture at PSU, a conversation at PICA and a back room at the end of the week...(more)

Saturday March 3rd 3-5PM

3203 SE Woodstock Blvd at Reed's Eliot Chapel

As part of Reed's Art Week, the beadtastic Liza Lou will be speaking. At the forefront of the massive resurgence in craft as an awe inducing contemporary art experience one would have to consider Lou in any serious discussion of the genre. So the basic question should be, "is her work just a series of entertaining grotesques that use craft as shield or something more?" $5 or Reed ID

Maybe someone dressed as Lewis or Clark should try to pay in beads?

Thunder Eyez at Grass Hut

Portland's music and art scenes are completely entwined. This show of art by musicians will make that even clearer with work by
E*Rock, Mt. Eerie. White Rainbow, YACHT, Hooliganship, Lucky Dragons/Sumi Ink Club, Adam Zeek, Curtis Knapp (Marriage Records & Watery Graves)
Opening Reception • 6-9pm • March. 2-31
Grass Hut • 811 East Burnside • 503.445.9924... (more)

Matt McCormick's Shaniko House (2007)

Elizabeth Leach Gallery: Matt McCormick's Future So Bright and Adam Sorenson's The Glows
415 NW 9th (503) 224 0521

McCormick's is the undisputed high anticipation show this month. He is currently showing in high profile international exhibitions like The Moscow Biennial and Uncertain States of America. I also think he's added something to the lexicon of work that documents the state of civilization and American westward expansion by focusing on ghost towns and monolithic signage...(more)

Lisa Sigal • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Feb 26 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92

Sue Coe, one of the most important politically oriented artists living in the U.S. today, will be showing work at PNCA's Feldman Gallery and Project Space. Tackling subjects from apartheid to animal rights, Coe’s drawings have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Newsweek, and Artforum. Her work is in the collections of many major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Event Info:
Lecture
Wednesday, Feb. 28
6:30p in PNCA Swigert Commons

Exhibition
Thursday, March 1 – Monday, April 16
Feldman Gallery + Project Space
1st Thursday Opening, March 1, 6-9p
Both events free and open to the public

The Backroom: Featuring Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Sat • Feb 24 • noon
Reed College Student Union
3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard
Tickets: $5

Sip orange juice and mimosas and sup on mac 'n' cheese and pancakes at the first ever backroom brunch for boys and girls and other interested parties (ie chaperones). The authors and illustrator of The Edge Chronicles, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell will discuss their books with live music by Karl Blau. In addition to that, Chris will lead the kids in some drawing projects and show them how he works on his illustrations for the books.

Tilt Gallery and Project Space
625 NW Everett Suite 106
Fri • Feb 23 • 7pm

“Please join us for an informal conversation with sculptor Stephanie Robison. Robison will be discussing her new piece Water Landing on view at Tilt Gallery and Project Space. With her most ambitious work to date, Robison continues to cull materials from the everyday. Wood, fabric, foam, plastic and linoleum are transformed into something playful, mysterious, and evocative.”

TROCA USA Lecture at Pacific Northwest College of Art

Three years ago Feldman Gallery curator emeritus Nan Curtis began an exciting artist exchange and exhibition program with Ernesto Neto called Troca Brazil. The exhibition of Neto and others from Brazil at the PNCA's Feldman gallery group in 2005 was covered here. This past January the circle of exchange was completed when a select group Portland artists and PNCA students traveled to Brazil for an exhibit in Rio. You get to hear their stories today from the participants: Nan Curtis (curator), Bruce Conkle, David Eckard, Emily Ginsburg, MK Guth, Don Olsen, Tamsie Ringler.

Tuesday, February 20th 7 pm (free)
PNCA Commons
1241 NW Johnson

PINTS FOR PICA @ Low Brow Lounge
Monday • Feb 19 • 6-10 p
1036 NW Hoyt Street • 21+

View a special one-night screening, High Five! : 3 videos about gesture, featuring contemporary art’s Douglas Gordon, Gary Hill and Joan Jonas organized by PICA’s Visual Art Program Director, Kristan Kennedy.

“Shown in a loop and including short interviews with Hans Ulrich Obrist, these works focus the traveling eye on the gestures of the hand. Hands that greet, prop up, push down, flip off and hold up elements of fragmented stories.”

Videos have been selected from the project "Point of View- An Anthology of the Moving Image" commissioned by the New Museum of Contemporary Art.

A portion of all food and drink sales on this special night will benefit PICA’s artistic programming.

Untitled Fun 1, 2004
Project Row Houses Cultural Arts Festival
Houston, Texas

Zach Moser • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Feb 19 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92

“Zach Moser is an artist living and working in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of Oberlin College. His artistic practice is the facilitation of collaborative investigations, as well as interactive installations that attempt to uncover shared human values and inspire dynamic readings of our surroundings. By focusing on collaboration and interaction, he works to explore the unknown in order to create new discussions, discover new methods of communication, and propose new expectations of human potential. Besides a variety of installation projects, he is a founder of the Oberlin Big Parade, Workshop Houston, and the Shrimp Boat Project.”

Three things of note this weekend - small A is having an opening on Friday, Kristan Kennedy has organized a show at the Heathman Hotel and Michael Kimmelman is lecturing at the Portland Art Museum. My suggestion to you, if you happen to be roaming around Portland this weekend, is that you stop by small A Friday for the opening, wander the galleries in the Pearl District / Old Town / Chinatown on Saturday, take in the lecture at PAM on Sunday and snack on fries and pink champagne at the Heathman in the Mezzanine afterwards and gaze at a collection of some darn good art.

Byron Kim • PSU Monday Night Lecture Series
Mon • Feb 12 • 8:15p
510 SW Hall St • 5th Avenue Cinema Room 92....(more)

Campbell Hall Gallery and Western Oregon University present XXX; The Power of Sex in Contemporary Design. Curated by Joshua Berger of Plazm, and Sarah Dougher, XXX is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Sex in New York City, and based on the award-winning book of the same name. Exhibition runs February 14 - March 13, 2007.

Joshua Berger and Sarah Dougher will host a discussion on February 22nd at 7pm at the Campbell Hall Gallery.

Power of Sex
Opening Reception Wednesday, Feb. 14 • 6-8p
Western Oregon University
345 N. Monmouth Ave.
Monmouth, OR 97361

In conjunction with the exhibition “The Other Portland: Art & Ecology in the 5th Quadrant”, at the Portland Art Center, Art on the Peninsula presents A Symposium: The Other Portland. Artists and activists, teachers and writers, scientists and environmentalists meet to share a conversation about art and ecology...(more)

2 Lectures and a Grant.....(more)

Justin Williams and Luke Ramsey at Grass Hut

Grass Hut's lyrical, manifesto-style press releases are bright spots in the PORT mailbag month after month. February finds Grass Hut threatening to "pimp slap pretentiousness in the face then give it a brightly colored neon band aid so it can heal in style." and clarifying the origins of the "noodle on LSD" drawing movement, giving props to the magnificent Marc Bell and other seminal Canadian doodlers. Friends of the Endless Journey: a doodler's group show features work by Peter Thompson, Luke Ramsey, Justin Williams, Ekta, A.J. Purdy and Andy Rementer, including some collaborative pieces.
Opening Reception • 6-9pm • Feb. 2-28
Grass Hut • 811 East Burnside • 503.445.9924............(more)

Peter Beste at Sugar

Sugar Gallery shows Peter Beste's stark images of Norwegian black metal musicians, a documentary project Beste completed over the past four years. "In the early 1990s, these self-proclaimed 'Norwegian Heavy Metal Satanists' burned fourteenth-century wooden churches, desecrated graveyards, and incited blood feuds as part of their campaign to rid Norway of Christianity and revert to ancient Viking customs," explains the press release.
Opening Reception • 6-10pm • Feb. 1-28
Sugar Gallery • 625 NW Everett #108 • Tel. 503.425.9628..................(more)

Three public lectures (all at different times!) take place this week before First Thursday...(more)

Here’s the best of what’s on offer in Portland this week for sharpening your skills. These openings, lectures and events are highly recommended as being consistently stimulating and generous in scope.

Rigo 23 mural in SF

Mon • Jan 22 • 8:15p
Rigo 23 • PSU MFA Monday Night Lecture Series
5th Avenue Cinema • Room 92
510 SW Hall St

Tues • Jan 23 • 6:45p
Marc Joseph: New and Used • Jessica Jackson Hutchins: Stylite Optimism
Artist Talk : Reed Psychology Auditorium, room 105
Reception to follow: Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery
Reed College • Hauser Memorial Library
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd

Fri • Jan 26 • 6:30p
John O'Brian • the back room
House Spirits Distillery (Medoyeff) • 2025 SE 7th Avenue

(more)

The weather has relented (for now), time to get out of the house...

Indoor Wildernesses is a serendipitous thematic art walk of 4 shows, 3 galleries on 1 corner... all explore a common theme: nature inside the gallery environment, all achieve very different ends

When: January 24th 6:30-8:30PM
Where: Corner of NW 5th and Couch @ Motel, Organism & the Portland Art Center

Rational: The presence of the outdoors and wilderness motifs in particular are everywhere in contemporary art so when four shows all appeared on the same corner in Portland's Chinatown it seemed like serendipity was knocking. Why not explore four very different shows to greater highlight their intersecting but very divergent content, goals, motifs and effects?

Also, please forgive the self promotion but it is also an excellent chance to get out and visit one of the Portland art scene's most rewarding corners. The fours shows present divergent motifs such as the charged psychological cave environment, life changing encounters with wild deer, man made materials in the woods and ecology in North Portland...(more)

As many of you (hopefully) know, Tilt Gallery and Project Space has spent the past year working hard to bring you consistently challenging and innovative work from local and national artists. Highlights from our first year include an "auspicious" start from Portlander Stephanie Robison, a site specific project by the talented and multifaceted Avantika Bawa, and a bold solo exhibition by Paula Rebsom.

Believe it or not, its been a year for us at Tilt and we are celebrating with an Anniversary Party this Saturday, January 20 from 8-11pm. Come enjoy some food and drink and see work by gallery artists Avantika Bawa, Paula Rebsom, Stephanie Robison, and Stephen Slappe. Along with rubbing elbows with our new stable of artists, you will have the opportunity to view exciting work from the flat file as well. We hope you will join us!

Tilt Gallery and Project Space • Anniversary Party
Saturday Jan. 20 • 8-11p
625 NW Everett • Suite 106