Portland is somewhat a glass art center owing to its proximity to Pilchuck, in the woods near Seattle, and Bullseye Glass right here in Portland. This month the Glass Art Society meets here. So many galleries have mounted glass-related shows. Personally, I believe glass, as a medium, is too seductively beautiful for contemporary art. The material overwhelms the other elements of the piece. So perhaps contemporary art made in glass just needs to operate within its own aesthetic and be valued by its own collector base, which is, in fact, the case. It is awesomely archival. Explore for yourself as you like.
Portland photographer Holly Andres is well known for Crewdson-esque domestic scenes which hark to the great films of Douglas Sirk. Sirk's style and art of noted cinematographer Russell Metty was reprised perfectly by Portland director Todd Haynes in Far From Heaven. Andres focus is enigma of the family life of children. She taps the nostalgia for an assumed perfect past which has been critically examined by Evergreen College professor Stephanie Coontz in her book The Way We Never Were. Does Andres' work tap your memories of growing up?
See it at Quality Pictures www.qpca.com, 916 NW Hoyt
PDX Shows very quiet paintings on glass by Megan Murphy. Murphy's almost monochromatc, abstract, almost landscapes are gateways to other worlds as surely as our Western wilds. Spokane artist Murphy is also the founder of Artocracy, winner of a 2008 Webby award. Artocracy allows artists to directly connect to collectors worldwide. At PDX www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders
So tonight your best art entertainment value for the dollar is probably the DeSoto Building Galleries (NW Broadway and Davis), the Everett Lofts (NW Broadway and Everett) and the PNCA graduating BFA thesis show, taking up the atrium at the main building NW 13th and Johnson and the Stephens Building across from REI on NW Johnson midblock at 14th.
