Tuesday, July 29, 2014

August 4 UX Tufte

We have written before of Edward Tufte.

Tufte is the original user experience - UX - designer. He teaches one day seminars in information design which are highly, highly recommended. His specialty is a design philosophy that is at once beautiful and effective. Think that's not important? Tufte heavily cites examples of PowerPoint presentations that were poorly designed. People died as a result of decisions based on those self same PowerPoints. The seminar is reasonably priced as it includes a set of Tufte's reference books. It is also fascinating and entertaining; Tufte is professor emeritus at Yale.

Edward Tufte one day seminar on information and presentation design in downtown Portland.

Details at www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/courses. 8:45AM-4 $380

August 2 PMOMA Pool Party

The Portland Museum of Modern Art invites you to its second anniversary with a pool party at Peninsula Park. Our own little Coney Island-Palm Springs. Bring water toys, towel, maybe a gym lock or bag for your dry clothes, and fun. Snacks, dancing and underwater camera provided. The Portland Museum of Modern Art inside Mississippi Records www.portlandmuseumofmodernart.com at Peninsula Park Pool, Albina and Rosa Parks 700 N Rosa Parks Way. 5PM-8

August 1-2 Get on the Boat

Michael Trigilio is an artist, musician and performer. He performs tonight as part of the Summer series a the Labrador 12128 Boatspace. Recommended. At the 12128 Labrador Project http://www.12128boatspace.com/ It's moored at Fred's Marina 12900 NW Marina Way, Portland. Map More detailed directions, don't get lost, on the website. 6PM, performance 8 Free

If you are interested and there is space, he is facilitating a DIY synth building workshop Saturday. Details on the website.

July 31 Hand Eye Last Church

Are you an artist, designer, crafter, maker?

Then you should make the acquaintance of Hand Eye Supply. Maybe you have.

They are the retail store for creative tools which grew out of Core77.

They are moving from their spot by the Chinatown Gate to one of the few Portland stainless steel-clad buildings, where they will be close to the new PNCA building.

Tonight they are having a get together to see the space and meet other creatives.

At Hand Eye Supply neu, 427 NW Broadway/714 NW Glisan 6PM-9 Free



The anarchy (in a good way) that is Last Thursday touches down on NE Alberta Street between 12th and 30th tonight until 9PM Free



Ensemble Economique Je Suis le Petit Chevalier Tunnels & Visible Cloaks perform live at Xhurch 7PM Free

Sunday, July 27, 2014

July 29 Curious Electronic Song of Love

Portland may have the only happy hour in the world with theremin accompaniment, at least tonight. Steve Hassett, who works days at OMSI, performs. The Theremin is an early electronic music instrument played by the motion of hands around its antennae. It is in honor of the release of the novel Us Conductors by Sean Michaels. The novel, published in the US by Portland's Tin House, expands the story of the love between Leon Theremin, the instrument's inventor, and Clara Rockmore, its greatest performer, who ultimately married another man. At Glyph Cafe & Arts Space www.glyphpdx.com 804 NW Couch 5:30PM-7:30 Free



Kate Bingaman-Burt is an illustrator known for her visual essays on material consumption. She speaks tonight. A presentation of the Curiosity Club, you can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit the talk and demonstration in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

July 28 Song of Land

Project Cityscope is presenting a series of creative talks on the edges of architecture and design entitled New Structure.

Tonight Lisa Ward explores the special condition of Western lands, much publicly owned and "useless". She traces from the Louisiana Purchase, surveying, the Small Tract Act of 1938, to California's Senate Bill X1-2 - a far-reaching 2011 energy bill, with impacts on our region.

Ward contrasts "modern" land use with the patterns of Indian land use over tens of thousands of years.

I have always loved the dissent of Douglass in Sierra Club vs. Morton 405 U.S. 727 of 1972, later expanded in the essay Should Trees Have Standing by Stone, also 1972. That case, also known as Disney vs Mineral King, was over the plan to construct a ski resort adjacent to Sequoia National Park. Ultimately the resort idea failed, and the land became part of the national park, forever "useless".

Architect and artist Ward leads an exploration tonight of the land and our relations incorporating stills, voice, video and music.

Tickets in advance, free on Eventbrite. New Structure by Project Cityscope www.projectcityscope.org at the Shout House, 210 SE Madison Ste. 11 7PM Free

July 27 Research French Yardwork

Summer brunch. No wait. The Research Club Brunch is a pot luck brunch for creatives, with a few short talks. Presenters today are Kayleigh Nelson principal at Composition Gallery, Sandra Comstock creator of Glyph Cafe Gallery specializing in literature, poetry and visual art and Petra Fortes-Schramm artist activist currently exhibiting at Surplus Space. Bring food to share, a cup, plate and utensils. Research Club Brunch #41 at Surplus Space 3726 NE 7th Noon - 2 Free



The French! No one would dispute they are masters at modern philosophy. And no one would dispute they desire to preserve their language, aggressively. Less known is their early passion of photography in the 1800's, preserved today.

That is the subject of a museum talk this afternoon.

Portland Art Museum curator of photography Julia Dolan opines on The Mirror with a Memory: 19th-Century French Photography from Daguerre to Atget.

At the Portland Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium 1219 SW Park 2PM Free PAM members, $20 which includes Museum admission



Jovencio de la Paz and Crystal Baxley social practice artist share their thoughts tonight. It is part of the Yardwork series of back yard salons. Yardwork event http://www.facebook.com/events/297977257032463/ at 4067 NE Mallory 8:30PM



Part 4 of the S1 series might be tonight at 8:30PM, or maybe not. Check their FB later.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

July 26 Riso Shine

The Riso Book: Portland
 is a purpose made book of artwork. It is made in 5 days. It will be finished and presented tonight. It is a project of Los Angeles, Marfa, San Francisco, New York and Portland.

Portland artists creating are Lisa Radon, Blair Saxon-Hill
, Bean Gilsdorf, Anna Gray/Ryan Paulsen and Modou Dieng.

Each has 20 pages, for a book of 100 pages, in an edition of 100, that drops tonight.

The history is interesting, you can learn about it at the event or on the link above.

At Publication Studio www.publicationstudio.biz 717 SW Ankeny Map 6PM-8 Free

July 25-27 DIY Performance

Conceptual Oregon Performance School, C.O.P.S, continues with part two. Friday evening is a BBQ, presentations by visiting performing artists, freeform discussion and socializing. It gets real all Saturday with people developing and testing work with the group. Sunday is preparing and presenting the documentation.

Visiting artists are Keith Boadwee, San Francisco Art Institute & California College of Art, San Francisco & Justin Lieberman, Yale, New York.

Conceptual Oregon Performance School www.facebook.com/conceptualoregon.performanceschool, instagram.com/conceptualorperformanceschool, vimeo.com/user28466870. At Rocksbox Fine Art www.rocksboxfineart.com 6540 N Interstate Map

Friday 8PM-Midnight, Saturday Noon-Midnight, Sunday Noon-8 Free

July 24 Modern Vintage Life

Red Clouds Collective is a Portland crafter, notably in leather. They are mounting an art show, opening this evening, Byzantine Orgasm. The protagonist, and member of the collective, is photographer Jason Levins, operating out of NYC. He shoots, for want of a better word, hipsters, using vintage film cameras. He brands them into shows with catchy names and fonts. At the Red Clouds Collective www.redcloudscollective.com 1454 NE Prescott 6PM-10

Monday, July 21, 2014

July 23 Doing Pomes

S1 continues its film+discussion series, Lessons in Heterosexuality, with part 3: Doing the Act. Screenshadows is presented in collaboration with Arcadia Missa in London, who curated the films. The result of the project will be a book published by Publication Studio. The discussion is all you. At S1, formerly Multiplex, www.s1portland.com 4148 NE Hancock Map 7:30PM Free



A vintage film of a poet whose poems became songs accompanied by a live musical score, as an art film. That's this.

Sayat-Nova was a poet and diplomat who made the mistake of falling in love with the king's sister. Those poets are so romantic! Banished, he roamed as a folk singer, became a monk and was killed by the invading Iranian army.

His poetry inspired an impressionistic film made in 1968, The Color of Pomegranates. www.archive.org/details/ColorOfPomegranates-SayatNova1968

Mr Sayat-Nova and his family lived in Syria, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. Time to take out the map. Part of that area was part of the Soviet Union until 1991, as was Ukraine. This is a chance to look at the culture of that area as imagined in the 1700's.

This evening a new score is presented to the film by Valet, Dreamboat (Golden Retriever + Ilyas Ahmed), and Spectrum Control (new band from Dewey of Plankton Wat).

It is part of the Fin de Cinema series. We have recommended these events without reservation. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison 8:30PM $7

Thursday, July 17, 2014

July 19 Empathy Shipping News Performance Works

Jordan Wayne Long completes a two week Portland residency with a performance this evening. He has been working on the Labrador, Portland's only gallery and studio afloat on the Willamette. Long is infamous for his 2011 performance curated by Patrick Rock at Fourteen30 Contemporary Gallery. He shipped himself by truck from Arkansas to Portland in a crate. Recommended. At the 12128 Labrador Project http://www.12128boatspace.com/ It's moored by Fred's Marina 12900 NW Marina Way, Portland. Map More detailed directions, don't get lost, on the website. 6PM, Performance 7 Free



In The Absence Of Empathy You Will Find Malevolence is a talk on their art projects by Nathanael Thayer Moss and Peter Fleming. How apropos where boys can find nothing better to do than play with guns and shoot down aeroplanes. Yardwork, the backyard Portland talks by artists suggests you bring a blanket to sit on, and refreshments if inclined. Yardwork at Surplus Space www.surplusspace.org 3726 NE 7th 8:30



[Modern] Dance is alive and well in Portland. New collaborative nodes, like Flock are blooming. Performance Works Northwest has been quietly operating off Foster since 2000. It is a live-work space home to rehearsals and performance. The creators have been consistently supportive of Portland artists and visiting artists. Tonight is also the third Saturday monthly Foster Art Night.

To celebrate, Performance Works Northwest opens their studio and yard to performers and you. It happens from 6PM-midnight. From 6:30 to 10 there will be performances including Linda Austin, Jin Camou, Douglas Detrick, Luke Gutgsell, Ben Kates, Noel Plemmons, Danielle Ross and Grace Hwang and video projections by Karl Lind, Julie Perini, Ben Glas, Chaz Stobbs III, Stephen Miller and Meg McHutchison. 10PM-midnight, a DJ.

FANfare at Performance Works Northwest www.pwnw-pdx.org 4625 SE 67th. 6PM-Midnight Free

July 18 A View of a Country

The United States is a vast place. It has space for individuals.

Photographers Jake Arcularius, Marshall Scheider and John Voves have traveled the spaces between individuals and photographed them.

The images represent a constellation overlaying our imagination of what America is today. What are their stories and what is our story?

You can see this show of photographs opening tonight. At Nationale www.nationale.us 811 E Burnside Map 6PM-8 Free

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

July 16 No More Messiahs

A favorite book is The Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin. His story is fascinating, beginning to end. In one segment he retraces the steps of George Schaller in Northern Africa, spending time with a nomadic goatherd family. They are resisting migration to the city as their way of life is outlawed. At the same time they are engaged and want to be engaged in the deepest way with fellow travelers. Some of the children have blue eyes.

Joni Kabana's day job is something like that. She is a photographer working for Mercy Corps. One project is working in Ethiopia, where she has photographed nomads, and photographed in the city.

She speaks on her experience today as part of the Portland Art Museum Photography Council monthly brown bag lunch. At the Portland Art Museum in the Miller Room of the Mark Building (Masonic Temple). It is to the right of the main entrance. 1219 SW Park Noon Free

July 15 The Failure of Image

Humans are infinitely more obsessive than beasts in seeking their own image. Mirrors go back to the beginning of recorded history. Elephants may go there, but you don't see dolphins making selfies.

It has been only about 200 years we have had photography. Jaclyn Hudak has been working to revive those early photographic processes, some of which are extremely toxic. She speaks about her experiences in a talk, Failure is Inevitable: The Unpopularity of Alternative Photography.

A presentation of the Curiosity Club, you can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit the talk and demonstration in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

Thursday, July 10, 2014

July 12 Guru Moon

Guru Purnima is celebrated the July full moon. For Hindus and Buddhists, it is a time to contemplate our teachers and their lineage. This evening Michael Stirling invites you to celebrate with evening vocal ragas. At Sungate Studio 2215 NE Alberta 9:30PM Free

July 10 Family West

Stephanie Coontz is a family culture researcher and professor at Evergreen College in Olympia. It is natural to reference the "good old days" in interpreting current change. The good old days are a mental model that is an anchor, ballast or keel. Coons had deconstructed commonly held models of the good old days, showing from original material that the "good old days" were just as chaotic, varied, innovative, even "immoral" as today. One of her books is the fascinating The Way We Never Were. This evening she speaks on the history of government intervention in family policy, gender identity and sexuality. Sponsored by Oregon Humanities at the Mission Theater 1624 NW Glisan 6:30PM by donation



Beam and Anchor is a favorite local crafted store. They have an art show this evening imported from Montana, part of the other West. While we incorporate a fetish for trees, they have their own. See the art of Nicholas Coleman. At Beam & Anchor 2710 N Interstate 6PM-9 Free

Monday, July 07, 2014

July 9 Talk About It

Nee Multiplex, S1, occupies the interesting margins of art from a perch under a drug store. For their first show under the new name, they collaborate with Publication Studio and London's Arcadia Missa in a film and discussion series in parts. It is a four part series from their Screenshadows on sexuality and identity. Tonight is Lesson Two: Figuring out homosociality. At S1 www.s1portland.com 4148 NE Handcock 7:30PM Free

July 8 Tempest You Get

Sara Greenberger Rafferty is an artist mixing visual work with performance inspired by comedy. Her latest performances are based on pop culture sampling, upon which we cast a jaundiced eye. She gave a more expansive view of her work at a PSU talk and is a PICA:TBA darling. Tonight you can see some of her visual work which maintains a higher and more pleasing remove from its societal sampling. At Portland's only member of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 1501 SW Market Street Map 11AM-6PM Weekends. Opening tonight 6PM-8 Free

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

July 3 Westside Art Openings

Christine Clark is a sculptor, working large in base metals, often combined with natural materials, and a jeweler working small in fine metals. She has turned in many great works at the Nines Gallery. She is here this month with Amass, an installation of small resin units. The work started with the observation of varying scale of mountains, then trees, then groups of people; viewed at a distance, then closer as individuals. Clark has cast a field of individual shapes over 18 months, subtly colored with studio pigments stored for over 30 years. At the Nine Gallery inside Blue Sky 122 NW 8th Free



Off the inner NW paths well worn on First Thursday is an open studio by photographers Jim Lommasson, Stewart Harvey, Ben Z. Mund and Nuel Paguyo. Lommasson and Harvey are well known nationally, and add studio mates Ben and Nuel. At the Ideal Theater Photo Studio 2405 NW Thurman 5PM-9 Free



Elise Wagner is one of Portland's encaustic painters. For the last few years, she has made paintings inspired by science, in particular astronomy and high energy physics research. She has an opening tonight, and an artist talk Saturday, July 12, at 1PM. At Butters Gallery www.buttersgallery.com 520 NW Davis, 2nd Floor Free



We respect classic photography. Hartman Gallery does it, and adds a few contemporary, even local, photographers and painters. On the seventh anniversary of the gallery they mount a large group show spanning their stable. It is an opportunity to see the gallery aesthetic writ wide. At Charles Hartman Fine Art www.hartmanfineart.net 134 NW 8th Free



In an age of infinite reproduction, Archer makes repeat patterns of sampled elements of her photographs. Her new show is Brambles, which starts as a photograph in the foreground at the lower end of the image, and then devolves into a repeat pattern that seems like an accidental image processing error. It's not, it's thoughtful work. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis early close 8 Free



Caldera student Ryan Heshka has graphic works inspired by comics and natural history. At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 5PM-9 Free



Duplex has somewhat dark figurative work of the genre sometimes shown by Compound from Japanese artists. It is by Cathy Lu. At Duplex Collective www.duplexcollective.com 219 NW Couch 6PM-9 Free



Upfor has digital work by Katie Torn. At UpFor Gallery www.upforgallery.com 929 NW Flanders 6PM-9 Free



PNCA has a participatory installation by Jessie Hayward. At PNCA www.pnca.edu 1241 NW Johnson Map Free



Hellion has Perfect Thirst, three female artists illustrating female figures. They are Makiko Sugawa, Mandy Tsung and Crystal Barbre. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com through the lobby of the arched brick entry, up the stairs and to the back. Very upper floor Japan-style. 19 NW 5th Suite 208. Map 7PM-10 Free



Everett Lofts are recommended as always. It's easier for you to see them all than for me to write suggestions. Some close as early as 9PM. At the Everett Lofts 625 NW Everett. Bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th Map closing ranges from 9PM-10:30ish Free



Not gallery art but could be fun, Portland-based Stay Wild magazine drops at Snow Peak, 6PM-9 Free