January 31 - February 29 African Films - Free

The Cascade Festival of African Films is a favorite event. Each year on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a month they show films from all over Africa.

Every single one of the films is free!

Most are shown on the PCC Cascade Campus on N Killingsworth. The opening night, Friday January 31, is at the Hollywood Theater, also free.

The PCC Library maintains a copy of all the films shown over 30 years for in-library viewing.

The 30th annual Cascade Festival of African Films www.africanfilmfestival.org at Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building, Room 104, Portland Community College Cascade Campus, 705 N Killingsworth; and the Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. Check the schedule for times. Free

January 30 Brink

Talon has Ascent, illustrations of endangered birds. Antler has Brink illustrations of endangered species. They are both large group shows and benefit the Portland Audubon. At Antler Gallery + Talon Gallery antlerpdx.com + talongallery.com 2728-2724 NE Alberta 6PM-9 Free

January 23 Core Culture

Nicolas Sassoon and Rick Silva present Cores. At Holding Contemporary www.holdingcontemporary.com (in the former Williamson | Knight, now Williamson+Harker) 916 NW Flanders 6PM-8 early close Free



PSU's MFA Visiting Artists Series brings Guadalupe Maravilla to speak. His performances, videos, sculptures, and drawings fictionalize a pre-Columbian culture of Central America and his relationship to it. At PSU Shattuck Hall Annex. 7PM Free

January 22 Out There

Vanessa Renwick has Out There, black prints on white of wolf-like creatures. She used a special watercolor-ink method to develop a beautiful rough texture. Renwick is the latest Stumptown Coffee Roasters Artist Fellow, which this opening celebrates. Sam Coomes plays a live set. Strongly Recommended. At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd 5PM-7 Free

January 19 Private Movies

Private Places is one of Portland's most progressive galleries, curating in LA artists. LA has their own regional vibe and PP finds progressive work. In conjunction with their current Mark Flores and William E Jones show, Perverted by Language, they have some movies.

This afternoon the artists show Cracked Actor: A Film About David Bowie (1975) and Mario Banana, directed by Andy Warhol (1964) starring Mario Montez.

At Private Places www.privateplaces.us 2400 Holliday (bell by door) 3PM Free

January 18 New Not No Flowers

Nationale opens in their new space today. It is a gallery, a home goods shop, and an art-design print store. Aruni Dharmakirthi brings No Flowers in Eden.

May has a solid and a highly respected curation history: represented artists, guest artists, the Stumptown 3rd space, and Stumptown Fellowship. Space highly recommended.

At Nationale www.nationale.us 15 SE 22nd Map 5PM-7 Free

January 9 Somatic Art Action

Somatic Verses is a show by Anne Fudyma and Joshua Sherburne, with a performance by Sherburne at 7. At the Erickson Gallery 9NW 2nd 6PM-8 Free



The Hank Willis Thomas show ends Sunday. It is well worth seeing and worth 2+ hours, more with the reading elements. This evening Kimberly Drew speaks on the intersection of photography, pop culture and social media in the artist's work, along with the history of photography in like work. https://portlandartmuseum.org/event/lecture-kimberly-drew/ At the Portland Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium 1219 SW Park 6PM Free (but sold out)

January 8 Future Filbert Prairie

We don't cover poetry, literary, theater, music, dance. Occasionally we catch one. Portland is in a Renaissance of LGBTPOC+ making their own creative ecosystem. Multiartist Joni Renee Whitworth presents their spoken work tonight. They are a principal of creative magnet Future Prairie Collective. At Literary Arts 925 SW Washington 7PM sharp Free

January 4 Transitional Bachelorette Siren Myths

Johanna Jackson has Some Transitional Objects From My Extended Phenotype. Strongly recommended. It is along with Bachelorette, Milano Chow drawings. There is a musical performance by Shelley Short with Sunfoot at 7. At Adams and Ollman Gallery, the second of two members of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, www.adamsandollman.com 418 NW 8th 6PM-9 Free



Iyvone Khoo and Pinar Yoldas have The Absence of Myth. Khoo is inspired by the Great Pacific Garbage Gyre. Yoldas explores designer babies enabled by genetic engineering. At UpFor Gallery www.upforgallery.com 929 NW Flanders early close 6PM-8 Free



Carolyn Ann Hopkins has Sirens. The description is better found on the gallery website and insta. At Carnation Contemporary www.carnationcontemporary.com in the Disjecta building 8371 N Interstate. 6PM-9

January 3 Eastside Art Openings+

Tonight's big + is in far Vancouver, Washington. Calico Randall, Hannah Piper Burns, Loulou Fernandez, Fernanda D’Agostino, Sarah Turner, Tara Murino Brault, and Vika Ayers, organized by Sandy Sampson, Helen Spencer-Wallace and Crystal Cortez, present Mass Residue. The far Tortugas may not be as far today, gentrification and all. At Art At The Cave, 108 Evergreen Blvd, Vancouver. 5PM-9 Free



Look into my Eyes by Sam Goreski and Thanks for the Feeling by Tara Johnson open at One Grand www.ogpdx.com 1001 E Burnside 7PM-10 Free



Our Bodies Are is group show by women artists contemplating the body. At Union Knott 2726 ML King Blvd. 6PM-9 Free

January 2 Westside Art Openings

At the Nine gallery, artist Lisa Jarrett has Shine. Recommended. Donna Gottschalk, is a self-taught photographer inspired by the work of Arbus. A feminist lesbian activist beginning in age 18, she began to photograph her world in 1970's New York, and continued it across the country into her 60's. The photographs became available from her archives in 2018, resulting in the show Brave, Beautiful Outlaws, first at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. The work now travels to Portland. Along with it is Kavanah by Hannah Altman: photographs abstractly inspired by the Jewish diaspora, memory, and narrative. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org 122 NW 8th Map 6PM-9 Free

Many of the galleries have openings later in the month or group shows.


Everett Lofts are recommended as always. It is always evolving and there are many strong spaces. 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 8-9PM