Sunday, May 29, 2011

May 31 A Curious Motorcycle Talk

The Curiosity Club hosts the inventor of a one wheel gyrostabilized motorcycle, a sort-of Segway motorcycle, but much cooler. Much. And it's green - chargeable electric. The inventor, Chris Hoffman, was inspired to invent it by his daughter who saw something like it in a video game, and asked dad to make her one she could ride to school. He has. Prototypes are running in Portland, and if all goes well, these cycles will be manufactured all over the world. Hoffman talks about the inventor's journey resulting in RYNO Motors You can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

Thursday, May 26, 2011

May 28 Artists Talk in the Mall

Zoe Clark, L&C grad, has a minimal sculpture installation which is experienced by getting inside it. PNCA student Taryn Tomasello has a sculpture Pendulum Project/Obvious Tensions. Yes is moves. They discuss their work this afternoon. At Place, placepdx.tumblr.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. 700 SW Fifth. 3PM-4 Free

May 27 Art Museum Free Evening

I'm a huge proponent of free, most events listed here are free. On the other hand, many arts organizations which charge fees hire artists as staff, which I also strongly support. And many cultural organizations that charge admission have have yearly membership programs that pay themselves back in 3 visits for two in a year. How do you decide whether the year membership is valuable to you? Go on a free day! And the Art Museum is free tonight. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 5PM-8 Free

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

May 26 Last Thursday on Alberta+

Appendix continues the video project which takes time and listening to watch by Andrew Norman Wilson. We wrote about its opening. Social practice artist Ariana Jacob activates her project Teach me how to think like you. It will likely involve you. At Appendix Project Space. On the gravel, dirt alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 6PM-11 Free



Together has Happily ever After, art by husband and wife art makers APAK, Mel Kadel & Travis Millard, Mildred & Picolli, Ashley G & Drew, Brendan Monroe & Evan Fan, Kelly Tunstall & Ferris Plock, Jeremy Taylor & Allyson Melberg. As a complement, their project space has EMILYS, ceramics by Emily Counts and Emily Christensen. Live musics by Alina Hardin. Together Gallery www.togethergallery.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste A Map 6PM-11, music 9:30 Free



The Emerson Space Case is getting is groove back with Kendra Hadlock and Papercuts. View in the Emerson Space Case emersonspacecase.blogspot.com NE 30th and Emerson Map



Alicia Blue shows Paradise Lost by Alison Foshee. They are bright patterns constructed entirely from discarded packaging. There is also a large series of small panels patterned by multi colored thumbtacks. At the Alicia Blue Gallery aliciabluegallery.com 1422 NE Alberta in the realty office Map 6PM-8 Free



The Gloss Gallery has Bruises by Cintamini, images of the photographer's naturally ocuring bruises over a 7 month period. Could be interesting if they play bike polo. www.glossgallerypdx.com 4954 NE 14 6PM-9



In SE the Goodfoot has the all girl summer fun show by Anna Magruder, Heidi Elise Wirz, Kendra Binney and Summer Hatfield. Recommended. At the Goodfoot www.thegoodfoot.com/gallery 2845 SE Stark Map Starts 4PM

May 25 Artists Talk Philosophy

I have a large vocabulary and use it. But there are certain words that irritate me as unnecessarily offputting and one is "praxis" (another is "discourse"). There is a good argument to be made that these words and a few others are a major contributor in themselves to out of control pricing in academics.

Nonetheless, that is the title of tonight's event: "Praxis - An Experiment in Collaborative Art & Philosophy (Round Three)" Philosophy is a great tool I love and have loved. In fact, it is a series of tools from at least as far back as the Greeks. It's embedded in even more ancient culture. And we look forward to discoveries in neuroscience and evolutionary genetics to illuminate the development of our human philosophical mind.

Tonight L. Pippa Callanan, Philosopher and Liz Shepherd Callanan, Artist, discuss Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Mathematics and The Logical Character of The Infinite. We hope that the speakers will uphold Wittgenstein's passion for Oxford's ordinary language philosophy.

It's part of a series on 4th Wednesdays; artist-philosopher collaborations which will be made into a book with audience commentary.

The series is praxispdx.tumblr.com. At Place, a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. 700 SW Fifth. Doors 6:30PM, talk 7-9. Free

Sunday, May 15, 2011

May 16 Project Row House and the Future Of Food Here

Project Row House is a great mix of artists, the community, and worldchanging. A beautiful coda to Open Engagement. Heard him speak at an earlier Bright Lights and it was great. Recommended. Talk Monday in the Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free



Kat West is Multnomah County director of sustainability. We all eat food and sustainable food is the focus of tonight's talk. We grow food in our yards and maybe a few Multnomah County small farms. The County participates in regional planning with surrounding counties with farms supplying our eaters. Beyond that is a web of farms in surrounding Oregon growing food. West is responsible for the "Multnomah Food Action Plan" - the big picture. So that is what tonight's talk is about. At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Map Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free

Friday, May 13, 2011

May 14 The Calcutta Quartet Worksound Appendix

The Calcutta Quartet comprises Devshankar & Jyotishankar on violin, Subhen Chatterjee on tabla and S.Shekhar on mridangam. The tabla player, well known for his Western music collaborations is a student of Swapan Chowdhury. Presented by Kalakendra www.kalakendra.org At the Old Church. 1422 SW 11th 7:30PM $20, 15 students



Appendix is answering the call of Spring with more irregular events. Tonight it's Andrew Norman Wilson who has a strong connection with SF's Artist's Television Access and edits video at Google. He shows FlowSpot, Global Countdown, Workers Leaving the Googleplex, and Virtual Assistance - Video Task. It's the insider outsider view. After the Balkan dance party at the Candlelight! At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 8PM Free



Worksound presents New Mutants with Tabor Robak, Missy Canez, Chris Freeman and Nadia Buyse. At Worksound www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder Map 6PM-9

May 13 The Hand Eye Supply Curious Float and Merchant in Residence

Hand Eye Supply is having a little get together this evening to show plans for their Starlight Parade float, which will undoubtedly be epic. At Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/ 23 NW 4th 6PM Free



Nationale launches its Merchant in Residence series with items curated by artist Ty Ennis. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map

May 13-15 Open Engagement Conference

Portland is a social practice art center. While styles of painting and sculpture evolve quickly and with material innovation, new areas of art entirely are a bigger thing to get established. This conference is part of that process. All the information is on the Open Engagement website: openengagement.info and it's all free.

May 12 Monograph Blow Up

Monograph Book Arts is one. One year old! This small store specializes in art books and art artifacts. The proprietors are artists themselves. It makes a great pair with Ampersand; both alternatives to moribund big booksellers at 10th and B-side. To celebrate and talk with artist-customers-you, they invite you to stop by for champagne, all day! At Monograph monographbookwerks.com 5005 NE 27th x Alberta Map



Italian director Antonioni is master at camera moves in relation to scene movement and brilliant with color for later films in that mix. He died in 2007, but left a ton of films worth 'flixing.

Or seeing tonight, projected large, with a live band soundtrack by Monarques, The Reservations and Rocky & The Proms.

Blow Up is Antonioni's 1966(!) exploration of pop culture, creatives, parties, models in London, UK, along with the existential crisis that the main character, commercial photographer of all that, faces thinking he might have witnessed and photographed a murder.

This series has live bands who have composed a sound track to the film, replacing the original.

Have seen these and the film and recommend. There is a scene with the mobile phones of the time in a car that is wow. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison 8:30PM $6

May 12-22 Uncanny Valley

The always accessible and simultaneously experimental Hand2Mouth Theater presents The Uncanny Valley on the big stage. The performance is constructed from memories of the performers. We reviewed earlier versions, just search. More information at www.hand2mouththeatre.org at Artist Repertory Theater 1515 SW Morrison. May 13,14,15,19,20,21 $14

Saturday, May 07, 2011

May 8 How Other People See Me

How Other People See Me is a Publication Studio imprint by Portland artist Elizabeth Jaeger. Jaeger's thesis show is currently up in the Lewis and Clark art gallery, with an artist statement, and a smaller sample with the same materials is in the gallery at Pioneer Place mall. Those are sculptures. Tonight Jaeger releases an artist book of photography with her friends as subjects. More details at www.publicationstudio.biz/events/ At Publication Studio 717 SW Ankeny 6PM-9 Free

Thursday, May 05, 2011

May 6-7 The Future

Once upon a time, performer, writer, filmmaker Miranda July lived in little Portland, Oregon. (In fact, she is collecting anecdotes of that time from you now) You may know her for her first feature, You Me and Everyone We Know. She returns tonight with her second big film, The Future, seen so far in just a few film festivals. Friday evening, July shows early shorts, many made in her Portland period, and the main film. Also in the program are films by local social practice artists, a genre that July played a part in, with Learning To Love You More, a project together, with Harrell Fletcher. Saturday it's two showings of the main film. At Hollywood Theatre www.hollywoodtheatre.org Film and shorts Friday 7PM; Film 7PM, 9:30PM $15

May 6 Yo YU Eastside Art Openings

The YU art center smartly draws itself in analogy to PCVA, a revolutionary art center in its day. To understand the relation, YU offers a show of some of the PCVA documentation. With smart artists a curators then, the center picked artists to show that today have been firmly acknowledged by history. The art world is more complicated now: professional curators v artist curators, gallery representation v self representation, commercial curation & art fairs v non-commercial international bieniale, local v international, social work v material work, and more. So a non-collecting art center today will be different. Tonight YU shows some of the PCVA documentation archive, shows off the start of a new art library and launches an issue of friends' Veneer Magazine. At YU Contemporary www.yucontemporary.org 800 SE 10th 6PM-9 Free



Global Alien has landed at Gallery Homeland! These artists in residence: Youngjoo Cho, Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen, Lizza May David, Marte Kiessling, Namsee Kim, Kuo-Wei Lin, Jakob Schaible and Jae-Hyun Yoo, investigate The American Dream with their project Hope and Failure. Well worth the trip to Homeland's website for more and a visit to the gallery tonight. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9



In the 811 building

Golden Rule continues adventurous curation with Blisskreig, by Violet Aveline and Matthew DelBello. And Golden Rule gets the copywriting award for the month: "The coactive spectacle finds root in a fascination with mythology and folklore and emerges from a modern composition and electric color palette. The nontraditional figures and landscapes depict a somewhat paradoxical friendly violence. Nightmares of charm take shape in a post-industrial wilderness of a controlled disorder.

A wife and mother of two small boys, Aveline, who also enjoys experimenting with guitar, drums, flute and electronics, is working on soundscapes to accompany the vision she and DelBello have created. Also available this month: a fort to sleep in, screenprinted and designed by Aveline herself. Guests are invited to stay the night in the fort to get the full enchanting dream world experience. Stop by to register at your own whimsy.

Golden Rule’s object/artifact curation will marry carnival with classic--a well-tempered vintage collection paired with a retrospective: adult versions of the clothing you stole from Mom and treasured in your variant of a fort/circus tent/makeshift cave, as well as a healthy dose of Sunday bests".

At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back

Black Box has Field Work, quite nice ironic landscape photography. Recommended. At Black Box Gallery www.blackboxgallery.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 212 upstairs 5PM-8:30 Free

Nationale has poet-painter Paulus Kapteyn with The Pursuit of Happiness, with a theme of "unchecked corruption,... political upheaval and social perversion". All very topical. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map

Redux has Greg Brenden and Jim Mullen, both working in 2 1/2-3d with reused materials. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside

All at 811 East Burnside Map



Lille has Ruth Shively with First Impressions, portraits of women spanning cultures, perfect for mothers' day. At Lille Boutique www.lilleboutique.com 1007 E Burnside



Newspace Photo splits its show tonight between their home space and Biwa. Biwa has Jason Carlisle and the home space has Maureen Drennan & Sarina Finkelstein. Tonight when you are expending intense energy arting, stop at Biwa to refuel. Tasty Japanese snacks, drinks and meals. 10% of tonight's proceeds go to support scholarships at the excellent Newspace education program. Newspace Photo: www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Biwa: biwarestaurant.com (menus) 215 SE 9th. Newspace until 9ish, Biwa until midnight



The Stables is the reincarnation of a previous artist workspace with an active and inexpensively-priced figure drawing and painting program. Tonight they have a 3 day show by Ramlah Yavar. At The Stables www.thestablespdx.com 910 SE Taylor 7PM Free



Nemo is a branding and communication agency. They present art shows from time to time that relate to their creative projects which are often extreme sports or urban-style themed. Tonight is Skulls and Tentacles by snow/skate board artists RYNO and Quincy Quigg. It's illustration-style work, a little rougher and more raw than usual skate graphics. Musical accompaniment by Wildildlife from Seattle, described as "heavy, heavy space rock". At Nemo Design HQ www.nemohq.com 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free



Disjecta has an early instance of the next months' art school thesis shows with UofO's MFA grads and their show Momentary Interruption. Sharing the space is Nickolaus Typaldos' Solitaire and the Unknown. At Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 6PM-10 Free



Milepost5 also has things going on if you are out that way. At Milepost5 www.milepostfive.com 900 NE 81st (go by MAX) 6PM-9 Free

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

May 5 Westside Art Openings

Grassy Knoll Gallery shows Know Power: Street Art for Social Change - Jackson Middle School students' graffiti-style interpretations of conflict in Africa. Proceeds to Play Pump, a project chosen by the students. Let's Go Outside spins. Graf coach for the project, Aden Catalani also has his own show this month at Backspace. At Grassy Knoll Gallery www.grassyknollgallery.com 123 NW 2nd



Chris Johanson is a fascinating artist who has been mentioned here before. Augen has a unique collection of Johanson prints going bask to his very early career, and they maintain their impact. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis



Ditch Projects decamps with great mixed media sculptures by Birdie Hamilton, as discovered by Tim Meyer. At Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 937 NW Glisan 6PM-8



Tom Cramer is a PNCA-schooled Portland artist who has worked for a few years in low relief carvings with applications of lush pigment. He worked early on in primitive carved totems then moved on to abstract relief carvings. This work, Oregon Landmarks, pictures impressionistic locations in his low relief carving style. Quite nice and great public art material. Also showing longtime Portland-NY artist and PCVA cofounder Jay Backstrand. At Laura Russo Gallery www.laurarusso.com 805 NW 21st



Chambers has Fab:topia, by Korean in America artist Sang-Ah Choi. The bright work relates to j-pop art with Korean artists navigating the spaces between the art giants Japan and China, geographically and figuratively. Chambers has been hewing a path of bright and video art, a welcome addition to Portland art vectors. At Chambers Gallery www.chambersgallery.com 916 NW Flanders Early close 8:30PM



Johannes Girardoni is a mid-career artist who has shown in US and European art centers. He shows minimalist sculptures in the main gallery and photographs altered with paint in the Across the Hall space.At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM



The Grass Hut, firmly anchored at Floating World, has a great group show of Portland favorites titled Sloth n Moth. Excellent work. Grass Hut is in Floating World. www.grasshutcorp.com 20 NW 5th




Over at Hellion there are two shows: Echo and After the Quake. Echo is illustrations of angels and demons in the female form. The work is by well known manga artist and character designer, Kashima. After the Quake is illustrations by schoolkids about their feelings, from Yokohama, a large coastal town, thankfully out of the tsunami path this time. Sales of the drawings benefit the Japan Red Cross. Great project by Hellion's Matt Wagner, and the Echo show is a score. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com 19 NW 5th Suite 208. Through the lobby of the arched brick entry, up the stairs and to the back. Very upper floor Japan-style.



Renew is a show by Yoko Furusho, Cannaday Chapman and Jaz Harrold. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th



Interesting continuing shows include Sean Healey at Elizabeth Leach, Holly Andres at Charles Hartman and the Reading Frenzy print series.



The Everett Lofts are recommended as always for your free viewing pleasure.