June 28 Alberta Madness and Film Sanity Fun

Tonight marks the last Thursday art walk and gawk on Alberta Street. It isn't the same without the clown house though. One of the few places that show contemporary material is Office. Tonight they have prints from Crack Press=Pete McCracken. McCracken is the go-to guy for unusual silk screen and letter press projects. That makes sense as the tree state is distilled into the paper town (thanks Gordon Gilkey, RIP), and paper is purposed to art by McCracken and about 10,000 Portland artists. At OfficePDX www.officepdx.com 2204 NE Alberta


Umbrella, umbrella, umbrella - another highly local adaption adopted. It is also the title of a short film by Portland-Brooklyn filmmaker-poet Cat Tyc. From what I have heard the film focuses on a woman in the hours before her visit to the clinic to end a pregnancy. It happens. Luckily legal and safe. For some reason she is being followed by a man in a grey suit who is hitting her over the head with an umbrella as this all unfolds. I'm sure you can get more details from Cat.

Films are expensive, they are the time labor of many many people stored in frames per second. So Tyc is holding a fundraiser performance raffle party with a few friends. Like Sad Horse, Sarah Winchester, Sarah Dougher, Janet Pants, Tara Jane O'Neil, Mattress, Rush-n-Disco and DJ Mike McGonigal. Magic decoder ring wow! There is also a raffle for some super useful things, like from McTarnahan's beer, Plexifilm, La Mignoette, Half and Half, the Journal of Short Film, PLAZM magazine & the Portland Trailblazers.

At Holocene www.holocene.org, corner Morrison and SE 10th. 9PM on $5-10 with $2 going to Planned Parenthood and the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls.

June 20 Fernald Homecoming at Homeland

PNCA graduate Eliza Fernand produced several shows of sculptural multiples including at Rake and for the Scratching the Surface show by the Willamette where her work was swept up by an over zealous maintenance person but recovered before being sent to the landfill. It is good work, but the maintenance man was the wrong audience. She has moved to Brooklyn and is keeping up a busy schedule of shows and performances. Tonight she returns for interactive installations and a musical performance at Gallery Homeland. Fernand's installations at Homeland include Connect, felty doorways as bridges for gestural interactions between the participants; Floating Tube Clouds dispensing snacks; and a costumed performance with Molly Enright as the Voluptuary Pair. After she performs with her band Dang Moma.

It has been over a month since we have awarded our copywriting award, so: "The performance art of Eliza Fernand combines the reality of our time and place with an abstract and fluctuating surreality. With her costumes, performance objects, and her body, she transforms familiar materials and reference points, leaving the audience with an array of sensations to cling to".

At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th (corner of Division) 8PM

June 16 Japan Inspired

Butoh was born in Japan in 1959. Tatsumi Hijikata distilled his rebellion against traditional Japanese theater-dance, the influx of ballet from Europe and Japan as America's post war ward into movement. In a time of violent political protests, street theater and artists' ferment, Hijikata created the first butoh performance, Forbidden Colors. Collaborating in 1961 with Kazuo Ohno, the two established the dual branches of butoh: dark and light. Initially Hijikata's branch represented dark forces, spectacular staging, political themes, sometimes tapping the grotesque. Ohno's branch represented love, lightness and the universal themes across cultures of birth, the life cycle of the flower, one's mother, and death.

Butoh is propagated one person to another. Those original branches have divided many times since, but the lineage of a performer is sometimes a clue.

Tonight is a rare opportunity to see butoh in Portland. Vanessa Skantze from Seattle regroups her New Orleans ensemble Death Posture. Mizu Desierto, based in Portland performs.

Skantze studied with Atsushi Takenouchi. Takenouchi's Jinen butoh taps the oneness of the universe, people, the things they created as inspiration for improvised movement. Takenouchi, in turn, studied and performed with Bishop Yamada's Hoppo-Butoh-ha, based in Hokaido. In Hokaido, Yamada sought to recover the wild energy of nature and the spirit of the land, embodied by Shinto. Vanessa Skantze's solos remind me of a solo performance I have seen by Bishop Yamada. Yamada was one of the first members of Dairakudakan, founded by Akaji Maro. Dairakudakan creates spectacular performances resembling epic myth. Maro was an early collaborator with founder Hijikata.

Hijikata changed directions later, incorporating women performers for the first time, starting with painter Yoko Ashikawa, who had no previous movement training. Hijikata set on Ashikawa a sublime movement vocabulary which has had a major impact on butoh. Ashikawa and her group Hakutobo has been a large influence in Seattle.

Mizu Desertio has roots in Arizona. She incorporates the spirit of the high Southwest desert with the mysterious gestalt of the snake and the mischievous spirit of the monkey. She creates beautiful ritual performances with dramatic costumes. Mizu has studied extensively with Diego Pinon, Kazuo Ohno and the Tomano's in Berkeley. Largely self-taught in butoh, Pinon taps into Mexican shamanism and psychodrama as an inspiration for movement. Ohno, actively performing to age 92 and making his most recent appearance on the stage at age 99, contributes a lightness and compassion to Mizu's work. Koichi Tamano was an early collaborator with Hijikata. He and his partner Haruko teach and perform as Harupin-ha. Harupin-ha's performances also have a mythical flavor. Often the performances incorporate a clear plastic sphere of about 8 feet with a performer moving and walking within it. Tamano is one of the remaining early Hijikata collaborators active today and the only one in the US.

Mizu is the creator of the Water in the Desert Festival and performances on the Willamette River beneath the St John's Bridge.

This evening Death Posture performs with its original cohort. Mizu Desierto performs with musicians Power Circus. Local noise meisters also perform.

At the Fez Ballroom 316 SW 11th. 8PM $7


Interested in more? There is a revived San Francisco butoh festival www.butohsanfrancisco.net June 21-29 and one in New York City in the Fall.

June 14 Films Under Stars

The Cinema Project has shown films outdoors on film each summer. Tonight they show dreamy summer films outdoors. Rudy Burckhardt filmed kids swimming in the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge. Helen Levitt filmed kids playing in the street on the Upper East Side. Portland filmmaker, anthropologist, linguist, painter has made hand drawn animation. John Smith has made a film about a haunted London man. The jewel is a Brakhage film.

There is the full rundown:
Under The Brooklyn Bridge by Rudy Burckhardt [1953, 16mm, b&w, 15 min]
In the Street by Helen Levitt [1952, 16mm, b&w, sound, 16 min]
Mirror Animation by Harry E. Smith [1979, 16mm, color, sound, 11 min]
The Riddle of Lumen by Stan Brakhage [1972, 16mm, color, silent, 17 min]
The Black Tower by John Smith [1987, 16mm, color, sound, 24 min]

Bring blankets or chairs. At 3125 E Burnside, 8:30PM Live music.

June 14 Open Boxlift Studios

The infamous 333 Handcock artist studios, with its sometime Russian disco afterhours speakeasy downstairs neighbor, is now Boxlift Studios, with a new generation of artists. They are hosting an open studio to show their work. 5PM-10 Free

June 14 Museum's Contemporary NW Art Awards

The Portland Art Museum is criticized for a lack of connection with Portland's contemporary artists but the opposite is true. While the previous director hyped blockbuster shows and old Europe's art (and raised more money than anyone thought possible for art in Portland), the Museum maintained a steady acquisition program for art by local artists. Sometimes it knew how to reach out to the local art community, for instance with the free grand opening parties for the Oregon Biennial shows. The Museum also funded experienced contemporary art curators who have crafted a steady stream of local and international shows. Interestingly, the chief curator is also personally focused on contemporary art.

The Museum is deepening its contemporary art program, but also broadening it geographically, by replacing the Oregon Biennial with the Northwest Art awards, accepting artists from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

The Oregon Biennial received as many as 800 entries per cycle, each set of images was reviewed by multiple jurors, resulting in about fifteen to forty artists exhibited. The Contemporary Art Council then voted to purchase one work, though all the included artists found themselves on Museum, collector and gallery radar screens as a result.

The new Contemporary Northwest Art Awards process produced a varied list of 28 semifinalists, all but one from Oregon or Washington. Five, Daniel Attoe, Cat Clifford, Jeffry Mithell, Whiting Tennis and Marie Watt are finalists. One will be selected for a $10,000 prize.

The Museum opens the show tonight and announces the grand prize winner with a formal party. Free! Call the Museum for details. The show will be up until September 14.

The curator will moderate a discussion among the five finalists Sunday June 15, in Whitsell Auditorium, 2PM-3:30. Requires Museum admission.

June 12-28 Pedalpaloosa Bicycle Madness

Pedalpaloosa is Portland's beautiful celebration of everything bike! All the details on the crowdsourced calendar at http://www.shift2bikes.org/cal/viewpp2008.php. Most things free!!

June 12 Take Me to Tuva

Tuva is part of the Russian Federation, a high elevation steppe basin, in parts habited by snow leopards. It's North of Mongolia, very isolated. It was the subject of a book, Tuva or Bust, about the ten year quest, ultimately futile, by noted Nobel-winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman to travel there as a challenge to his high school geography teacher. Blocked by the Soviet bureaucracy, Feynman died of cancer before the visas finally issued.

Tuva is also known for its beautiful and strange throat singing. Extremely difficult to master, throat singing requires singing the fundamental note while simultaneously manipulating harmonic notes established by resonances in the lungs, throat and nasal passages. Portland musician and cultural force Enrique Ugalde, performing as Soriah, has studied throat singing in Tuva. He has recontextualized the ancient technique into contemporary performance as a soloist and generous collaborator.

He is traveling there this summer to deepen his studies. To travel to the ends of the earth requires funds, so Enrique is throwing his own "Tuva or Bust" fundraising performance. He will perform along with In Gowan Ring, Ocelli, and Jen Folker. 1936 North Alberta 8PM

June 12 PSU Art Auction Party

It is no secret that tax support for Oregon Universities is anemic and it's even hungrier for arts. So the PSU Art Department is holding a yummy bakesale of art, with music, food, and wine. It is all being organized by the MFA students themselves. All very social practice!

The auction is a little complicated, so for details check the online auction website: www.anewpathtothewaterfall.com. There is a pretty interesting mix of contemporary art, you can browse images with the artist bios on the website. It's a great collection, ranging national figures, including artists who have spoken at the Monday night lecture series; PSU art grads; and established artists with Portland connections.

The auction is online, it won't happen tonight, it will be some future date.

The launch event is at the PSU Art Building 2000 SW 5th. Leave extra time for construction in the area, or it's a short walk from the streetcar. 5PM-8

June 6 Eastside Art Openings

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you probably know about Portland's pretty damn grand Rock and Roll Camp for Girls. Hope is a Muscle is a photo show about the camp. To make the show real, Camp grad band Blubird play about 7. Thanks Camp super supporter Shayla for the tip. At Nemo Design 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free


Sportin Wood is a show by Andrius Brantzi, Kelly Brantzi, Juan Angel Chavez, Klutch, Shayla Hason and Kevin Taylor. At the new Low Lofe Salon 4912 SE Division 6PM-10


Ashley Montague, Portland artist mixing graf style with illustration style has a show at Destroy Store www.destroystore.com 1712 E Burnside 7PM-10


The Grass Hut is fully at one with its new larger space and you and the art benefit. Yosemite Studiomates is a show by LA artists Seonna Hong, Marth Rich, Souther Salazar, and Ester Pearl Watson. North South cross pollenation is good! At Grass Hut www.grasshutcorp.com 811 E Burnside


Gallery Homeland is homing in on a regular first Friday show schedule. Represent East side! This show, Figure 3, comprises figurative paintings by Nicole Amore, Catherine Brooks and Amy Lincoln. It's at Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9


Worksound Gallery is a classic art space in a falling down building. Let's enjoy it now, no mourning later. Tonight's show is PNCA+MFA+1 students. Included will be a recording release performance by Elie Charpentier for My Accurate Imagination, 8ish. At WorksoundPDX www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder


Other Possibilites include Antonina Clarke at Capsule Studio and Gallery 3542 SE Division; Nicky Kriara at Albina Press 5012 SE Hawthorne; Rozzell Medina at the Powells Fresh Pot 3729 SE Hawthorne; Kate Durkin at Redux 811 E Burnside, a group show at the Pancake Clubhouse 906A NE 24th; Panopoly, a group show at 2000 SE 7th; Surreal photos and some book arts at 23 Sandy, 623 NE 23rd; and some photos at Newspace 1632 SE 10th. Support your art friends.

June 5 Westside Art Openings

Portland is somewhat a glass art center owing to its proximity to Pilchuck, in the woods near Seattle, and Bullseye Glass right here in Portland. This month the Glass Art Society meets here. So many galleries have mounted glass-related shows. Personally, I believe glass, as a medium, is too seductively beautiful for contemporary art. The material overwhelms the other elements of the piece. So perhaps contemporary art made in glass just needs to operate within its own aesthetic and be valued by its own collector base, which is, in fact, the case. It is awesomely archival. Explore for yourself as you like.


Portland photographer Holly Andres is well known for Crewdson-esque domestic scenes which hark to the great films of Douglas Sirk. Sirk's style and art of noted cinematographer Russell Metty was reprised perfectly by Portland director Todd Haynes in Far From Heaven. Andres focus is enigma of the family life of children. She taps the nostalgia for an assumed perfect past which has been critically examined by Evergreen College professor Stephanie Coontz in her book The Way We Never Were. Does Andres' work tap your memories of growing up?

See it at Quality Pictures www.qpca.com, 916 NW Hoyt


PDX Shows very quiet paintings on glass by Megan Murphy. Murphy's almost monochromatc, abstract, almost landscapes are gateways to other worlds as surely as our Western wilds. Spokane artist Murphy is also the founder of Artocracy, winner of a 2008 Webby award. Artocracy allows artists to directly connect to collectors worldwide. At PDX www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders


So tonight your best art entertainment value for the dollar is probably the DeSoto Building Galleries (NW Broadway and Davis), the Everett Lofts (NW Broadway and Everett) and the PNCA graduating BFA thesis show, taking up the atrium at the main building NW 13th and Johnson and the Stephens Building across from REI on NW Johnson midblock at 14th.

June 4 The Dragon-built Environment of China

The economic boom in China (over 10% annual increase in GNP for about 15 years) is producing a building boom. The Beijing Olympics, Shanghai, as a world city (again), and booming Guangdong, adjacent to Hong Kong, have been building, often hiring Western architects and planners. The growth spans the country, even the far East Xinjiang. China has ten times the number of cities over one million in population than the US has. In 30 years, the countrywide number of cities has gone from 200 to over 700.

Dr. Thomas Campanella, author of The Concrete Dragon: China's Urban Revolution and What It Means for the World, speaks. Campanella is professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Campanella is co-editor of The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster (2005).

Cosponsored by the Northwest China Council, hear Campanella speak at Powells Books, W. Burnside 7:30PM Free

May 25-June 15 PNCA Thesis Show

The PNCA thesis show opens after Sunday's commencement, 6ish, for the PNCA community, and stays up until June 15. The show represents the admixture of individuals' new arts thinking, the vibes of some long term instructors, and the influence of Portland's art and cultural vorticies. In the Stephens Building NW 14th and Johnson and in the main building NW 13th and Johnson. Open daytime hours and until 9PM on first Thursday. Free

May 23-26 Westside Invite 8

One of Portland's bike subcultures are the messenger-racers. Their mad annual invite comprises races of all stripes, day and night. It starts Friday with the Black Star Alleycat at 4. Saturday Coffee 'Cat earlyish, then on to Alpenrose or to the NW Messenger Homebrew Symposium. Sunday there is a huge race. Monday is rest and play day at Alberta Park. For details check with your messenger friends or Zoobombers.

May 23 At Gerding Theater: More Sustainable than Thou?

As part of an endowed lecture series, PNCA presents Susan Szenasy, editor of the smart architecture magazine Metropolis on Portland's place among sustainable city efforts. How do we measure ourselves?

Panelists Susan Anderson, Director, Portland Office of Sustainable Development; Greg Baldwin, Partner at Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects; Mark Edlen, Managing Principal of Gerding Edlen; Randy Gragg, Editor of Portland Spaces; and Scott Lewis, Founder and Principal of Brightworks respond to Szenasy's queries.

At the Gerding Armory Theater, NW Davis and 11th (Check the new landscaping along Davis!) 10:30AM-noon Free

May 22 Finding Lost Films at Disjecta

Last I heard Disjecta has been keeping its powder dry at a warehouse-studio space in Kenton. That is where the light rail meets Paul Bunyan. However tonight in the face of a stalled Burnside bridgehead and a not so great sales environment for multimillion dollar warehouses, they are back for a night in their old spot by the Burnside Bridge.

All the way from Philadelphia, Scott Beibin brings his Lost Film Fest of culture jamming shorts. VJ's will join in the mix.

At the old Disjecta, under the Burnside Bridge. 8:30PM Free
8:30 PM Doors / 21+ / Free

May 21 Portland Planning

Portland City Planning is considered a model for the nation. Our demographics, economics and the tradition of neighborhood involvement work with that. Tonight, Design Within Reach presents a discussion with Arun Jain, Chief Urban Planner at the City. Key challenges are where to grow and how to keep the city a place people want to live and work. Jain came to Portland in that role in 2003 with Ivy planning degrees and ten years of teaching at Berkeley. That could provide a unique perspective of where Portland planning fits in the world and the theoretical underpinnings of planning. At DWR, corner NW Everett and 12th. 6PM-8. Free

May 19 Karen Yasinsky Speaks at PSU

Karen Yasinsky is known for stop action animation, 2d and 3d. Hey Bent and Laika, what do you think of that? Past work has been a meditation on our domestic situation or remakes of classic film as animation. PSU Hall St Cinema 510 SW Hall 7:30PM Free

May 16-24 Milepost 5 Muli Artist Show

Demonstrating that real estate development may be Portland's surest arts funding vehicle, Milepost 5 opens a show by artists Chuck Bloom, Jennifer Mercede, Ephemeral Temple Ltd, Richard Schemmerer, Anna Todaro, Damon Ayers, Ryan Burns, Dan Ness, John Brodie, Josh Arseneau, Jason Graham, Katie Simpson, Richard Cawley, Jeremy Tucker, Together Gallery, Roxanne Jackson, William Shouse, Chris Haberman, Nikki Kress, Gallery Homeland, Tim Karpinski, Seth Neefus, Mark Warren Jacques, Julia Gfroerer, Todji Kurtzman, Charlie Alan Kraft, Carl Annala, Sarah Cruse, Amy Jorgensen, SD Elliott, Paul Middendorf, Ry Basko, Hart Ryan Noecker, Jeff Richardson, Jen Weshsler and Jaclyn Campanaro.

Each artist pretty much gets their own room. The work is varied. Some have made installations, there are paintings and even films. The space is so large you essentially have a private viewing opportunity.

Open May 16-24, 1-6pm
Reception: Friday, May 16, 7-11pm
Party: Saturday, May 17, 7-11pm with music by Boy Eats Drum Machine, Y La Bamba, Celilo, St. Frankie Lee.
Closing Party: Saturday, May 24, 7-11pm with music by Musee Mecanique, Per Se, Silverhawk, Invisible Rockets, St. Frankie Lee.
Beer for sale. All ages. Free

May 16 OCAC Thesis Show

Portland is an epicenter in the nexus between craft and contemporary art. The long operating Contemporary Crafts Museum is one reason. Oregon College of Arts and Craft is another. They have some serious foundation class instructors and an increasingly contemporary art oriented student base. Tonight you can see what they have been up to. Graduating students present their thesis work at Worksound Gallery 820 SE Alder. Opening 4PM-7 Regular hours Monday-Saturday noon-5. Free

May 16 Backroom Film Food

The Backroom Series of art talk over dinner is one of Portland's premier art networks. Stephanie Snyder Reed curator and more cohelms it with Mathew Stadler who is on a writing retreat in Mexico. Both are themselves network builders as well. So it is natural that the Back Room is collaborating with the Cinema Project this evening. Previous Backroom events have had a focus on tasty food harking to their Ripe family dinner roots. This one is BYO dinner, with an admission price to match the Cinema Project side of the evening, great value.

The Cinema project shows films (actual film films) In Between by
Stan Brakhage (!!), Visions of a City by Larry Jordan, The Man Who Invented Gold by Christopher Maclaine, The 40 and 1 Nights (or Jess' Didactic Nickelodeon) by Larry Jordan and Beat by Christopher Maclaine, Senseless by Ron Rice and Aleph by Wallace Berman. All the films have a relation to the current Reed show. Musical accompaniment by the Evolutionary Jass Band.

At Podkrepa Hall, 2116 N. Killingsworth. Doors 6:30PM, Films 7:30 $6

May 14,21,28,31 Tai Chi as Art at the South Waterfront

Portland artist Horatio Hung-Yan Law was born in Hong Kong and grew up in New York. Some of his work has included sculptures covered by innumerable grains of rice, jellybeans, lifesavers or m&m's. His art is idea filled, often dealing with the Chinese-American experience. As the West was developed with the first railroads, Chinese laborers were imported to do the work. Separated from their families, subject to harsh discrimination and worse, they transformed the West. What would have happened if they had arrived with families and had been fully accepted into American culture? Perhaps they would be a more significant part of Portland (as SF today and Vancouver). Perhaps today they would be filling our parks with tai chi play. As part of the South Waterfront artist in residence program, Law is offering free tai chi classes each Wednesday: May 14th, 10AM-noon; May 21st, 6PM-8; May 28th, 6PM-8. On April 31 he will stage a tai chi performance of 1000 individuals. Interestingly tai chi was developed for monks to defend themselves. It is the ultimate self defense, never attacking and using the attacker's force against them. It also works with the energy upon which Chinese physiology and acupuncture are based. How about a tai chi foreign policy? Something to think about.

To sign-up for the free classes, contact Horatio - horatiolaw@gmail.com. Big performance April 31, watch here for the time.

May 13 Pecha Cucha #3

Pecha Kucha is a smart show and tell of shorts. The first Portland instances of this international phenomena were held November 11, 2007 and February 11, 2008, and noted previously. Pecha Kucha's philosophy is that if you have something important to say, you can say it in under seven minutes with 20 images. To an extent, this philosophy parallels the slightly longer 20 minute TED talks. The earlier events were fascinating, and if one talk was boring, the person next to you was fascinating, probably from the architecture, design and culture thinker world.

Tonight's Portland Pecha-Kucha is at an itinerant space 34 NW 8th 7:20PM Free by donation

May 12 Architect Clopfil of Allied Works Speaks

Brad Clopfil, starting as a UO professor of architecture, has built elegant modern spaces, many commissions are arts museums or shelter creatives. I believe Allied works will stand the test of time, a cruel metric for architecture spanning decades, more even, of existence, and criticism. Works include the remodel of the Saucebox Bar, The interior of PDX Contemporary Art gallery, the W+K Building, The Maryhill Museum Overlook, The Seattle Art Museum, Museums in St Louis, Michigan, New York, a new Clyfford Still museum in Denver, two arts schools and a handful of private residences.

Tonight Clopfil is interviewed by Randy Gragg, noted local architecture and planning writer. Part of a series sponsored by the City Club of Portland and Portland Spaces Magazine. It's at Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10, 6PM Free

May 12 Edward Heap of Birds Speaks at PSU

Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds is a senior arts lecturer, artist and Native American. Multicultural art, 80's and 90's rage, and public art darling, operates within its own aesthetic(s). So just when you thought you had contemporary aesthetics figured, there are those worlds. Rarely do they overlap. In other words, neither would be considered aesthetically successful within the framework of the other. For a harsher view see Dave Hickey. Hachivi understands contemporary aesthetics, perhaps with this lecture he can explain the relationships to the multicultural aesthetic(s) world. He speaks at the PSU Monday lecture series. PSU Hall St Cinema, 510 SW Hall 7:30PM Free

May 10 TJ Norris at NAAU

TJ Norris opens his show INFINITUS - Tribryd Pt. III in the New American Art Union as part of the Couture'08 series. Norris is known for visual as well as sound work. He also wins the copywriting award of the month with this:
"'Infinitus' is a seamless, endless city….

Imagine the entire globe manifesting itself by its interconnected
man-made mini malls and the like. It is a viral sign, a shift towards
the abandonment of the fragility of nature altogether. A world minus
the underbelly of the faded industrial age. A city, in fact, that
could stand to exist without population per se. Skyscrapers reach
higher, taking the place of the more organic mountain peak or paper
mills. A cyclical break in urban origins, perhaps only in the hands of
a wizard with a master development plan. Combine this with the
synethasiea caused by the artifice of the inferred dance floor, the
glittering globe transcending from the ceiling, a blatant metaphor of
our fragmented planet. Something mono happens. It's that very moment
when space and time intersect, it can be nullifying, disorienting.
When akin to the power of the line, the basic shape of anything that
falls before air, frontal or shaped, becomes only the reality of the
flat surface.

The great French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas navigated the
ontological world of the Other, a metaphysical discourse regarding
intersubjective relationships. This sense of primal association of
chance is something I see as shock, to the self - the spirit of both
body and mind. This relates back to the body in space. In my practice
there lies a fascination with that split second of awareness, the
SNAP! Only to a formal extent does it have anything to do with
traditional photography, but we've learned much from the lens. There's
so much we cast in memory, lines and silhouetted shapes, sometimes
blurred through the peripheral way we gaze and view the world. We
endow these glints with subliminal power. Everyday we experience the
pictorial, and keep it locked in our perceptual consciousness. We
create our own synaptic, conceptual images. It is in these very
moments that we experience a charge, or as I am exploring, a glitch."

At New American Art Union 922 SE Ankeny 6PM-10 Free

May 8 Social Performance and Collaboration

Gary Weisman is a Portland-based social performance artist. Cofounder of Kitchen Sink PDX, who have arranged beautiful collaborations in houses and office spaces, Weisman works nationally too. He speaks at PNCA (small) Room 201 NW Johnson and 13th. 12:30Pm-1:30 Free

May 7 Photographer Speaks at PNCA

Justine Kurland who we have written of before is speaking at PNCA. Student of Gregory Crewdson, she is part of a movement in photography coming out of Yale incorporating staged narratives, film still style. Kurland built upon that idea, moving from girls wandering, camping and discovering the world independently and happily - girl Tom Sawyer/ Huckleberry Finn's; to imagined utopian communities composed of women entirely; to real life communes existing today; and onto mothers and children in the wilds. What will be next in her exploration of our particular American relationship with the landscape? At PNCA NW Johnson and 13th. 12:30Pm-1:30 Free

May 5 Sculptor Speaks

PSU's art department has a regular Monday lecture series of artists, local, national, international, established and semi emerging. Tonight Rebecca Ripple, who is showing this month at Tilt speaks on her work. Yale schooled, she works in LA today - check Tilt (exhibitions) for details. PSU Hall St Cinema 510 SW Hall 7:30PM Free

May 2 Eastside Art Openings East:Meets:West

Destroy Store shows more work by prolific Portland painter Jessie Reno. www.destroystore.com 1712 E Burnside

Grass Hut has started a low key residency program. I would say couch surfing-style, which is definitely cool fun, but the Grass Hut residency is notched higher, with the artist J. Otto Seibold Ace Hotel housed. (Mega props, Ace, for arts branding with real dollars!!) Check Seibold's colorful work on the Grass Hut website www.grasshutcorp.com 811 E Burnside

Pushdot has photos by Newspace principal Chris Bennett who is also showing in the Antiquarian Resurrection shows at Chambers and 23 Sandy respectively. Pushdot is the digital print go to expert in scanning and ink jet printing. So presumably this work is distinctly non-old school chem printed. My guess is that this work is monochrome, but Pushdot has the skills for end-to-end color management. www.pushdotstudio.com In the house at 1021 SE Caruthers

In a nice complement to the New Antiquarians Chambers show, 23 Sandy hosts a national touring show, Resurrection, of photographers using early photographic chemistry: tintypes, daguerreotypes, gum bichromates, metal prints, cyanotypes, collodian prints and toned silver prints. Check the Resurrection web site.
www.23sandy.com 623 NE 23 x Sandy



Portland has many art, bike, music subcommunities. It is the same for belly dancing. East:Meets:West is an annual show focused on dark bellydancing where the West's Gothic sensibilities meet the East's belly dancing mysticism. The organizers and stars are Serpentine, three belly dancers with a theatrical vibe incorporating movement inspired by our snake friends. Definitely meow!

Performers include Gemini Project(OR), Znama(OR), Jane Archer(OR), Vorona(NY), Pony(OH), BellaNoir(OR), Gypsy Caravan(OR), Twilight, Maqsuum(WA), Deb(Raven) formally of Ultra Gypsy(CA), Carmella(OR) and, of course Serpentine. Those belly dancers are always on the hunt for costumes, so there will be select vendors of such there as well as the sublime raw chocolate concoctions of Lulu. After the performance is a dance party with DJ's! If you are a belly dancer yourself, the event links have details on Saturday workshops.

At the Mt. Tabor Legacy, 4811 SE Hawthorne $15 8PM-2AM

May Day Westside Art Openings

For my writing efficiency and your viewing stop by the multigallery DeSoto Building NW Broadway and Davis and the Everett lofts NW Broadway and Everett. 'Nuff said.

Chemistry-based photography is strong still in Portland. Newspace Photo is one resource if you need a darkroom. The New Antiquarians is a show by Chris Bennett, Rachel Heath, Leanne Hitchcock, Christine Laputa and Sika Stanton, some of whom are closely connected to Newspace. Each photographer's work has a look harking to classic photography. Bennett's landscapes recall the post-Civil War Western photographers like O'Sullivan and Jackson. They hauled up to 24 inch glass plates, coated them in a tent darkroom, exposed them, them hauled them back East by donkey. Heath photographs unclothed women. While painting nudes was acceptable earlier, in photography is suffered taboo for years. Heath's approach is more akin to the current work of Leonard Nemoy with a Bellocq aesthetic. Hitchcock works in gridded landscape multiples, producing a meditative whole from the cognitive dissonance of her windowed visual field, aka sampling. Laputa is known for fiercely detailed black and white landscapes. The overwhelming visual detail is an aesthetic dear to me. Stanton is bold in her portrait making. Sometimes working in archaic processes, she experiments with identity, and its ambiguity. See it for yourself at Chambers Gallery www.chambersgallery.org 207 SW Pine

Cynthia Mosser shows Cool Perennials, psychedelic abstractions at Augen. www.augengallery.com 817 S.W. 2nd

Amanda Wojick wowed Portland as a museum biennial selectee with her sculptures made of thousands of paint chips. Her new show, sight line, is a collection of sculptures one related to another. At Elizabeth Leach www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th

April 30-May 5 PDX Fest of Experimental Film

Capturing a unique facet of Portland's film culture, the PDX Fest is in its 5th year. The festival has select longer works, shorts programs and special events. One highlight is the world championship of experimental film on Saturday night. Invited filmmakers Roger Beebe, Bryan Boyce, Marianna Ellenberg, Jalal Jemison, Zak Margolis, Anne McGuire, Shana Moulton, Orland Nutt, Michael Robinson, Jeremy Rossen, and Ben Russell show short films. The audience - you vote on whether one of them will displace George Andrus, last year's winner, back with a new film, as the world champion experimental filmmaker! Another great event should be the experimental karaoke night in which filmmakers Roger Beebe, Bryan Boyce, Bill Brown & Sabine Gruffat, Grace Carter & Holly Andres, Carl Diehl, Dr. Murry & William Skullmaster, Jesse England, Sarah Halpern, Hooliganship, Karl Lind, Mack McFarland, Zak Margolis, Anne McGuire, Mike Olenick, Michael Robinson, Stephen Slappe, Melissa Tvetan and Cat Tyc have made karaoke videos for your viewing, and possibly singing, pleasure! There is also a show of video installation at Gallery Homeland corresponding to the opening party.

Check the whole schedule here for times, admission and details. Many events are 21 and over as noted on the schedule and events are at the Hollywood Theater or at Gallery Homeland

April 28 Journeys to the East

Travel writers come in generations. Early travelers leaving philosophical writings include the Buddha and Lao Tzu. Marco Polo left more detailed descriptions of unknown veracity later inspiring Calvino's Invisible Cities. The great English travelers were intimately tied to empire building. Pico Iyer followed writers like returned Peace Corps volunteer Paul Theroux, who never returned, and Bruce Chatwin, who abandoned his career at Sothebys to head out on the road. Iyer has immersed himself in the hybrid culture of developing countries, attempting to tell the story of the lives of their postmodern residents. Iyer has also developed a friendship with the Dalai Lama, a fellow global itinerant, and that is the subject of The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from which he reads tonight.

Iyer met the Dalai Lama through his father and has maintained his friendship for 30 years. This relationship has allowed Iyer to tell the story of a man in all his complexity, not just the story of a great spiritual leader.

At Powell's Burnside 7:30PM Free


The contemporary art world is global. Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries. Principals Marc Voge and Young-Hae Chang produce Flash art from their base in Seoul, much in the manner of some work at Born Magazine. Lucky for you, the work of Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries is available to you over the Internet. But you can see them in person at the PSU lecture series. At the PSU 5th Ave Cinemas 510 SW Hall Room 92 7:30PM Free

April 16-20 Northwest Solar Expo

10 to the power 17 Watts (that is 17 zeros) of energy reaches us here from the sun - it drives the weather, photosynthesis, agriculture, wave energy, ocean plankton, everything. We consume 1.5 times 10 to the power 13 Watts, almost 90% from fossil fuels (1). That's not sustainable. It could be argued that tectonic energy and geothermal energy (1) were historically derived from the sun. So let's get with the program!

The Northwest Solar Expo is where you can learn about making the sun more of a friend on a practical basis from businesses primarily based right here. Part of the conference is for professionals: people who need training to create a solar business - that is April 16-20. If you are curious about using the sun to improve your life, April 19-20 is for you.

All the details are at www.nwsolarexpo.com. Go by Train! (for now, most of our MAX light rail Portland electricity comes from hydro - driven by gravity of earth's mass spun out from the sun and the hydrological cycle - rain - driven by.... the sun! Or bike, your energy derived from eating plants and more, driven by.... the sun!)

Also there is a big Earth Day celebration Saturday April 19. cityrepair.org/wiki.php/projects/earthday 10AM-10PM Overlook Park, N Portland.

April 18 Milepost 5 (Self )Projection(s)

Milepost 5 is not so far away. It's a short walk from the 82nd Avenue MAX stop. Before the Pearl was the Pearl, all doubted artists could colonize it. So maybe 82nd Avenue is the next frontier. Milepost 5 is a legal(!) live-work space, with the potential for artist-owners to accumulate equity(!). They have hired the director of the Portland Art Center to activate it.

This show is themed self projection. Artists include Gordon Barnes, Katrina Boemig, Maggie Casey, Terry Chatkupt, Philip Cheaney, Alicia Eggert, Jesse England, Ephemeral Temple Ltd, Eliza Fernand, Anna Gray, Jessica Hirsch, Chris Hudson, Edward Jeffrey Kriksciun, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Melanie Nakaue, Ashley Neese, Seth Nehil, Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Jen Delos Reyes, Lucien Samaha, Amy Steel, Anni Tracy and curator Gary Wiseman.

For the opening event Double Dragon, Kele Goodwin, The M.O.S.T, Sabertooth, and Matt Sheehy perform.

The show is open 1PM-6 April 18-27.

The closing event will be April 26 with video by Gordon Barnes, Marc Moscato, Julie Perini, and Gary Wiseman.

At Milepost5 www.milepostfive.com 900 NE 81st Ave Opening April 18 8PM-12. Showing April 18-27 1PM-6. Closing April 27 8PM-11 - videos 8:30PM-10. Free

April 15 Ustad Zakir Hussain Plays Tabla and The Garden in the Machine

Zakir Hussain began performing in the West in 1970, at age 19, bridging traditional Indian music to Western pop, with Ravi Shankar, as did his famous tabla playing father, Ustad Allarakha. He is considered the founder of the world music movement. He has collaborated with the Beatles, George Harrison, electronic composer Bill Laswell, Joe Henderson, Tito Puente, Jack Bruce, Pharoah Sanders, John McLaughlin and Mickey Hart as well as with the leading classical Indian musicians of several generations. Tonight he graces Portland with an ensemble of 10 including Fazal Qureshi, tabla and kanjira; Taufiq Qureshi, percussion; Niladri Kumar, sitar; Abbos Kosimov, doyra; Ram Kishan, nagada; Dilshad Khan, sarangi; Vijay Chauhan, folk drums; and the Meitei Pung Cholom Performing Troupe from Manipur. His performances are that of a true virtuoso, his stage presence shows his true joy in playing. This is the big concert of the year for a revived Kalakendra. www.kalakendra.org At the Schnitzer Concert Hall. 8PM $23-53


Also this evening Valentines shows films curated by Jeremy Rossen of the Cinema Project. This program, The Garden in the Machine, combines films by Rossen, Heather Lane and Jackie Davis with a live soundtrack by Bird Costumes, J.P. Jenkins, and DJ Eric Issacson. At Valentines, 232 SW Ankeny, 9:30PM sharp, free!

April 11-13 Filmed By Bike!

This is a beautiful thing, in a beautiful town. Filmed By Bike is the annual film festival which sounds like what it is. You can get all of the info at their website. Bring a long lock. Last year every bike spot was connected and there were zoobomber-style bike-locked-to-bike piles. 21 and over except 5PM shows. Arrive super early for Friday. At Clinton Street Theater, SE 26 and Clinton. 7 and 9 Friday, 5,7,9 Saturday and Sunday $8-15 Friday, $6 Saturday and Sunday

April 11-12 Buckman Thingie

Kids, schools, art. In our messy democracy-mediaocracy, that combination has been neglected for reading and math. How sad we have not realized that they are all one. Buckman has. Buckman elementary school, K-5, is an unofficial arts magnet school in inner SE. Like my school system high school, they have realized that it is up to them to raise funds for kid-parent-centered programs. (Note that school funds are part of a state-wide distribution of income tax, the state legislature, representing all of Oregon, distributes money primarily collected in Portland, statewide. In other words, little money to Buckman.)

This weekend is their big art fundraiser to make art happen for the kids. Friday and Saturday, at the school, many known Portland artists show their work. Buckman students show their work alongside. Those kids are the next generation!

Also Friday is the Buckman Bash at the Jupiter Hotel. That involves artists, musicians and much carrying on.

The Buckman school art show, at the school, 320 SE 16th is Friday 5PM-9; Saturday 10AM-9PM. Friday $5; Saturday $2 donation.

The bash is Friday at the Jupiter Hotel 800 E Burnside 7PM-on. $50. That includes admission to the school art show event.

April 10 PSU MFA Shows Part I

PSU has been kicking out some great MFA grads the last few years. There have been many sublime installations and we are about to be taken by storm by the social practice krew.

Showing April 7-18 are the thesis works of Kate Simmons and Amy Steel.

Simmons' "Household Predictions and Fanciful Remedies" is in the Autzen Gallery, second floor Neuberger. Steel's "Good Morning" is in the out of the way art building, 2000 SW 5th Room 210. Both are open 9-5 weekdays. The grand opening confab is Thursday April 10, 6-8PM

April 9 Matt McCormick at the Film Center

Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick is known for quiet films that unfold unexpectedly. He started a film distribution project for independent films that wouldn't see the screen otherwise: Peripheral Produce; he started a film festival for films that would not fit into the big budget titles, credits formula: the Portland Documentary and eXperimental Film Festival. He was an early proponent of the films of Miranda July who narrated his film The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal.

McCormick's work is an example of the same imagery presented in the sit down theater, in a museum, in an art gallery, in a nightclub, paired with McCormick's live music, broadcast, photo-vidblogged and even as still art prints.


Tonight he shows recent work. Included are music videos for The Shins, YACHT, and Sleater-Kinney; experimental public service announcements; two longer works: The Problem of Machines That Communicate and Future So Bright. Worldwide people want to live together in cities, leaving behind abandoned places. Future So Bright captures the West's abandoned ghost towns. Sometimes they were built on unsustainable natural resources mined out. They can be viewed with sadness or as a triumph of the land. The Problem of Machines that Communicate follows 3 characters' alienation and the unexpected results of their attempt to communicate.

At the NW Film Center Whitsel Auditorium in the Museum 8PM $7/6/4 Adult/Museum/Film Center Member

April 6 Ten Tiny Dances

Portland is a DIY town. As an alternative to galleries or expensive stage shows with lighting and sound, Portland artists have pioneered venues which can reach a larger audience. Examples would be the Music Population Orchestra, SoWa public art projects, guerrilla art projects like Scott Wayne Indiana's horses, tailgating by Sincerely John Head and Ten Tiny Dances.

Dances occur on a stage 4x4 feet, 2 feet off the ground. That allows the stage to move to find the audience, rather than the reverse. Each program has several short pieces by a variety of performers. You will not be bored. Tonight it is Mike Barber, Cydney Wilkes, Lane Hunter, Anne Egan, Lauren Edson, Jim McGinn, Lizzie Carr, Rachel Fachner, Key Turn Project, Wooley Mammoth Comes to Dinner.

At Clyde Common. 1014 SW Stark. Doors 6:30PM, show 7:30. Presales sold out. $15? at the door.

April 5 Circuit Bending Broadcast and Portland Art Confab

Tonight the Video Gentlemen host an evening of circuit bending and secret broadcasts from the Bring Your Own TV(.pdf) video installation at the New American Art Union. Circuit bending is the DIY craft of modifying consumer electronic devices to experimental creative ends. Sound making and speaking toys can be placed into the unexpected service of art and performance. It is the same with video. See and hear it tonight at the New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion 922 SE Ankeny 7PM Free



The Cascade AIDS Project has been in operation since 1983. Focus has shifted to Africa as epidemic reservoir, CAP is concentrated on local. So in the spirit of "think global, act local", the Cascade AIDS Project has a large art auction to raise funds yearly. For artists, being involved means their work will be seen by the guest curator and by Portland art collectors. Thus the selection represents the curator view, especially for the live patron auction, and the inertia of historical participating galleries and artists. The curator this year is the curator of the Lewis and Clark gallery. It is also a social event for the artists, an opportunity to dress up.

Artists include Katherine Ace, Mary Arp, Dina Avila, Diane Avio-Augee, Adam Bacher, Bill Baily, Marcy Baker, Will Barras, Barbara Bartholomew, London Bellman, Tangie Pape Belmore, Patty Bentley , Stan Beppu, Don Bishop, Barbara Black, Nika Blasser, Jill Bliss, Rebecca Block, Chuck E. Bloom, Jacquelyn Bond, Armine Bozhko, Jason Bradbury, Morning Breath, Troy Briggs, Sharon Bronzan, David Brooks, Mazana Bruggeman, Billie Buford, G. Lewis Clevenger, Molly Cliff-Hilts, Sally Cohen, Liz Cohn, Michelle Colbert, Carolyn Cole, Elaine Coleman, Jeff Condit, Lisa Conway, Nigel Conway, Greg Conyne, Jesse Corning, D. Corwin, Jonnel Covault, Tom Cramer, Mae Crauder-Davis, Ron Cronin, Sarah Cruse, Larry Cwik, Kurt Dahlke, Paul Dahlquist, Linda Daily, Nancy Day, Tatiana deFigueiredo, Ronald DeHerrera, Bradley Delay, Shawn Demarest, Krislyn Dillard, Sara Dochow, Jennifer Doheny, Luke Dolkas, Cary Doucette, Stephanie Doyle, Tallmadge Doyle, Christine Eagon, Leslie Ebert, Jeannine Edelblut, Karen Ehlers, Martin Eichinger, Ellen Emerson, Richard Enger, Andrew Englehorn, Tamara English, Karen Esler, Amy Estrin, Bryce Evans, Kyle Evans, Leiv Fagereng, Jaik Faulk, Judith Fawkes, Michael Feely, Stephan P. Ferreira, Super Hightech Jet Fighters, Sally Finch, Al Flory, Caleb Freese, Mitchell Freifeld, Karen Friedman, Tom Gainer, Marcus Gannuscio, J. Garcia, Terrence Gasca, LeeAnn Gauthier, Ellen George, Gordon Gilkey, Gene GillJoAnn Gilles, Jennifer Gleach, Robert Gleason, Richard Glenn, Justin Gorman, , Kojo Griffin, Bryan Grimes, Bernard Gross,Rhonda Grudenic, Korey Gulbrandson, Jef Gunn, Jennifer Guske, Jun Seo Hahm, Andrew Haley, Mabel Astarloa Haley, Yvonne Hanks, Kris Hargis, Fredric Harwin, Jessica T. Hassler, Ron Hendrick, Maureen Herndon, Yuji Hiratsuka, Brandon Hoffman, Melissa Hogan, Steve Hohenboken, Gillian Holbrook, Jeff Houghtaling, Claudia J. Howell, Cody Hudson, Elizabeth Huey, Arlene Huggett, Israel Hughes, Sam Hull, Katrina Humbert, Terry Hutchinson, William Jamison, Michael A. Jarvis, George Johanson, Barry Johnson, Liza Jones, Alicia Justus, Joni Kabana, Kevin Kadar, Eileen Kane, Rafael Katz, Michael Kenna, Karen Kessler, Joel Kimble, Carley King, Chuck King, Carol Lynn Kirchner, Bernard Kliks, Andre Knaébel, Nicholas Knapton, Rochelle Koivunen, Eileen "Ikie" Nolan Kressel, Amy Kuttab, Cynthia Lahti, Sharri LaPierre, Dale Larson, Carson Legree, Bishop Lennon, David Carmack Lewis, Gabriel Liston, Danny Locke, Kandy LozanoBarry Mack, Morgan Madison, KC Madsen, Mandy Main, Gabriel Manca, Guido Malla Marquez, Gordon Marshall, Wells Stuart Marshall, III, Barbara Mason, Kicki Masthem, Brian Mathus, Hollye Maxwell, Mel McCuddin, , Michelle McKay, Carolina Medina-Dupaix, Dave Meeker, Jennifer Mercede, Chi Meredith, Peter Miller, John Mincks, James Minden, Randy Moe, Ashley Montague, Christopher B. Mooney, Norma Morrell, Lee Musgrave, Danuta Muszynska, Lorna Nakell, Nation, Sarah Wolf Newlands, Allison O'Donoghue, , Edward O'Hare, Dallas Oliver, Darren Orange, Kim OsgoodAndy Paiko, Daniel Papke, Eugenia Pardue, William Park, Lucinda Parker, Michael Parks, Eunice Parsons, Angela Passalacqua, Magdalena Pauna, Scott Peterman, Greg Pfarr, Ben Pink, Claudia Porter, Garrett Price, Tom Prochaska, Julie Rall, R. Keaney Rathbun, Lynn Everett Read, Pat Richards, April Richardson, Qiana Rickabaugh, Rene Rickabagh, Mario Roberts, Daniel Robinson, Brad Rogers, Ron Rogers, Francis X. Rosica, Sandra N. Roumagoux, Arletha Mueller Ryan, Civeq Salerno, Adrian Sanchez, DJ Sandler, Adam Satushek, Ted Sawyer, Bryan E. Schellinger, Richard Schemmerer, Jane Schiffhauer, Bill Schlegel, Hazel Skaling Schlesinger, Michael Schlicting, Aaron Schlosberg, Nancy Schmugge, Jean Schwalbe, Andrea Schwartz Feit, Tony Secolo, Bill Seebert, Evan N. Serrill, Naomi Shigeta, Shelly Shinjo, Michael Sieben, Rachel Siegel, Sara Siestreem, Karen Silve, Carol Sims, Charles Sites, Lee Ann Slawson, Damon Sneed, Camille Solzagua, Michael Southern, Raphael Soyer, Tara Stansberry-Roberts, Kathleen Stephenson, William T.C. Stevens, Marlana Stoddard-Hayes, Eric Stotik, Andy Stout, Ian Sundahl, Angelita Surmon, Nina Sutter, Sara Swink, J Swofford, Rabun Thompson, Terry Thompson, Melinda Thornes, A. Thurston, Joe Thurston, Andrew Totman, Evelyn V. Townsend, David Patrick Trowbridge, Zhanna Tsytsyn, Renee A. Ugrin, Rita Urdaneta, Fran Victor, Judy Lee Vogland, Elise Wagner, Martha Wallulis, Stephen Walter, W W Ward, Brent Wear, Mickey Weaver, McGrath Welker, Alisha Wessler, Grace Weston, Brian White, C. Greg Wilbur, Jennifer Williams, Dane Wilson, Sherrie Wolf, Allison Wonder, Mark Woolley, Wrenn, Rick Wright, Judith Wyss, Carol Yarrow, Reneé Zangara, and Jennifer Zika. I don't know how to digest that, but I'm curious about "Super Hightech Jet Fighters".

It's at the Oregon Convention Center. All the details are here. Patron dinner 5PM Artists' reception 8PM

April 4 Design Green Now!

EcoSystems is a Brooklyn-based furniture firm on a West Coast mission: a panel discussion on green design at some left coast schools, including here. Design using sustainable materials, fabrication; weighing lifecycle costs; the cradle to cradle credo; carbon footprinting; human-centered design - all are being incorporated into the programs of leading design schools.

The West Coast Design Green Now touches down at Western Washington University, The Art Institute of Portland, California College of the Arts and the University of California Long Beach. Each locale has a different set of panelists. If you have friends there who might be interested, let them know.

Portland panelists Richard Whitehall, Director of Industrial Design, Smart Design; Debbie Driscoll, Sustainability Group Account Director, Ziba; Peter Kallen - Men’s Product Design Director, Nau; Phil Berry, Principal, Sustainable Product Works present their views.

Full details of the program, the speaker bios and registration, which is required, may be found at Design Green Now. Design Green Now is laying the groundwork for green design competitions, perhaps you are a future participant. I'm a student of quality theory and there is a famous mantra: "quality is free". In the same vein, we will see that green is free too.

Sponsored by EcoSystems, Adobe, Core77, Design 21, GOOD, ReadyMade, Plyboo and Media Temple.

The event takes place Friday at the Art Institute of Portland, 1122 NW Davis. 6PM-8:30 Registration required. Free!

April 4 Eastside Art Openings

Trish Grantham and Amy Ruppel show their individualistic take on Russian dolls. At Grass Hut www.grasshutcorp.com 811 E Burnside

Destroy Store has prolific local artist Chris Haberman. www.destroystore.com 1712 E Burnside

Next door, Life+Limb has a show by Erik Railton, Old Song. Life+Limb specializes in inside zen gardening, including cacti that even I may not be able to kill. www.lifeandlimb.net 1716 E Burnside

Gallery Homeland has an international artist residency program. This month Swiss resident artist Christoph Hueppi shows Swarm Intelligence. The artist statement for the show relates swarms of bugs in India with the distributed algorithms in telecommunication networks that allow electronic outsourcing between the US and India. Me, I'm just thinking about the seasonal return of kitchen ants. www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th

Portland is an encaustic town, owing more to local artists who became interested and taught others, than to winter rains driving artists into medieval studios of art alchemy, mixing pigment and wax over flame. If you are interested in the topic, the Marki gallery is hosting a traveling group show of encaustic work. Talk there Saturday at 3PM by the curator. www.brianmarki.com 2236 NE Broadway

Newspace has Hawaiian landscape photographs on manipulated Polaroids by Ivan Wentland. www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th

April 3 Westside Art Openings

Some of the best time entertainment value viewing art may be had at the Everett Station Lofts and the DeSoto Building.

DeSoto, comprising Blue Sky Gallery, The Nine Gallery, The Charles Hartman Gallery, The Museum of Contemporary Craft, Augen and Froelich cover a range of superbly curated work in for profit and non profit spaces. The DeSoto Building is bounded by Broadway, Davis and NW Park.

The Everett Station Lofts are live work spaces, changing always, showing spirited and usually authentic work. It's faster for you to see than me write about. Some notable spaces are Sequential Art, which has activated its website, including references to other galleries; Tilt Gallery, known for seriously curated installation; and The Pony Club with very inexpensive drawing-style work begging to be taken home by you. The Everett Station Lofts are bounded by Everett, Broadway, Flanders and NW6th. Generally open until at least 9:30PM


Ogle has work by prolific and provocative Scott Wayne Indiana. Indiana has organized park land art shows and embedded dozens of axes in the ceiling above art viewers. He is the instigator of the Horse Project, the toy ones attached to rings in the curb from the pre-fossil fuel days; he has been collaborating with Harvest Henderson and Andrea Zittel on the Cali desert Geochain. This month Ogle has 3 Indiana works: "Blown Over", "Door Man" and "one day you motherfuckers will See". He also has a performance at the gallery "Waiting in Line" April 19. Ogle www.ogleink.com 310 NW Broadway


The Elizabeth Leach Gallery has collages of layered paper cutouts and also bright jigsaw puzzles by Al Souza. Fernanda D'Agostino has blown glass sculptures and a video installation. Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW9th


James Lavadour paints seemingly effortless abstract landscapes. Sublime. PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders


Masters Reborn are today's artists reimagining classic old chestnuts from art history. Reimaginary artists inclide Krista Huot www.kristahuot.com, Jeremiah Ketner www.smallandround.com, Makiko Sugawa www011.upp.so-net.ne.jp/makiko/menu.html, Neri www002.upp.so-net.ne.jp/d-bird/, Cristy Road www.croadcore.org/start.htm, Naoshi www.naoshii-u-iii.com, Daniel Lim "fawn fruits" www.daniel-lim.com, Arisu www.arisuart.com, Skaffs www.skaffs.com, Yoshi Tajima www.radiographics.jp, Nishi www.myspace.com/nishi89, Deseo www.deseoworks.com, Anke Weckmann www.linotte.net, Andy Council www.andycouncil.co.uk, Robert Hardgrave www.farmerbobsfarm.com, Kat Leuzinger www.katleuzinger.com, Milk www.myspace.com/logyu, Naomi Nowak www.naomi.se, Re-verse www.hcn.zaq.ne.jp/re-verse/, Annali Olander www.anneliolander.com, Aaron Sikstrom http://seethrou.carbonmade.com/, David Macdowell www.macdowellstudio.com, Miss Kika www.misskika.com, Sophie Varela www.sophievarela.com, Tessar Lo www.tessarlo.com, Ippei Gyoubu www.gyoubu.com, Used bandaid www.myspace.com/gingerbreadcoffin, Matt Linares www.myspace.com/kamikazecauser, Nati www.nati-art.com, Jeni yang (jeya pomkuri) www.jeniyang.com, Leeloo www.june-leeloo.com. All at Compound 107 NW 5th

April 2 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The usual path for art is from artist to gallery, shop, cafe to your wall. Artists often trade works among one another. Art is now finding a home direct through artist websites, Etsy and Myspace. There is a secondary market though, where art is resold. An extreme example are art center auction houses with prices in thousands to hundreds of millions. In contrast, the secondary market in regional art, where it existed at all, has been behind closed doors and conducted in whispers. That is changing.

Seattle artREsource, connected to dealer Greg Kucera, has created a persistent visible secondary market for art. In Portland, Marilyn Murdoch mixes new shows with consigned resale at The Murdoch Collections. A more rational system would follow European droit de suite law, in which artists, or their heirs, receive royalties each time the art is resold. Ideally droit de suite would apply to private sales, and to emerging artists.

Mark Woolley presents a show this month Choice Cuts: Selected Work from Private Collections, a one time version of artREsource. The show is an excellent opportunity to see art of the 1990's in Portland, some earlier. How does that work fit between regional work in the Art Museum and today's art?

Artists include Rick Austin, Rick Bartow, Louis Bunce, Marc Chagall, Tom Cramer, Michael Dal Cerro , Richard Davis, Christian Eckhart, Howard Finster, David French, Gordon Gilkey, Francisco Goya, Paul Green, Anne Grgich, M.K. Guth, Sally Haley, Claudia Hart, Tom Hardy, Tyler Hays, Barry Haram, Charles Heaney, Bill Hoppe, Jerry Iverson, Manuel Izquierdo, William Jamison, Liza Jones, Mary Josephson, Barbara Kruger, LaVerne Krause, Ferdinand Leger, Fritz Liedtke, James Martin, Jack McLarty, Kenna Moser, Royal Nebeker, Alison O’Donoghue, Trude Parkinson, Robert Rauschenberg, Dana Roberts, Ralph Rosenborg, Laura Ross-Paul, Michele Russo, John Serl, Roy Setziol, Ku Fu Sheng, Russell Simmons, Corey Smith, Amanda Snyder, Jay Steensma, Eric Stotik, Jed Thomas, Marie Watt, Milton Wilson and Purvis Young.

At Mark Woolley Gallery www.markwoolley.com 817 NW 2nd

March 27 REBAR Re(MIXING) Landscape

REBAR is an arts group based in San Francisco. They have transplanted samples of offices, like conference rooms and file cabinets, to the desert, and transplanted samples of parks to parking places and bicycles. Orlo, a Portland group creating its own mix of art, literature and environment is bringing them to Portland to speak and agitate. Your ideas and participation are encouraged, maybe re(mixing) Portland's environs. That opportunity would be at the Portland AIA office, 403 NW 11th (x Flanders). Doors 6PM, talk 6:30 $5

March 22 Analog Shutoff as Art

The New American Art Union launches its Couture series with an opening tonight. Ruthann Brown has competitively selected artists to take over the entire gallery with an installation. The opportunity, so rare in Portland, comes with an even rarer stipend.

The first NAAU Coture is The Video Gentlemen - Carl Diehl, Jesse England and Mack McFarland - with their installation Bring Your Own TV (BYOTV).

This affects you. So for a little background, this map shows how radio waves are used in the USA. All the large blue areas are AM radio, FM radio and TV. All of the other little slices are used by everything from garage door openers to WiFi, satellites, taxicabs, navigation for ships at sea, GPS, thousands of little uses. Sidestepping for a moment the content value today of television, the television spectrum is literally valuable, on the order of $5 billion per nationwide channel if it's used for mobile phones. In our democracy, the radio frequencies are considered owned in common by you and me. Thus the government, acting on our behalf, decides who gets to transmit what on each frequency, under the approving authority of the UN. The government decided in the early 1990's, in response to Japanese competition in high definition television, to move TV to digital in a project known as "The Grand Alliance". That situation seems so quaint now. Integral to the move, is shutting off the analog TV broadcasts that began in 1926. (Cable TV, satellite TV and Internet TV are not affected) If your TV gets its programs from an antenna, it will be useless after February 17, 2009 without a converter box and maybe even an antenna on the roof. That is called the "analog shutoff", which was conveniently scheduled to be after the Superbowl TV broadcast.

Note your TV may also be toxic waste because all tube TV's contain lead to keep some of the x-rays in (really). So don't just throw that TV in the trash! The [LCD] flat screen TV's, in contrast, have mercury as a dangerous ingredient for the next few years.

You can read about the Video Gentlemen's take on all of this and bring your own TV to the gallery to receive their artistic transmissions of some pretty awesome content.

The Video Gentlemen reference artists' use of TV and video which is documented in the excellent reference Illuminating Video. Early video artists, such as Nam Jun Paik were invited nto television studios to make work. As equipment became affordable, they moved into the DIY realm. There was a pretty awesome use of infrared video, then available only to the military, in Rauschenberg's Open Score, produced in the 1960's by E.A.T.

The wedge shaped room taking most of the gallery is actually a secret TV studio of circuit bent video gear. It's complete with a green screen to chromakey talking heads live into video's virtual world. The artists will produce live programs from the secret broadcast room at times during the show's run.

The real interests of the show are the videos the artists have selected to broadcast. Check the broadcast schedule, and tune in!

Artists' reception tonight. At New American Art Union 922 SE Ankeny 5PM-7 Free

March 20 ArtSpark!

If you are reading this, you are in the Portland art world. Probably in the segment comprising visual artists, collectors, and creatives compelled to examine the unfolding edge of culture purposed for good. You are probably laying down that front edge.

That's one facet of Portland's art world. But there are more such as institutions like the symphony, museums, theater groups, childrens art programs, dance companies, multicultural arts programs, public art programs and many more.

All this exists beside a representative democracy system elected to tax and spend. The aformentioned groups and the city have created a Creative Capacity Initiative with elements based on the writings of Richard Florida. They have formed two high level advisory boards and are working with RACC which dispenses Federal and State money as well adminstering public art and sculpture projects.

One of the Creative Capacity projects is finding funds to promote Portland's creatives, artists, designers, small fashion labels, exhibitions, and live-work spaces.

ArtSpark is a monthly gettogether with the leaders of the program to meet you. They want to know what you need. If you don't tell them, all the money and effort will go to the aforementioned institutions. So this is your chance. Go to the ArtSpark website and RSVP, then stop by any 3rd Thursday of the month. Tonight it is at the Living Room Theater Lounge, NW 10th and Stark. 5-7PM

February 19 Architects and Carbon Traders Speak

Tonight in a continuing series, Portland architects Jeff Kovel, Carrie Schilling and Bill Neburka speak about their work. Kovel and his Skylab Design Group have built speculative elegant projects such as the East lounge, the Foug Fir lounge, Sinju, soaring modern residences, the mixed use building at SW Alder and 12th, and provided retail design for Nike and Nau. Schilling+Neburka at Works Partnership with its experimental arm, Project Cityscope (responsible Portland Pecha Kucha), have worked extensively with developer Brad Maslin creatively reusing old buildings. It should be a free ranging discussion and it's free! At Design Within Reach, Corner of NW Everett and 12th 7PM


Addressing global warming will require everyone working individually and together. We can do it. It is no secret that over 1/3 of the new money invested by leading Silicon Valley venture capitalists is focused on green projects today. Another emerging business-oriented approach is carbon trading and caps. In this system, carbon emissions are limited to a measurable number, the cap, and each emitter is given credits proportional to their emissions under the cap. Emitters can trade the rights among one another, those investing in reduced emissions can trade their credits to those slower to invest. It is a key element of the Kyoto Protocol. The Western Climate Initiative, under both Republican and Democratic governors, are committed to carbon trading as a mechanism for reducing greenhouse gasses. Tonight's talk in Portland's venture community is on the business of carbon trading. Steve Gutmann from EcoSecurities explains how they facilitate carbon trading in concert with financing new renewable energy projects. The event is sponsored by Tie Oregon, a group of entrepreneurs. At PSU University Place Building 310 S.W Lincoln St. 6PM-9 $35, $15 students.

March 10 Anissa Mack Speaks at PSU

Anissa Mack, famous for baking pies at an art museum and giving them free to passers by in NY, is back. She has shown at Small A. Tonight she speaks of her work, very much in the social practice mold - the idea and connection with and between viewers is the thing. Mack speaks tonight at PSU 5th Ave Cinemas 510 SW Hall Room 92 7:30PM Free

March 7 Eastside Art Openings

Destroy Store has small bright paintings by Nicole Linde. Some look like undersea coral reefs caught in the diver's light and surrounded by blackness. At least that's what she showed at an Everett Lofts studio show. Be surprised. At Destroy www.destroystore.com 1712 E Burnside 7PM-11


In the 811 Block

No one would characterize the art of Grass Hut as lacking character. Thus so appropriate that inaugurating their new space with wider store frontage is the show "Balls Out". Yea enthusiasm! Grass Hut artists Esther pearl Watson, Mark Todd, Luke Ramsey, Martha Rich, Scrappers, Bwana Spoons, Andrew Brandou, Martin Ontiveros, Le Merde, Cupco, Wrecks, Carson Ellis, Brian Ralph, Jeff Soto, Roberta Alyward, Dawn Riddle, Shawn Wolfe, Chris Johanson, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, Rodney Alan Greenblat, David Wien, Maija Fiebig, APAK, Ryan Jacob Smith, Tim Biskup, James Jean, Lisa DeJohn, Reuben Rude, Will McCurtin, Evan Harris, Monica Canilao, Evah Fan, Deth P. Sun, Jesse Reno, Ron Reggie Jr., Kurt Halsey, Clutch, Ryan Bubnis, Chris Ryniak, Arbito, Oliver Hibert, Spencer Hibert, Dave the Chimp, John McCambridge, Colin Johnson, Jun Seo Hahm, Amanda Visell, Joshua Herbolsheimer, Mark Nagata, Farel, Scott Saw, Meredith Hamm, Skinner Davis, Cho-Chan, Jill Bliss, Souther Salazar, Gary Baseman, Kristin Cammermeyer, Mark Warren JacQues, Corey Lunn, Corey Smith and Maja Nakazawa represent! Sharp eyes will note that this is a greatest hits show and for everyone a chance to see the range of art Grass Hut is known for in just one visit. All the artists started with a panel supplied by Bwana and Scrappers but the results are highly varied. At Grass Hut www.grasshutcorp.com

Redux has collage by Sand Francisco artist Lisa Congdon. The shop specializes in art, jewelery and accessories remade from the waste stream. www.reduxpdx.com

All at 811 E Burnside


Newspace is known for straight photography, well curated, ranging to very current. This month they expand with a show based on photography, but incorporating "journal entries, letters, emails, drawings, poetry, found objects and personal keepsakes" in service of a life. That life is a 14 year slice of the photographer Bobby Abrahamson. He has entitled the effort Rabbit, paean to his totem animal, the rabbit, and the rabbit dynamic of running from its fears while at the same time seeking social connection. Maybe also an Updike reference. Part of the project was developed in residency at Caldera. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th


Ann Ploeger has made beautiful portraits of Portlanders at home. Her specialty is an almost faded Kodachrome palate adding instant nostalgia to many of her subject's precious thrift finds; many of them are barefoot too. Her colors though are now shifting to bright hues, almost to the cross processing point. That may be with the controlled assistance of Pushdot who help photographers with color management from scan or electronic file to the final ink jet pigment print. Pushdot has relocated to a new space in the industrial SE, near Newspace and this is the maiden voyage for the gallery attached to their electronic photo printing service. Pushdot www.pushdotstudio.com 1021 SE Caruthers St


Artists Karl Burkheimer, David Corbett, Arcy Douglass, Jeff Jahn, Todd Johnson, Jesse Hayward, Sean Healy, Cris Moss, Jenene Nagy, Joe Thurston, Josh Smith, and Ryan Suther are grist for the show "Dudes Night Out". In the mind of curator Chris Moss, the show is an analogue for the process by which Portland artists exchange ideas and provide support for one another. Recommended. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9

March 6 Westside Art Openings

A standing recommendation are the Everett lofts. See. Respond. One interesting show is "In The Name Of" at Sequential. Artist Shell Frogge has documented white bikes and roadside memorials of autofatals. Frogge's photos are sometimes titles with those lost to collisions between 3000 pound metal and 100 pound people. www.sequentialartgallery.com Sequential Everett Lofts, Broadaway side.


Elise Wagner is an encaustic painter, she teaches encaustic classes and formulates the pigments too. Her show "Particle Maps" incorporates imagery from cloud chambers in which charged particles in high energy physics experiments are bent to spiral patterns by magnetic fields. The texture of encaustic painting gives the feel of medieval illustration; so a mashup of DaVinci and quantum physics. Butters Gallery 520 NW Davis - 2nd floor


Ethan Rose is a musician's musician. Solo, Small Sails, Adelade; he has made somewhat ambient music which in a group could rock out too. It is music for dreams. He has been generous playing for all manner of art events, making them something special. Now he shows an installation themed on music machines, player pianos, in a gallery. Not to be missed at Tilt 625 NW Everett #106 Until 9


James Boulton launched a new generation of large bright abstract painters here. He has spent the last few years getting schooled in LA's art world and this show is the result. Pulliam Deffenbaugh 929 NW Flanders Until 8


British American artist David Hockney is known for pop imagery and collage. Living now in LA, swimming pools have become somewhat of a motif. Usually his work is seen in museums, Augen this month shows prints. Augen downtown 817 SW 2nd


David Levinthal and Jim Riswold are pop artists in culture sampling. Oh so po-po-mo. Often they photograph toy figures of historical icons, like Hitler, Mao, BarbieTM, sports figures, Marie Antoinette. This month it is Jesus, rising from the dead. Augen DeSoto 716 NW Davis


I'm not sure having an art show "Keep Portland Weird" at City Hall is the best mashup for either. Nonetheless, work selected for "great quality, overall weirdness, and inherent Portlandness" can be seen at City Hall early, 5PM-7


Painter Lorna Nakell started with 1950's style illustrations of meals like something from old cookbooks. Her paintings are abstract now and enigmatic. You can see them at Beppu Wiarda 319 NW 9th


Compound has a group show themed on Alice in Wonderland which somehow has an Easter theme, maybe by virtue of the rabbit. Artists include: Yan Wei, Marie 'Mijn Schatje', Suicide, Orkibal, Brett Superstar , Zach Johnsen , Aya Kakeda , Hannah Stouffer, Mr. Gauky, Jason Graham, Eatcho, Johnny Siu, Jeremiah Ketner, Liz Adams, Geneva Smith, Scrappers, Pooka machine, Tatiana Krasovski, Kelly Tunstall, Axelhoney, Makiko Sugawa, Siori Kawamoto, Kate Durkin, Amanda Weathers Bradway, Panni Malek, Juri Ueda, Yagi Tomoko, Mhak, Imaone, Kaz, Questa, Ogi, Ina Takayuki, Naoshi. Compound 107 NW 5th


Laura Fritz shows a video installation Interspace at Quality Pictures. Fritz is known for laboratory-like artwork, enigmatic and maybe a little disturbing, in a good, puzzling way. At Quality Pictures 916 NW Hoyt


Moshi-Moshi has moved from East to West and is now curated by the owner, seller of vintage action toys and the like. So appropriate his first show is art inspired by b movie vintage character actor Mr. T. 916 SW Burnside


P:ear is taking over Backspace with art by kids in the project. P:ear engages homeless kids in art and more. Maybe that will cause them to move on, off the streets. 115 NW 5th 'til late


India, being bigger, has bigger problems, though it's arguable its family structure is more intact. Tonight, early, will be a party at the shop Chinoise. No cover charge, but sales tonight benefit Kids With Cameras project Hope House - Asha Niwas. It's a home for children born in Calcutta's brothels. At Hope House, they receive a free education through high school and an opportunity to form a new life. They also live in a very cool modern building. DJ The Incredible Kid will be playing the Indian subcontinent remixed and there will be complementary wine and vegetarian Indian snacks. 728 NW 23rd 6PM-10 Free


Meanwhile DJ Anjali will be playing vintage Bollywood soundtracks as part of the Hexasion series. Visuals provided by the Pareidolia consortiuma. A Paint and Copter project. Someday Lounge 125 NW 5th 7PM-9 Free

March 5-9 Reed Arts Weekend

RAW is a student planned and managed arts festival. This year's theme is Ghosts! There are plenty of events, installations and workshops. The artwork of Reed students are interspersed with that of visiting artists. It's all free to Reed students and alumni, with a small fee for the public for some performances. Some things of interest to me are the PaperRad show-films, Cat Chow, ghost stories, tEEth, Lucky Dragons and seeing unseen objects in the library. Spooky. Schedule on the website.

March 4 Dine for Darfur

There are plenty of awful things going on everywhere. So unnecessary. Death in the Darfur region of South Western Sudan in Africa is one. I thought starvation was common in Africa, but my experience there was different. Starvation in Africa is caused by drought sometimes, but more often, war. War disrupts farming and the flow of food. It concentrates large numbers of migrants or refugees onto land beyond its carrying capacity. That is Darfur. The conflict is overflowing into the Central African Republic and Chad. It may ignite all of Southern Sudan. It is getting even sadder.

Portland has attracted a center of Darfur concern with NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, born in Yamhill, visiting and writing extensively, the Portland Amnesty International chapter raising funds and awareness, and other local organizations involved. You can't get more involved though, than putting feet on the ground as does Portland's Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps provides emergency medical and relief workers, then works to develop community centered and directed long term programs.

Tonight dine or hoist a beer in a restaurant participating in Dine for Darfur and 25% of the bill goes to Mercy Corps for Darfur programs. So easy. The participating restaurants and taverns are listed on the website. Thank the venue, thank yourself. One night only. So easy.

March 3 Julio Cesar Morales at PSU

Tijuana born Morales studied in the SF Art Institute's New Genres program, graduated and now teaches there. He works in video, performance, murals, photography, tapping the aesthetics of Tijuana street art. A new generation of artists with a cause, Morales examines the Mexican cross border experience. Morales founded the Queen Nails Annex gallery near Bernal on the fringe of SF's gentrifying Mission district and has worked with Oakland's Creative Growth Center (see ANP#6), a program for artists with disabilities. Morales speaks tonight at PSU 5th Ave Cinemas 510 SW Hall Room 92 7:30PM Free

February 29 Newspace Photo Funder

Newspace Photo operates a darkroom, exhibition space and shooting studio in SE. They offer innumerable workshops on imaging at a reasonable price. They are embarked on a plan to do more and do it well.

In support of that, they present their third annual silent auction of photographs. Included are works by Larry Fink, Stu Levy, Hiroshi Watanabe, Cherie Hiser, Shawn Records, Jonathan Brand, Lyla Emery, Joe Glasgow, Dale Strouse, Jim Lommasson, Randy L. Rasmussen, Scott Jackson, Ann Ploeger, Paul Yurkovich, Barrett Rudich, James Nakagawa, Jeffrey Wolin, Jessica Burko, Phil Harris, Angela Cash, Keith Wood, Heather Gonsior, Gene Faulkner, Christine Laptuta, TJ Norris, Audim Culver, Jake Shivery, George Kelly, Faulkner Short, Dolly Winter, Vernon DiPietro, Terry Thompson, Bob Farr, Diedrich Dasenbrock, Myron Filene, Jeff Condit, Rick Regan, Chris Willis, Ann Kendellen, Bill Watt, Blake Andrews, John Blalock, Mariana Tres, Jackson Nichols, Zeb Andrews, Alexis Pike, Chris Bennett and Laura Valenti.

See, and if you like, take some beauty home. Network with other photographers. At Newspace Photo. 1632 SE 10th Ave $10/members free. 6PM-9. Bidding ends at 8.

February 28 Office on the Waterfront

Ziba Design conceived an arts focus to creating community in a neighborhood created from scratch, and a construction zone for the foreseeable future. That would be the South Waterfront, towers opposite Ross Island, at the base of the Tram and fronting the riverfront bike path. Monthly, artists take up residence making site specific art. This month, photographer Chris Rauschenberg presents his work at SoWa. Rauschenberg is known for urban documentary photography worldwide, including Paris, the Portland Grid Project and elsewhere. A world renowned photographer who happens to live here. For this project, Rauschenberg photographed residents and their inside spaces. Visit the project website for a map. AiR Studio Storefront, 3623 SW River Parkway 6:30-8:30PM Free


Art and design is a continuum and it is sad insecurity when one ridicules the other. Office PDX is trying to bridge the gap. Tonight they present the art of two designers. Heather Amuny-Dey, designer, artist and Dora Drimalas, designer, artist and creator of SF store Super-7. 21+ as New Deal is sponsoring. At Office PDX 2204 NE Alberta 6PM-8 Free

February 27 Vision and Hearing Landmarks

Another music+visuals event is an installment of the irregular Vision+Hearing series. The show is themed on Portland landmarks. With Ethan Rose, visuals by Jeremy Bird; Yellow Swans, visuals by Avalon Kalin; Unrecognizable Now, visuals by Rob Tyler; Very Stereo visuals by Matt McCormick; Dj's late Linger and Quiet . Want to contribute your own Portlandific videos? Go to vimeo.com/vhlandmarks. Holocene 9PM $6


This is rarely a political blog. I leave it to others who do it much better. But a unique Oregon phenom is the Bus Project, which is presenting one of their periodic debates tonight. By 2015, young voters will make up a third of the electorate, if they vote. Turnout for young voters is always high, but maintaining the requisite voter registration is difficult if you are moving. The non partisan Bus Project addresses this by registering voters and making politics fun! Tonight they host a debate on Oregon's new domestic partnership law. A real debate on both sides of the issue. It is 21 and over, at Rontoms 600 E Burnside 7PM Free

February 26 Social Responsibility and Photojournalism Explored Through a Lens on Iraq

Perhaps this falls into the category of wishing we didn't know now, what we didn't know then. Photojournalist Joel Preston Smith spent months in Iraq, spanning the time immediately before the 2003 invasion, when its inevitability was clear, and immediately after as well. He documented the everyday lives of ordinary Iraqis. They are ordinary, just like us, and to demonstrate that is the aim of Smith's work. Smith speaks with slides, it's a one night event, sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities. Smith's focus is the responsibility for sensitivity by the documentary photographer in wartime. Maybe a guide to the responsibility for sensitivity in life. At Newspace Photo 1632 SE 10th 7PM Free

February 25 PSU Andrea Bowers Artist Talk

Artist Andrea Bowers speaks on her work. Based in California and CCA schooled, Bowers has a long history of politically inspired work. At PSU 5th Ave Cinemas 510 SW Hall Room 92 7:30PM Free

February 24 Cartunz and Hooliganship of the Good Kind

Combining visuals and music as a form of creative communication is not new. In France in the 1700's a keyboard instrument was developed to play visuals and music together. In the early 1900's, the Society of Prometheans in New York collaborated on audio-video composition, resulting in Thomas Wilfred's Clavilux instrument. Jump 90 years and you have Advanced Beauty and Hooliganship's Cartune Xprez in Portland. They collaborate with musicians, including themselves, to produce animation. Tonight filmmakers E*Rock, Hooliganship, Takeshi Murata, Bruce Bickford, Amy Lockhart, Barry Doupe, Lief Hall, Peter Burr, Josh Mannis, Adrian Freeman and Hooliganship collaborate with musicians and turntablists E*Rock, Hooliganship, the Gay Deceivers, Nollifur and Beyonda. If you have some red-blue 3d glasses, throw them in your pocket as some past Hooliganship animations were made with that in mind. At Holocene. 9PM on $6

February 20 Microfinance in the Developing World

TiE is The Indus Entrepreneurs, also known as Talent Ideas and Enterprise. Not limited in membership to the Asian Indian Diaspora, TiE is a network of entrepreneurs and investors, which is how jobs are created. TiE started in Silicon Valley, home to many garage band startups, such as HP, Apple, Google. Maybe you have heard of them. (This carpet store played an interesting role too) But entrepreneurship also includes your friend's Etsy, shop, web design business. In that vein, microfinance is the business of making small loans to individuals in developing countries. A noted example is the Grameen Bank founded by Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for it. Grameen Phone, an offshoot of the Grameen Bank operates by the same model. Mix microfinance with Hernando de Soto's ideas and you have a powerful combination.

Tonight TiE Oregon presents Chris Brookfield from UNITUS which bankrolls microfinance. He will discuss the microfinance world, its impact on poverty and creating self sustaining microfinance networks. Details at TiE.

PSU 310 S.W Lincoln Street. 6PM-9. $10-$35 - see the website for details