In Portland art is everywhere. Including at skate shops. Cal's Pharmacy and The Department of Skateboarding Art Department hosts the first annual North County Invitational. Artists Jo Jackson, Andy Jenkins, Chris Johanson, Jason Lee, Chris Pastras, Clint Peterson, Russ Pope, Roger Seliner and Tobin Yelland are in a fierce competition with gravity to determine who is the top artist. At Cal’s Pharmacy www.departmentofskateboarding.com 11 Ne Hancock 7PM-10
Pop up shops have been itinerant blips on the pop culture radar screen for some time. Not so much in Portland, excepting some by Seaplane. That should change. It is, with Store for a Month.
Store for a Month is that and a studio experiment by artist John Brodie. Artists Holly Andres, Carl Annala, Josh Arseneau, Gordon Barnes, Philippe Blanc, John Brodie, James Boulton, Calvin Ross Carl, Benjamin Alexander Clark, David Corbett, Kerry Davis, Shelby Davis, Melia Donovan, Cary Doucette, Arcy Douglass, Anna Fidler, Danridge Geiger, Ellen George, Nathan Gibson, Damien Gilley, Jennifer Gleach, Kate Greiner, Anne Greenwood, Cecilia Hallinan, Henry Ham, Stephen Hayes, Jesse Hayward, Sean Healy, Harvest Henderson, Scott Wayne Indiana, Philip Iosca, Susan Klein, Kristan Kennedy, Cynthia Lahti, Gabriel Liston, Rhoda London, Joe Macca, Victor Maldonado, Pete McCracken, Trevor McGee, Cris Moss, Angela Muldoon, Aaron Murray, Jenene Nagy, Giles Neale, Jim Neidhardt, TJ Norris, Melody Owen, Dhani Rosa, Jack Dingo Ryan, Paige Saez, Blair Saxon-Hill, Richard Schemmerer, Crystal Schenk, Heidi Schwegler, Scrappers, Ashley Sloan, Josh Smith, Sika Stanton, Storm Tharp, Annette Thurston, Joe Thurston, Marie Watt, Carol Yarrow and Kathan Zerzan have all made work for the store. Brodie will be using the space as his studio throughout the month. Some of the artists will stop by throughout the month to make work. There will even be some baking of pies.
Store for a Month www.storeforamonth.com 1216 SE Division. Opening 6PM-10 Check the web site for hours, studio schedules and pies!
Lighthearted neomysticism is a current meme in art. It is new age mysticism remixed with antiserious intent. This show, Superstition, captures the vibe. Artists Aaron Piland, Jesse Brown, Ryan Bubnis, Cody Hudson, Brandi Strickland, Emma Trithart and Betsy Walton provide their own superstition for your art viewing pleasure. At Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont
Natalie Phillips is cowinner this month of the copywriting award, with an interview:
"Q: So were you able to find a job in Portland or are you strictly a starving artist?
A: I was a waitress but I got fired almost immediately (for being a terrible waitress).
Q: What are you impressions of the Portland art scene so far?
A: Cool art is really spread out around here…you can see something tucked away in a little coffee shop that’s just as good as a big show downtown, if not better.
Q: You recently graduated from art school – what was that experience like for you? How did it influence your artwork?
A: Art school was frustrating because so much of my education was conceptual. I didn’t get a lot of the technical skills I wanted originally, so I’ve had to teach myself a lot. You can see this in my complete failure to understand the basic rules of perspective.
Q: If someone gave you a $10,000 grant to work on any crazy creative project you wanted, what would you do with that money?
A: I’d buy out Paxton Gate, the taxidermy store in SF, and do detailed oil paintings of all the animals. Then I’d paint the animals and pose them threateningly in front of the paintings.
Q: If you weren’t an artist, what do you think you might be doing instead?
A: I don’t have many other skills, so I’d probably be an on call daytime stripper…huddled in the back, afraid of the patrons."
At Breezeblock www.breezeblockgallery.com Gallery 1847 E. Burnside
In the 811 E Burnside block
Redux is also cowinner of the copywriting award of the month: "I strongly believe that what you're happiest doing at five is what you will be happiest doing your entire life. Growing up, I endlessly drew and embroidered onto washcloths that my grandma gave me little creatures and animals that I desperately wanted to live in the woods of my backyard. In my mind these creatures had tiny, magnificent, ornate lairs in the trunks of old trees (which I also drew, along with maps of how to get there). And although these creatures were elusive and shy, they always decided to befriend me. Over the years, my creatures have become decidedly more design-driven, but a part of me is still just drawing little friends to have" - Ashley Goldberg; who, along with Drew Bell present work tonight in a show: Repetition Makes the Heart Grow Fonder. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com
Warmholes is a group show tackling time and space by Arbito, Brent Wick, Jessie Rose Vala, Scott Patt, APAK, Ferris Plock, Kelly Tunstal, Martin Ontiveros, Bwana Spoons, Josh Herbolsheimer, Elizabeth Haidle, Eatcho, Shawn Wolfe, Zack Soto, Michael Isaac Bushkin, Amy Rupel, Evan Harris, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, Carson Ellis and Jerome Powers. It should be all happy summer artwork. At Grass Hut www.grasshutcorp.com
Meanwhile in the back parking lot of the 811, magazine in|ur, Intentionally Urban, celebrates a year of publishing. The magazine is focused on demonstrating sustainability in materials and life are not mutually exclusive of good design. Music by A Simple Colony and Sleepy Bell.
City Body Dust includes artists Laura Foxman, Matthew Letzetler, Arrington De Dionyso and William Rihel with opening night music at 10 by Gavin Castleton and ...PISS, the Rocksbox house band. At WorksoundPDX www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder
Artist architect Ben Stagl has a solo show of video, sculpture and print work. For this show, he was inspired by folding, as in paper, from a process, product and philisophical viewpoint. A an engaging description which will make you very curious about the work is at the Gallery Homeland website. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division
Rikki Rothenberg has a cat themed show at Nationale. Cat lovers love their cats. Rothenberg is also a co-founder of the dance group Woolly Mammoth Comes to Dinner, a dance group which will perform the opening. Opening at NATIONALE nationaleportland.blogspot.com 2730 E Burnside 6PM-9
Liz Obert shows Cybernetic Landscapes, meditations on how we carry and use mobile devices such as phones, cameras, navigation units, in the natural landscape, at least until the power is consumed. Technology adoption is generational and what is strange today to some will be commonplace tomorrow. At Pushdot Studio www.pushdotstudio.com 1021 SE Caruthers
Tired of looking and want to move? The Disjecta complex includes artist studios and a movement studio, The Headwaters. The studio is open tonight beginning at 7 for demonstrations of butoh, shadow yoga and Viewpoints Lab - all summer class options. Then there is a big dance party afterwards. At The Headwaters www.theheadwaters.net 8371 N. Interstate 7PM Free