May 6-10 PDX Film Fest 8

If you make films, where do you show them? If you are a filmmaker where do you exchange inspiration? If you are a viewer, where do you go for a challenge? Growing out of Peripheral Produce shows, the film festival is known for quiet films which don't necessarily conform to Hollywood's narrative norms. Highlights include video installations at Gallery Homeland, karaoke to experimental film at Holocene, the World Championship of Experimental Cinema, a competition judged by you, the audience. There are programs of shorts, features, retrospectives and new work. You can see the schedule for details. At the Clinton Street Theater and other locations. $40 festival pass, $7 individual events

May 5 What is the Smart Grid?

We have a great electrical grid in the US but it needs to be better. It is divided into pieces which make electricity sharing difficult from East to West, or to Texas, which is separate. It is demand-based: power plants are synchronized and turned up or down to meet the peak momentary demand. It is fragile, mysterious cascading faults sometimes occur, causing regional blackouts.

It matters to us because we have large sources of hydro power in our region, including the Grand Coulee dam, the 5th largest in the world. We are adding wind, and soon, geothermal.

It will be asked to do more. It needs to be more efficient, including high voltage, long distance DC lines. It needs to manage solar and wind sources, some small, which vary in time. It will feed plug-in hybrid vehicles, which in turn, could contribute back to the grid. It needs to provide detailed information to everyday power users to allow them to make decisions. Finally it will actively manage your appliances, turning them on and off based on supply and more complex billing formulas.

The demand for smart grid technology will be worldwide. That is why inventors are looking at the opportunities. That is tonight's focus.

The Clean Energy Special Interest Group presents An Introduction to the Smart Grid Market.

Panelists include Roger Hicks from Veris on the smart grid and opportunities; John Thornton from Porteon Electric Vehicles on the convergence of vehicles, buildings and electric utilities; and Bill Sproull, from ClearEdge Power on combined fuel cell, heating and cooling systems integrated with the grid. (Note that BPL Global operates in the smart grid software space and has Portland connections. Another resource is Jeff Hammarlund at PSU)

Sponsored by the TiE Oregon Clean Energy SIG Details at the event website.

At 1120 NW Couch Street, Tenth Floor. 6PM-8 $25 advance, $30 door, general. Check the website to become a member.

May 5 Early Film Sampler and Remixer Bruce Connor

The Cinema Project brings cinema on film to Portland, as it was intended to be seen. In many cases, the work of experimental film artists has been too obscure to be transferred to video where it has been preserved. An example is artist and filmmaker Bruce Connor. Connor made painting, assemblage and installation works, but tonight's focus are his films. In 1958, Connor made A MOVIE, a 12 minute short edited together from other films and news with an unrelated soundtrack of Respighi's The Pines of Rome. It would be the early forerunner of films by Godfrey Reggio, such as Koyanaskatsi. The moving image remix culture has spread with legal sources, such as archive.org, readily available ripping software, video remix software used by VJ's and remixing within social communities, even on mobile devices. Tonight is part 1 of 2 programs. Part 2 is included in the PDX Experimental Film Festival, Wednesday 7:30 at the Clinton Street Theater.

Part 1 is in the Art Museum's Whitsell Auditorium and includes:

Cosmic Ray [1961, 16mm, b&w/so, 4min.]
A Movie [1958, 16mm, b&w/so, 12min.]
Breakaway [1966, 16mm, b&w/so, 5min.]
Marilyn Times Five [1968-1973, 16mm, b&w/so, 13.5min.]
Report [1963-1967, 16mm, b&w/so, 13min.]
The White Rose [19667,16mm, b&w/so, 7min.]
His Eye Is On The Sparrow [2006, DVD, b&w and color/so. 4min.]

At the Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium 1219 SW Park 7PM $8

May 4 The Collecting Impulse as Art

Mark Dion makes installations of cabinets of collections. A forerunner of museums were collections made by world travelers and explorers of the leisure class in England. They sponsored archeaology digs; collections of flora, fauna, rocks and minerals; artifacts of all kinds. The collection of antiquities, justified on the basis of preservation, eventually lead to covenants prohibiting their export from the country of origin under the 1970 UNESCO "Convention on the Means of Prohibiting the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property". Very unusual museums, such as the Museum of Jurassic Technology, have drawn MacArthur grants. The very utility of museums is open to question by very life and death practical museums such as the museums of land mines in Kabul and Siem Riep.

Mark Dion taps into our curiosity and popular notions of collecting as art and attempts to question the role of scientific classification of collections. The talks about it at the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series. Look for the sandwich board sign to find the room. Talk in Shattuck Hall, Room 212 or the Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

May 1-3 New York Beat Downtown 81

New York Beat was shot downtown in the City and released in 2001 as Downtown 81. It wanders the streets and scene of New York with then 19 year old graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It is a fascinating home movie in its realism, with a fictional plot and some fantastic characters, such as musician Debbie Harry as the fairy godmother. It's great picture of life in the time, maybe magnified only slightly. Basquiat was to pass of a drug overdose mixing heroin and cocaine only 7 years later. The film languished for 20 years until 2001 when the lost dialog was dubed and the film released. The film meditates on the freedom of the art subculture of that time and place, naively standing at the door of the Reagan-era Wall Street and art boom which would drive Basquiat's work into museums and prices into millions for paintings. Film at PSU's 5th Avenue Cinema 510 SW Hall Street
7:00PM, 9:30 Friday and Saturday 3PM Sunday Free PSU students, $2 for other students/seniors, $3 general and free popcorn

May 1-2 Portland Architecture and Modernism vs Postmodernism

A minor interest of mine is architecture and industrial design. One of the most known mid-century Portland architects is Peitro Bellushi. Beginning in the 1920's he designed sublime residences, the Art Museum, and the still up to date 1948 Equitable Building at 421 SW 6th.

The Equitable was the first with windows framed in aluminum, the first with double-glazed glass, the first to be completely sealed and is designated as a Mechanical Engineering Landmark for its pioneering use of heat pumps for heating and cooling.

In 1950 Bellushi became dean of architecture and planning at MIT.

Another infamous landmark in Portland is the Portland Building designed by architect and industrial designer Michael Graves, then a young professor at Princeton. The building is the result of a design competition which Graves won, twice. Widely lauded as an icon in postmodernist design, Graves tapped into a design and architecture movement in the 1960-70's breaking away from modernism and minimalism by sampling design elements across periods and mashing them up in often colorful ways. In addition to Graves, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and several architects well known today, such as Peter Eisenman, Gehry, Pelli, Koolhaas, Calatrava and Foster had postmodernist phases. Industrial designers influenced by the postmodernism include Ettore Sotsass and the Memphis movement. Some designers incorporated ideas from philosophy, including architect and academic Eisenman, who proposed "weak design", sampling obscure references widely in a way similar to the films of David Lynch.

In the case of the Portland Building, Graves design was widely criticized by fellow architects. I heard at the national architects conference at the time, many sported buttons stating "I don't dig Graves". The design competition was reopened, and Graves won again. His ornament disguises the squat proportions of the building and the small windows, allowing Graves to stay within budget, which the other designs could not. It's easy to see this if you take a look at the building in person. In an ironic twist of fate, Bellushi's design for the competition was not selected. Postmodernism triumphed over modernism. It lays the ground for today's evolved modernism which, in turn is evolving into interactive building, sheathed with LED and future technology screens.

Friday there is a talk by Dr Meredith Clausen from the University of Washington titled "Bellushi vs. Graves and the Postmodernist Breakthrough"

Then Saturday, all day, there is seminar - contact the museum for details.

Whitsell Auditorium, Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park 7PM-8 Friday

Free for Museum members or with Museum admission. Students and faculty of PSU, Lewis and Clark College, and Reed College free with ID. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Museum Box Office on the day of the lecture.

May 1 Eastside Art Openings

NAAU continues its Coture series with work by Stephen Slappe. For Shelter in Place, he has created a fictional narrative of cultural history from 1980's archives of the state of West Virginia. His teenage characters in a three channel video entwine personal fears with mediasphere plays on fears developed to boost ratings. Slappe has a history of sampling and repurposing, this show should be fascinating. At New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny


Grier Edmundson shows paintings "Tomprrow You Will Not Recognize Us". Edmundson samples recent history drawing meaning into the current time period. At Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 1430 SE 3rd 6PM-9 Free


Life+Limb shows illustrations by prolific artist, designer and multicrafter Jill Bliss. It's a perfect warming element to the Life+Limb clean designs and beautifully stark succulent plants. www.lifeandlimb.net 1716 E. Burnside


William Haswell shows Pine Grove Days and is winner of the copywriting award for the month: "William Haswell paints and draws landscapes, occasional map likenesses, and architectural fantasies. Simple draughtsman's lines on paper grow into perspectival studies of hulking masses. Set in wintry mountains, space, and future cities, the work invokes a cold and harsh inter-dimensional narrative where seen and unseen forces are at play resonating out of large looming things, in the quiet solitude of the mountains where nobody sees." The work itself is brush and ink landscape, a sublime meditation on our Northwest. Opening music by Mike Elias and friends. Opening at NATIONALE nationaleportland.blogspot.com 2730 E Burnside 6PM-9 Free


Beneath the Surface: Flora, Fantasy and Fable in Surface Design is an international show by artists curated by Pattern People who put artist patterns on things. It gets artist ideas out into the world of fabric, wallpaper and objects. At Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont


Pushdot Studio has Ten Feet Tall, a group show by UofO BFA students Daniel Strong, Travis Bachmeier, Lindsay AuCoin, Mackenzie Schubert and Sarah Moore. At Pushdot Studio www.pushdotstudio.com 1021 SE Caruthers


Newspace presents Portland artist Rosemary Hammer and Vancouver, B.C. artist Jeff Downer. Both specialize in urban and suburban landscapes. www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th


In the 811 E Burnside Block

J Otto Seibold is a neon colorist. He has some very cheerful pieces this month at the Grass Hut. Books too. At Grass Hut www.grasshutcorp.com

Redux has illustrations by Adrienne Vita At Redux www.reduxpdx.com

May 1 On the Existential Danger of PowerPoint

I began to worry when I heard of parents helping their small children prepare PowerPoint presentations for school. Not because of the dangers of school, children or parents. We live in a world of challenges and we need large amounts of information to figure out how to make it right. That is what Edward Tufte thinks and I concur. He also hates PowerPoint.

Edward Tufte is professor emeritus in political science, statistics, computer science and information design at Yale. He is one of those best teachers you have ever had. His thesis is that we are all very smart; we need and want a lot of information; we are able to use that information, clearly presented to make important decisions.

Tufte presents his ideas in several of the most beautiful books you will ever see: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information; Envisioning Information; Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative; and Beautiful Evidence.

In his books, Tufte presents historical and contemporary examples of data rich graphics with practical suggestions on how to apply the same ideas to your own projects. He argues that PowerPoint structures explanation too simply, leading to poor decisions. He gives examples from NASA in which PowerPoint presentations confused decisions to the point of death. To that end, he has also authored The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within.

In a witty rejoinder, artist and musician David Byrne penned Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information, supporting the use of PowerPoint in art - it's really a conceptual rejoinder, reinforcing Tufte's thesis through irony.

Tufte visits Portland about every 2 years to present a day-long seminar on presenting data and information. I have attended and I recommend it. You will not be bored. Tufte has a side interest in the early history of books. He collects them and has his assasants circulate them, white gloved, through the parcipitants. It is fascinating to see the first edition of Descartes, 1500'ish! Included with registration are copies of Tufte's books, making it a bargain. All the details are at www.edwardtufte.com. It sells out, so register in advance if you are planning to go. At some point he will retire fully, so now is the time to see his presentation if you are so inclined.

At the Portland Marriot Downtown. All day. $380, discounts for full time students or groups registering together.

April 30 What Water Is?

PSU's social practice artists are collaborating with the school's Sustainability Research Project for a night of talk of water. Water is the basis of life, so it is a good focus for art!

Here is the program -
Water 101/How Water Works: The Hydrologic Cycle Presented by Caleb DeChan
Colorless, Odorless & Absolutely Necessary: A Performance Lecture by Linda Wysong
International Perspectives on Water: A Community Forum
Improving Your Relationship with Water: Practical Applications Concerning Collecting, Saving & Using More Sustainably
Appreciating the Willamette: A Group Pilgrimage
Reflection is an Activity: Wearable Water Activism by Natasha Wheat

At the Thursday, SEA Change Gallery seagallery.wordpress.com 625 NW Everett #110 6PM-9 Free

April 29 Polaroid Show

The magic of Polaroid may not be entirely dead, but I would see it while you can. Harvard dropout Edwin Land originally developed polarized sunglasses. In 1948 he developed instant chemistry-based film. The film has been a great scientific tool and an artist favorite. Polaroid has ceased manufacturing, but the Impossible Project has purchased a Polaroid factory and vows to restart. Keep hope alive!

Portland artists Alicia Rose, Jeff Selis, Jan Sonnenmair, Barbara Kinney, Jon Jensen and Lincoln Barbour show their Polaroids, each a unique print. See it at OfficePDX www.officepdx.com 2204 NE Alberta 6PM-8 Free

April 27 Art for All is Good

I believe the purpose of art is to move people emotionally. Otherwise why do it? There is the easy path, for instance incorporating obviously charged material as ingredient. Sampling Holocaust material would be an example, you would be guaranteed a response. I think that is too easy.

Doug Bland is the real deal. Working in community arts with intellectually disabled people he discovered the mix of special, ordinary and extraordinary individuals, together in community art- making environments, works.

Bland creates university research on community art making and societal communication, the raw material of individual identity and cultural evolution.

His talk is part of the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series. Look for the sandwich board sign to find the room. Talk in Shattuck Hall, Room 212 or the Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

April 22 Earth Day and Styrofoam?

This is the 29th rotation of Earth Day around the sun. Green is back. Art is back too at the South Waterfront. The construction zone at the riverside foot of the tram hosts art events as part of its branding activities. Mike Salter takes up residence in the Ross Building studio (map) and will be constructing sculpture from Styrofoam brought by you tonight. Hopefully the art and discards will be recycled! 6PM-8 Free

April 9, 10 event.space.dance.neighborhood

Tahni Holt is a modern choreographer and dancer. She does idea-based work with a strong architectural flavor. .event.space. takes place in the Ace Cleaners event space. The audience outside on the sidewalk will see the dancers inside: .event.space. "reclaim[ing] real time experience yet through the lens of the modern world: transparency and technology. Using methods of technology without actually deploying them .event.space. plays with fast-forwarding, rewinding and slow motioning. Light waves are made visible. Lighting plots are powered by human form, colored animation arises amidst black and white, and a song split in thirds becomes a place keeper of time." At the Ace Cleaners, corner SW 10th and Stark and streaming at www.tahniholt.com. 7PM and 9. Free (donations accepted)


Meanwhile over at Gallery Homeland, which has Ethan Rose's excellent sound installation, Abraham Ingle presents his neighborhood diaries project for listening and discussion. Ingle has been creating neighborhood walking tour podcasts. They put stories to the ordinary spots that are not. More on the neighborhood diaries project at www.hoodturkey.com At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 8PM Free

April 9 What is Interesting?

Many of you know TED, a superb conference of world changing ideas. Russell Davies thought the idea was great too and has started his own series, Interesting. It has been held in London, Amsterdam, New York, Sydney, Vancouver, BC and now Portland.

The principles of Interesting are:

Someone finds an interesting place and asks people to talk about interesting things;

There’s no selling of stuff or services, in the lobby or on the stage, no marketing case studies;

Content is open source, not owned;

Sponsors give tangible things that make the event better;

Tickets are affordable on an individual level vs a corporate one;

It’s organized collaboratively without any one person taking ownership;

Interesting is a goal, not a claim;

And it’s not for profit, extra money goes to a charity, to fund the next one or to the bar at the end of the night.

So an interesting night of interesting talks with an interesting audience of collaborators, you.

The talks are short, you won't be bored. They may not be heavy world changing items, but a few might. You get a chance to meet the 80 year old Norse bartenders. All the details are at www.interestingportland.com At The Norse Hall 111, NE 11th 6:30PM $16

April 6 Spatial Enquiries

Michael Rakowitz makes politically-themed sculpture, sometimes incorporating social process and his own family history. He is giving a talk about it. It is part of the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series. Look for the sandwich board sign to find the room. Talk in Shattuck Hall, Room 212 or the Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

April 4 LA<>PDX Art Exchange at Milepost5

Anna Fidler is a genius at synthetic landscape. She has constructed sea jungle-like, and Chinese landscape-like, views from meticulously cut paper and layered paint. She has made interior installations and work on the land, captured on film.

For this show, she has organized dual exhibitions in Portland and Los Angeles, of artists from both. So in a way, it is an artistic landscape: "Portland’s ebb and flow of dreary winter and resplendent summer, fascination with experimental music, European-influenced urban planning, and bicycle riding seems far removed from LA’s vast, sprawling pocket neighborhoods; each island-like and different from the next, U-turns, car tans, canyons, and fiery Santa Ana winds. I feel that there is much to be gained by an exchange of sorts between these fascinatingly dissimilar cities that I have lived in; united by the commonality of art making. This exhibition was created to incite a curious dialogue between artists, schools, writers, and spaces."

The landscape includes these artist pairs, from LA and PDX respectively: Erik Bluhm+Patrick Rock, Patricia Fernandez+Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Amy Green+Damien Gilley, John Knuth+Sam Gould, Alura Owens+Storm Tharp, Juliana Paciulli+MK Guth, JennyPhelps+Holly Andres, Noah Thomas+Ben Stagl, Amy Tallman+Melody Owen.

To create the work, artists exchanged objects to constitute still life compositions. Only the objects exchanged could be used and none could be discarded.

That is the work you will see tonight in Portland. It's at Milepost5 www.milepostfive.com 900 NE 81st (go by MAX) 7PM-10 Free

April 3-4 Out of Town Butoh in Town

The first Butoh was made in Japan in 1959. The creators, men, realized that women would have their own angle. So women soon joined performances and the rest is history. Performers Joan Laage from Seattle, Krakow, Seoul and Nicole LeGette from Chicago are here for only two nights, late. It is in the intimate performance space at Disjecta, The Headwaters. Details theheadwaters.net/performances/ 8371 N Interstate, right near Paul Bunyan. 10PM $15, 10 artists/students

April 3 Eastside Art Openings

There is art all over the East side Fridays.


In the 811 block

The Squirrels Made Me Do It is a show by Ann Chambers, Joe Ledbetter, Michelle Valigura and Amanda Visell, who has made a pretty bold Paul Bunyan and Babe painting. It's a veritable Northwest Noah's Ark! All great fun at the Grass Hut. www.grasshutcorp.com

Meanwhile the Burnside Queen of reuse, Redux, shows glass and mixed media constructs by Molly Wolfe. Portland is a glass town and the reuse mixed media idea is unusual. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com

The 811 block also subsumes Stand Up Comedy, which is not what you think, but rather a smart clothing and zine store. There too is Sword and Fern, clothing and jewelery.

All at 811 E Burnside


Worksound is a large bold gallery run by an artist. Group shows are a good strategy: plenty of artists here from which to choose, who all have friends, filling the space, and sometimes with music too. Pretty is as Pretty Does Pretty Vacant is a large group show. At WorksoundPDX www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder


In Science Diet, Matt King presents idea-based sculpture and maybe 2d work too. King reuses sometime otherwise discarded material to create smart sculpture. At the smart Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 1430 SE 3rd


23 Sandy has Falling Trees by David Paul Bayles from Corvallis. Bayles captures the blur of trees felled by loggers, perhaps the time the spirit of the tree is traveling to wherever the spirit of felled trees go. My personal philosophy is that things made of trees should last at least as long as the tree took to grow. Yet the grain pattern of my floor underfoot indicates it is surely from trees which lived for more than 600 years. I will not even go into the metaphor of the Lead Pencil Studio's woodburners. Bayles works in film, meaning he dows not know until he gets into the darkroom if he has captured the falling tree's passing. www.23sandy.com 623 NE 23 x Sandy


There are illustrations by Brent Wick further up Burnside next to Urban Art spot Destroy Store. Life + Limb combines a zen view of home, with some very artful plants + art. www.lifeandlimb.net 1716 E. Burnside


A time for Lions is a show by Jonny Fenix and Blake Britton. At Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont


Angela Cash shows Imsomnia, in the Yale school of constructed cinematic narrative in still form. We are visually sophisticated and media smart. This is one photography vector that addresses that. At Pushdot www.pushdotstudio.com 1021 SE Caruthers


TILT was a noted Everett Lofts Gallery, which continues now as a guest curation project. Approximate is an instance, in this case, a collaboration by musician Ethan Rose and sculptor Damien Gilley. It's at Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division

April 3 Noted Japanese Butoh Performer Speaks

Butoh was birthed by Tatsumi Hijikata in 1959 in Japan. Hijikata tapped his birthplace's energy to create a new movement form. It was inspired by the wild energy of nature in the Northern Honshū countryside. Natsu Nakajima was born in the even further North, but came to Northern Honshū as a child when Russia expelled Japanese from Sakhalin. A trained dancer, she is one of the first woman to begin performing with Hijikata, in 1963. In 1969, she formed a small group, Muteki-sha. She created a continually evolving career work Niwa, The Garden. "Niwa is a forgotton garden, very tiny, very Japanese: it is the garden of my memory of childhood. I wanted to see my life from the perspective of a woman seated in a garden, watching it bloom and wither." She continues, "Butoh should reject any notion of symbolism, message, or formalism, and only express its energy and freedom. It is not an art I aspire too, but love." In another expression of compassion, Nakajima worked for many years with handicapped Japanese, establishing programs in many Japanese cities and performing with handicapped dancers. Nakajima-san has been teaching an intimate workshop on her movement ideas in Portland this week. She speaks of her artistic vision at Portland State University today. (quotes from Butoh, Viala and Masson-Sekine c1988)

This is an opportunity to see a seminal Japanese performer and perhaps a glimpse of a very special artistic life. The event is sponsored by Portland State University's Center for Japanese Studies and organized by Mizu Desierto founder of The Headwaters Studio.

At Portland State University. Smith Center, Room 298. Noon. Free

April 2 Westside Art Openings

We are all amateur ethnologists finely attuned to identify. We respond to reflexive similarity and difference in others intuitively. While Edward Curtis' work with indigenous North Americans has been critiqued from many angles, photographs of Africans have not. They still fascinate easily. If the intent of art is to move the viewer emotionally, powerful ingredients are a method. But they must be balanced by narrative and idea. Photographers Beckwith and Fisher operate well within a documentary context with shadings of idea in a focus on major life rituals. I believe contemporary art can do more, and should.

Tonight Oregon photographer Thomas Miller presents his portraits of Africans. This is a great opportunity to respond, considering not only your own ethnographic experience, but its role in art. At Augen downtown.

Amy Archer is master of the repeating pattern. It is almost the texture of knitting large. At Augen on Davis.

www.augengallery.com 817 SW 2nd and 716 NW Davis



Terry Toedtemeier is laughing with us all from the afterlife, and will be as we visit with his 1975 portraits of quotidian life with infrared film. Infrared is radiant energy with longer wavelength than red. Infrared wavelengths span from visible red light, about a hundredth of the diameter of a human hair, to microwaves, less than a third of an inch. Common infrared films respond to wavelengths very close to red. They show a soft monochrome image with some things shifted, tree leaves are white. There is also magic to be made using an infrared flash to make portraits in very dark places unobtrusively. Terry's artistry is taking the ordinary and transforming it into art, from geologic phenomena, to the personal.

Alexis Pike makes landscape photographs of the West. His selective lens captures the dream West painted onto buildings. It is a reassuring reflection of culture and Western culture. Perhaps some of these pieces are public art in their home habitat. In that sense they are charming and unexpected for being so straightforward; surreal too.

At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org 122 NW 8th



A Hunter's Return To The Good Country is a show by by Jessie Bean, Amy Chan, Rachel Denny, Jessica Polka, Brieana Ruais, Michael Russem, and Wesley Younie. Fontanelle wins the copywriting award for the month: "These seven artists offer unique insights into our most primal instincts as hunters and gatherers through a variety of mediums including sculpture, embroidery, painting, drawing, assemblage, and installation. The works on view have all been created with a common passion for collecting, cataloguing, displaying, and questioning elements from our natural and physical world.

After leaving Earth's ancient forests, man suffered the loss of connection to the woodlands it once considered so sacred. In an attempt to patch the gap created by the transition between rural and urban environments, man sought to bring the magic home with them. Some displayed their "hunting trophies" out of pure lust for the beauty of the physical and natural world. Others could not contain their instinctual curiosity and began to examine their gatherings further. They started cataloguing the seemingly dull with an appetite to reveal the wonder of the universe and our place in it. They intuitively knew that through examining even the smallest component, something glorious and new would reveal itself.

The exhibition will appear as a curious reliquary, presenting the artists' nostalgic attempts at exploration by showcasing reinterpreted antiquities. Influences of Victorian era fascination with the natural world can be observed in Rachel Denny's modern version of domestic "taxidermy" wall ornaments made from recycled sweaters. Jessica Polka honors great 18th century scientific discoveries and illustrations with her crocheted and embroidered "specimens", reminiscent of those found in Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities. Michael Russem's delicate graphite renderings of antique postage stamp collections pay homage to some of the most important contributors to 20th century book and letter arts. In addition to other work, Wesley Younie will present the findings of a fictional naturalist in a special diorama installation".

There is music opening night 7PM-9 and later in the month a collectors' night - Show & Tell. Bring an object from your own collection! That is April 23rd at 7. At Fontanelle Gallery www.fontanellegallery.com 205 SW Pine



Chris Rauschenberg shows his landscape photos. Rauschenberg has been making landscape photos, sometimes spanning negatives, showing a Europe ancien, Cuba, and the Souths of this continent with a fresh eye. At Elizabeth Leach www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th



Pulliam gallery has a great representative group show including Linda Hutchins, Jeffry Mitchell, Laurie Reid, Heather Larkin Timken. In one of those which is different from the similar puzzles, Mitchell's ultrabaroque work provides a contrast. At Pulliam Gallery www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com until 8



Musician and artist Phil Elverum shows a series of photographs, Dreams. In music he is The Microphones and Mount Eerie and this work is consistent with that. Photos by moonlight with expired film in old cameras touch lowfi romanticism. In time of rapid change it is just what is needed. In addition to music and photography, Elverum has also published a book Dawn chronicling a winter spent alone in a remote Norwegian town near the arctic circle bearing his name. At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd



The Everett Lofts are always recommended for your viewing pleasure. Start at NW Everett and NW Broadway.

March 30 MK Guth speaks

MK Guth is a Portland artist operating on an international scale. We need more. She started in the craft world. Moving into art, her work became increasingly idea-based. Needing more challenge, she received her MFA from NYU. Her work spans video, installation, creating participatory situations and sculpture. She is a key faculty member at PNCA moving the school into interdisciplinary art. Hear MK trace her artistic inspiration at a talk tonight. It is part of the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series. Look for the sandwich board sign to find the room. Talk in Shattuck Hall, Room 212 or the Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

March 28 Vampires Awake! Lindsies and Roller Girl Bus Projects

I never went through a goth phase and am really not attracted to the dark side. I have seen plenty in real life on international projects. Nonetheless I respect Portland's myriad and curious cultural communities, each unique. Vampires come and go in the cycles of the cultural zeitgeist at large while little Portland's grey skies seem to provide an environment for them to thrive year round. Yearly they have a big costumed dance party, the Vampire Ball. 100% costumed attire is required. See their web site for details.


Bethany Ides is a semiotician at heart and she has engaged those engines to produce an engaging meditation on Lindsies. It is a one night performance, a blog of research and a chapbook.

APPROX L stars The Lost Linden Choristers, Chase "Lynzay" Evans, Patsy "Lindenna" Gelb, Brianna "Lynn Zi" Farina, Morgan "Llinsy" Alexandra Ritter and David "Lindsay" Weinberg.

At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM $5-10


Its a 2 on 2 bout of Portland and Seattle rollerderby teams. The Rose City Rollers are back at the Expo Center. Go By Train. Check their website for details, including a roller-themed comic release the evening before. Their big shows often sell out without help from Andrew Dickson. http://rosecityrollers.com/rosecityrollersevents.php Doors 5PM, roll 5:45. $14-20


Meanwhile the Bus Project is having an economic recovery BBQ party food drive bash. Music includes Cap Ducal, The Bad Assets, and Les Estrangers. The Chain Reaction mini bike powered performance troupe will be there for your pleasure. At the World Famous Kenton Club at 2025 N Kilpatrick 7PM-midnight 21+ $10 donation, or $5 donation + cans of food for the Food Bank

March 26 Office Relish and Art

Office presents the paintings of Portlander Trish Grantham. She is well known and loved for her quirky figures trying to figure out life. At Office www.officepdx.com 2204 NE Alberta Street 6PM-8 Free


Then over at Relish see the work of and hear Wesley Younie. Younie is an illustrator and creator of extraordinary terrariums. At Relish www.shoprelish.com. 1715 NW Lovejoy 6PM-8, talk 6:30 Free

March 25-26 Brighton, UK Cinema Project

Brighton is a seaside town known for the arts. Ben Rivers is a Brighton filmmaker who also presents a film series, the Brighton Cinematheque. Tonight he presents his own films. They are meditations on landscape and its inhabitation in the tradition of James Benning and Andrei Tarkovsky on film's rich color palette. The artist will be in attendance.

More details at the Cinema Project website www.cinemaproject.org.

At the new Cinema Project space 11 NW 13th Ave, top floor. Elevator access is provided, please come to the door to request. 7:30PM $6

March 21+ Pancake Raga Music 24/7

Saturday is your full rainy day of potential fun. The Box Game is a traveling participatory art project. The creators are traveling everywhere in March to gain your participation in a gigantic sort of Monte Carlo simulation. At each location, the sealed black box will be set up. Participants, you, fill out a secret ballot proposing a description of what is in the box. At the end of the month long multi-city process, the organizers will read all the ballots and construct their interpretation of the amalgam. Then you can find out the impact of your guess at their web site www.boxgame.org. The Portland instance is at the Pancake Clubhouse Historic Township and Activity Destination for the Living arts (welcomes you). Later there is a music performance with Mikah Sykes and the Pearly Everlasting, Love Menu, Sleep Togetherand Ben Kamen in the small space. At pancakeclubhouse.blogspot.com 906A NE 24th Pancakes and game 9:30AM-noon, music 7PM-11 Free


Now take a nap to recharge.


Kalakendra presents a non-traditional mashup of North and South Indian musicians, also interesting as it is a jugalbhandi, a performance by two soloists of equal stature, and neither acting solely as lead or accompanist. Shashank Subramanyam, 30 is a leading carnatic flutist; Shahid Parvez Kahn is a renowned sitar performer. Produced by kalakendra.org. At the Intel Jones Farm conference center auditorium (JFCC). 2111 NE 25th Ave, Hillsboro 7:30PM $20 advance, $25 at the door


The destructiveness of war on all levels is incomprehensible. The United States has been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for 7 years. To end it we need psychic recharge and music is one path. With this in mind, join in a 24 hour performance by hundreds of Portland musicians meditating on the last 7 years beginning and ending at 7: 24/7.

Hourly musicians perform classical and 20th century music on acoustic instruments mapped by this schedule. Some will be broadcast live here or there. I love the sound of acoustic instruments live and have spent enough time in the recording studio of a music school to be able to hear the difference between live and recorded. As a result, many synths designed to resemble instruments drive me crazy. This is a chance to hear real instruments live in a native habitat.

All of this takes place in the soaring ad agency atrium from 7PM Saturday until 7PM Sunday. End it at 7. At wk.com 224 NW 13 Free

March 20 Monkish Belly Dancing

Why is bellydancing on this blog? Because it is an interesting international creative community's Portland instance. Znama is a fusion bellydancing ensemble, meaning they sample other movement styles, such as flamenco and tango, and incorporate them. They join other belly dancers in a cabaret of style-transgressing bellydancing at The Blue Monk, 3341 SE Belmont 7PM-9 Free

March 19 Talking About PNCA

The Northwest Design Within Reach store holds periodic engaging panel discussions and interviews. Tonight with the president of PNCA, Dr. Thomas Manley. Manley has overseen the beginning of a transformation of a small school with strictly defined traditional departments: painting, sculpture, graphic design, photography, printmaking; a dedicated, but static faculty; once part of the Art Museum. Now there are multiple buildings, more majors, an MFA program and the merger with the Museum of Contemporary Craft, which could potentially accommodate very artistic product and object designers - design within reach. Hear from the source what is up. At Design Within Reach 1200 N.W. Everett 6PM doors, talk 6:30 Free

March 13 Congo Skate Home

This evening Amnesty International hosts a discussion on the loss of millions, about 10% of the population, in the Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire. This is not a tribal war by Congolese. Congo has about 500 tribes who get along swimmingly. When the country became independent from Belgium, nationalist leaders tilted to the Soviet Union for aid, prompting the US government to install Mobuto Sese Seko in 1960. Cinematic references include Lumumba and When We Were Kings. Ruling colorfully, cruelly and kleptomaniacally until 1997, he was replaced by elements tied to Rwanda and Burundi who controlled Eastern Congo after the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The last 15 years of chaos has resulted in the death disruption of the society, primarily through starvation, disease and the violation of human rights. What can be done? The presenters, from the Eastern Congo themselves, argue that the US government allows or disallows, by focus or inaction, each problem worldwide. The problem in East Congo is a result of failure to intervene in Rwanda in 1994 under the Clinton's and secretary of state for Africa Susan Rice. Now is the time to write to now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN ambassador Susan Rice to urge a focus on the problem created on their watch by the Rwandan genocide. Note the decision to not intervene in 1994 was largely influenced by the failure of UN and US efforts in Somalia. This is told cinematically in Black Hawk Down. The situation in Somalia was qualitatively different with fierce battle hardened militias in stark contrast to ordinary populace and irregulars in Rwanda who would have easily been disarmed by a small organized peace force. www.aipdx.org 7:30 PM at the First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Free


Gallery Homeland opens TransFixed work by Sara Nyquist , Laura Hughes, Danridge Geiger, Calvin Ross Carl & Rainbow Ross. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9 Free


Meanwhile skate themed photos by Bryce Kanights, Grant Brittain, Jon Humphries, Joe Brook, and Ryan Flynn are gathered in a show Seen of Change at the Artery 4114 N. Vancouver 6PM-9

March 12 Has It Really All Been Done Before

The Art Museum has a surprisingly active engagement with Portland artists alive and local. An example are a regular series of informal talks by Portland artists in the museum starting with pieces in the collection which inspire them. Artist TJ Norris has selected work by Sol Lewitt and Marcel Duchamp as his starting point. If interested, meet promptly at 6PM at the side entrance by the courtyard. Drinks and discussion finish the evening. The museum is rarely free and this is no exception, so you will have to pay admission, which would argue for making an afternoon of it. Note you can join for a year of unlimited admission for $55 for one person or $85 for two. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM $10, 9 students

March 10 Bike Community Turning Tragedy to Triumph

I am on a personal crusade against bad news and this is part of it. Imagine your best friend is involved in an accident in India and is in a coma there. What would you do? My friend Eliza is facing that now with her best friend forever Hollis in that very situation. This story has a happy ending in which you can particpate.

Eliza, also known as Agent Chaos was a member of the Sprockettes bicycle performance collective. She is infamous for fighting evil crime - reclaiming a stolen bike! Synchronized bike dancing was created in Portland by the Sprockettes and has spread to Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Eugene and rainy Manchester. When Agent Chaos relocated to San Francisco she started the Derailleurs with Hollis Hawthorne, Agent Verve. While the Sprockettes color theme pink, the Derailleurs theme turquiose and bling. Awesomely happy news so far.

Hollis was traveling in India with her boyfriend and was very severely injured in a motorcycle accident. She is in a hospital in India in a coma. All the details, which are not a happy story, are related by Hollis' boyfriend who saved her life at friendsofhollis.blogspot.com.

Agent Chaos, Hollis BFF for sure, sprung into action and has activated an international network to help Hollis. She has helped Hollis' parents set up all the medical help needed in California and convinced the Stanford Medical Center to donate care. A non profit group has been established, Paypal donation, websites, blogs, Google groups. It is a huge collective effort. Through the magic of the Internet Hollis' friends and friends of friends are organizing everywhere to help. The mothership for these efforts is www.friendsofhollis.com. So we are definitely into the pretty awesomely good news zone.

The big focus is to get Hollis home and to Stanford which requires an air ambulance service, with accompanying doctor to keep her alive. Donations have been coming in in small amounts, Obama-style. There are benefits in New York City, San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, Ottawa, Salt Lake and one in Portland.

Portland's benefit is a FUNdraiser and celebration. That means FUN with Japanther, members of The Yard Dogs Road Show, Riot Cop, Drunken Boat, Early Times, a performance by The Sprockettes and a kissing booth. If you are in a bling mood, gold attire is encouraged!

It is Tuesday March 10th, 316 NW 4th 7PM Donation 100% to Hollis $5-$2000.

Spread the word and make some good news!

March 9 Building Art From Historical Reference and Building Things That Don't Fall Down

I am finding it difficult to describe the neo-baroque rearrangement of samples in the context of cultural history by artist J. Morgan Puett. Her work ranges event, installation, food, architecture and clothing as well as creating environments for artist residency and social practice in the form of workshop. I would just say that the work has great potential at reaching the contemporary art nay sayers in the culture wars.

The best art engages the viewer emotionally and intellectually. The intellectual engagement is sometimes over dependent on a prior knowledge of insider language learned in art school or time consuming engagement with the contemporary art world. Using that language wisely is essential, but the artist will be more effective if the casual viewer or child can also connect with an idea in the art.

Emotional engagement can enter by association with previously tagged experience for the viewer. It can also enter in the interplay between the familiar and the novel, responses I'm convinced have a biological basis in brain receptors we all share. The familiar is reassuring comfort food, gemütlichkeit, family, home, tradition. The novel is the shock, joy, curiosity, thrill or unexpected humor of the new.

All idea and no emotion is a sad combination, doubly tragic in the absence of beauty.

To see if you agree that this artist successfully combines it all, see her website and come to her talk. It is part of the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series. Look for the sandwich board sign to find the room. Talk in Shattuck Hall, Room 212 or the Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free


Structural engineers use calculation and models to help make sure things built up don't fall down. No guarantees though. It is very important that your project not become a case study in a book like Why Buildings Fall Down. This is especially relevant here where we face a very powerful earthquake every 300-600 years at the Cascadia subduction fault. The last earthquake was in about 1700. (If you are interested in earthquakes, and use the Firefox browser, take a look at eQuake Alert)

Tonight senior structural engineer Anne Monnier discusses her work at KPFF Consulting Engineers, the firm that does most of the structural engineering work for large buildings in Portland.

Monnier grew up in a Danish engineering family and took and engineering degree in Denmark. Her discussion reviews recent projects in the context of seismic, green and sustainable and her view of what we need to be focused on next.

So if you want to know how the 12 lane bridge over the Columbia River built on 150 feet of silt is going to perform in an earthquake while you are traveling over it on your bike or the light rail, this talk may engage your curiosity.

The event is part of the Bright Lights discussion series. It is at Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Ave. 5:30PM, Talk 6. Free

March 8 Women and Hip Hop

The IFCC hosts a hip hop cabaret, The "B" Word - A Celebration Of Women's Influence on Hip-Hop Culture. This is taking hip hop dance and word into the world of the stage and audience. Spoken word, poetry and dance. Performers include: Othello of Lightheaded, Syndel of Old Dominion, Libretto of Misfit Massive, popping performance from Ra Boogie and Poppin' Joon as JoonRA, breakdance performance from Biscuits & Gravy, Toni Hill of Sirens Echo, DJ ComputerFAM & Sugarman of The BBM, a hip hop choreography performance from Unseen Dance Company and MC Mic Crenshaw of Hungry Mob.

At the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center 5340 N Interstate Doors 6PM $12, 10 students.

March 7 Design Jam Competition & House of Sound

The House of Sound was a legendary vinyl store and community gathering place at N Williams and Beech. The building housed a barber shop, grocery and beauty shop with roots to a vibrant African American community that thrived in the area, and was severely impacted by the condemnation of neighborhoods to build I-5, the Memorial Coliseum and Emmanuel Hospital. In January 2008 the House of Sound building was torn down, inspiring artist filmmaker Vanessa Renwick. The neighborhood once had a vibrant culture and black music united the family. Renwick has interviewed people in the neighborhood weaving a touching story of the time and change. Her films and recordings form an installation at New American Art Union. For opening night, the Winter Solstice Puppet Collective, accompanied by the Evolutionary Jass Band, presents a performance inspired by a poem of one of China's most revered poets, Tu Fu. Tu Fu, lived between 712 and 770 during the Tang dynasty, a period of incredible creativity and government support for arts. In the poem, written after a period of 5 years unemployment, Tu Fu describes sleeping at the office, too weary to return home through a community disrupted by unrest. At the New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny Opening 6PM-9, performance 7:30. Free


Cut & Paste is an international design competition. There must be some reality TV equivalent, but I am ignorant of that. Teams are given an assignment. Before judges and audience they create their design in real time. The categories for the design challenge are 2D, 3D and motion graphics so there will be plenty of entertainment. You can see examples, including video, at the Cut & Paste website. I'm not sure of the project's characterization of Portland as "the new Bohemia" but I understand the reference. I would prefer "the new Black Mountain College". The Portland Cut & Paste www.cutandpaste.com/events/2009/mar/7/portland/ takes place at the Portland Art Museum Ballroom in the Masonic Temple Building corner of SW Main and Park. 18 and over only. Doors 7PM, competition 7:30. Tickets $15 advance $20 door

March 6 Eastside Art Openings

In the 811 block, Redux has mixed media work by Barbe St John. www.reduxpdx.com Meanwhile over at Grass Hut see curio-logicals. curio-logicals are Colin Johnson, Kristin Cammermeyer, Dan May, and Elizabeth Haidle. www.grasshutcorp.com 6-9ish


The Pancake Clubhouse presents the artists of Full Life! Full Life! is a place for artmaking by disabled people. They are making music, art, theater and film, much as those at Oakland's Creative Growth, poingantly profiled in ANP Quarterly #6. Music tonight too. At Pancake Clubhouse Historic Township and Activity Destination for the Living arts (welcomes you) pancakeclubhouse.blogspot.com. 906A NE 24th 6PM-10 Free


May Juliette Barruel and Tamar Monhait present photos American Blur at Nemo Design. Themed on the blur which is what we think of as American: american pie. american eagle. american literature. american football. american cars. american dream. american english. american flag. american express. american dollar. american airlines. american idol. american frontier. american pitbull. american presidents. american blur: That is a lot to think about. At Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free


Fourteen30 has Under a Vanishing Night: LA artists Kim Fischer, Sayre Gomez, Richard Jackson, Brian Kennon and Natascha Snellman nee of Portland. Several of the artists are related by studying with one another. Well worth the visit. Details at www.fourteen30.com 1430 SE 3rd 6PM-9 Free


Life + Limb has San Francisco artist Kristine Reano. Her work is also on this sweet store's website www.lifeandlimb.net 1716 E. Burnside 6PM-10


Daniel Shea shows Removing Mountains and Coal River documenting strip mining by mountain removal in the Appalachian Mountains. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th


Pushdot has bright digital prints by Ed Muscle. Details of the show. www.pushdotstudio.com 1021 SE Caruthers

March 5 Westside Art Openings

If you have time this afternoon, there is a curious artist, architect, industrial and clothing designer, Eugene Tsui. It is very 70's style and his work spans the US and China. He does have some wild ideas about zoomorphic and solar clothing. He is giving a clothing design workshop this afternoon. Details at web.reed.edu/raw/2009/schedules.html 5:30PM-7. Free


For your guided tour of art this evening consider...

Start at Stumptown Coffee downtown for a crochet show. It is not exactly knitting graffitti, but more figurative work. Jo Hamilton started on this path with a bet by Le Pigeon coworkers to crochet their portraits. The show includes a knitted cityscape too! At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd


Then around the corner to Fontanelle. Ryan Jacob Smith curates a show of music cover illustrations by friends, Long Live the Ephemeral. At Fonatanelle www.fontanellegallery.com 205 SW Pine


At the DeSoto building there are plenty of things to see such as the Nines Gallery in Blue Sky, this month Christine Clark fills the space with wire sculpture. A special treat is the installation by Mandy Greer at the PNCA Museum of Contemporary Craft. The Desoto building is bounded by Park, Davis and NW Broadway.


The Everett Lofts are always a great entertainment value. They are bounded by NW Broadway, Everett, 6th and Flanders.


Then back to Valentines for Soft Currency by Tamar Monhait and Nate Preston. DJ's accompanying your viewing pleasure until late. At Valentines myspace.com/valentineslifeblood 232 SW Ankeny

March 5 Bus Project Politics is Fun!

The Bus Project is a model for democracy. Politics are not boring. Politics are fun! One of their projects are get togethers over beer to hear discussions on public policy and participate in them. We live in a econosphere of federal, state, metro, county, city and personal policy. To calibrate, the federal budget is about 4 trillion (we send more tax to Washington than we receive back); the Oregon State budget, 8 billion (Portland sends more to poor counties than we receive); Multnomah County, 300 Million; the City of Portland, 2.5 billion.

This evening join host Steve Novick, budget polymath and US Senate candidate, for a discussion of what is happening with the Oregon budget. Steve is the hook guy. You can have an impact - those people in Salem are hungry for real world passion.

Bus Project get together at Backspace 115 NW 5th. All ages. 7PM Free

February 28 Disjectas

How appropriate that the Nowhere collective would do a residency at the Center for Land Use Interpretation. But that is not all. 24 artists form their interpretation of the kitchy West in (((Dreamcatcher))). Want more? Musicians Rob Walmart, Cars and Trains, Hair Envelope, White Fang, Big Spider's Back and Universal Studios Fl perform. All Disjecta. www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate near Paul Bunyon. All the time 6PM-10. All free

February 27 Design

Design can provide as much pleasure as art and often more. Portland is long over the craft v art contest. Tonight a few designers of furniture - functional art - show their work. The Egg Collective, Sara Huston, Jason Krzmarzick, Jennifer Freudenberger, Studio Gorm, Merkled and the Design Department show work at the ADX Furniture Dig. www.ddadx.com 315 SE 9th 6PM Free

February 24-25 Mini Golf Madness

Not all art must be serious fun, it can be fun fun too. That is the case for the artist-designed mini golf links at Holocene. The twelve all star teams creating holes this year are: Jack Bouba & Stacey Mairs; Jesse Pardun, Carl Jansen & Nate Lee; Drew Marshall & Heather Campbell; Scott Mazariegos & John Larsen; John Bacone; Jason Kentta & David Bertman; Tom O'Toole & Ada Mayer; FLAVOURspot; SCRAP Creative Re-Use; Together Gallery featuring Timothy Karpinski, Seth Neefus, & David Wien; Pony Club Gallery and The Pancake Clubhouse Historic Township and Activity Destination for the Living Arts (welcomes you!).

This is always a fun and lively event. You get to vote for the best design team which will receive a hard earned prize of $1000 for their madness. It's at Holocene www.holocene.org 6PM-close $8

February 22 Sun King vs Wolves and Urchins!

The Art Gym is a gym at a college repurposed to gallery. It can be a little hard to find - check the university map. This month two shows share the space. Hayley Barker, Wendy Given and Anne Mathern present Wolves and Urchins, inspired by the duality of our attractions to and fears of wild nature. Bruce Conkle and Marne Lucas perfect a theme they have been developing - Warlord Sun King. Sampling nature with an ironic Northwest eye, they make wry comment on our relationship with the wilds. At the Marylhurst Art Gym, in the admin building "A" South end, upper floor. Opening 3PM-5 Free.

February 21 Art at Milepost 5

Milepost 5 continues its visual program with several group shows. Each show gets a floor and the mix of artist curators provides aesthetic variety. Live music. All at Milepost 5 900 E 81st. 7PM-9. Free

February 20 Art & Performance

At Reed College, artist Liza Ryan speaks on her installation now showing in the gallery. Talk 6:30PM Eliot Hall 314 Free


Those who have seen Portland's Water in the Desert performance festivals, such as the ambitious and spectacular Midsummer Night's Dream at Peninsula Park last summer, know the pleasure of a beautiful performance involving dozens. The festival is free. Tonight is a benefit in support of this summer's festival. Performers include Kyai Guntur Sari, Gamelan; Maureen Freehill “momo”, butoh; Adam Hurst, Cello; Miriam Burke, Javanese Dance; Kyogen Theatre by PSU's theater lab; Mizu Desierto Butoh Theatre, the core of the summer festival and Soriah with Ashkelon Sain, Tuvan Throat-singing. There is a dance party after until late. At Someday Lounge 125 NW 5th. Performances commence 8:30PM. Benefit tickets $15-30

February 19-21 Undine

Faith Helma, one half of Hand2Mouth's dynamic duo, presents her one person show Undine. Inspired by the intense lives of self destructive rock stars, Helma tells a modern fairy tale with the musical assistance of Peter Musselman, DJ Brokenwindow and John Berendzen. At Conduit, 918 SW Yamhill, 4th floor. Reservations mail (at) hand2mouththeatre.org or 503-235-5284 Thursday & Friday, 7:30PM; Saturday 7:30, 9:30. $10

February 19 Ignite 5

Ignite is a series of short talks that sells out its free tickets in 5 Twitteriffic minutes. The talks this month look good. At the Bagdad Theater General admission doors 6:30PM, Program 7. Free

February 12 Innovation / Symbolism / Art Stuff

Office PDX is the lone outpost for modern design on Alberta. The psychological support provided by subcultural reassurance in an Oregon Country Fair vibe supports for some Maslow's heirarchy, as it should.

The Office partner duo has a different focus: mid 20th century design to now, which draws psychological sustenance from a Bauhaus philosophy that continually evolving aesthetics support the aspirational needs of all. It is the progressive pole of the brain chemical dynamic of novelty and familiarity.

Tonight Office presents Innovation in a Recession, by Skylab, Laika, Nike. Each has a different timescale: films many years, architecture a few fewer, shoes months.

At Office www.officepdx.com 2204 NE Alberta Street 6PM RSVP required - shop@officepx.com Free


Meanwhile at the Art Institute, University of New Mexico professor of design Maggie Macnab speaks on symbolism in design in support of her new book Decoding Design: Understanding and Using Symbols in Visual Communication. It is a purpose focused view of visual semiotics, something we do without being conscious of it but as a designer is useful to know. At the Art Institute of Portland www.artinstitutes.edu/portland 1122 NW Davis 7PM rsvp required to Allena Baker at abbaker (at) aii.edu Free

M K Guth is a Portland OG craft artist who transitioned to art with schooling in NYC. A forte is video art; work at the Portland Art Museum in installation has shown also at the Whitney Biennial. Guth speaks on some other projects at the museum. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org. 6PM Free or museum admission

February 12-16 Minibikes!

This is a closely curated blog. One vector are cultural explorations beyond sustainable visual art. Those experiences keep creatives fresh. An example are the confabs of the Zoobomber/ messenger/ bike fun-loving community. Mini Bike Winter is that. Brave can find pointers at zoobomb.net/minibikewinter Superbrave can enter the chariot jousts.

February 10 Noh Cave Art

Paintings on the wall of a cave in Lascaux, France are one of the earliest records of art making in the service of society - 16,000 years old. Made in the Würm Ice Age, they recorded knowledge of hunting, critical for survival. This predates the hypothesized breakdown of the bicameral mind, leading to rapid modern development, about the time of the Greek civilization. Professor emeritus George Johanson taught at PNCA (the Museum Art School) from 1955 to 1980. He recently visited the caves and speaks of his experience. At PNCA www.pnca.edu 13th and NW Johnson 6:30PM Free


Noh is an ancient minimal theater of Japan. Tonight Shizuka Mikata performs Noh in its sublime authenticity. Accompanied by actor Michiharu Wakebayashi, flute player Manabu Takeichi, Kotsuzumi drummer Ichiro Kichisaka and Otsuzumi drummer Masaru Kawamura, Mikata performs and speaks of his art. "Shizuka Mikata was born in Kyoto in 1966 as the eldest son of Noh performer Ken Mikata. He made his first appearance on the professional stage at the early age of 5, followed by his first leading role at 12. Mikata went on to apprentice with legendary Noh master and Japanese living national treasure Kurouemon Katayama." So this is the real deal.

Noh is very, very, very slow and formal, so be prepared. Just YouTube Noh. Maybe we can learn to slow down sometimes to the Japanese vibe. Wabi sabi is a great frame in these times too.

Sponsored by the Japan Foundation. At the Performing Arts Center Winningstad Theatre. www.pcpa.com 1111 SW Broadway x Main downtown, 7PM sharp. Free

February 9 Talks

Rick Lowe is an activist artist architect planner. His inspirational projects show social practice work spans each. Most importantly, it is the kind of good news so sadly lacking. At the urging of neighborhood kids who knew the community's real needs, Lowe redirected his studio art practice in an entirely new direction. Lowe organized a group of artists to buy a few contiguous blocks of row houses scheduled to be leveled in a very depressed community. The artists transformed the houses into a creative utopia of homes, galleries, child care spaces, spots for visiting artist residencies, a school and homes for people who needed them. Lowe's work predates and presages many ideas of Richard Florida as well as some early ideas of Mark Lakeman's City Repair project which urged more flexible live, work, shop opportunities in a few block radius. The idea that creative designers can contribute business and economic insights was also adopted in the early millennium by management guru Tom Peters, while many of Lowe's principles support the New Urbanism credo which began to establish currency in the 1980's. To an extent, Portland developers incorporate the art community into identity and branding in some development. Pioneered by developers with personal interests in art such as Jim Winkler and Al Solheim, it was made into a repeatable process by the branding element of Ziba Design. It was an part of the Queen Street West developments in Toronto as well. Local developers Randy Rappaport, Brad Malsin and the developer of the Ford building have curated creative businesses into their developments. Yet a truly revolutionary project that respects our established planning principles, revolutionizes a community in need and takes advantage of the very large dedicated cash flows in PDC's 30% setaside for affordable housing eludes Portland. Perhaps Lowe's talk can be the beginning of that inspiration. He speaks as part of the Portland Spaces magazine Bright Lights lecture series at Jimmy Mak's (jazz bar by night), 221 NW 10th Ave. Doors 5:30PM talk 6 Free


The PSU Monday Night Lecture Series presents Julie Alt. Alt spans creation, curation and editing and is a cofounder of the art collective Group Material. Combining these roles is commonplace today, yet is still criticized in some quarters, unnecessarily in my view. Hear Alt's version. Talk in Shattuck Hall, Room 212, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

February 7 Breaking it Down Capitalizing on Disaster Handcrafted In C

Watch Me Break It Down is a show of four video pieces by artist filmmaker Julie Perini. Perini has been working in social practice and some films document that. Others are idea driven meditations. There is even lighter pop culture sampling work. See it all along with musical accompaniment by the Blue Cranes at PSU's MK Gallery. Upstairs at 2000 SW 5th. 6PM-8 Free


Disaster Capitalism is a show about capitalizing on unanticipated disasters in art making. It happens. Materials have their limits and artists are driven to experiment with the new. That is the perfect recipe for disaster. The trick is to transform the disaster. Artists Gordon Barnes and Mandee Schroer present their disaster-driven collaboration which will likely be lovely. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9 Free


The Fine Grind Art Cafe opens Handcrafted, work by Portland artists Lesley Reppeteaux, Blaine Fontana, Tim Karpinski, Byron Schroeder, Jason Brown, Chris Habberman, Jessie Reno, Chris Wellock, Tom Keating, Ryan Bubnis, Christofer Ross, Mike Fields and J. Shea. At 2035 SE 39th 6PM-10 Free


In C may have been the first minimalist composition. Built upon 20th century composition and some branches of musique concrète, it also leaves to the musicians many choices in its playing and can be played by a variable number of musicians as in this performance by 124 musicians. Composer Terry Riley has gone on to a deep study of Indian classical music and occasionally performs in Portland. Dress in white, bring a sitting implement and refreshments. At the Lightbar. 7:30ish


Portland's Japanese Garden is widely considered the most authentic public garden outside Japan. Carved from forest in the mid 1960's, for the first 30 years it has had a series of gardeners from Japan, each placing their imprint, building and rebuilding. For the last about 10 years, the garden curator has been an international scale Portland designer born in Japan. It is possible for a small fee which pays for itself with only a few visits to be a member of the garden. Today the members gather to hear the new garden curator Sadafumi Uchiyama share his thoughts on the garden. Uchiyami learned Japanese landscape design from his grandfather, father and uncles, achieving certification in Japan at age 21, the youngest in his region. Studying Western design at University of Illinois, he now consults on design projects worldwide. At the Portland Japanese Garden www.japanesegarden.com 1PM

If you are in San Francisco tonight is the Chinese New Year Parade. There is also the seriously puzzling fun of the Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt!

February 6 Are you Bored?

What is your best entertainment value of free events? Start at Pancake Clubhouse, Good Gallery, Worksound, Nemo, then 811 E Burnside. Head up to Nationale, Destroystore and Life and Limb. Migrate over to Newspace Photo and take in Pushdot. Then over to Lightbar.

February 6-March 7 African Films

The Cascade Festival of African films is a wonderous thing. Spanning a variety of countries yearly, it is the only way to see some of the films. Best of all - free. Full datails at www.africanfilmfestival.org

February 5 TED Talks Open

TED Talks are a guiltless pleasure. Fifty 18 minute talks comprise an invitation only conference over four days yearly; a companion international conference is held biennially, last in Arusha, Tanzania. The talks span loosely technology, entertainment and design. In practice, there is a world changing vibe, but the entertainment can be weak. The world changing aspect is real, owing the mix of world thought leaders and an entrepreneurial audience who network at the event.

Many of the talks are professionally archived at the website TED.com where you can watch them free. The conference has made explicitly concrete one of its missions by selecting a few individuals each year for the TED Prize. It comes with a substantial honorarium but also the opportunity to propose a dream world changing project to an audience which can make it happen. That includes you. The TED Foundation is providing an additional one million dollars for the projects this year. In past years' projects, one prizewinner proposed the Once Upon a School project, an open source contribution website to share personal stories of public school successes. Another project is focused on advanced science education in Africa. Other big projects have been taken up by Google.org.

In the spirit of expanding the network of involvement in realizing these dreams, the TED Prize talks will be webcast live this evening, free. Connect to http://www.ted.com/webcast/watch/event/tedprize no earlier than 30 minutes to 5PM PST

There is much more to be said of TED and our Portland conference of an evening inspired by it but not as weighty. In the meantime, tune to the TED archive, it is a great source of good news of which there is plenty about in the world, notwithstanding the short sighted focus of local to international news editors on the negative and sensational.

TED Prize webcast. www.ted.com Webcast at Link. 5PM Pacific Free

February 5 Chicago Political Film History

Filmmaker and DIY force of culture Marc Moscato presents films spanning 1969 and 2008 in a program A Not Too Distant Past. At the Waypost www.thewaypost.com 3120 N Williams 8pm $5

February 5 Westside Art Openings

The Found phenomena goes beyond the magazine. Tonight artists APAK, Rikki Barney, Ashley Armbruster, Sean Christensen, Jon Clark, Dale Davis, Phillip Earles, Vincent Fritz, Sarah Gottesdiener, Maureen Gubia, Aidan Koch, Amy Kuttab, Matt Lingenfelter, Ben Lloyd, Drew Marshall, Leslie Miller, Kristen Mueller, Sarah Oleksyk, Chris Reed, Jesse Reklaw, Josh Simmons, Ilvs Strauss, Laura Wickham, Adam Zeek and Julian Chadwick share their collections of found photographs. At Floating World Comics www.floatingworldcomics.com 20 NW 5th


Artist and musician Sarah Gottesdiener is a creative polymath. She takes over Stumptown with paintings incorporating imagery of Yoko Ono, Proposition 8, the tarot, the moon, tigers and snakes! At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd


Pok Chi Lau has been documenting the impact on ordinary people of migration and change in China and beyond for 40 years. Included is the diaspora of which he himself is part. Also showing are quotidian photographs made by Byron Wolfe. He made one photograph a day for a year, maybe something like a highly composed visual Twitter. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org 122 NW 8th


Primarily known for social practice art, Harrell Fletcher gets to practice it by curating a show. Songs from the Treetops artists including Carson Ellis, Chris Johanson/Jo Jackson, James Miles, Kenneth Mroczek, Eduardo Navarro, Santiago de Paoli, Wendy Red Star have produced work loosely themed on constructed landscape. At PDX Contemporary Gallery www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders


French artist Koralie presents HAÏKU. Her work crosses the street art and gallery world. One subject are infinitely detailed schematic Geisha's. This is a good complement to the French show at Compound next door. At Fifty 24 www.fifty24sf.com 23 NW 5th


La Jolie Poupee is a show by French illustrators Lostfish, Candybird, Ciou and Adolie Day. Very much in the Compound style, and interestingly several of the artists make children's books and clothing. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th


Big Beautiful Color is a show by Mark Warren Jacques at a relatively new energetic gallery, Fontanelle. In addition to paintings, Jacques has constructed a tepee you are invited to enter to experience his chosen soundtrack. At Fontanelle Gallery www.fontanellegallery.com 205 SW Pine


Augen has a group show themed Home at it's Davis location. Included are prints by well known artist Jennifer Bartlett who came into her career in the late 1960s and 1970's, Portlander Jim Riswold and others. Meanwhile at the 2nd Street the gallery is featuring under $500 works. www.augengallery.com 817 SW 2nd and 716 NW Davis


Moshi Moshi has something about Ninja Valentines in its small Burnside space. www.moshi-moshi.com 916 W Burnside


The Everett Lofts are recommended as your best interest value. Bounded by NW Broadway, Everett, 6th and Flanders.

February 3 How to Start a Clean Energy Business

Both our president and Thomas Friedman believe innovation in clean energy is our only path to our growth and prosperity. Despite a pullback in VC funded tech ventures, the money is still flowing into energy ventures. The federal government and states are directing expenditures now into promising projects. Exactly how would someone with a brilliant idea make it happen? Find that out tonight.

Panelists include Ravi Sinha of Choices Solar Corp, Sandra Walden of Commercial Solar Ventures and Ravi Naiknaware, cofounder and CTO of Azuray. Bring your ideas and questions, this is an interactive session.

Program by the TiE Oregon clean energy special interest group. Register at the website. At Perkins Cole Offices 1120 N.W. Couch Street, 10th floor. 6PM-10. Members $5/10, Students $10, else $15.

January 27 Ethan Rose Musics at Oaks Park Skating Rink

Musician Ethan Rose creates soundscapes. A previous canvas was in a group setting with Adelade-Small Sails. Solo Rose is also known for the sounds of film work and sound installations in art context. Oaks Park is a hundred year old amusement park on the banks of the Willamette River. There is a beautiful old skating rink that has survived submersive floods. Rose has sampled the organ in the rink, processed it and tonight performs live and processed sounds of the space. Admission to the show includes skate rental, so you can listen and skate if you like. At Oaks Park Skate www.oakspark.com Doors 7PM, Show 8. Duration 90 minutes. $12

January 25 Cult of Arduino Strikes a Blow for Poetry in Spare Rooms

Arduino is an electronic device popular with artists and creative people. It is a small chip you can attach things to for the purpose of sensing the environment and taking action like lighting something or moving a motor. Progressive art schools like the Royal College of Art have incorporated them into the curriculum for some time.

Arduino is used by artists worldwide and it is also a favorite of interactive clothing designers.

The chip is programmed in a simple language by plugging it into a USB port on any computer. Greg Borenstein can give you a short introduction. Portland Dorkbot offers a workshop today for you to build a basic Arduino with a LED you can control. It is smaller but not as elegant as the lilypad.

In 4 hours and for $25 you will build your very own Arduino to take home that actually works! Bring a laptop and some other stuff covered in the announcement. All the details here. At PNCA 1PM-5 $25


The Spare Room is a long running poetry reading series in Portland. They are 100. Not years, but readings - I have no idea what 100 is in poetry years. Today in celebration, local poets read 100 poems by 100 poets from the past 100 Years. You can find all the particulars here. At Gallery Homeland 2505 SE 11th x Division 2PM-6ish Free

January 24 Tribal Dance Collaborations Meet Indian Music Rollergirls from Tuva

Tracy Broyles, Meshi Chavez, Stephanie Lanckton are longtime dance collaborators now split between East and West Coasts. They have prepared a dance piece, Peregrinate, at a distance, to be presented both places. In each place, they started by walking simultaneously, gathering impressions and inspiration. The first instance of the resulting piece was performed at the Judson Church Movement Research Studio. Performance 7:30PM, DJ dance party after. At Performance Works Northwest 4625 SE 67th 7:30PM $15


Znama fusion bellydance dance company samples tango, flamenco, and cabaret. They perform tonight with live musicians Negara. At Marino's Cafe 4129 SE Division 8PM


The Rose City Rollers begin their new season with a rollicking evening of derby competition. What I like about roller derby is that it feels great to cheer. Details at rosecityrollers.com At the Portland Expo Center. Go by Train. Doors 5, rollers at 6PM $14/20 in advance $18/25 at the door


The diaspora of the Indian subcontinent runs forward and now increasingly in reverse. In either case, Portland has a strong and vibrant Indian community. One facet are performances of classical Indian music. Tonight sisters Smitha and Swetha Chakravarthy perform Carnatic vocal music, accompanied by Sailaja Dharmala on Violin and Ramamurthy Dharmal on Mridangam. There is something ethereal about the harmony of siblings and I'm sure this is no exception. The event is at the Intel Jones Farm Conference Center (JFCC) Auditorium, 2111 NE 25th Avenue, Hillsboro. If you are not familiar with the area, you might leave some extra time. 3PM Free

Janurary 23 Opening at Fourteen30

Artist Jessie Durost shows Fabrications and John Sisley, Endgames at Gallery Fourteen30. www.fourteen30.com 1430 SE 3rd 6PM-9 Free

January 22 Tuva!

Tyva Kyzy, Daughters of Tuva, are an all girl Tuvan throat singing troupe from, well, Tuva. They promote throat singing among the women of Tuva. It is controversial for women to sing, so that puts them somewhere between riot grrrls and the Rock and the Roll Camp for Girls. Tuvan throat singing requres singing the fundamental [note] while symultaneously establishing an overtone resonance in the vocal cavity. Easier to say than do. Throat singing is often performed in the landscape as part of the traditional nature-based Tuvan spiritual tradition. Tuva is a region of the Russian federation between Mongolia and Siberia which entered Western consciousness in the form of a book Tuva or Bust, chronicling the attempt of brilliant physicist and Nobel winner Richard Feynman to visit Tuva.

Tyva Kyzy performs in the khoomei, sygyt, kargyraa, ezenggileer, chylandyk, borbangnadyr and damyrak borbangy styles.

At Lewis and Clark Chapel www.lclark.edu 7:30PM Free (they also perform in Eugene Saturday and down the West Coast and in Hawaii - check the website)


The same evening the gallery shows reGeneration:50 Photographers of Tomorrow curated by William A. Ewing, Nathalie Herschdorfer and Jean-Christophe Blaser of the Musée de L'Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. At the Hoffman Gallery on campus. 5PM-7. Free

January 14 Mass Sustainable Drinking and Drawing

The NW China Council China Business Network hosts a lunch with Bob Wise speaking on Sustainable Development Business Opportunities in China. Wise specializes in big picture consulting with governments on developing sustainability and green building programs. Past work includes developing programs for the City of Portland, Multnomah and Clackamas Counties, the State of Oregon, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Taiwan and Taipei. The lunch takes place at House of Louie Restaurant, 331 NW Davis in Chinatown. Reservations www.nwchina.org. Lunch and talk $20 members, $30 otherwise, talk $15 students. Noon-1:30


Drinking and Drawing is descriptively named; combining open source concepts, Henry Ford's mass production genius and fun! It's well known that animation is labor intensive. For drinking and drawing, preformed and ad hoc teams work sequentially and in parallel to produce a thousand frame animation in an evening. This is the second instance in Portland of this international phenomenon.

Teams of ten have 10 minutes to complete 8 frames each on index cards, 75 seconds per card. Frames are evolved by working on a light box, with the new frame overlaying the old. The work of subsequent teams are synced by starting on the light box with the last frame in the previous set. The first public D+D was at Portland's Platform Animation Festival seen in this video.

The resulting frames are seamed into a movie for a web treat.

The next D+D is sponsored by the Portland chapter of SIGGRAPH, geniuses at putting computers to work for beauty. Participate or watch at Someday Lounge www.somedaylounge.com 125 NW 5th 6PM $5, free for SIGGRAPH members

January 8 Westside Art Openings

Stumptown Coffee presents Universal Blobhand anchored by the Lucky Dragons' Sumi Ink Club cooperative illustrations and including work by E*Rock and Josh Orion Kermiet. Recommended. At Stumptown Coffee www.stumptowncoffee.co 128 SW 3rd

Valentines opens a collaborative fiber art show and show of crush portraits early and later hosts a party for Universal Blobhand with DJ Hostile Tapeover. At Valentines myspace.com/valentineslifeblood 232 SW Ankeny Art 6PM, party 9:30 Free

Fontanelle Gallery continues the show by collaborators The Oregon Painting Society maybe Portland's royal art lodge. They also perform music at 8 on electroacoustic musical instruments of their own construction. At the Fontanelle Gallery www.fontanellegallery.com 205 SW Pine

PNCA shows paintings by Molly Dillworth. Dillworth was part of the Suddenly! show and has collaborated with MK Guth of the Red Shoe Delivery Service and Ties of Protection and Safekeeping. Also showing is longtime artist and professor Robert Hansen and BFA student Clare LaMont Industries' "Grand Opening Going Out of Business Sale - 99% Off!!!" At the Feldman+BFA Gallery at PNCA www.pnca.edu Corner NW 13th and Johnson

Quality Pictures presents another strategic show of Portlanders complementing their strategic international stable of photographers and painters. NWX4:New Northwest Photography comprises Liz Haley, Andrew O'Brien, Alexis Pike, and Mark Searcy. Haley's photography, video and performance has been mentioned here before. Chas Bowie, assistant director at QP also has some interesting photographs in his That's a Negative blog this month. Show at Quality Pictures Contemporary Art www.qpca.com 916 NW Hoyt

More photos make an interesting show at Reading Frenzy of found photographs from Japan. Basically like a Found Magazine instant relatives project. Assembled (found?) by Neojaponisme art director Ian Lynam, and poignant in light of Japan's aging (and shrinking) population. Neojaponisme is an evolution of the fascinating Neomarxisme. See at Reading Frenzy www.readingfrenzy.com 921 SW Oak

The Mark Woolley Gallery presents a sweet pairing Land, Air and Sea by Trish Grantham, Evan Harris and Amy Ruppel. Grantham creates enigmatic, almost narrative illustration/collage. Harris' finely detailed work is of similar feel. Ruppel often works of the bird theme and wax media with a smart stripe sample from Photoshop. At Mark Woolley Gallery www.markwoolley.com 817 SW 2nd

Roller Derby is too outstanding. That is what the Rose City Rose Buds think too. They are the mom's auxiliary, raising money to buy equipment for young roller kids and creating a Jr. Roller Derby League. The roller derby moms analog of soccer moms. Take that chearleaders! They are having an art show at Moshi-Moshi. Stop by. At Moshi-Moshi www.moshi-moshi.com 916 West Burnside

Beppu Wiarda shows Winter Light, a show of light boxes by artists Deanne Belinoff, Bill Dean, Jennifer Doheny, Eric Franklin, Ellen George and Jerry Mayer, Ron and Kathryn Glowen, Jessica Hirsch, Midori Hirose, LeAnne Hitchcock, Kate Kaznowska, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Dam Markson, Dave Meeker, Noah Nakell, Cynthia Nawalinski, Gillis Neuray, TJ Norris, Nick Raffel, Ken Shores, Stephan Soihl, Steve Tilden, Mark Teresa and Judy Vogland. The show was curated by collector Leo Michelson. Some of the artists speak January 17 at 11. At Beppu Wiarda Gallery www.beppugallery.com 319 NW 9th

Always recommended for your exploratory pleasure are the Everett Station Lofts, NW Broadway and Everett, though some are taking the month off, and the DeSoto building NW Park and Davis.

January 7 Laura Fritz at The New American Art Union

Laura Fritz makes sculpture and installation with the feeling of an enigmatic science experiment. If you have worked in science, you know that is often how real experiments feel. While Susan Robb's take on science is playful, Fritz adds a layer of unease for the viewer, paralleling the sometimes profoundly disturbing directions research takes, but once something has been thought, it cannot be unthought. Taping societal unease with science has a long history - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the conflicts among the scientists who developed the bomb, reprised in Dr. Atomic, the political entanglements of the Critical Art Ensemble; many more will follow as science unfolds worldwide. See Fritz' science experiments. At New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny 6PM-9