Journalist turned documentary photographer Sara Terry collaborated with a former child soldier in the Sierra Leone war to tell her story. I have worked there as well and was able to help a friend with local connections doing related work. Her project included giving former child soldiers Flip-type video cameras to tell their stories. Entirely fascinating subject, let's just say it's personal, we are so fortunate in our lives not to have those experiences. The Nines gallery inside Blue Sky has Jerry Mayer and Ellen George, well known for minimal and the most elegant of installations. Recommended. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th
Summer, of course, needs a Summer Series! Never one to disappoint, Fourteen30 has just that. The first installment is Raymond Boisjoly, from Vancouver, BC presented by TARL, a gallery in a home basement on Capitol Hill in Seattle, organized by the old Crawl Space curators. For more, RocksBox, in collaboration with Fourteen30, has performances Snorri Asmundsson, from Reykjavik performs Polarbear. Jordan Wayne Long, from Bald Knob, Arkansas has Box Shipment #2. It's au courant, a gaming paradigm is all the rage. At Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 937 NW Glisan 6PM, performances 8PM-10
Balls Out is back. It's a show of small works by dozens of artists in the Grass Hut family at a diversity of price points. Recommended. Grass Hut in Floating World. www.grasshutcorp.com 20 NW 5th inside Floating World Comics
We need to engage with Islam as a culture. A small part of that process may be remixing Islamic art. Arabic caligraphy is beautiful and offers many possibilities. Tonight Joe Bartholomew does his own Islamic culture remix by altering the geometric patterns that are found in the impressive tiles of major Islamic architecture. At Chambers Gallery www.chambersgallery.com 916 NW Flanders Early close 8:30PM
Land sampler Mathew Picton is back too with relief sculptures derived from maps, apropos to the mobile geolocation explosion. At Pulliam Deffenbaugh www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com until 8
Aki Miyajima is an illustrator from Tokyo, making ink illustrated figures with select areas enhanced by saturated rainbow shades of watercolor. Perfect Summer material. She comes to Portland through the Digmeout project, a model which should be recreated in Portland. 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.
Amalgamation is Ryan Berkley, AJ Power, Bradley Delay, Eveline Taruadjaja, Jamie Zolars, Kristopher Pollard and Miyu Karaki. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th
Nicole Linde has paintings at Grassy Knoll Gallery www.grassyknollgallery.com 123 NW 2nd
American business today does not understand failure, and it shows, in their failure. The strategy is averting risk, driving negative risk to zero. Of course that drives positive risk to zero, and business just keeps muddling on, downward. The ad agency understands this. Tonight they present an art show themed on failure. But they demonstrate daily that positive risk triumphs. At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 5PM-9 Free
The Everett Lofts, the block starting at NW Broadway and Everett, recommended as always.
