December 30 Jam 8

The Hippoh Project hosts a battle tonight - Hippoh Jam 8. It's 2on2 all styles, including but not limited to breakin', krump, urban and funkstyle. With a $100 prize, it's a nice touch to brighten a new year. At Hippoh Project Dance Studio, www.hippohproject.com, 1306 NW Hoyt St. B-1. Doors 6PM, Battles 7

December 19 Publication Fair

Publication Studio, of which we have written before, is the brainchild of Patricia No and Matthew Stadler. They have always pursued with grace, a strategy of promoting many local micro publishers, along with their own projects, a philosophy almost completely absent in business today.

Today they host over a dozen creative book publishers and the shops that sell small run works in their annual publication fair. Last year, they included a video Skype with Amsterdam and collective authoring of a book in real time.

At the Ace Publication Studio www.publicationstudio.biz, in the Cleaners at the Ace Hotel, corner SW 10th and Stark, 11AM-8PM Free

December 16 Post Post Post Punk Jam

Patrick Rock's musical unit Piss, with Jason Powell and Matthew Green, performs a rare Appendix set this evening. Since Appendix is a garage, this would be a garage band event. They win the copywriting award of the month:

"Now Come Sit On My Lap… And smile for the camera…

After a yearlong hiatus riffled with group therapy, rehab, broken ribs, and newborn relationships, as well as successful album, touring, and label hits by (the prettier) individual members. The PUNK-HUNK ‘art trio’ PISS (+ dear friends) triumphantly returns to APPENDIX PROJECT SPACE; For a PISSMAS pageant extravaganza worthy of the heavens opening up and casting down wrath like embracement upon all believers in its glorious paternal bosom.

This performance will coincide with the release of an extremely limited edition, 7”, hand-lathed, mono-recorded, lacquer-pressed, A & B side recording, of the smash hits BERLIN & EMPATHY on RADICALDOCUMENTS"

At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. Wear shoes you can get muddy. www.appendixspace.com Map 8PM to whenever the police come. Free

December 14 Curiosity Club

This is a relatively new event that has become the most interesting regular meetup of Portland object designers. That would include product designers, industrial designers and small run craft flavor object makers. It's not just the refreshments which are drawing an overflow crowd. Over 500 people also tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site. Tonight industrial designer Joey Roth talks about his personal designs and "Articulating the Beauty of Everyday Rituals" - touchpoints of emotional design and authenticity. They must be doing something right, the last speaker went on just 2 weeks later to give a TED talk. At Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 5:30PM Free

December 13 Where Environmentalism Meets Capitalism

An early Peace Corps volunteer, Portland's Spencer Beebe continued worldchanging work with the Nature Conservancy, which preserves wildlands and habitats by buying them, as its president, and cofounded Conservation International because the Nature Conservancy wasn't global. Almost 20 years ago he founded Ecotrust. Ecotrust focuses on new sustainable business models, sustainable because they are based on social and environmental principles. That character establishes their authenticity. Beebe has written an autobiography Cache: Creating Natural Economies. It details his experience, and lessons, perhaps of value to the next generation of world changers. It is part of the Bright Lights series sponsored by the local architecture magazine Portland Spaces and the City Club, a thoughtful public interest group. At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Map Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free

December 12 Manya Shapiro

Manya Shapiro is a Portland artist working in alternative textiles. Art moves faster than society and forms a perfect platform for creative discussion of what is going on in the society at large. Shapiro was involved in the early feminist art movement in the late 1960's and early 1970's. That movement cleared the way for todays artists, who continue to comment on where we should be headed as a people. This afternoon Shapiro shows woven dress forms, constructed from non-traditional materials. At the Murdoch Collections 2219 NW Raleigh 4PM-8 Free

December 11 PICA Prints Rocksbox

PICA raises money each year by volunteer artists, many who never work in prints, spending a day making one of a kind monoprints. It's great messy fun for the artists who almost never have the opportunity to produce work in a large scale social environment. That list of artists is on the PICA website. At the Goldsmith Building 20 NW 5th 6PM-9 $100-250, free to look



Rocksbox presents The Happiest Holiday by Donald Morgan. It is inspired by the Catalan tradition of caga tió, which, like many traditions doesn't translate well. Morgan is cofounder of Ditch Projects and art professor at UofO. Rocksbox is one of Portland's most experimental galleries and always a great meetup for thinking artists. At Rocksbox Fine Art www.rocksboxfineart.com 6540 N Interstate 8PM-11 Free

December 10 Trish Grantham, Live Painting and Plastics

Longtime illustration-style painter and collage artist Trish Grantham opens a show of her newest work, The Victory Garden, tonight. At Buy Olympia's Land Gallery www.landpdx.com 3925 N Mississippi 6PM-8 Free



Performance painting is always a fun and high energy event, almost whatever the style. Tonight the Hellion Gallery, Matt Wagner's new effort after curating Compound Gallery, presents live painting at Rotture. Portland artists Zach Johnsen and Blaine Fontana. It's part of the regular hip hop show at Rotture 315 SE 3rd 9PM-late



It's a little dated, but the 1967 film, The Graduate, established one of the great 20th century memes in pop culture: plastics. Plastics are a varied synthetic material. The same amount of plastic might cost fractions of a cent as a plastic knife, fork and spoon; a few hundred dollars as a pair of eyeglasses; a few thousand as an artificial joint or engineered membrane. And plastics is the theme of tonight's photography show made with plastic cameras. In this case, plastic becomes part of the value establishing narrative. That some of those cameras were born as children's toys cant hurt either. Curated by Alli Azevedo, artists include Christopher Buckingham, Ann Suckow Mcgarry, Jason Quigly, Justin Morrison, Kim Nguyen. DJ Skinny Miracles for tunes, on vinyl - that's plastic too! At Albina Press, 4637 N. Albina Ave at Blandena. Not sure on the time, 6PM-8 Free

December 9 Photo White Box+

PNCA hosts a free lecture by photographer Eileen Quinlan. Recommended. www.pnca.edu NW 13th and Johnson 6:30PM Free



The University of Oregon's most consistently curated exhibition space in Portland is its White Box Gallery. Tonight they open Art Now, Duration in Common, Contents by Therese Mastroiacovo and Sarah Greig. The artists and the curator give a brief talk at 6:30PM At the University of Oregon White Box Gallery 24 NW 4th 6PM-9 Free



If you are in Seattle and have an interest in butoh dance, a modern form originally from Japan, there is a performance tonight. Joan Laage preforms The Marys Project: Every Baby Is Jesus. daipanbutoh.com/events It's at Good Shepherd Center Chapel. 8PM $10

December 4 Lyrik Orlo Place

The shopping mall as we know it is relatively ancient. An early example was the Arcade of Cleveland, quite beautiful too. Corso Vittorio Emanuele is an outstanding example, though synthetic, it's old enough, and integrated with a faux streetscape, albeit inlaid marble, to have gained authenticity over time. London has several historic arcades. Istanbul's labyrinthine Grand Bazar is essentially a covered soulk. Las Vegas, Tokyo, and the wealthy oil states have their own variations, some including indoor ski slopes. Certainly Disneyland would be considered a specialized shopping mall. Though not an enclosed mall, Two Rodeo, is an outstanding example of a synthetic and surreal shopping environment. Portland has its own variations, including Lloyd Center, considered innovative in its time. Another example is the Rouse development, Pioneer Square. Rouse, founded by James Rouse, later acquired by General Growth Properties, specializes in shopping malls, and has the contacts to bring a certain mix of tenants. In this rough retail environment, some of those carefully planned Pioneer Place spaces are empty, and the artists have moved in.

It is a great location for a pioneering pop up art gallery. And if you can't bring people to the art, bring art to the people! Actually, for a time, the Bellevue Art Museum was in the Bellevue Mall, and I'm sure there are other examples. Organizers Gabe Flores and Gary Wiseman, of Kitchen Sink, among other projects, are the organizers. Their temporary gallery is called Place. A few months ago they showed straight paintings, great installations made of old store fixtures and tormented, I mean, entertained shoppers with performance art in the mall proper. Today they open their next show. They have a big party reception December 4. In the Pioneer Place Mall, bounded by SW Morrison, Yamhill, 5th and 6th. Third floor. 5PM-8 Free



Curated cafe Lyrik has Restored by Patrick Haemmerlein, mixed media. At Lyrik Cafe www.lyrikpdx.com 2035 SE 39th at Lincoln Map



We like Orlo, a place where artists, writers and environmentalists collaborate. Given our special place in the grand Western landscape, it's perfect. They are having a birthday party for themselves - details here. In an interesting mashup, there is a dance party with DJ and the film Rebel Without a Cause. Not sure that works with their brand. 8PM-late $10

December 3 Project Grow Eastside Art Openings

Project Grow hosts a get together this evening in their new, quite grand, art space. It's an opportunity to meet the project artists, see their work and hear music by Calvin Johnson, musician, DJ an founder of a little thing in Olympia called K-Records. You can read about Project Grow in previous posts or on their website and blog. Project Grow at the Port City Development Center. 2156 N Williams Ave at Tillamook. 7PM-10



Synthesis Series: Part 1 opens this evening. It represents a new experimental model for Tori Abernathy's Recess Gallery. Twelve artists were paired randomly by the project archon into collaborative units. They are Hannah Piper Burns + Allison Halter, Michael Reinsch + Dasha Shleyeva + Tori Abernathy + Jamalieh Haley, Jason King + Shawn Patrick Higgins, Abraham Ingle + Gabe Flores and Chloe Womack + Delphine Bedient. Not sure what the extended viewing hours will be, so see it tonight. At Research Club research-club.org/events/exhibitions/synthesis-series-part-1 215 SE Morrison, Suite 2020. Map Arrive in the first half hour, the door may be locked after that at Research Club 215 SE Morrison #2020 6:30PM-10 Free



Golde Rule has a group show by Lahaina Alcantara, Shawn Creeden, Austin English, Dennis Foster, Israel Lund, Mia Nolting and Paul Wagenblast. At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back



Curator Sam Korman ends Car Hole Gallery's epic one year half underground run with No More Coats No More Hole: The Unauthorized Greatest Hits & Notes From A Young Curator book release. This gallery has been one of Portland's most DIY galleries with a great curator. Includes Israel Lund, Kevin Abel, Alex Felton, Derek Franklin, Matthew Greene, Calvin Ross Carl, Annabel Roberts-McMichael, Liam Drain, Carmen Denison, Chase Biado, Andrea Glaser, Crystal Baxley, Krystal South, Anna Gray & Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Patricia No, Kit Bowman & Elizabeth Jaeger. At Car Hole Gallery 114 SE 12th x Ankeny

December 2 Westside Art Openings

Portland conceptual functional ceramicist Jamin London Tinsel shows her latest work. Some of her vessels have been purposed to performance too. This show is strictly for looking. At Visage Eyewear 1046 NW Johnson



Digital Soul is a show by Japanese master character illustrators Ippei Gyobu and Baku Maeda. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th



DE May is a minimalist mixed media artist, 2d-3d. It harks back to the early outsider artist period of the South, but minimal not maximal. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM



Portland landscape photographer Stu Levy also specializes in grid portraits, multiple exposures assembled in a grid pattern. It's primitive photo stitching with mullions. The technique allows the subject to appear in different places at the same time in the final print. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis



Pulliam gallery has painters G. Lewis Clevenger and Kay French. French specializes in botanical-themed folksy patterns. Clevenger in known for geometric color compositions. At Pulliam Deffenbaugh www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com until 8



Britt Howard has some large fiber installations, Soft Knots, tangling the walls at Stumptown. Her work is a personal exploration of motherhood and family relationships. She is also founder of the Portland Garment Factory, a resource for clothing designers. At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd



The Everett Lofts, bounded by NW Broadway, Flanders, 6th and Everett are always recommended for your viewing pleasure.



Goodfoot opens a giant show of very inexpensive art. There are over 100 artists, each with about 15 small pieces and all framed. There are no labels, who wants to label 1500 works? A given artist's work is also scattered, not grouped. The show is hung upstairs and down. All works are cash and carry instant gratification. All are $50 too! For a list of artists, see the Goodfoot website: www.thegoodfoot.com/gallery 2845 SE Stark Map Starts 4PM

November 30 Place is the Space at Curiosity Club

Tonight Portland industrial design mecca Hand Eye Supply hosts a talk by Portland cyborg anthropologist Amber Case. Case is interested in applying ethnographic analysis to today's and tomorrow's human-machine interactions. She is also a principal at a leading location-based mobile concern and noted visionary in that space. At Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com 23 NW 4th 5:30PM Free

November 28 Lucky Dragons Battle

Lucky Dragons is artist-musicians Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara. Their work plies the edges of open source and social practice; open edition to exclusive; free to precious. There is more in previous posts, and their talk at the PSU Monday Night Lecture series was fascinating. Their music project visits this evening. All ages. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison 8:30PM $14, $12 advance



Portland is not the hip hop capital of the world. But like everywhere, it has an active b-boy/b-girl community. In that amazing world, an interchange of moves and creativity, B-Boy/Girls battle in a nonviolent way. We need more of that. Tonight is the first of a six session battle for cash money, and feeing into a West Coast competition. In a dramatic oddity, the competition takes place in a boxing ring erected in the venue for another event. Judges for th efirst round are Dirty Abe, Sacramento/ Flexible Flav; Mattia Rufy, Italy/ Livin Dead Army. Rick, Seattle/ Misguided Steps; Demy Andre, PDX; Ibraham Ra Boogie, PDX and Brian Mightymoves Baker, PDX. Live performances by Lil Texiz, Anam8tion, Logic, Late Davis and Kyle Baltus. At Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside. 5PM $5

November 27 Belly Ragas

This monthly belly dance cabaret includes some compelling performers tonight: troupe Scarlet Thistle; soloists Danielle Smith, NagaSita, Jewels, Bevin Victoria, Endymienne; and hooping by Shpongled Hoops. Live music throughout by the Juan Prophet Organization. At Vino Vixens, 2929 SE Powell Blvd. 7:30PM $10



Portland has a small community of people who love Indian music. A longtime teacher and performer is Michael Stirling. Joined by Aran Adams on tabla; Derek Ecklund and Bobek Djeyfroudi on tamburas, he presents an evening of Autumn ragas, in an otherwise quiet yoga studio, tonight. Stirling has studied deeply with Pandit Pran Nath and Terry Riley, both innovators in their own ways. A special evening. At Yoga Shala North www.yogashalapdx.com 3808 N Williams 7PM by donation

November 26 Free Art Museum Day

The Portland Art Museum is free this evening after 5. Always a good thing. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 5PM-9 Free

November 21 Research Club Brunch, Public Art and Weird Fiction

The Research Club is back - from a trip to Europe. They invite you to one of their research pot luck brunches today. Speakers include Alan Waxman, a landscape anthropologist; Chris Teso, co-founder of The GOOD, Portland branding agency; Olivia Everett, an artist, discusses her project on mining in her Montana home town; Nim Wunnan on the Research Club Heavy Meta Tour, and a documentary on artist run spaces; with experimental piano, drums duo Why I Must Be Careful. Bring vegan or vegetarian-friendly brunch food, arrive early, stay to talk. A project of research-club.org At PNCA www.pnca.edu 1241 NW Johnson Map Noon-3 Free



The Art Museum has a panel discussion on public art. It's connected to the show of sculptor Lee Kelly's work. His large metal sculptures may be seen around town. The panelists sound interesting: playwright, planner, artist provocateur Tad Savinar; leading force in social practice art, which operates in public, Harrell Fletcher; and Sandra Percival director of YU, a new Portland art center and former director of the Public Art Development Trust in London. The event will be moderated by Tim DuRoche, director of programs at the World Affairs Council. In Whitsell Auditorium at the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park. 2PM-3 $12, $5 members



Artist Mack McFarland has organized a show of video, to be accompanied live by Church No. 9, experimental musicians with a rotating lineup. Tonight they will be Tim DuRoche, Reed Wallsmith, John Savage and genius bassist Fred Chalenor. At Valentines valentineslifeblood.blogspot.com 232 SW Ankeny 9PM

November 20 Tribute to Ali Akbar Kahn

The great sarod player Ali Akbar Kahn passed last year leaving many recordings, such as this one with Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha from 1971. Local presenters of Indian music, who brought Kahn to Portland in 1989 and 1994, present a tribute tonight. Alam Kahn, Ali Akbar Kahn's son, on sarod is accompanied by Vishal Nagar on tabla. Presented by Kalakendra www.kalakendra.org at the First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Avenue. 7:30PM $20 advance, $25 door, free for members.

November 19 Heidi Schwegler and Tomonari Nishikawa at Disjecta

Portland sculptor Heidi Schwegler opens a show at Disjecta this evening. Her past work has channeled vaguely disturbing material themed on medicine and the body. For this show, she expands into the space with installation and video projection. Tomonari Nishikawa also has an installation, and speaks and shows films made in Japan, organized by the Cinema Project. Art openings at Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 6-10PM Free

November 18 Art Spark Cart

Art Spark. Portland's monthly arts networking happy hour is at the Eastside dive bar the Goodfoot. It's not as improbable as you might think, as the Goodfoot sells quite a bit of generally outsider art from its gallery walls monthly. Most of the evening is engaging conversations with artists and arts administrators, in both visual and performing arts. There will be a short presentation at 6PM by Profile theater, with an excerpt from their current play. www.portlandartspark.com At the Goodfoot www.thegoodfoot.com/gallery 2845 SE Stark Map 5PM-7 Free



The Art Department is a multi-space, hosting many visual art events and short run shows. They are also an event rental space with catering connections, conveniently next to a microdistiller. Tonight they host the release party for a book on Portland food carts, Cartopia. And come to think about it, an afterlife without food carts would be sad.

One of the Art Department cofounders is cowriter to the book. It's a history and manifesto, tracing the connections between locavore culture, great chefs, Portland's evolutionary-experimental culture and the new economy. It's packed with interviews and photographs, of the cartrepreneurs; and architects, planners and City officials. No doubt this book will be the seed of a cart revolution in many cities to come.

For the release, there will be a show of photography from the book, musicians, food, beer and wine, as well as Dino Tarot(!). The event is also the terminus of a food cart bike tour.

At the Art Department www.artdeptpdx.com 1315 SE 9th Avenue Map 6PM-10 Free

November 15 Signal Fire Crossing

Signal Fire is a locally-adapted artist residency program in tents in the Mt Hood forest. There was an opening of resulting artwork November 4, see the notes here for that date for more information. One of the coorganizers, Ryan Pierce talks about the project and his own artistic inspirations. Talk in the Shattuck Hall Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free



Bright Lights explores the Columbia River I5 transportation project tonight. The series is a meetup of architects, developers and influential volunteer civic leaders connected to the Portland City Club. So that it is being discussed there says something. I have an amateur interest in planning and architecture, and my thoughts on the project have evolved, and are certainly not settled. The project has many moving parts. The bridges themselves; light rail; Hayden Island as a port, big box sales tax free mecca or blank land for developing thousands of condo-apartments in a flood plain; a giant smooth moving gently curved interchange at Marine Drive for triple trailer trucks; saving a Safeway, Hooters and the Jantzen mobile home park; what happens to downtown Vancouver and how it connects to neighborhoods to the East of I5; tens of thousands of Clark County residents working in Portland while craving cheaper housing, income tax arbitrage in dual income families, a more wealthy K-12 and university system, or the elusive 5 acre lot; a desire to spend roughly equally on interchanges between the states; air pollution in North Portland; bikes and walkers; the architecture of the bridges; an old airfield nearby; future federal transportation funding decreases and future election impacts on key House and Senate committee chair positions; the effect of the Alaskan Way project in draining available Washington funds - I'm sure there are many more parts too.

The presenters fall into the skeptics of the current highway department plans. They are Bill Scott, general manager of Zipcar’s Portland office; economist Joe Cortright, presenting an analysis of car volume and financing projections; and urban planner George Crandall who has a plan for upgrading the 3 current bridges and adding two more. They will be interviewed by Randy Gragg, noted regional planning and architecture editor, writer and journalist.

At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th. Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free

November 14 Circle Science

Circle Science is a B-Boy-B-Girl battle. It has a 2on2 breakin' battle and a 2on2 all styles battle, with urban dance in the mix. 2on2 judged by Tim Chips, Fraggle Rock (WA) and One8Kevin, Moon Patrol. All styles judged by Beau Sem, Groove Nation and Evie Graham of Vega Dance Lab. Performance battles by crews Floor Invaders vs New Birth and Mightee Moves vs M-PO. Exhibition performances by LDT, Push Jones and Remix. After party (21+) at Report. Circle Science at Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside. Doors 5PM, event 6. $15

November 13 A Night of Exquisite Possibilities

Portland artist Amy Ruppel, opens her studio for a sale this evening. She shows many spots around town, but is well known as the champion of the online sale, so get on her mailing list. It's in the Ford Building, one of Southeast Portland's creative hubs, with Gallery Homeland programming the lobby, and Pushdot Studios taking a first floor space. At Ruppel World Headquarters in the Ford Building, 2505 SE 11thxDivision Studio #254. 6PM-10



Lewis and Clark College's ethnomusicology program has a gamelan, an orchestra of cast bronze percussion and supplemental instruments from Indonesia. They are tuned together in their making, making each gamelan, and this one numbers over 60 instruments, unique. It's been part of the music program at the college since 1980. Tonight is a public concert marking the 30th anniversary of the gamelan ensemble the Venerable Showers of Beauty.

The performance will be led by noted shadow puppet performer from UC Berkeley, Ki Midiyanto, with guest musicians from Gamelan Pacifica at Cornish and Lewis & Clark’s Friends of Rain New Music Ensemble.

The program will include traditional music and modern gamelan music by composer Lou Harrison, famous for incorporating world music elements into 20th Century composition.

The concert will be in Evans Auditorium, toward the back of the campus, leave time for parking and navigation. At Evans Auditorim, Lewis & Clark College. 8PM $15, $10 students and seniors.



Disjecta holds its annual auction of great Portland artists this evening. It's an impressive list, and the sale supports the operation of the art center which does an amazing amount of programming on a very thrifty budget. The list of artists is here. Guest auctioneers are the always entertaining Dave Allen and Andrew Dickson. Live music by Church No. 9. These events are great fun, lively, packed with Portland creatives and conversation. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 7-11PM $20

November 11-13 Human Nature

The Northwest and the Southwest are duals, a kind of mirror image. But they share a mystical reverence for the dramatic landscape. So it would be natural that artists would collaborate between regions, making landscape-inspired work. That is tonight, when Human Nature, primarily based in Arizona, but with Northwest ingredients, performs. They present Animal Etiquite inspired by animals on the land. We forget sometimes I think that we are animals on the land too. Performance at The Headwaters, an intimate theater in N Portland. There is also a film by the group and discussion Sunday. Details and ticket information at witdpresents.org 55 NE Farragut St. #9 8PM $18 advance, $23 door. Students $15 Advance $20 door

November 11 Cinema Provocateur

The Art Museum series of artist talks continues with filmaker musician McCormick. Each artist has chosen a work from the collection and discusses with the audeience how it inspires them. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-8 $5 members, otherwise regular admission $12 so tour the Museum before

November 6 More Art

What is a curator? A curator is someone who sees a lot of art and is unafraid to fit the work and the artists into their own very brainy catalog system of interests and subjective quality. Then they do the reverse, carefully unpacking selected artists and works from that catalog into a show. Portland artist Chris Johanson, then in San Francisco, was curated into the Whitney as curator Rinder, scanning for new artists and movements reached down from the heavens, in a deus et machina move, and selected Johanson in 2002. There is no rule that artists can't be curators. So now Johansen is up to same, but with a Johanson vibe. He has selected works for "I Found This, This That Had Already Been Found" from submitted work by PSU grads, of any major, for a show at PSU. Artist reception in the Autzen Gallery, Second Floor of PSU Neuberger Hall, Room 205, 724 SW Harrison 5PM-9 Free



On a related note, the weekend long Society for Photographic Education conference hosts a talk "Photographic Practice as Social Tool With and Without a Camera" by Harrell Fletcher at Blue Sky. Not sure on admission, contact Newspace 503-963-1935. At Blue Sky 7PM-8 Reception follows.



Lyrik opens drawings and sculpture by Erik White & Adrian Melnick. This is one of the few cafes we note because they have had a well thought out art program from the beginning. At Lyrik Cafe www.lyrikpdx.com 2035 SE 39th at Lincoln Map 7PM-10



Filmed by Bike is a Portland-grown bicycle film festival. (Mark your calendars, the next one is April 15-17, 2011, at the Clinton Street) The Festival shows the best submissions each year, and some go on to their DVD series, which are shown in other cities. To find the best bike films, the organizers have to go through some of the worst films ever. This is painful, and they want everyone to know the agony and the ecstasy of that. And because they want potential filmmakers to make more "best" rather than "worst" films, they host a "best and worst" night tonight. It's a film showing discussion of why the best are best are best and the worst, worst. Interspersed are many short how-to make a bike film talks, by filmmakers who have done it, and the first showing of the 2011 festival trailer. And there may be food and beer for sale to fuel your further evening bike on adventures. At the Art Department www.artdeptpdx.com 1315 SE 9th Avenue 8PM-10:30 $5 Cash money only



All ages 2on2 and 1on1 battle tonight! It's a Bboy/Bgirl event with live music by Sam Omeechevarria and Fogatron beatboxing. At Center Space 420 SE 6th. Doors 6PM, starts 7. $5

November 5 Eastside Art Openings

The Appendix Space (and Little Field) have been presenting adventurous art installations and events. They are taking a seasonal break as they erect a moat on their unmaintained alley. Coincidentally they are moving into a warm well lit space this month at the New American Art Union. Appendix Collective members Maggie Casey, Zachary Davis, Josh Pavlacky and Benjamin Young present Tropical Depression. Recommended. At New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny



In the 811 Block

Lynn Yarne turns her formidable illustration skills on the North American nostalga for wild animals, cabins in the woods and ecomysticism in her show at Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back


Soluable, soft sculptures by Genevieve Dellinger, Melissa Gorman, Midori Hirose and Elizabeth Jaeger closes at Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map


With more ecomystical illustrations of wild animals is Haley Ann Robinson at Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside

All 811 East Burnside



Painters Alexis Mollomo, Suwannee Sarakana and Morgan Murphy show at Worksound www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder Map 6PM-10



Homeland continues geonetworking, in this case with Houston 2 and a half-d painter Jonathan Leach. Homeland also has a show in Houston, good move. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division



Pushdot joins Homeland in the Ford building with a group show of artists shown before: Chris Bennett, Jill Bliss, Kimi Kolba, Angela Cash and Liz Haley. At Pushdot Studio www.pushdotstudio.com 2505 SE 11th Avenue Suite 104

November 4 Westside Art Openings +

Signal Fire Arts creates artist residencies in the quiet wilds, camping style. Tonight is a show of all the 2010 residents, Roads Make Nice Meadows. The artists are visual and performers, and the opening includes both. The artists are Katherine Ball, Portland visual artist, curator & social practitioner; Ellie Irons, New York, visual artist; Robyn Moore, Mississippi, visual artist; Sarah Meadows, Portland visual artist; Julie Perini, Portland filmmaker; Scott Schuldt, Seattle visual artist and Portland musicians Tara Jane Oneil and Laura Gibson. At PNCA's Manuel Izquierdo Gallery, NW 13th between Johnson and Kearny. 6PM-9 Free



Longtime Portland DIY artist filmmaker Vanessa Renwick shows as easy as falling off a log at PDX Across the Hall. While Bruce Conkle has his NW eco-baroque style, Renwick has sampled NW pathos. At Across the Hall Gallery. Recommended.

And across the hall from Across the Hall is PNCA department head Arnold Kemp. Since he has a big influence on the results of the MFA program, it might be interesting to understand his own artmaking. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com map 925 NW Flanders early close 8PM



It is always a pleasure to see the work together of Ellen George and Jerry Mayer. Drawing Room, at the Nine Gallery, is a pattern of quiet shadows cast by tiny wires. Maybe it's a metaphor for the Interwebs, though that is unlikely their intention. Inside Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th



It's great to see the exchange of Korean (and Chinese, for that matter) art with Portland. An example is Gunwoo Kim from the University of Ulsan, Korea. Reception tonight at PSU's MK Gallery Room 207, 2000 SW 5 Ave. 5PM-7



Sometimes a Great Notion is a famous novel set in Oregon's woods and the name of a loosely curated art show opening this evening. Artists include Anna Magruder, Seann McKeel, Joy Leising & Molly McDavitt, Jennifer Finn, Emily Katz, Robyn Williams, Carrie Hardison, Nicole Linde, Jess Bronk, Sarah Morrigan, Elissa Tree, April Coppini, Luna Littleleaf, Karen Joy Campbell, Beth Ann Short, Jessica M. Breedlove, kerosene rose, Seaworthy PDX, S.I.D Need, Katie Veeninga, Aimee Fahey, Shawn Demarest, December Carson, Sienna Morris, Linda Rand, Suzy Kitman, Jeanne Levasseur, Anne Mavor, Noelle Ford, Jenny Siegel and Beth Olson. Music by DJ Anjali. At Albina Press SE, 5012 SE Hawthorne Blvd 7PM-10 Free



Portland New Yorker Malia Jensen's work is always interesting to see as her aesthetic influences are now big city, which is good. It's great she has continued her aesthetic evolution beyond the giant beaver sculpture at the ad agency, but we like that too. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com map 417 NW 9th



Portland photographer Olivia Bolles does a good job with dramatic high contrast color photos and portraits. Pretty accomplished work for age 16, including magazine credits. Good work! At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd



We think Ansel Adams is cool. Though there are many photographers who moved the field more, Adams is famous for his control of light and contrast in chemical photography - a perfector of "the zone system". His Western photographs were a romantic and dramatic call for conservation of Western wilderness as much as Carleton Watkins, Timothy O'Sullivan, William Henry Jackson and their contemporaries. At Charles Hartman Fine Art www.hartmanfineart.net 134 NW 8th



And as always, easier to just see than write about, don't forget the Everett Station Lofts, NW Broadway and Everett.

November 3, 5, 6 Butoh a Go Go!

Butoh is a somewhat obscure modern dance form based on improvisation and inspired by nature. That's the simple explanation. First created in Japan in 1959, it is an international style today, It has a special place on the US West Coast, and a special place in Seattle. The Japanese butoh group Sankai Juku was one of the first groups to perform in the United States, in 1984. They evolved out of the famous Dairakiudkan, but operate with a more quiet and subtle style. In 1985 in Seattle, one of the dancers tragically died in an outside performance. The group was to disband, but did not, resuming touring with Kinkan Shonen in 1978 in Seattle. With this history, there is a special intense relationship between the performers and audience in Seattle, you can easily feel it. Sankai Juku returns to Seattle with Tobari, tonight. At the Paramount, 911 Pine Street, Seattle. Tickets: www.stgpresents.org/artists/?artist=1319 7:30PM $20-75



The Seattle butoh wave continues with two nights of performances from Seattle Vancouver BC, Boulder and Portland. Friday evening Sheri Brown(SEA), Danse Perdue(SEA), Douglas Ridings(SEA) and Kokoro (Vancouver) perform. Saturday night Diana Garcia-Snyder, Momo Dance Company(SEA), Jyl Brewer, Haruko Nishimura(SEA), Joan Laage(SEA), Helen Thorsen, Sheri Brown & Sharoni Siegel (Boulder), and Mizu Desierto (Portland) perform. Tickets and details at www.daipanbutoh.com/events.html and www.brownpapertickets.com/event/134988. Performances at Velocity Dance Center, 1621 12th Avenue, Seattle 8PM $15-35 sliding scale

November 2 Vote!

This is a big issue to me. So Vote! It's free!

November 1 Art and Technology

The late 1960's and 1970's were a magic time in the development of what we know know as computing, online and the Internet, environmental consciousness, the craft revival, local agriculture. Kevin Kelly was in the middle of it with a crazy guy named Stewart Brand, later going on to edit Wired Magazine in the 1990's, which turns a pop culture eye on computing technology. Originally run by renegades, it was later bought by Conde Nast. He has continued his focus in that area with writing and blogging, including a new book "What Technology Wants". Since I have a deep involvement in that area, I'm curious what Keven Kelly thinks technology wants and reserve the right to disagree with him. He speaks in support of the book tonight, sponsored by Powells www.powells.com/events/#3745 and OMSI at the Bagdad. 7PM $3


Chris Johansen is just an ordinary guy struck by lightning. That would be when Whitney curator Larry Rinder (and Reed grad) traveled outside the New York insider art world to find hidden unique developments in art. That included Portland artist Miranda July in video and sound and Chris Johansen as representative of something now known as Mission Style. The documentary Beautiful Losers is an accessible take on some of the artists. Johansen is a modest and low key guy, not much caught up in the artstar making machinery. Working intuitively, his work slips by our glittery pop culture defenses, sometimes capturing the enigma of modern existence. Johansen speaks tonight as part of the PSU Monday Night Art Department Lecture series. Talk in the Shattuck Hall Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

October 31 Halloweenie

If you believe actually voting is important for democracy, you can have a great time encouraging people to vote as part of Trick or Vote. It started here and is happening here and in over fifty cities. For information or to sign up go to trickorvote.org Portland meetups at 2:30PM and 4:30PM, celebration after, starting at 7PM Free!



Halloween is not my holiday. I hate clothes and especially costume shopping, don't dig scary stuff, don't eat candy. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to enjoy Fin de Cinema's Hausu. The film will be accompanied by a live soundtrack by Soft Metals, Reporter and Jewels of the Nile with a dance party by Linger & Quiet and Maxx Bass. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison $5

October 29 Art Auction Preview and Dance Off

Disjecta hosts their annual fundraising auction of art. There are even some artists in it that have been in the Whitney. There is a big list on the Disjecta website. The auction is November 13, but the show previews tonight. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 8PM-10 Free



The Hippoh Project hosts a battle tonight - Hippoh Jam VI. It's 1on1 all styles and 2on2 breakin'. What to expect? This was some of IV plus add some costumes. At Hippoh Project Dance Studio, www.hippohproject.com, 1306 NW Hoyt St. B-1. Doors 6PM, Battles 7. $6 or $5 with costume

October 28 Art and Democracy

Art on Alberta continues, though I don't believe the street is closed until maybe sometime next year, when they figure out how to pay for it.

Israel Lund from PNCA takes the garage with Trubl(e), while the hay bales will be activated by a mysterious force. The alley could be muddy and will be dark. Appendix will be resting and recharging for a bit, maybe some special shows, but not regular for a few months. At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 6-10ish Free



Tim Mahan has pulled together Big Field at Little Field, surveying the ten installations by more than that number of artists in the space history. Little Field closes with this show, they have been rad. Little Field, you did well. At the last Little Field Gallery, on the alley between 28th and 29th North of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 6-9ish Free



Together has Sing Me To Sleep by Seth Neefus, mellow Fall vibe; and Plant House, embroideries by Misty Marie. There's music in back, early by Old Friend and Pioneer. At Together Gallery www.togethergallery.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste A Map



Broom and Dustpan is a faux music and writing art project in which the artist created 100 dream bands, 100 each A&B side music and asked 100 artist friends to make cover artwork for them; then hung them on the wall. In association with Disjecta. At False Front Studio www.falsefrontstudio.com 4518 NE 32nd Map 6-10 Free



This pairs well with the periodic Vinyl Killers show, #8, at Goodfoot opening tonight. It's an international show originated by Portlander Klutch in 2003. 12 inch vinyl disks are used as the canvas. And the work is very reasonably priced! This is the last Vinyl Killers show, how historic. At the Goodfoot www.thegoodfoot.com/gallery 2845 SE Stark Map 5PM-11 Free



We like democracy that works. So does Harvard-Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig. Lessig has been a leading thinker on digital rights, like copyright, open source and many other philisophical, legal and social issues connected to the Internets, that system of tubes. He founded Creative Commons. He turns his analysis and network on our democracy, campaign spending and corruption. That's his project Fix Congress First. He speaks earlier at the First Unitarian Church and at 8, informally at the West Cafe 1201 SW Jefferson.

October 27 Some Things Out of Town

Jimmy Carter is our oldest living president. He was president from 1976 to 1980. One of his projects is the Carter Center. The Carter Center works to improve civil society, health and human rights around the world. Some of my projects have crossed paths with outstanding Carter Center projects and staff. He's written a new book, based on some of his long lost diaries, which he discussed recently on the Daily Show with a sense of humor. He visits Seattle today to sign those books. At Costco in Issaquah, noon and at the UW bookstore 7PM



Ravi Shankar is one of our oldest living classical Indian musicians at 90. At age 36, he was one of the first Indian musicians to tour and perform internationally. He is a founding force in what is today world music in its live and remix incarnations. He was to perform tonight on sitar in San Francisco with is daughter Anoushka Shankar on sitar; Tanmoy Bose and Ravichandra Kulur, each on tabla. However the concert has been postponed for health reasons. We wish the best.

October 25 Cuba Science-Art

Cuba is a relic. The personality of its 1959 Marxist revolution and the electoral block of Florida expatriots have kept things frozen since, despite the fall of the Berlin Wall and reconfiguration of Russian influence, worldwide. But the situation hasn't stopped art, in Cuba, or by Cubans, wherever. That Miami is an art center is a factor too. Tonight Julia Portela Director of the Department of Theoretical Studies of Art at the University of the Arts, Havana, provides a view of Cuban arts. Her past talks in Portland have been in Spanish and translated. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 6PM Free



Natalie Jeremijenko is a scientist, engineer, artist. She has been in the Whitney, 1997 and 2006, and taught in technical and art departments at Royal College of the Arts, Yale, NYU, UCSD, and been artist in residence at PARC. She has a large body of work using ambient technology as an indicator of social, political and environmental challenges. Talk in the Shattuck Hall Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

October 24 Research Stock

The Research Club hosts another of its signature pot luck brunches under talk and networking. It's at False Front Gallery with talks by artists and cultural researchers. Part of the afternoon are talks by Vanessa Calvert, whose show is in the space; Gabe Flores and Gary Wiseman who opened Place Gallery in a Portland shopping mall; Sean Ongley from Interarts; and Rozell Medina, Co-Founder of the Public Social University, a social practice art project. Most of the time is given over to conversation with your fellow creative attendees. Bring food or juice, coffee provided. A project of research-club.org At False Front Studio www.falsefrontstudio.com 4518 NE 32nd Map noon-3 Free



Portland Stock is a nanogranting project. Awards are running around $5-600. This puts them at less than government efforts such as RAAC at about $1-2K and Kickstarter in the low thousands. Kickstarter is based on large online social networks. Stock is based on about 100 interested, in person, peer artists and friends. Reservations for this simple $10 meal are required. BYOB. The proceeds of those $10's pooled are awarded to one of the usually about half dozen proposals in a two stage voting process.

RSVP by email, portlandstock at gmail dot com, the meal reservations, limited by logistics, fill quickly. Details: www.portlandstock.blogspot.com At PNCA 12 NW Johnson 6PM-8 $10 cash only

October 22 Ashen Glow at Fourteen30

Fourteen30 Contemporary opens Ashen Glow, landscape photography by Devon Oder. Oder was the gallery's first show, at that time, a recent MFA from Art Center Pasadena. Her first show included landscapes, with the image manipulated in process. This show is more straight ahead. There are two themes: cyanotypes, a very early blue monochrome printing process, with limited tonal range and resolution. Historically, cyanotypes were used for shadowgraphs, direct imaging of objects on the print emulsion and well into the 20th century for architectural blueprints. Oder's prints are kin to shadowgrams, but a little more enigmatic. The other theme are black and white landcapes. They are not golden hour style, but have more a feel of noon sun exposure. Many are images of the complex tangle of opportunistic plant growth, taking over the frame. Nonetheless, they capture the mystery of even everyday wild places. At Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 1430 SE 3rd Opening 6PM-9

October 22 Bike Tour of African American Public Arts

The Dill Pickle Club, admixers of history, social change and art present a tour of murals - Walls of Pride: African American Public Art - by bike. The 10 mile easy ride visits art by Charlotte Lewis, Adriene Cruz, Isaka Shamsud-Din, Lewis Harris and Charles Tatum. Isaka Shamsud-Din and Adriene Cruz speak personally at the sites of their work. Bike participants meet at 9:30AM for a light breakfast at Mallory Avenue Community Enrichment, 126 NE Alberta. The tour starts at 10. They make a lunch stop at the excellent Ethiopian Eritrean E’Njoni Café. The tour repeats November 12 by bus. All details at the dillpickleclub.com $10 bike trip

October 19 A Curiosity Club

We noted earlier the arrival of NYC-Portland Core 77 shop Hand Eye Supply. They have an aperiodic in-person discussion series, Curiosity Club. Tonight they host Blake Van Roekel, glass and food artist. She did some early development work at the Portland Chinese Garden. Moving on, she is food and catering artist in residence at Milepost5, and for the Heidi McBride Gallery. Her talk tonight at Hand Eye is on the aesthetics of food. At Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com 23 NW 4th 5:30PM Free

October 18 Environmental Law In India and Sustainable Development in Abu Dhabi (?)

America's legal system is one of its greatest virtues and one of its greatest curses. Generally it works, and generally it reflects our values. But the greatest and most important dynamics are the growth and change in China and India, with more than 35% of the world's population. America's environmental consciousness had roots in the philosophy of longtime native peoples and the Transcendental religious movement in the mid-19th Century, reflected in Thoreau's Walden. The rapid change period that birthed today's approach was a result of America's economic growth and prosperity in the 1950's and 1960's. Writer Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, warning of the dangers of chemicals and attracting the attention of then president Kennedy. First lady, Lady Bird Johnson in the mid-1960's campaigned against litter and for native plantings on the developing national highway system memed as "Keep America Beautiful". The most epic breakthrough was the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act n 1970, signed by president Richard Nixon.

India and China are approaching a time when a growing middle class, an overwhelming majority, will press for a better environmental quality of life, at the expense of narrow business optimization.

Indian attorney-litigator M.C. Mehta provides a perspective on environmental case law in South Asia. Mr. Mehta is known for his successful campaign to reduce air pollution near the Taj Mahal, acidic pollution that was literally dissolving the building marble. He has worked elsewhere in the region framing legislation and seeding an awareness of the law as a tool for a return to a healthy environment.

Mehta speaks tonight at the Lewis and Clark Law School. The event is organized by the The Indus Entrepreneurs oregon.tie.org. It's at Lewis and Clark College Law School. Parking there is strictly regulated: you can get a pass the the L&C Law School front desk or pay for parking that the main school lots. %:30PM registration, 6 talk, 7 reception.



Abu Dhabi is a small oil-rich city on the boot toe of the Arabian peninsula in the United Arab Emirates. Interestingly, it faces Iran across the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Portland architectural firm Sera and Portland engineering firm Interface Engineering have a project to build a sustainable university town from scratch a little inland there. It will be roughly equivalent to Corvallis in size, and the university is focused desert ecology, agriculture and Bedouin culture. Paul Pawlowski and Omid Nabipoor speak about the project tonight. Their target is net-zero, a city that produces all the energy it needs, in this case despite being sited in a massively energy exporting country. Of course photovoltaics, bicycles and water conservation are a part of the plan. Just like Portland! I find it interesting that the UAE has a system, "Pearls" similar to the LEED ratings. It is part of the Bright Lights series sponsored by the local architecture magazine Portland Spaces and the City Club, a thoughtful public interest group. At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th. Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free

October 17-28 Real Estate Meets Real Art and Design

We have always viewed favorably artists benefiting in promoting real estate. Portland examples include Ziba promoting art with condos and developers in Toronto purchasing art, several million dollars in total, and including it in the condo sale, one piece from an artist displaced from the neighborhood per condo. It's no secret in Portland that several developers have been exemplary arts supporters and collectors.

This is a new effort for Portland in a detached private home for sale. This mid-century modern is in a quiet and surprisingly moderately priced neighborhood close to town with great schools. The project is an art slant on "staging", furnishing a home for sale in a way that might appeal to the (new) buyer, rather than the (current) resident.

Artists' work include Angela Baker, Caryn Baumgartner, David Boekelheide, Ryan Bubnis, Kevork Cholakian, Meredith Dittmar, Carlos DonJuan, Katherine Dube, Colleen Flaherty, Karen Florek, Lisa Gronseth, Renee Hartig, Junko Iijima, Timothy Karpinski, Marko de Kok, Lisa Kowalski, Jennifer Lee, Christine Nguyen, Saule Piktys, Heidi Schwegler, Micki Skudlarsky, Curtis Speer, David Stein, Kevin Taylor, Lien Troung, Samantha Wall, Bryan Wolf and Wes Younie. The art was curated by Alicia Johnson at the virtual Alicia Blue Gallery.

Designers include Altura Furniture, Amanda Wall-Graf, Bright Design Lab, Callum Clark, Crafted Systems, Esque Studios, Grain, Hammer & Hand, Jason Andrew Designs, Jeffmade, Jeremy Alden, The Joinery, Jonathan Langston, Land • Line Design, Leah Nobilette, Lori Mason, Made, Magmax Design, Mark Diamond, Merkled Studio, Molly Purnell, Moufelt, Namuh, Nicholas Micheels, Pablo Pardo, Scott Schroeder, Space Design, Terry Bostwick, Tlagg, Tufenkian Artisan Rugs and Will Ullman. Design was curated by Trish Guido of Relish Design.

We wish the artists the best in benefiting from this experiment, and that success to be replicated in future home staging projects. At 4449 SW Twombly, Portland. www.nwmodernshow.org Tuesday - Sunday 4PM-8 Free

October 16 RocksBox Rocks It

Patrick Rock's gallery, RocksBox is back for the new season with artist in Reuben Lorch-Miller's In Cryptic Rays. Lorch-Miller shares a SF background with Rock, and vibes on the same challenging work. Rock events are always lively and great for thoughtful art conversation. At Rocksbox Fine Art www.rocksboxfineart.com 6540 N Interstate 8-11 Free

October 15 Night at the Museum

This is a PSU Social Practice overlay on the Portland Art Museum. It was great fun last year, expect a repeat. Artists are very creative and this is their plan for a night. They have side shows, like Greco Roman wrestling, which is an Olympic style inspired by relief sculptures and illustrations on vases from the peak of those civilizations. Galleries will host bboy-bgirl moves and music. There are also beers brewed especially for the event. The full rundown is here. It's fun and social, an excuse too to wander the labyrinthine galleries. The event, dubbed Shine a Light, takes place at the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-midnight $12, $9 students, free members

October 14-17 The Culture Machine

Tahni Holt is a Portland dance-mover-choreographer Her work has always been idea driven, with a visual art flavored production design. She has been developing The Culture Machine, sampling her own and the performers ideas and remixing them. With this piece she has scaled up to five characters, each with strong individual parts. I saw an earlier version and it was engaging, maybe even a little surreal. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 8PM all ages $15, $10 artists, students, seniors

October 14 Ethan Rose and Pecha Kucha

Ethan Rose speaks at the Art Museum. It's part of the informal Artist Talk series in which an artist picks a favorite work, which a small audience of about 50 gather for the artist's discussion of their response to he work. It's a good way to get an insight into the processes of local artists. Rose has picked an Irwin sculpture, perhaps this is the gateway for a discussion of the Museum collecting sound work. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-8 $5 members, otherwise regular admission $12 so tour the Museum before



Pecha Kucha is back at The Plant. We've written about Pecha Kucha before, the international seres of open source short visual talks on design. Speakers tonight are Pippa Arend (pearmentor.org)& Charles Gullung (cgullung.com), Brian Jones (brianrjones.com), Genevieve Dellinger (the joinery.com), Edgar Papazian (doonarch.com), Mike Merrill (kmikeym.com & urbanhonking.com), Severin Villiger, Meghan Sinnott & Lillian Karabaic (http://shift2bikes.org/wnbr/countdown.php) and Wayne Bund (waynebund.blogspot.com). The early Portland Pecha Kucha's were exciting, but the last, at bside6 did not wow. Hope they have gotten their groove back for this instance. The audience is always a creative mix, so recommended on that basis alone. Presented in cooperation with the Portland AIA Architecture and Design Festival. At the salad warehouse 939 SE Alder Doors 7:30PM, talks 8:20 (20:20) Free (donations encouraged)

October 13 Berlin Japan

Photographer Gerry Badger, with a show of photographs made in Berlin showing at Blue Sky, is interviewed this evening by Tim DuRoche. Badger is an architect and writer, it should be interesting. In the Miller Room of the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park. 6PM Not sure on the admission



The Portland Japanese Garden was started in 1963 with the designs of Professor Takuma Tono. It's evolved to now by the guiding hands of eight subsequent garden curators. The current curator, Sadafumi Uchiama, has organized a conference of those garden curators to record their thoughts and philosophies. This will allow future curators an informed touch in the garden's evolution. Tonight the curators speak. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park. 7PM Reservations (503)542-0287 Free

October 11 Mel Chin at PSU

Sculptor interventionist Mel Chin speaks tonight at the Monday night lecture series. He started with earthworks, made sculptures, and now works on the margins of politics and the environment. That makes his work of interest to Portland's artist social practitioners. Talk in the Shattuck Hall Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

October 9, 10, 16, 17 Portland Open Studios

This is a great opportunity to see a lot of art, perhaps buy some directly and see what life is like in artist studios. For more information see www.portlandopenstudios.com.

October 9 Conkle at Worksound and Grand Detour Summer Squash

Bruce Conkle has been making wry observations of our woolly Northwest for some time. That's good, we can sometimes take our small slice of the planet too seriously. For this show, he occupies all Worksound, so a collection of work over time. At Worksound www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder Map 6PM-10



Summer Squash - yum! Light, tasty and good for you, what's to argue? This delectable squash includes performance, installation and video. Laura Hughes, Hannah Piper Burns, Alison Tarry and Tori Abernathy on installation. Julie Perini, Jonathan Marrs, Ben Popp and Christine Taylor on video. Performance by Weird Fiction and Superduck Projectid. It's a monthlong project opening tonight. It inhabits the interstitials of Hollywood Vintage. Presented by Grand Detour www.grand-detour.org 2757 NE Pacific at Sandy and 28th. 6PM, performances 8. Opening $5 all ages; Free the rest of the month.

October 8 Second First Friday

Nationale opens a sculpture show with Genevieve Dellinger, Melissa Gorman, Midori Hirose, and Elizabeth Jaeger. All work in cloth. It's the perfect Fall warm soft show. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map



Meanwhile over at Bamboo Grove is Fusion curated by Sanna-Lisa Gesang-Gottowt. Artists are Rochelle Kulei, Michael Chambers, Claire Strickland and William Rihel. At Bamboo Grove bamboogrovesalon.com/Bamboo_Grove_Salon/Home.html 134 SE 2nd 6PM-10

October 7 Westside Art Openings

Mmm Halloween. Valentines has a Halloween show with Cody Brant, Liz Harris, Jo Jackson, Josh Kermiet, Jeff Kriksciun, Pete LaVigne-Chalek, Corey Lunn, Linda McAllister, Adam Sorensen, Brighid Thomas, and Jay Winebrenner. Should be interesting. E*Rock plays later. Valentines valentineslifeblood.blogspot.com 232 SW Ankeny



Compound has Illustrious with Jade Klara Marting Hsu. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th



Compound curator Matt Wagner has his own new space Hellion Gallery. Stop by to see if it's open. www.helliongallery.com 323 NW 6th



Grass Hut has Brent Wick and Lori D. Grass Hut is in Floating World. www.grasshutcorp.com 20 NW 5th




Unnatural History is a sort of imaginary museum of natural history as interpreted by artists Aaron Trotter, Jenny Fillius, Patrick Smith, Alison Foshee, Ryan Jennings, Nicole Linde and Brin Levinson. At Cravedog Music Loft Gallery cravedogloftgallery.wordpress.com 412 NW Couch St. #203 6PM-9



Grassy Knoll has Geosketching patterns. They are the maps made as we travel by the GPS units in our phones. Usually they are conveniently residing on a cloud server, here they are printed. At Grassy Knoll Gallery www.grassyknollgallery.com 123 NW 2nd



Fantasy Basketball by Anna Fidler a continuation of her Disjecta work. No surprise the copywriting award of the month:

"Energy has been the overarching theme in Anna Fidler work for the past ten years referencing topics such as photosynthesis, electricity, binaural rhythm patterns and their relationship to lucid dreams.

Her body of work Fantasy Basketball depicts vibrant basketball scenes inspired by the Portland Trail Blazers. She makes large-scale, labor-intensive works rendered in glittery micaenriched acrylic washes and pastels, colored pencils and airbrush. She captures the raw and uninhibited spirit of the game and portray the physical energy through pulsating color, unconventional shapes and the combination of paint and pencil.

While these monumental pieces emphasize the energy of the game, they also explore the hero status and god-like worship bestowed upon these athletes turning a critical eye toward such unabashed fanaticism. This adroit social commentary is inspired by historical painters like Jacques-Louis David and takes formal cues from Impressionists such as Monet".

At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 6PM-8



Reading Frenzy presents Forget Me Not, work by gallery artists relating to memories of the dearly departed. Quite a list of artists - see their website. At Reading Frenzy www.readingfrenzy.com 921 SW Oak



Hungry Eyeball is a Portland resource for lovers of outsider art. They also operate an online gallery for some artists. They have picked a few favorites for this show, Buzz: Wesley Younie, Amy Ruppel, Kinoko, Chelsea Fletcher and Rebecca Artemesia. At Tender Loving Empire www.tenderlovingempire.com 412 SW 10th



Jerry Badger has photos of urban Berlin made in 2007-2008, which is some time ago in Berlin time. Also Stella Johnson with photos of countryside life in Mexico, Cameroon, and Nicaragua. Blue Sky is 35 this year and has a whole series of events Friday and Saturday. Check their website. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th



The Everett Lofts, NW Broadway and Everett are recommended, as always for your viewing pleasure.

October 6-30 ShowPDX Furniture Designs

We have a strong Portland object design community. ShowPDX is a show of their furniture at points along the industrial design-craft continuum. ShowPDX has been used in the past by Design Within Reach to scout designs. Interested to see examples of green, new materials and new fabrication techniques such as laster, water jet and computerized routers. At 2030 N Williams.

Continues Monday, Wednesday, Friday Noon-2, 4PM-6 and Saturdays noon-2 Free. Opening reception October 6, 6PM $10.

October 4 PSU Monday Night Talks Resume

The always engaging Monday art lectures at Portland State University resume. There have been many stellar talks by noted artists. The focus has been contemporary, idea-driven artists with a substantial helping of social practice or open source participation. Tonight Christina Olsen speaks. She is director of education and public programs at the Portland Art Museum, where PSU social practice artists crack open the Museum in the second Shine a Light Program October 16. Many people would love to visit the Museum, but never get around to it. That event reaches them. It's a sparkley night event with DJ's, drinks, socializing and exhibitional Greco-Roman wrestling. You can hear Olsen's plans for connecting museum to community in Portland tonight. Talk in the Shattuck Hall Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

October 2 Undead Art Center and Spooky Violin

Last evening there seemed a sudden dramatic shift to black clothing, Halloween arrives early. So in that vein...


There has been a longtime alliance between real estate developers and Portland visual arts. Developers provide inexpensive temporary exhibition space to market the space long term to the networks of exhibition attendees, and get low cost publicity. Such was the case for the Portland Art Center which occupied a building in Old Town, now coincidentally home to the too undead 24 Hour Church of Elvis. So in the old Portland Art Center space rises the Share show, curated by Chris Haberman. It's visual artists, writers and performers. Details at sharepdx.blogspot.com NW 5th and Couch 6PM-10 Free



Meanwhile there will be a concert of carnatic violin by father and son Dr. L. Subramaniam and Ambi Subramaniam (Turn off sound, highly annoying sound logo). Accompanied by K. Sekar on thavil, Tripunithoora N. Radhakrishnan on ghatam and Satya Sai Ghantasala on moorsing. Spooky because Indian music scales are different, and can sound that way. www.rasika.org At the PCPA Winningstad Theater 1111 SW Broadway 7PM $25-45

October 1-3 The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival

We have written on this before. Suffice it to say, it's an opportunity to visit the dark and spooky side. Consult their website and schedule for the details on feature and short films, talks and even a dance party. Events centered around the Hollywood Theater on NE Sandy

October 1 Eastside Art Openings

What a perfect place for an art installation: an historic cemetery. Adventurous clay and media mixing sculptors Jacomijn Schellevis and Micki Skudlarczyk have worked together in Mexico, Europe and now in Southeast Portland. Her previous work captured the butchering of a cow in the small Mexican village of her art residency. That was followed by a stunning installation using the delicate tracery of the blood vessels defining our bodies' membranes, dried and preserved. All have touched the endless cycle of life and death. The work this evening are sugar sculptures installed in the cemetery. There is a group of boats, sailing West, in the part of the cemetery thought to have once held Chinese graves. The remains were likely disinterred and moved to China. Elsewhere in the cemetery is a tangle pile of coiled DNA model forms. They are offered to be broken by the audience into pieces to be consumed, or taken home. Very smart work, outstanding network of supporters, international, the perfect setting. More of this please, Portland. Park respectfully in the neighborhood, no parking in the cemetery. In collaboration with the Alicia Blue Gallery www.aliciabluegallery.com At Lone Fir Historic Cemetery, enter at the corner of SE 20th and Morrison. 5PM-10 Free


The Image is Invisible is a collaboration by Rebecca Steele and Posie Currin in sculpture, photography and video. At New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny 6PM-9ish Free



Newspace Photo is one of Portland's important gathering places for photographers. They have a rental studio for shooting, equipment, classes and a gallery. They are supported by members who have a chance this evening to show their work. It's at Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Free



Paula Keyth opens a perfect spooky dream October show of painting. At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back Free



REDUX hosts their second annual Halloween show, Skulls and Crossbones. Artists include: Erin Jane Laroue, Johnny Murder, Brett Superstar, Penny Nickels, Barbara Feathers, Mary Tapogna, Pamela Davis, Beau Berkley, Ryan Berkley, Adam Burke, Beth Myrick, Richard Fox, Molly Wolfe, Cathy Pitters, Alea Bone, Juanita and D.R. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside Free



Car Hole continues combining smart curation with matching writing. This month is …ships passing in the night that neither signal nor recognize each other by Patricia No and Andrea Glaser. It's a rich metaphor presented in a dark intimate space.

"What must art works say, at night, moored to the walls of a gallery, facing one another? Some kind of discourse, some dialogue takes place between works when we are present, but can we imagine these romantic relationships to exist on the occasion of our absence? For these events, we are no longer the medium through which these interactions occur, rather, replaced by the darkened atmosphere that must transmit a visual communication. Or, must works of art rest and wait for someone to receive them? And what kind of reception will they receive when they are no longer solitary, but at home?

The title of October's programming at Car Hole Gallery derives from chapter 318 of Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet. Calling attention to the solitary nature of oceanic voyages, the single sentence chapter not only recalls human relations, but an epistemological solitude in the midst of objects and of time. Andrea Glaser's installation, Mick Eez(2010) takes as its focus the haunting and joyous countenance of Mickey Mouse. A project that began several months ago, Glaser developed Mick Eez by asking her friends to draw the cartoon mouse from memory. The collection, displayed as wallpaper, framed originals, fractals and fleshy, painted beer bottles, creates a mnemonic environment at the heart of advertising and influence, marking with humorous misrepresentations, the portrait of originality that remains a valuable commodity in our commercial culture. And, despite the archetypal Mickey to which the millions of reproductions aspire, they only create a Platonic library of off-products, always downstream from the face of Disney's promotional Frankenstein.

Patricia No's How to make a book (2010) is an ongoing series of works reconfiguring the production, distribution and insinuation of books. Cardboard box tops pasted with their photocopied surfaces or painted completely white displace a
viewer's initial recognition of an object, pairing the process of signification with the object itself. These works address a state of becoming, a simple mythology of self-recognition that comes from the process of representation and artifice, rather than the solitude of one's own reflection. ...ships passing in the night that neither signal nor recognize each other. finds within objects and images the constant, painful and humorous renegotiation required in the generation of new knowledge, a process of understanding that many do not seek, but all are subject to. " - Sam Korman

At Car Hole Gallery 114 SE 12th x Ankeny Free



I'm not deep into book arts and this blog doesn't focus on them. But how interesting to discover there is an international society dedicated to pop up books. It's the Movable Book Society. They cosponsor a show of pop up books at 23 Sandy this month, Pop-Up Now! With Portland's paper art madness, it could be a good research stop for people interested in making in this medium. At 23Sandy www.23sandy.com 623 NE 23 at Sandy 5PM-8 Free



Nemo Design has a motorcycle themed photo show Heavy Metal Heart. The photographers include Mark Welsh, Scott Pommier, Jon Humphries, Benji Wagner, Molly Quan, Jake Stangel, Phil Stern, Roger Seliner, Ray Gordon, Wez Lundry and Pasha. At Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free

Saptember 30-October 29 Portland Architecture and Design Festival

The Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects organizes a month of events: lectures, films, tours and exhibitions, many in partnership with other design concerns. You can see the whole program at legacy.aiaportland.org/ad10/events.

September 30 Last Thursday

Adrift Aloft is a project in this garage gallery by Nowhere, a Portland art collective. You know them by their travel trailer gallery that's been seen at many art events around town. They have also been residents at the Center for Land Use Interpretation. Given our unique position on the less settled left coast, where there is more land than people, they have a rich vein of inspiration to tap. Personally, I would like to see more art on the land and art inspired by land coming out of Portland. At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 6-10ish Free

Terence Duvall has a performance installation. He is using the little garage gallery to write letters on actual paper an read actual books! At Little Field Gallery, on the alley between 28th and 29th North of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 6-9ish Free



Portland artist Vanessa Calvert offers Residue: an installation based on reused objects. PSU MFA minted Calvert has made a good run of installations at Worksound. At False Front Studio www.falsefrontstudio.com 4518 NE 32nd Map 6-10 Free



Timothy Karpinsky makes illustration style drawings. Bright Eyed & Bushy Tailed is his latest show at the gallery he founded. Also work by James Mitchell aka Nas Chompas aka Charlie Good-vibes and live music by Ocean Age. At Together Gallery www.togethergallery.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste A Map



Ampersand specializes in vintage things of paper. This month they hew to a Halloween theme with a show of morgue photographs from the 1930's. Not sure if it is the best of strategies to keep your eyes closed for this show, or keep them open all night after seeing it. Amersand Vintage Printed Material www.ampersandvintage.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste B. Map 6PM-10 Free



There is also a large show at the Goodfoot: I Am, Therefore I Think 4. The list of artists is varied and large: Abigail Vanghan, Adam Ciresi, Adam Sheppard, Ania Palinska, Anna Todaro, Ashley Costa, Azad Sadjadi, Ben Wilson, Beth Myrick, Brad Hamers, Brent Wick, Casey Rae Wickum Olsen, Chris Haberman, Chuck Bloom, Dan Ness, Derek Olsen, EMEK, Erin Nations, Furturtle, Gary Hirsch, Gary Houston, Guy Burwell, Harry Moritz, Heidi Elise Wirz, Hunter Armstrong, Ian Rodger, Icky A., J. Shea, Jason Grahm, Jason Wells, Jennifer Mercede, Jeremy e Schultz, Jesse Reno, Joel Barber, John Gajowski, John Graeter, John Howard, Johnny Tragedy, Jon Smith, Jonathon Hill-Jacquard, Justin Hampton, Kendra Binney, Kerisene Rose, Kevin Fitz, Larry Christensen, Lea “Luna” Littleleaf, Luke Dolkas, Mario Robert, Matt Schlosky, Michael Costello, Mike fields, Mike Klay, Nate Luna, Neil Perry, New Colony, Nicholas Orr, Richard Schemmerer, Ronni J, Sam Arneson, Sandy Fields, Scott Chase, Summer Hatfield, Tessa Hulls, Tim Combs, Todd Hinchman, Tripper Dungan III, Zach Baltzly, Zag Adams, some names you might recognize and others not. Same night as the Drink and Draw showcase. At the Goodfoot www.thegoodfoot.com/gallery 2845 SE Stark Map 5PM-11 Free

September 26 Researching Art Movement

The always interesting Research Club holds one of their signature pot luck brunch lectures. These small gatherings are an opportunity to meet other artists over a meal and hear short and interesting talks on a variety of subjects. Speakers include Lisa Radon, (art writer and artist), Wynde Dyer (from Golden Rule Gallery), Tory Abernathy (from Recess Gallery), and Kelly and Meredith from the Art Department. This event will be at the Art Department space. research-club.org 1315 SE 9th Noon-3 Free



Garages are a rich creative meme. In tech, HP, Apple and Google were started in garages. Garage band? Ever heard of that? Garages are home to movement too. An example is Brooklyn's MGM Grand: modern garage movement. MGM Grand makes site specific movement. They have performed in traditional dance spaces, galleries, museums, farms, libraries, nightclubs and retreats. How apropos after the Halpern visit. Tonight MGM Grand wraps a Portland tour. It's at Performance Works Northwest www.performanceworksnw.org 7PM $5-15



Former Portlander Eliza Fernand touches down in Portland at Nationale. Fernand is a sculptor, animator, musician and performer and combines them, too, in costumed interactive performances. Always an experience. It is part of the gallery's performance series for members, there might be a small charge. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map 6PM

September 25 Qawwali قوٌالی at Yoga Shala

Qawwali is Sufi devotional music. A qawwali ensemble is called a "qawwali party", a perfect description of the transcendent state of the musicians and the audience. It is very old, but became popular in the West through the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has a connection here, he was a resident artist at the University of Washington. Breaking through in the UK in the 1980's, he came to UW in 1993, became known in the US and has been extensively remixed by world DJ's since his passing in 1997. This has created a new generation of Americans studying and performing qawwali, including women. Tonight's concert is that branch of new West qawalli. Tahir Qawwal, Ankush Vimawala & Barbi Joffe perform. Tahir Qawwali also performs as Fanna-fi-Allah. At Yoga Shala North www.yogashalapdx.com 3808 N Williams Doors 7PM, performance 8. $13 advance, $18 door

September 24-30 Mathew Barney's Cremaster Cycle Films

This is one of the most surreal films in the history of filmmaking. It was made over 8 years by artist Mathew Barney and sold by Barbra Gladstone Gallery in a limited edition of 20. All were sold, and subsequently reached high multiples of the original price at auction. The series is five films, made in the order of 1, 2, 4, 5, and lastly 3, totaling about 7 hours. They are not available commercially, they can only be seen at rare showings like this or by filesharing.

Barney was interested in sports in college days, the series starts with references to that. The rest ranges so far as to be indescribable; unbelievable these scenes were committed to film. The sets, costumes and cinematography are stunning. There is a lush cinematic soundtrack and little dialog. There is certainly no plot, it is more like a dream.

Strongly recommended. Cremaster 3 is 182 minutes, quite long. http://www.cinema21.com/prognotes10a.html#thecremastercycle At Cinema 21 616 NW 21st Consult the website for times and admission

September 24, 25 Some History of Experimental Film

Jonas Mekas was a Lithuanian refugee of WWII German labor camps who came to New York in 1949. The rest is history. Part of the New York creative community from then forward, Mekas documented his life obsessively, presaging many current filmmakers and the Youtube-Facebook culture, if not the sure to come videoTwitter. His work and influence is traced in the film, Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (mostly) American Avant-Garde; including comments by very important experimental filmmakers Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Ken Jacobs, Peter Kubelka, David Lynch and Andy Warhol. Mekas is also founder of the Anthology Film Archives, prolific writer, and still active today at 88. The film was developed and edited by Chuck Workman, well known for the Academy Award in memoriam montages. Film at the Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium, www.nwfilm.org-cinemaproject.org 1219 SW Park, Friday 7PM, Saturday 2&7 $8

September 17 SE Rules

Swedish Portlander Sanna-Lisa Gesang-Gottowt continues her exploration of borders with Exclusion/Inclusion, apropos as she is leaving our visa policy behind to greener Europastures. Gesang-Gottowt showed work on the same theme in Worksound's Berlin Wall show of last November. We wish her the best in representing the Portland art community in Europe! At Bamboo Grove bamboogrovesalon.com/Bamboo_Grove_Salon/Home.html 134 SE 2nd 6PM-9



Over at Nationale, there is a book signing and talk by Carson Ellis on Dillweed’s Revenge: A deadly Dose of Magic, her latest book illustration project. The illustrator has captured the author's darkness effectively. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map 6PM



Nemo design is a branding and promotion creative business. They occasionally have art shows connected to their clients or client work. Some have been quite good. Tonight they have snowboarder photos: How Many Dreams In The Dark? by Chris Brunkhart. Brunkhart has boarded the world, but moved here for our year round mountain. His work is included in a boarding image book by Mike Parillo, Carl E. Smith, Dan Peterka, Alex Bacon, Matt Donahue and Zach Egge launching tonight at Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free



And if you need more there is an art opening organized by the Art Department www.artdeptpdx.com 6PM-late