First Thursday also includes the Saturday following in the afternoon.
ILY2, Adams & Ollman, and The Black Gallery continue.
For your +1 you can experience Flamenco music with guitarist Brenna McDonald and guitarist/vocalist Yeshe Wingerd. A project of Espacio Flamenco, it repeats on first Thursdays. At Bar Botellón 606 NE Davis 7PM-9 Free
+2 The Portland Art Museum, through a private grant, is open free first Thursdays. They are free the whole day 10AM-8PM.
+3 The Schnitzer Collection is open First Thursday and other limited hours. They have long running theme shows and occasional events. The current show is curated from Fountain Gallery artists. The Fountain Gallery is also the subject of a retrospective at the Oregon Historical Society https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/a-fountain-of-creativity.cfm.
While the Museum and Museum Art School were strong contemporary forces, the Fountain Gallery, 1961-1986 was arguably the first contemporary gallery in Portland. The Fountain Gallery stable was continued by Laura Russo, 1943-2010, who worked at the Fountain, and her gallery, now Russo-Lee. Curator Bruce Guenther, a strong contemporary curator for the Portland Art Museum, worked at the Fountain.
You can see a time capsule of an era in art in this show with parallels to the Portland Art Museum collection of works.
At the Schnitzer Family Collection https://www.jordanschnitzer.org/schnitzer-collection/ 3033 NW Yeon 3PM-8 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-fountain-of-creativity-first-thursday-tickets-1041699219407?aff=oddtdtcreator Free
Jeremy Okai Davis has new paintings From the Stage, A Calling, By and Gravid: Tides of Becoming by Alexis Day.
At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map 5:30PM-7:30 Free
Mary Josephson https://www.russoleegallery.com/artists/mary-josephson and partner Gregory Grenon are larger than life portaitists and parents of the Portland Art Collective. This month the gallery presents Josephson's bright portraits.
At the Portland Arts Collective https://www.portlandartscollective.org/ 120 SW Harvey Milk 6PM-9 Free
French photographer, Charles Xelot, brings White Water https://charlesxelot.com/series/white-water/. He is an environmental photographer at the nexus of the natural environment of the Russian Arctic and the human presence there. It is a current topic.
The Arctic Ocean has been seasonally or entirely ice-bound for 2.6 million years. With the human-made increase in atmospheric CO₂, it partially melts in Summer. Oil and gas is found on its edges, and beneath the waters. In the US, that is the at the end of the Alaska Pipeline. In Russia, overland pipelines drain it. Russia ships oil and gas by ship from wells on land when the ice is passable. https://www.tradewindsnews.com/tankers/russia-ramps-up-risks-with-non-ice-class-ships-on-arctic-route-says-poten-partners/2-1-1527386 and https://pame.is/images/03_Projects/ASSR/ASSR_1_-_2024_update.pdf
Of course the long game is to burn all the fossil fuels to end Arctic ice. The side effect is that it will melt the tundra, frozen soil, release the methane sequestered in the soil, further increasing the earth temperatures and extrmeme weather. A meling tundra will cause all the human-made structure foundations to collapse.
In White Water, Xelot photographs ships, people, the land, and the sea. This is Xelot's first Blue Sky Show. He speaks on November 13.
Canadian photographer Pierre Dalpé https://www.pierredalpe.com/ brings Wigstock, portraits 1992-1995 imaged at NYC's legendary drag festival of the same name. He speaks on November 9.
In the Nine Gallery, Ronna Neuenschwanter brings ceramic sculpture in show titled Djinn and Their Environs http://www.ronnaneuenschwander.com/djinn_and_their_environs. She is partner to Baba Wagué Diakité and they share influences of the folk art of Mali.
At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org Map 122 NW 8th 5PM-8 Early Close Free
Jackson Hunt and Mikaela Shafer bring Ancestor Adjacent. It is a meditation on how Native American wisdom and culture connects through today and into the future.
At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 5PM-8 Free
Tom Cramer has Superplanet and other new wood reliefs. The Opening reception is Saturday, 1:30. Along with prints by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis 5PM-7:45 Free
PNCA has open studios and a myriad of shows. It is easier for you to just go than to list them all. At PNCA | Willamette University www.pnca.wilamette.edu 511 NW Broadway Map 5PM-8 Free
V Maldonado is an artist force and a curator force. Northwest Pedagogies brings artists
Garrick Imatani, Amoqiix-araceli, Linda Wysong, Horatio Hung-yan Law, Marie Conner, Mei Love, and David J Torres II. At After/Time Collective Gallery 730 SW 10th (enter on 9th) 6PM-9 Free
We Meet in Kangirnaq is a collaboration between Merridawn Duckler in Portland and Palmarin Merges in Japan. It is inspired by the idea of each walking North to meet overland in Alaska.
Ruri has Reflections. She is an expressive while minimalist sculptor; much of her work is anagama-fired. Anagama kilns are wood-fired. It is an ancient method from Japan, now in the Northwest for several artist generations. This show is abstract gestural sumi ink on mulberry paper.
Christopher Shotola-Hardt brings paintings, Elegies. They are paintings of birds in slightly surreal landscapes.
All at Blackfish Gallery https://www.blackfish.com/ 938 NW Everett Map 5PM-8 Early Close Free
Julie Rall has paintings Thread the Needle. At Writers Block. 818 NW Flanders 5PM-8 Early Close Free
Laurie Danial continues their evolution in abstract painting with Before My Very Eyes. At Froelick Gallery www.froelickgallery.com 714 NW Davis early close 5PM-8 Free
Chris Moench has sculpture Axis of Hope Prayer Wheels and painter Kirk Weller has Discovered Horizons. At Laura Vincent Design and Gallery www.lvdesignandgallery.com/ 824 NW Davis 5PM-8 Free
Salt / Water are fish sculptures by Roberta Lampert. She uses some unique firing methods. At Waterstone Gallery www.waterstonegallery.com 124 NW 9th 5PM-8 Free
Adriene Cruz, Bridgette Hickey, Marquishia Winters, Sesalli Castillo and Syon Davis have a show Mending Histories. At Stelo Arts 412 NW 8th 5PM-8 Free