August 30 Stock Now (Naau)

Art Gallery NAAU has undertaken a year long series of smartly curated installations. It puts the gallery squarely in the experimental space of Deitch Projects. Tonight Grande Ronde by Rose McCormick opens. At New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny Noon-3 Free



Stock is a literal stone soup funding art. It's a project of the social practice group spawned from PSU. The idea is that artists prepare a delicious soup of local ingredients. You come to dine at a nominal fee. Artists propose projects posted on the walls needing a little funding to move forward. The diners select a project to receive the night's proceeds, the diner's donations. It is patron crowdsourcing. It is a good thing. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9 $10

August 29 Ballet Festival

The Oregon Ballet Theater, OBT, has a little space on the East side, an old bank redesigned by Holst. They are adapting their performances and school of ballet to connect with you in a day of free performances and workshops. The full schedule is here. At the OBT rehearsal studios 818 SE Sixth, 11AM-6PM, Free

August 27 Evan B Harris at Together Gallery

Illustrator Evan B. Harris shows Fables and the Flourish with musical accompaniment by Horse Feathers At Together Gallery www.togethergallery.com 2916 NE Alberta 6PM-10

August 26 OfficePDX in neu situ

OfficePDX is a design concern and store. They were the lonely outpost of mid-late 20th century design and smart art on NE Alberta street. They have gone virtual, Internet sales, and nomadic, popping up for events. This is one.

Tonight they show art by illustrator Matte Stephens at friends Sandbox Studio's space. OfficePDX at Sandbox Studios 420 NE 9th, RSVP shop@officepdx.com 7PM-9 Free

August 25-27 Rock Poster, Book Cover, Type Design Design Festival

This blog does not list shows of rock poster art. Not that is is not creative. It exists in its own local ecosystem of aesthetics, audience and commerce. But for an examination of that world, Died Young, Stayed Pretty, by filmmaker Eileen Yaghoobian, shows this evening as part of a three night series, Design à Trois, by the local chapter of the AIGA. They do graphics. Music after, of course, at Slabtown.

Night two is an examination of book cover art. Powell's always has many entertaining examples in the windows facing 10th. Tonight New York designer-comedian, an interesting combination on many levels, Patrick Borelli, presents You Should Judge A Book By Its Cover. It is his presentation of 50 favorite book covers, with comedic commentary.

The third night is a one hour collection of typography and motion graphic text films. The Typophile Film Fest is produced by Punchcut, a San Francisco interface production company. The trailer is an old i-D punk-style collage, which was [is?] a common rock poster genre.

Tuesday, film, Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st 7PM $8, bands later Slabtown, Free
Wednesday, talk, Art Institute of Portland, 1122 NW Davis, 7PM cash only $10
Thursday, film, Art Institute of Portland, 1122 NW Davis, 7PM cash only $10

August 22 The Art of Touring Music

Fontanelle Gallery has assembled a show of documentation: musicians on tour. As part of the show they have music of the subjects of the show. Tonight is live Sara Jaffe, Erase Errata; Rebecca Gates; Tara Jane Oneil and Julianna Bright, The Golden Bears. A nice confab of music and art, which are the same. At Fontanelle Gallery www.fontanellegallery.com 205 SW Pine 6PM Free

August 21 Tuvan Throat Singing

Portland musician Enrique Ugalde, performing as Soriah, knows a little about Tuvan throat singing. He has traveled to the small Russian republic, which lies between Siberia and Mongolia, to study and perform. Last year he placed third in the world in a competition at the International Symposium of Khoomei, the annual world gathering of throat singers from Central Asia and beyond, including from Portland.

Soriah performs a variety of music, locally and internationally. Tonight he releases a new recording, Atlan. At Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th 9PM $15

August 20 Art Spark at Radio Room

Art Spark is a monthly networking happy hour for the Portland art world. It is loosely structured with a guest arts organization given 10 minutes to present themselves at 6PM. This cross art group and cross artist networking is what will sustain Portland arts and allow it to grow in the next few years. These events are great for creative, free ranging conversation and are free! www.portlandartspark.com at Radio Room 1101 NE Alberta 5PM-7 Free

August 15 Portland Enters the Iron Age: an Iron Pour

The Iron Age began in various parts of the world between about 2000 and 300BC and is considered to have persisted until the rise of the great civilizations such a the Greeks and the Han Dynasty. Yet it has not yet come to Portland. That changes Saturday, with Portland Iron's First Iron Pour.

It is something that has been going on for a few years at art schools. Artists (you) prepare sand molds. A furnace is charged with ferrous scrap and coke, heated to 2800F and the resulting molten iron is poured into molds. Crude but effective.

Our profligate consumption of steel ensures that we don't need to make metal from iron ore, as did our ancestors, simplifying the process immensely. We have that advantage and the advantage of leisure time to contemplate aesthetics.

If you want to make a mold, there are workshops 6PM-10 at the Watershed Thursday and Friday August 13,14. There is a fee for materials of $20. Or show up early at the pour and there will be a limited number of open-faced sand-resin molds you can hand carve to your own likeness and contribute $5 for the pour. Watching is free!

These pours are dramatic community events, entirely safe at a distance, fun to watch, and even kid friendly.

We usually don't list sponsors, but they are the Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Vancouver Iron and Steel, Bridgetown Cores, Harbison Walker Refractories, Willamette Graystone, Portland State University, Pacific NW College of Art, Gallery Homeland, Silverton Foundry and Tool Shed PDX. Great job all for catching Portland up to the Iron Age!

Mold workshops August 13,14 at Tool Shed PDX www.toolshedpdx.org 5040 SE Milwakee 6PM-10 $20. Pour at OMSI www.omsi.edu 1945 SE Water. Furnace starts noon; mold carving ($5). Pours 3PM-6. Furnace breakdown 6PM. Watching, Free

August 15 Performances + Art at Disjecta + Audio Cinema

Disjecta is currently showing PNCA MFA work at the half point. This first MFA class will go on to produce their thesis work next year. So it is a preview and a pleasure. Complementing the show is an evening of performance by Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat themed Time Machine. I am excited for this after many a conversation about "performance art", the art people love to hate. At it's best, it is story telling, perhaps a little abstract and ideally laconic and lyrical, like Zen landscape poetry. Personal and authentic is good too. See and hear for yourself. All at Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate opening 8PM $5


Audio Cinema is a rehearsal space, shooting space, and more, making an important place in Portland music. Many musicians here are artists, and vice versa. These creative vectors combine when Audio Cinema mounts its annual art show. Artists include Candace Gossen:paintings, Dustin Zemel: video, Evertt Beidler: sculpture, ilan Laks: paintings & photos, Cat Coats: paintings, Marian Slakie: paintings, Jacob Perkins: video, Heidi Wirz: paintings, Mike Albano: paintings, Jennifer Sims: fashion, George Perrou: paintings, Michelle Thompson: photography and Jonathan Stanish: paintings. Accompanying all this art is music by Strangeletter, Casper Maccabee, Jacob Perkins, Search Party, Defeating the Purpose, Hotter than a Crotch, Drunken Prayer, Noise, Battle Axe Massacre, Doonevetter, The WokenBokes, Julius and Loyd Family Players. All at AudioCinema www.audiocinema.org 226 SE Madison, 6PM-2 Free, $5-10 suggested donation

Aug 14-23 Manor of Art

The alliance of art and space takes form again at a large show at Milepost 5. You have likely been there and may have noticed a modern lofty building and an old brick building. The older building is planned for conversion into artist workspaces. For this show, art spans many of both building spaces. In the old building, artists have their own room for installation. There will be music and experimental theater as well.

Artists include Adam Bailey, Adam Charles Ross, Alicia J. Rose, Amy Jorgensen, Amy Ruppel, Andrea Nelson, Andrew Enna, Anna Solcaniova King, Anni Tracy, Angela Gay, Appendix, Arringtond de Dionyso, Ben Pink, Brennan Conaway, Urban Eden (Bret Hostetler and Andrew Wenna), Brin Levinson, Brooke Weston, Chris Haberman, Cris Moss, David Stein, Derek Ecklund, Derek Olsen, Eatcho, Erin Nations, Ezra Johnson-Greenough, Felicity Fenton, Gabe Flores (w Jerry Gilmer), James Wood, Julianna Paradisi, Gabriel Decker, Gabriel Liston, Gary Wiseman, George Perrou, Heather Hawkins, Heidi Elise-Wirz, Jennifer Doheny, Joe Shea, Joel Barber, Jason Brown, Jason Graham, Jeff Fontaine, Jennifer Mercede, Jeremy Schultz, John Graeter, John Meyers, John Wray, Jonathon Hill-Jacquard, Jonathan Stanish, Karah Bruce-Larkin, Hypnokomix/Kate Fenker, Keith Rosson, Kelly Rauer, Moto Galore/Kenneth Wright, Klutch, Launchpad Gallery, Luke Heinrich, Maggie Casey, Marian Spadone, Mark Randall, Mart Schaefer, Marlena Simone, Matthew Haggett, Matt Schlosky, Meredith Andrews, Michael Fields, Michael Costello, Michael T. Hensley, Misty Ray, Muse Design, Nathan Bennett, Nicole Linde, Hypnokomix/Jason Squamata, Rachel J. Siegel, Rebecca Shapiro, Rhoda London, Richard Schemmerer, Rob Pellicer, Roscoe Hall II, Roxanne Jackson, Sarah Kamsler, Scott C. Johnson, Sean Joseph Patrick Carney, Stephen Plount, Suzanne Elizabeth, Tender Loving Empire, Tamara English, Taylor Cass, Tiffany Lee Brown, TJ Norris, Tomita Designs, Travis Taylor, Troy Briggs, Tyler Corbett and Walt Curtis.

There is a detailed schedule of music, theater and art viewing times at the website. It's at Milepost5 www.milepostfive.com 900 NE 81st (go by MAX) 7PM-10 Free

August 14 Brickout Viola Cello En Pointe

NATIONALE is an intimate art, design and style space. This month they show Brickthrough by Edward Jeffrey Kriksciun. Music opening evening on viola too at NATIONALE nationaleportland.blogspot.com 2730 E Burnside 6PM-9 Free


Also this evening in the Rose Garden is a collaboration of the Portland Cello Project and the Ballet. At the Washington Park amphitheater. 6PM Free

August 13 Jeffry Mitchell at the Museum

The Portland Art Museum has started a monthly intimate program where you can stroll through the Museum with an artist who speaks about what work they like and why. This month's artist is Seattle's ultra baroque sculptor Jeffry Mitchell Later everyone retires to the cafe for drinks and more conversation. It requires museum admission, to keep the museum from becoming even more nonprofit than it already is, so go with a member or make an afternoon tour. If interested, meet promptly at 6PM at the side entrance by the courtyard. Note you can join for a year of unlimited admission for $55 for one person or $85 for two. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-8 $10, 9 students

August 11 Taiko+Butoh Free

Art is life and love. Mischievous Fox's of the Murdoch kind, and their ilk, seed the culture wars to boost wanning circulation. But Portlander's know that creative culture experienced, sustains creativity practiced, in commerce, worldchanging and family.

The City of Portland Parks and Recreation Department has preserved its free performances in the park this summer. You can see them free in a recession pestered economy, and be inspired in your own challenges to meet them creatively. Free. Free is good.

The big list is here. Tonight the Portland Taiko performs with the Mizu Desierto Butoh Theatre.

At the Washington Park amphitheater. 6PM Free

August 7 Eastside Art Openings

Life+Limb shows designs and illustrations by Lisa Dejohn. The work is a good match with the shop's elegant but understated minimalism. At www.lifeandlimb.net 1716 E. Burnside


NAAU continues Ty Ennis's examination of a series of murders in Spokane, Washington: You’ll Live It Here: The Lilac City Track Murders ‘96-’98. At New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny


Worksound presents a group show "Future in Retrospect". At WorksoundPDX www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder



In the 811 block

Second Nature shows photographs by Sarah Meadows.

Grass Hut shows Inkwads, classic comic book style illustrations by Hellen Jo, Brent Wick, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, John Black and Tom Neely.

Redux has Sinister Concept, dioramas by Rochard Fox.

All 811 E Burnside


Down the block Anja Verdugo shows illustrtions, frocks & freemasons, at clothing store Frank James 729 E Brunside


Homeland shows, Incompletely, curated by Calvin Ross Carl and includes himself, Derek Franklin, Ashley Sloan, Josh Smith, Bailey Winters and Gary Wiseman. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division


Newspace has an annual curated group show. www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th


The Press Club has brush illustration work incorporating the artist, Dante Cohen's interest in China. It will be interesting to see how this mix crosses the pond, and in which direction. At The Press Club 2621 SE Clinton

August 6 Westside Art Openings

Portland artist Whitney Nye shows large scale collage paintings. Unlike many collage artists, her work has a minimal feeling, repeating small detail into fields of pattern. It has continuity with her last major body of work, while reinventing itself. In this case, the repeat patterns are often just that, sewing patterns, disembodied half sleeves and legs, body panels and the little filler pieces that allow flat fabric to form clothes for curved bodies. In a way it is metaphorical, flat paintings on the wall become multidimensional emotional experiences by the collage of many elements, familiar and novel. The work also includes vintage illustration elements and old books, forming repeating patterns of the familiar repurposed. This work would be at home in the home of any of the many Portland apparel designers; or in a public building art collection of a city focused on attracting and nurturing the apparel business cluster. At Laura Russo Gallery www.laurarusso.com 805 NW 21st



Art reinvents itself and its relevance continuously. The next generation of collectors require emotional resonance and this show is an example, especially with Portland's music world the finely interwoven with the world of visual art. The Art of Touring is a show of photographs documenting the musical road trips of Portland performers. Artists include Alissa Anderson (Vetiver), Hannah Mae Blair, Sharon Cheslow, Mia Clarke (Electrelane), Jem Cohen, Erika Spring Forster (Au Revoir Simone), Rebecca Gates, Emma Gaze (Electrelane), Megan Holmes, Andy Moor (The Ex), Tara Jane Oneil and Jean Smith (Mecca Normal). The show also marks the release of the same named book, a collection of artwork and writing based on firsthand touring experiences, edited by Sara Jaffe (Erase Errata) and Mia Clarke (Electrelane). The visual art, music and literature collaboration is a great strategy for reaching a larger audience. The gallery also sponsors performances by Sara Jaffe (Erase Errata), Tara Jane Oneil, and Julianna Bright (The Golden Bears) on Saturday, August 22. At Fontanelle www.fontanellegallery.com 205 SW Pine



Installationist Kim Ray presents "generation" in the Nines Gallery (inside Blue Sky). Her installation is a Fibonacci spiral of balloons precisely positioned and sized. See them as soon as possible, they are slowly deflating. The spiral occurs naturally in things like pine cones and sunflowers, a beautiful exposition is Sir A'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's "On Growth and Form". Inside Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org 122 NW 8th



The Everett Station Lofts are recommended, as always - bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th. It is their big all building opening, including upstairs.



Malia Jensen is a Portland-NYC artist from an art family here. She does a good job with idea-based sculpture and video, somewhat quiet, sometimes odd and often hard hitting. She is responsible for the giant beaver in the ad agency lobby and the tree that used to be at Seaplane. See her latest in an all too rare Portland show. At Elizabeth Leach www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th



Trees are one of the things which define our landscape here, they are woven into our psyche. A lot of paper is made from them and it is paper that decays, as do real life trees, unless carefully conserved and valued. The late photographer and curator Terry Toedtemeier drew upon them as subject, along with our geological landscape. Toedtemeier is largely responsible for the photography collection at the Art Museum, see his practiced eye at work in his own photographs. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders early close 8PM



Fugaku Sanjūrokkei, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, is a famous series of wood block prints by Katsushika Hokusai. Others have reprised his subject. Hokusai made his illustrations traveling to farmlands and fishing villiages, capturing peoples' lives in relation to Mt Fuji, a Japanese symbol of immortality. Tokyo artists Rei, Reijiro Mochizuki, and Hooky, Souichiro Fukuda, traveled 34,033km over 131 days, sketching, photographing and painting what they found, everyday lives and landscapes of Japan today. The result is the book Survival Drive, a show at Compound and live painting opening night. The compound show also includes the artists' travels in the last week in Portland making work about here. It all is a lesson in the importance of authenticity in Japanese culture. Learn. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th



The Pulliam Gallery has bright work, perfect for summer, by James Boulton, Brad Brown, Linda Geary, Derek Franklin, Nicholas Nyland, Zina Al-Shukri, Josh Ferris, Matthew Gordon and Maja Ruznic. Some are recently minted MFA's from CCA in SF/Oakland if you are curious about happenings there. At Pulliam Gallery www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com 929 NW Flanders early close 8PM



Documentary photography with an artistic focus is always fascinating, doubly so when made in times and places we don't go. That would be the case for Ethan Eisenberg's Holyland, exposed between 1994-2005 in the Gaza Strip. The area is very small, 25 miles by 4-8 miles wide with a very large population, one and a half million. It was governed by the Palestinian Authority in that period but occupied by the Israeli army. See for yourself Eisenberg's observations, he also speaks Saturday at 3 at the gallery with Martin Bogren. Bogren shows Ocean, documenting the first visit by Rejastani children to the ocean to swim. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org 122 NW 8th



This month is a free art history lesson, specifically in photography, at the Charles A. Hartman Gallery. The history of photography has often been the history of painting: landscape and portraits. This show is the portrait branch as illustrated by well known photographers such as Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Corey Arnold, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Harry Callahan, Flor Garduno, Lewis Hine, William Klein, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Daido Moriyama, Arnold Newman, W. Eugene Smith, Frederick Sommer, Alfred Stieglitz, Mark Steinmetz and Issei Suda. That covers a wide range in the canon of photographic portraiture, but necessarily a small sample of photographers. Worth seeing. At Charles A. Hartman www.hartmanfineart.net 134 NW 8th



Grassy Knoll gallery continues with a fascinating animation by Yellena James. James constructs fanciful worlds, maybe seascapes. She has collaborated with Fashionbuddha studio and sound designer Radium to create an interactive installation driven by your touch. At Grassy Knoll Gallery www.grassyknollgallery.com 123 NW 2nd



Stumptown downtown on 3rd has a great mixed media show. They win the copywriting award of the month. "What is THIS? Where did it come from? How did it get here? How did I get here to look at it? Does it matter? Is it interesting? None of these answers are available in THIS, a photo series by David Neevel. THIS and more of Neevel's work will not be answering any questions in August at the Downtown Stumptown.

David Neevel is from Oregon. For a while now he has lived in Portland, where he works and eats and worries and feels it and tries hard but sometimes gets so tired and would like a hot dog please and misses you, so much. He got a degree in Physics from the University of Oregon but has forgotten a lot of the details. See more of what he's done or demean him anonymously at www.dickbird.org".

At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd



Longtime Portland photographers Stuart Levy shows Portland landscape panoramas. In Hidden Gems Revealed he mixes it up by making exposures with unusual points of view and light. Named after Stieglitz' famous magazine, the Camerawork gallery has quietly been presenting photo shows for a long, long, long time, it's a great venue if you are a photographer. www.thecameraworkgallery.org 2255 NW Northrup

August 3,15,19 Call for PICA TBA Volunteers

PICA needs a large number of volunteers and some of the jobs can use specialized skills such as building, blogging and photo-video for its TBA festival in September. In exchange for volunteering, you can get free passes to some events. Best, it's a great opportunity to spend time with other creative volunteers and meet the artists. To find out more, go to one of the volunteer orientations: 224 nw 13th #305. August 3, 5:00PM, August 15, 1:00PM or August 19, 5:00PM