April 3 Dance Art

Modern dance is has a small audience, though participatory and ritual dance is as old as we are human. Perhaps, like other contemporary art, it is voided by a potential audience that believes they cannot "get it". In actuality, it is as fascinating as the performance of Olympic athletes. It can be experienced by pure intuition - a resonance of subconscious points, a personal narrative can be impressed upon it, the dynamics between performers can be the focus, or the viewer can put themselves inside the movement.

Modern dance also incorporates its own tragedy. While some discover performative dance through ballet from young childhood, others discover it through gymnastics or come to it later, in college. Their peak physical capability is in late teen years to early 20's, like an athlete, from whence it declines. But their expressive emotional capability is meanwhile on the rise, for a lifetime. Where do those petterns intersect?

Today a show opens at a visual art space which reprises dance video over almost 40 years in Portland. It's accompanied by performances by performers active throughout that period. The show continues to mid-May. This afternoon, Linda K. Johnson, Linda Austin and Tahni Holt, representing the 1990s, the 1980's to now and the millennium to now perform at 3:15PM, 4 and 4:45, all respectively. More performances follow April 30 and May 14, with a discussion April 28.

At the Marylhurst Art Gym at the Marylhurst University www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/ Map 3PM-6 Free

April 2 Disjecta False Front Fan Death

Disjecta has a colorful history of building occupations. They were in a revival church, with a bathtib in the main room for baptisms, in the Frigidaire Building rented from an LA-based slumlord and now are in a former bowling alley. Tonight's show, Score, by Avantika Bawa, reprises the bowling alley history of the building. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 6PM-10 Free



False Front Studio opens Emily Nachison's Hylozoic. It's and installation inspired by her mythical landscapes. You can see from her website some of the epic installations she has made. Recommended. At False Front Studio www.falsefrontstudio.com 4518 NE 32nd Map 7PM-10 Free



Appendix is well known for installation and performance. They reduce their schedule in rainy season. But rain not withstanding, tonight they have Fan Death by Gary Robbins. At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 6-9ish Free

April 1 Eastside Art Openings +

At 811 Central

Golden Rule has a show publicized by puzzling interchanges with the artist. We love meta, so stop by to see the outcome. Trust the Golden Rule. At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back


Black Box Gallery opens tonight upstairs. Savvy-brainy curator Todd Johnson has made it. The first show is an open call. blackboxgallery.com Suite 212 upstairs


Redux has Brent Superstar. I mean how can you argue with a superstar? The artist is well known in Portland for works on Alberta and in the City Art network. You can't go wrong with this artist who has newly undertaken a more caricature style. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside Free


Nationale has Portland painter Jaik Faulk. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map

All 811 East Burnside


Up the street Lille Boutique has Valerie Joan Taylor. The boutique's merchandise is sweet and romantic. But their art shows are unafraid at venturing into more complex elements of the female psyche. This show is more medium light side. At Lille Boutique www.lilleboutique.com 1007 E Burnside



Newspace has a show connected to the Photolucida curatorial process. That has resulted in an international show by emerging photographers Thomas Alleman, Justyna Badach, Claire Beckett, Kendrick Brinson, Christopher Capozziello, Tom Chambers, Christopher Churchill, Sam Comen, Kirk Crippens, Mitch Dobrowner, Natan Dvir, Daniela Edburg, Matt Eich, Ethan Eisenberg, Dima Gavrysh, Kevin German, Elin Hoyland, Jessica Hines, Joseph O. Holmes, Norihisa Hosaka, Mary Shannon Johnstone, Loli Kantor, Dianne Kornberg, Alejandra Laviada, Stephen Mallon, Rania Matar, Annie Marie Musselman, Louie Palu, Rachel Phillips, Benjamin Rasmussen, Christopher Rauschenberg, Frank Relle, Justine Reyes, Jeff Rich, Lynn Saville, Traer Scott, Manjari Sharma, Jeff Sheng, Tim Simmons, Pavel Maria Smejkal, Yisook Sohn, S. Gayle Stevens, Jamey Stillings, Amy Thompson Avishai, Daniel Traub, Kevin Van Aelst, Alvaro Villela, and Corinne Vionnet. Newspace is a great proponent of up to date photography. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th



Photography is magic. Today it is electromagic. But yesterday it was chemomagic. That is the essence of this show of "alternative" photographic printing processes. Well worth seeing. At 23Sandy www.23sandy.com 623 NE 23 at Sandy 5PM-8 Free



We enter the emergence of the new generation of Portland-schooled artists. Keep an eye here for shows by recent graduates, though we guarantee we don't cover everything. PSU and PNCA have done well integrating themselves with art making machinery publicity vehicles. Lewis and Clark is on the upswing too, curating its own at the Car Hole Gallery and Labrador. The newest class opens shows this evening in the L&C main gallery, usually host to prestigious international artists. At Lewis and Clark College www.lclark.edu/hoffman_gallery Opening 5PM-8 Free

March 31 Yu Who Re Print

This is a unique mash up.

The Dill Pickle Club, arts activists and historians, have produced a reprint monograph chronicling select exhibitions once upon a time of Portland's Portland Center for Visual Art - PCVA. The book was printed by Publication Studio. And they are presenting their book at Yu, a space which would become the new PCVA. Finally Lisa Radon, who is working on a book about PCVA moderates a discussion by Mary Beebe, Mel Katz, Tad Savinar and Paul Sutinen who were founders, board members or staff of old PCVA.

PCVA operated in Portland from 1972-1988 and hosted hundreds of installations and performances, many more than those chronicled in the book. Apparently it was a heady time, in which New York art movements got a purchase nationally, and internationally. Part of that would be support by the government in the form of grants including the National Endowment for the Arts. Pressures from social conservatives caused funding of free wheeling artists and projects to be derailed in favor of grants to state arts commissions. Today funding is on the down cycle again. Meanwhile PCVA was considered "too legit" to receive NEA "alternative space" grants. Other failure modes for PCVA were galleries blocking their artists' participation in Portland because there would be no sales.

Interestingly, the rise of PICA, from 1995, was based on not taking public funds. PICA had roots in the Portland Art Museum, which established a more conservative art direction about the same time, leading to PICA's break away.

Yu, with a vast multifunctional space, is looking to create anew an international art center, rekindling the PCVA energy of the time, and more.

At Yu www.yucontemporary.org dillpickleclub.com/events www.publicationstudio.biz 7PM $0-10

March 30, 31 Reactivate the Architecture of Dance

RE/ACTIVATE is a modern dance project occupying an installation by two artists in an interesting architectural space. It was developed by the performer Rachel Tess. I've seen earlier versions of this show. It realizes the vision that we have had for art and artist networks inspiring creative business and their networks. It's a small, intimate space, but the performer is one of Portland's peak movers. It's a professional performance in a non-traditional space. Reservations 503-729-5364. At W+K 224 NW 13th 7:30PM $25 or $40 for both evenings

March 28 Social Practice Artist Natasha Wheat

The Monday night lecture series welcomes Natasha Wheat. She started noted projects in Chicago, Project Grow in Portland, and is currently participating in projects and working in the CCA social practice program. Very exciting given the positions of Chicago, Portland and San Francisco in the genre. Talk Monday in the Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

March 27 A Modest Proposal

Social practice artist Natasha Wheat, many of whose projects surround food, has created a series of cups for Portland art, book, zine and clothing standout Stand Up Comedy. Release is at Stand Up Comedy www.shopstandingup.us 811 E Burnside noon on free

March 25 Dance and Writing

Arts are misunderstood and dance especially. Constructing narrative around it post facto, even if there is no inherent narrative intent in the piece itself has great value. Certainly a still painting is inherently non-narrative, but benefits from narrative in the viewer relationship. The writers and the dancers commune tonight at the gallery in Pioneer Place Mall around a new print dance publication, Front. Performers Tahni Holt, Alyssa Reed-Stuewe, Danielle Ross, Noelle Stiles and Robert Tyree host a happy hour discussion 6-8, segueing into dance karaoke until 9 or 10. At the Pioneer Place Mall, bounded by SW Morrison, Yamhill, 5th and 6th. Third floor. 6PM-9/10 Free

March 25-31 Some Days Are Better Than Others

This film has shown privately and at the Film Center. It opens the start of a limited national run tonight at the Hollywood Theater. Tell your friends in other cities too. www.somedaysthemovie.com Director in attendance Friday March 25. At the Hollywood Theater 4122 NE Sandy 3PM, 5 weekends; 7, 9:15 daily $7

March 23 Art Show-Make Space Preview

The successful Art Department event space is expanding to include a design-build studio workspace. It will combine events, exhibits, making and doing in a collaborative community setting. A great project filling a need for shared workspace, resources and classes. Details at the project website. Preview open house tonight. See adxportland.com 417 SE 11th x Stark 6PM-8 Free

March 22 Curiosity Club on ID

Tonight designer Michael Felix discusses some of his speculative projects, including those using sound as an element. You can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

March 21 Global Warming and Local Growth

One of our greatest challenges as humans is to balance thoughts of the large and small simultaneously in making decisions. One of the large, is the theory of global warming, brought by injecting millions of years of hydrocarbon deposits from plantlife into the atmosphere over about 150 years. Believe it or not, some city of Portland departments have long term contingency plans for massive inmigration to the region because other areas become climatically undesirable.

Tonight's speaker, Gail Achterman, discusses Oregon's land use planning in the context of rapid population change which could accompany climapocalypse. Achterman also discusses our infrastructure planning process, water, sewer, transportation, energy, and how changes we could make now will reduce the potential impact of millions of Californians and people from the arid Southwest moving here. It's part of the City Club Bright Light's discussion series in which journalist artist editor Randy Gragg interviews though leaders in planning and design.

At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Map Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free

March 20 Stock

Stock is back this month at PNCA. RSVP by email, portlandstock at gmail dot com, the meal reservations, limited by logistics, fill quickly. Details: portlandstock.blogspot.com At PNCA 1241 NW Johnson 6PM-8 $10 cash only

March 19 In Site Reconciliation Independent Labrador

Portland's only floating studio gallery, the Labrador, hosts a show by Portland artist Chase Biado: Sad Barbaric. The show will also be accessible for a closing event March 26. The 65 foot boat was built to carry remains back from WWII. Retrofitted (it has working cranes) it worked as a crabber. Now four artists share it as studio space, make repairs and keep it afloat. Many of the artist crew, curators and showing artists met at landlocked Lewis and Clark College. But maybe they got their start with L&C's navy of dinghies docked on the mighty Willamette South of the Sellwood bridge? At 12128 Labrador Project www.labradorproject.com It's moored by Fred's Marina 12900 NW Marina Way, Portland. Easily the largest boat at the moorage, you cannot miss it. More detailed directions, don't get lost, on the website. 7PM Free



The mall show, IN(ter)DEPENDENCE, in the Pioneer Place Mall holds a reception connected to its current show. Some details may be found at portlandorusnow.blogspot.com/2011/02/february-19-mall-grow.html At the Pioneer Place Mall, bounded by SW Morrison, Yamhill, 5th and 6th. Third floor. 6PM-9 Free



Gentrification is Change, and my view of it is probably more nuanced to completely different than some. That's a longer conversation. Tonight there is a perspective offered by Judith Mowry, who has been leading community discussions for the City of Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement, in North and Northeast Portland, among the gentrifiers and gentrifiees. The process is based on the principles of restorative justice. These ideas were the basis for the Truth and Reconciliation hearings in South Africa and in many post-conflict countries. It's not clear that the process was entirely successful in the minds of those affected in South Africa, but it's still valuable, and certainly more effective than the courts. It was also used in Sierra Leone, for which in my opinion, it was less suited. In that case, it was certainly more cost effective than courts. It certainly leaves an invaluable first person historical record with narrative resonance. Tonight Mowry shares her experiences at Project Grow, which is itself focusing on closer neighborhood connections. Music by Lynnae Gryffin. At Project Grow at the Port City Development Center. 2156 N Williams Ave at Tillamook. Films 6PM Free



Earlier in he day, Linda Austin activates Carl Burkheimer's installation with movement and co-movers Jin Camou, Keyon Gaskin and Danielle Ross. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 1PM Free

March 18-20 Alembic Consumption

Performance Works Northwest hosts its periodic performance series Alembic, with Portland choreographer Danielle Ross: To Remember is to Jump Around Here, with dancers Suzanne Chi, Sally Garrido-Spencer, Michelle Rogers, and Danielle Ross. Bay Area FACT/SF who are known for performances in Walmart stores is also on the bill. At Performance Works NW 4625 SE 67th 8PM $12-15

March 17 Art Spark Urban Farmer Re/Activate

Art Spark is now on an every other month schedule. They meet tonight at the Urban Farmer restaurant in the Nines Hotel. The organizers of Jewish Arts Month will give a short talk at 6. Art Spark www.portlandartspark.com. At Urban Farmer
525 SW Morrison, 8th Floor. 5PM-7 Free



There is a geometric spatial installation occupying the W+K lobby. It's angular and orange, inhabiting a white out industrial space of 1908 vintage, but holding its own. Fitted by artists Jordan Tull and Damien Gilley, it's danced in tonight by collaborator Rachel Tess, in project Re/Activate. Julliard-schooled Tess, who is noted for her bi-continent works, has been exploring the space with movement as resident W+K artist; it's a great use of the otherwise little used grand entry lobby. Light, sound, costume collaborators are Jennifer Lin, Thomas Thorson, Rachelle Waldie, respectively. The sole props are a vintage sleeping bag matching the set, camp lanterns, a table and chairs. It's a great collaboration by all involved. Repeats March 30,31, as a finished piece, admission $25, reservations 503-729-5364. Tonight's informal work in progress performance is free. At W+K 224 NW 13th 7:30PM

March 17 - 20 6½ We Two Boys

Two performances. 6½ was created by Lisa DeGrace, choreographed and directed by Tracy Broyles, and performed by DeGrace, Alicia Ankenman, Mark Kline and Capra J'Neva. We Two Boys is choreographed by Meshi Chavez and performed by Chavez and Richard Decker. Both in the Teeth space at 810 SE Belmont. $15-25 8PM each night, plus 4PM Sunday

March 16 Art Fair

Art is a mating dance between the artist and the audience. But it happens within an arts ecosystem or extended family. In Portland one of that extended family is the Business Committee for the Arts. They are holding a gathering of over 50 arts producing organizations to network with one another, production spaces, potential board members - really all the other arts ecosystem participants. In addition to the networking, there will be performances by Polaris Dance & students from Northwest Academy, a raffle, snacks and drinks. You must RSVP by March 14 to attend. At Yu. 800 SE 10th. 5:30PM-7:30. $5-10

March 15 Collect Four Artist Talk

The current show at the UO White Stag gallery - White Box - colses soon. Tonight the artists artists Matthew Green, Midori Hirose, Jason Traeger, Benjamin Young and curator Jesse Hayward talk about their work. At White Box in the White Stag Block 24 NW First. 6PM-7 Free

March 12 Dance Video

Kathleen Keogh performs site specific movement performance work inspired by Karl Burkheimer's installation, on and around the installation. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 1PM-2 Free



We don't often note shows in college galleries. First they are out of the way, second they are not well publicized. They often have quite good curators though. In this case, a video art show is at the Clark College Archer Gallery. Indweller is a show of video work by Victoria Fu, Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli, Noelle Mason and Lilly McElroy; all known and working outside Portland. At Clark College Archer Gallery www.clark.edu/archergallery 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA 6PM-8 Free

March 11 New York Worlds' End Space

Worksound opens a show of NY artists Erica Allen, Devon Dikeou, Noah Kalina, Jason Polan, Micheal Shelton, Breanne Trammell, Stephen Watt, curated by Melanie Flood. Flood operated an independent gallery-salon out of her Brooklyn apartment; she has relocated here, where we hope the idea catches on. At Worksound www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder Map 6PM-10



The World is Not Ending, Your World is Ending: that's a show at Gallery Homeland opening tonight. Quite a few ecologists and environmental theorists have stated the same. It's well within our capability to eliminate ourselves as a species. The earth, the hydro cycle, the carbon cycle, and "more primitive" lifeforms would do just fine, even thrive. Artists Damien Gilley, Daniel J. Glendening, Justin Gorman, Laura Hughes, Israel Lund, Joseph McVetty, Michael Reinsch, Stephen Slappe, Rebecca Steele, Craig Wheat, Michael Welsh provide their perspectives on the end of days, something that is woven into many mythic systems. So it's woven into our psychic DNA, providing a myriad of touchpoints for making and viewing art. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division



Mercury 7 and the New 9 is a show of prints themed on NASA's first manned spaceflights, in the Mercury spacecraft. The United States and the Soviet Union quickly divided German rocket scientists after WWII, putting them to work to gain offensive military advantage. With a successful drive to more launch power, the Soviet Union stunned the world by launching the first satellite, prosteishy sputnik in 1957, and the first person to orbit the earth, with Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. The Soviet projects preceded the American Explorer satellite, and the Mercury spacecraft, by 4 months, and 3 weeks, respectively. The first Mercury did not orbit the earth, but followed a parabolic arc. It was John Glenn who first achieved orbit, a year after Gagarin. Seven astronauts were trained for the Mercury program, the "Mercury 7". Six flew.

This is an artistic revisitation of a period of almost 50 years ago, a heady time of American economic growth, suburbs, automobiles, the cold war and fallout shelters occasioned by missiles and fear.

Artists Dave Carnie, Ashley Anson, Russ Pope, Salvador Perdomo, Kim Hamblin, and Todd Bratrud and an additional group The New Nine: Roger Seliner, Chris Johanson, David Petersen, Andy Jenkins, Jason Adams, Chris Corales, Johanna Jackson, Chris Pastras and Sam Coomes have made artwork inspired by the Mercury zeitgeist.

It's iconic material, but outside the event horizon of the artists themselves, born afterwards. It comes as America questions its commitment to space. The shuttles have landed. Space projects are enmeshed in a fierce climate battle. Most believe it will be robots that explore space. Missions to the space station are launched by a Russian space center leased from Kazakhstan, as are many communication satellites.

So this show is the beginning of an era ending, tracing an arc of inspiration, and wounding loss of soaring shuttles in 1986 and 2003, within the artists' event horizon.

An excellent show for the Artery, which specializes in editioned prints by a recent generation of artists comfortable in multiple urban creative pursuits, including skating and music. For instance, they showed Beautiful Losers, the art show accompaning the documentary film. In their new location. www.arteryportland.com 2219 NW Raleigh 7PM-9ish Free

March 8 Curiosity Club in Print

Katy Meegan explains and demonstrates letter press printing this evening, with each attendee making their own print on the machines. She is also cofounder of Em Space Book Arts Center and discusses how techniques developed in the 1500's are being updated and repurposed today. You can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

March 7 Evening Ragas

Little Portland has several overlapping Indian music communities. One is that surrounding experimental musicians that have expanded into it as part of their natural musical evolution. In that school, vocalist Michael Stirling, accompanied by Aran Adams, tabla; Derek Ecklund and Dr. Kelly Jenkins, tamburas; performs tonight. Bring cushions and blankets for sitting. At the Little Church, 5138 NE 23rd. 7:30PM $5-20

March 5 Rock, Paper, City, Holt, Library, Walk, Together

Patrick Rock is Portland's edgiest curator. The progress of art has always been about pushing beyond its edge, and the neurological interplay of receptors for familiarity and the receptors for the new. So Rock's seeking the new edge is a great bracer to Portland's grey familiarity-seeking in art. Openings are one of the premiere gatherings for thinking Portland artists, which is why we like them.

Two shows tonight at the ROCKSBOX: No Painting Left Behind by Keith Boadwee, Erin Allen and Isaac Gray and Götulist í björg kassi - Street Art at Rock's Box by Ásmundur Ásmundsson, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Helgi Þórsson. The Icelandic show wins the copywriting award for the month and is repeated in entiriy at the bottom of the post. At Rocksbox Fine Art www.rocksboxfineart.com 6540 N Interstate 8PM-11 Free



You can see all of China in three hours at Splendid China 锦绣中华民俗村, a miniature amusement park in Shenzhen. First opened 22 years ago, pre-Google maps, it's not read by Chinese as ironic, as would, say, the Enchanted Forest, or large-scale model train installations. But these physical simulations offer a social experience in their visit which is so far absent in game engine, OpenSim, or Second Life-like experiences. In person social experience includes rich nonverbal communication, which is the base of our culture today.

Artists Marisa Green, Jessie Bazata, Sean Garrison and Rory Phillips have enlisted artists through an open call to create 3d paper simulations of things that represent Portland to them. The resulting installation is Paper City. In some ways, paper is Portland's perfect medium. Our soulful forests are its feedstock, our long history of printmaking on paper its inspiration, our social practice processes its realization. And if you are an artist, an ink jet printer, some paints, paper, scissors and glue are accessible to a myriad of inspiration. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 6-10PM Free

Also at Disjecta, local movement artists are making place based work. Today is Tahni Holt, experimental sculptural movement artist, who enlists collaborators Richard Decker, Sally Garrido-Spencer, Noelle Stiles and Robert Tyree and musician Tom Thorson to make a performance. The project uses Karl Burkheimer's installation. 1PM-2



Multiartist Delphine Bedient works in social practice curation with Library, a collection of collections gathered by an open call to friends and friends of friends. In a way it's an experiment in the aesthetics of friending. Recommended. At Field Work Gallery 1101 SW Jefferson. Opens 5PM-9, Runs daily, noon-6 through March 7.


So you want to be an artist. Or you want to buy art direct from the artist for mutually beneficial reasons. Or you want to see a lot of art in situ. Always popular artist open studios are this weekend in SE Portland. This is the uncurated version. For details see snackword.netfirms.com/seportlandartwalk.com/default.htm. Given that serious curation where possible includes studio visits, you can be your own curator for a weekend. 10AM-5 Saturday and Sunday. Free



Shelf Life 2 is a big group show premised on the construction of a display shelf. Cody Hudson, Mike Perry, Ryan De La Hoz, Ryan Jacob Smith, Jolby, Brandon Chuesy, Do-it, Andrew Holder, Jesse Brown, Andy Mueller and Jesse LeDoux make stuff for the shelf. Then there is Joy of Refuge by Erik Railton. And music by Brooke Parrot. It's an Alberta activation at Together Gallery www.togethergallery.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste A Map
6PM-11 Free



And as mentioned above our copywriting of the month award goes to ...Rocksbox! And not just because it's in Icelandic. More for the content. You have been warned.

""Götulist í björg kassi!
Ásmundur Ásmundsson, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Helgi Þórsson

Exhibition Statement

Painting is easy. A toddler can make a good painting if handed a few pleasant colors and the right “concept”. Same goes for the destitute people of the second and third world or the dimwitted animals of Africa. Even a monkey or a lion can make the canvas happy! A great artist always needs an interesting challenge to keep busy. In our post-modern era a painting can hardly be such a challenge. One could of course paint with naughty colors onto a funky canvas, and use unusual methods such as finger-painting. But either way, the toadying manners of the old masters seems intertwined with the canvas threads. The odoriferous stench of the oil can be heartwarming but where could that possibly lead us? Even painting on a radical piece of cardboard or plywood will only bring you shame. When the three of us were faced with some personal issues that could only be dealt with by means of art-making, oil on canvas was the last thing on our mind. And even if these were primal “emotions” of the gut that required a spilling, we thought a more cerebral process would be appropriate. It wasn’t until both cerebral hemispheres (actually the whole body!) protested that we admitted defeat and grabbed for the paint and started smearing it onto the canvas. Can the gist of Meconium be expressed with other means? I don’t think so. By mixing fresh out of the tube Meconium with Winsor & Newton oil colors we managed to find our own palette. With the niggardly spasms of the lethargic inner child and the funky rhythm of the primal beast-within, we found our place in the never-ending history of painterly brushstrokes. With a dash of funky black “streetart” ala Banksy and Basquiat we declare a tiny fraction of Portland Oregon, with help and permission from Patrick Rock of Rocksbox Fine Art who will hang up our tags among the bonsai trees in the back yard.


Málverk er auðvelt. A smábarn getur gert góða mynd ef hönd að nokkur skemmtilega liti og hægri "hugtak". Sama gildir um destitute fólk annars og þriðja heimsins eða dimwitted dýr í Afríku. Jafnvel api eða ljón getur gert striga hamingjusamur! Mikill listamaður þarf alltaf áhugaverð áskorun að halda upptekinn. Í kjölfar nútímanum okkar málverk getur varla verið svona áskorun. Mátti mála auðvitað með óþekkur litum inn á angurvær striga og nota óvenjulegar aðferðir eins og fingur-mála. En annar hvor vegur, virðist toadying hegðun af gömlu herrum samtvinnuð með striga þræði. The ilmandi fnykur af olíu má hjartanlegur en þar gæti það hugsanlega leitt okkur? Jafnvel að mála á róttækar stykki af pappa eða krossviður mun bara koma þér skömm. Þegar þrír af okkur voru frammi fyrir einhverjum persónulegum málefnum gæti aðeins er hægt að meðhöndla með list-gerð, olía á striga var síðast hlutur í huga okkar. Og jafnvel þótt þær voru Primal "tilfinningar" í Gut sem þarf að hella, hélt við fleiri heila ferlið væri rétt. Það var ekki fyrr en bæði heilahvela (í raun allan líkamann!) Mótmælti því að við inngöngu ósigur og grípa til mála og byrjaði smearing það á strigann. Getur gist barnabiks í legvatni gefa upp með öðrum aðferðum? Ég held ekki. Með því að blanda fersk úr slöngunni barnabiks í legvatni hjá Winsor & Newton olíu liti náðum við að finna eigin litatöflu okkar. Með niggardly krampi af daufur innra barn og angurvær hrynjandi Primal skepna-innan, við fundum stað okkar í aldrei-endir sögu malerískar brushstrokes. Með þjóta af Funky svarta "streetart" ALA Banksy og Basquiat við lýsa örlítið brot af Portland Oregon, með hjálp og leyfi frá Patrick Rock Rocksbox Fine Art sem vilja hengja upp merkingar okkar meðal Bonsai tré í bakgarð.

Biography

Ásmundur Ásmundsson - Ásmundur Ásmundsson was born in Iceland. Graduated from the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts, Fine Art School in Akureyri, and the School of Visual Arts (MFA), New York. As an artist he analyzes contemporary art, seeks for its positive as well as negative aspects. He puts a shield against pompous meanings to lead us to think about the life as it is now and here. Asmundur breaks the connections with materialism and takes inspirations from the mass consumers' requests. His works include painting, body painting, installations, concrete objects, performance, drawings and photography. Asmundur has been rewarded many prizes for his achievements. Among many others he received a Culture Prize DV in 2009 for his exhibition "Concrete" (Hlemmur Gallery, Reykyavik, Iceland), and Special Award from Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts. Not without a reason he is considered an artist who shows up his weak and strong sides as a human. His must recent book, Dear Friends, A Collection of Speeches 2000-2010, has just been published on utudur press. This will be his second exhibition at ROCKSBOXFINEART.

Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson - Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson was born in Akureyri, Iceland in 1977. He studied sound art at the Fachochschule in Hannover, Germany from 1998 to 2003 and has been a long-time member of the band Stilluppsteypa. His work on CD has been variously described as collage, quiet drone manipulations, and calm and minimal, which offer a range of still, contemplative moments, contrasted with more discordant (though not necessarily noisy) ones. He has studied at The Royal Conservatory, Den Haag, The Netherlands, with an emphasis in Sonology/Electronic Music, and at Fachochschule Hannover, as a student of Professor Ulrich Eller, studying Meisterschüler.

Helgi Þórsson - Helgi Þórsson was born in 1975 in Reykjavik Iceland. His is both a visual artist and a sound artist. In addition to holding over 7 solo art exhibitions, he is member and co-founder of the experimental music group Stilluppsteypa, member of the Icelandic electronic super group Evil Madness, and half of duo Alien UFO with Runar Magnusson. Helgi attended the Royal Conservatory, Sonology Dept., The Hague, Rietveld Academy, in Amsterdam, and received his Masters in Fine Arts from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. He has been the recipient of multiple awards and scholarships including Scholarship Fund of the Berlage, Gerrit Rietveld Prize Winner 2002, the 2002 AIAS Competition Winner in Seoul, South Korea, a Nomination KunstRAI Prize in 2003, and the 2008 Children's Choice Award. Helgi has performed in Iceland, Poland, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the United States.""

March 4 Eastside Art Openings

Portland artist-organizer Nim Wunnan shows Upsur Nova, drawings, at Golden Rule. Wunnan is a gifted ink illustrator and well as organizer of Research Club, which is a solid part of Portland's social practice and DIY vibe. www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back

Nationale has experimental musician and visual artist Ilyas Ahmed. This work is dream based collage. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map

Redux has mixed media relief sculptures by Joe Ryckebosch made of thrift store finds. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside

All in the 811 E Burnside building.



Photography is a tool for our desire to image, as was painting before. Now we have many choices in imagemaking. Plastic cameras, children's toy cameras, pinhole cameras, even the video "still portrait" of a few minutes. So it makes sense that cameraphone photos would find themselves scrutinized on gallery walls. That's the case tonight at Newspace. Photographers include Joni Kabana, Beth Nakamura, Andy Bath, Faith Cathcart, Daniel Root, Susan Bein, Aisha Harley and Jan Sonnenmair, the curator. Each photographer has made a personal narrative, with the best camera in the world: the one with you. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th

March 3 Westside Art Openings

PSU has many openings every first Thursday. They are early, leaving plenty of time for Northward viewing later. The ever rotating and edge seeking collective Paintallica is recruiting artists in Portland. Successful portland artist and teacher Daniel Attoe is one and the Patrick Rock school of art would definitely fit in. Cool they consider mild mannered Portland a possibility! Show up a month. Talk by the ringleaders 6PM about the all nighter of collaboration they've worked on since yesterday in the Art Building lobby. Over at Autzen in Neuberger Hall Eric Franklin has an installation Basalt connecting the human body with our most noted rock features using glass and light. At PSU. Art Department Building 2000 SW 5th Opening 4PM-8, Talk 6 and Autzen Gallery, 2nd Floor PSU Neuberger Hall, Room 205, 724 SW Harrison Opening 4PM-8



Ashley Ness has a personal project at Stumptown. In her words: "Initially started after she was denied a job with American Apparel at the age of 25, American Girl, 2005-2011 documents Ashley Neese's aging process in a culture where youth is celebrated as the ultimate asset. Exploring the empowerment one woman finds in reclaiming her age, this exhibition is a five year photographic journey about what it means to be sexy on somebody else's terms, and ultimately, the liberation that it inspires." She is a good eater too! At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd



Elizabeth Leach has the premere show of the evening. Matt McCormick shows new West-based work. One piece is the retrace of a roadtrip, originally made in the 1950's, and rediscovered by the artist as a thrift store found scrapbook. There is also a greatest hits of Portland now show with Dan Attoe, MK Guth, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Johanna Jackson, Chris Johanson, Arnold Kemp and Michael Lazarus. Well worth the time to understand why each was selected. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map



BlueSky has a show by noted American photographer Mary Ellen Mark. Working since the 1970's, she is known for her documentary photography. The work takes both galleries. She also speaks at Reed on March 30 about her work. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th



Hellion opens a new space in the cool block, home to many a creative project. Showing is Ai Ohkawara, liquid illustration style figurative work. At new Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com 19 NW 5th, #208. Door to the left of Upper Playground - stairs up. 6PM-9



Compound has a type show, Special Characters, curated by Nate Tabor. Includes Jessica Hische, Greg Lamarche, Brad Simon:, Friends of Type, Tom O'toole, Adam Garcia, Sean Barton, Craig Redman and Christopher Degaetano. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th



For something a little different, see Scissors, Glue, & Insomnia, psychedelic collages by Christian Collins aka DJ Blue Spectral Monkey. At Groove Suite 440 NW Glisan. Music beginning at 9, sequeing into deep house later. 9-late Free



The W+K lobby has an experimental movement and visual artist collaboration. At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 6PM-9



The Everett Lofts, bounded by NW Broadway, Flanders, 6th and Everett are always recommended for your viewing pleasure.

March 2-5 RAWrrr

Reed Arts Week is this week. And has a conceptual place-based focus this year, even more so than usual. Included are works from international artists like Francis Alÿs - videos; experimental cartographer, Lize Mogel; Oregon artist Melvin Edward Nelson, making work with a similar inspiration to Australian Aborigine songlines; environmental choreographer Kathy Westwater; large scale sculptor Ben Wolf. Noted local artists are involved in a program with music, theater, lectures, participation. Reed students show their work. Best of all, all curated and created by Reed students. Full details and schedule at reed.edu/raw Free

February 27 You Who La Cucaracha

Portland's adult-child variety show put on by artist-musicians returns. The thesis is that adults need not be bored to oblivion by childrens' material and the reverse, which is really more important. Small ones might need earplugs, but that's no reason to not go with kidchilds. Performers include the Corin Tucker Band and DJ Anjali. Advance tickets which you will need to get in at www.youwhoportland.com and Black Wagon. Doors noon, show one.



A little later Publication Studio principal Mathew Stadler releases his own novel La Cucaracha. Stadler is noted writer, editor and publisher operating in Seattle, New York, Amsterdam and Portland. Reservations requested please, owing a very very small space, but it's free. RSVP via email at http://www.publicationstudio.biz/events/ 6PM-8 Free

February 26 Motley Crew

Publication Studio has been making a name and a business printing on demand books that reach their intended audience, not just fill the pipes. It's a far cry from the expired business model of the late Borders and upstream pipe publishers. Tonight is the release of John Motley's thoughtful writing on shows at Fourteen30 Contemporary Art, one of the most progressive Portland galleries, if not the most. Writing is critical in constructing narrative around art. RSVP required, owing a very very small space, but it's free. RSVP via email at http://www.publicationstudio.biz/events/ 7PM-10 Free

(By the way, send to LA friends news of a PubStud event on Chung King Road tonight too)


Disjecta opens a large installation fabricated of wood by Karl Burkheimer. It was curated by large installation sculptor Jeanine Nagy, who has spectacularly filled the space in the past. At Disjecta www.disjecta.org 8371 N Interstate 6-10PM Free

February 25 Free The Museum Appendix

I'm a huge proponent of free, most events listed here are free. On the other hand, many arts organizations which charge fees hire artists as staff, which I also strongly support. And many cultural organizations that charge admission have have yearly membership programs that pay themselves back in 3 visits for two in a year. How do you decide whether the year membership is valuable to you? Go on a free day! And the Art Museum is free tonight.Go early and see the whole thing and weigh little discounts, a dollar, for films, and not paying for blockbuster shows. It's a vertical workout, but the Masonic contemporary wing is best viewed from lowest floor to the top and after check the NW contemporary show at APEX. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 5PM-8 Free



Sylvie Deutsch has an event at Appendix. They have been having occasional events over the Winter, and they are always challenging in a good way. At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. Wear shoes you can get muddy. www.appendixspace.com Map 7PM Free

February 25-27 Bikes Attack!

The bicycle film festival returns to Portland. It's an international phenomena with showings in Lisbon, Liverpool, London, Milan, Montreal, Munich, Paris, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna and Portland! There are films Friday evening and Saturday afternoon on, with after events, all within riding distance! It's always a pleasure to see a bike pile on Clinton where the bike crush overwhelms locking spots! Get tickets in advance. At Clinton Street Theater 2522 SE Clinton 7PM on Friday, 3on Saturday $9.43 per show online

February 24 Ice Foot Worldchanging Department

I'm going to be frank. I cast a jaundiced eye upon identity-based art. Not sure if bringing a block of ice from the arctic to the Bahamas qualifies, but if that interests you you can research the artist Tavares Strachan who speaks tonight at PNCA and decide whether to go. At PNCA 1241 NW Johnson 6:30PM Free



Meanwhile over at Goodfoot a show by Adam Sheppard, Joel Barber, Johnny Tragedy and Tripper Dungan opens. At www.thegoodfoot.com/gallery 2845 SE Stark Map 4PM-late



It's no secret worldchanging is my interest. That has many dimensions. Those interested in the broad range of worldchanging options mught be interested in the work of Vandana Shiva. Her angle is local, small scale, innovation. She speaks at a World Affairs Council of Oregon event the evening before and her talk at PCC may be streamed free - check the link. 10AM PCC Cascade Free



We like the Art Department because they have a good business savvy in presenting Portland arts and culture. That's required for sustainability. For example, one of their principals self published a book on the history, philosophy and international duplicability of food carts. Tonight they open their doors at a new exhibition and collaborative space specifically to recent art grads, art students, art curators and art teachers to network and find new material for future shows. See adxportland.com 6PM Free

February 23 Is It a Mouse? Is It a Ghost?

This idea started in Brooklyn. It's a perfect excample of new arts presentation models that are popular with audiences, and are fueled by drink sales. Hope the performers and artists are paid. Tonight's Portland edition of Mouse Ghost is coproduced by Ladycop and Together Gallery as a ladycop tour platform. Visual arts include Together editioned prints by Evan B. Harris, Ben Tour, Adam Friedman, Mark Warren Jacques, Nas Chompas, Timothy Karpinski and David Wein at $40 and $80. Jessie Malmed, who is also part of Deep Leap Microcinema, doing a multimedia performace. Fashion will be represented by Golden Rule, Little Edie's Five and Dime, and Clawhammer and Clothespin. Choreographer-dancer Lucy Yim previews Loose Hands Lunging with Jin Camou, Alyssa Reed and Danielle Ross and accompanied by Jean Paul Jenkins and Michael Degutis. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison 9PM $5

February 22 The Mystery of Upholstery

Upholstery is part of our unconscious physical landscape, but how is it made? You can find out this evening from Erin Lolcama of Acanthus Green Upholstery. In addition to touching on the crafty art's history, Lolcama talks about more sustainable and non-toxic materials she uses in her own practice. You can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

February 21 Free Japanese Garden and Free Art

The Portland Japanese Garden is free for all today. japanesegarden.com 611 SW Kingston Avenue. 10AM-4.


Portland and some other cities have public art programs funded by a percentage on city construction. New York too, and the result is a defacto public art collection. New York City curator and director of the City public art program Sara Reisman talks about each of those projects, public art and non-public sector curation. Talk Monday in the Shattuck Hall Annex, SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU Campus Map. 7:30PM Free

February 20 Some Days Spring Research

Local filmmaker Matt McCormick has built a steady career on film curation, distribution, making a festival, art shorts, installation, landscape film, advertising work, music videos, photography and music. You could say he's the artist-filmmaker's filmmaker-artist. He has created his first feature Some Days Are Better Than Others. It's not Reichert, or Van Sant, or Haynes or Miranda July even, it's its own thing. The film priemered at SXSW last year, shows in Portland tonight and proceeds on to MOMA in NYC and other major cities in the coming months. Part of the Portland International Film Festival. www.nwfilm.org In the Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium, www.nwfilm.org 1219 SW Park 7:30PM $8-10



Music continually evolves. Where there is an historical record of who composed a piece, there is also an historical record of the work being loved by new music lovers and hated by old music lovers. And of course today's new music lovers are sometimes tomorrow's new music haters. An example is the composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), early modernist. He wrote his first symphony at 25. A very famous piece, Rite of Spring, begun when the composer was 29, was first performed when he was 31. It elicited the following review: "The most essential characteristic of [The Rite of Spring] is that it is the most dissonant and the most discordant composition yet written. Never was the system and the cult of the wrong note practiced with so much industry, zeal and fury." The premiere of the dance performance in collaboration with greats Nijinsky and Diaghilev, actually erupted into fistfights in the audience and the police were called. The Oregon Ballet Theater is reprising classic Stravinsky modern ballet and commissioning local performers to make new work to Stravinsky. The collaborators speak on the project which performs February 26 - March 5. Describing the process of creating work include Rachel Tess, Rumpus Room Dance; Anne Mueller, Oregon Ballet Theatre; Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland, BodyVox; costume designer Morgan Walker, PNCA; and composer Heather Perkins. More info at OBT Stravinsky Program www.obt.org/season_program3.html. PNCA talk today at PNCA 13th and NW Johnson. 2PM-4 Free



The Research Club continues its intimate and informative brunch series, today returning to the intimate and informative False Front Studio, near Alberta. This brunch includes presentations by Jamie Marie Waelchli, the artist showing Thought Maps this month at the gallery, speaking on her work; Alison Jean Cole, on her peer to peer open source university project and institution-free degree granting; Michael Cook from the City Repair Project, Portland champion mud hut activists, and an idea that has spread to other cities; and Abraham Ingle, from Portland Skill Share and also famous for artist projects such at the Neighborhood Diaries podcasts. Bring vegan or vegetarian friendly food to share. In an important DIY action to cut down on the many pounds of garbage the event could generate, bring your own cup, plate and utensils, hey maybe a cloth napkin! A project of research-club.org At False Front Studio www.falsefrontstudio.com 4518 NE 32nd Map noon-3 Free

February 19 Mall Grow

Seemingly distant in culture, both tonight are doing good things, thanks to artists.

At Project Grow, Why make Art? is a part of their lecture series. Leading off with films by some very creative filmmakers, Karl Lind and Jennifer Keyser, the evening segues to socializing and a discussion by Harrell Fletcher, Chris Johanson, Avalon Kalin, Sandy Samson, Larry Supnet and Karl Lind on the why. At Project Grow at the Port City Development Center. 2156 N Williams Ave at Tillamook. Films 6PM, talk 7. Free



Meanwhile at the mall...IN(ter)DEPENDENCE, is a group show of shows from interdependent independent curators and spaces. Included artists nurturing curators include &Review: Jeff Guay, Jesse Malmed, Morgan Ritter; Appendix Project Space: Zack Rose; Deep Leap Microcinema: Tabor Robak, Duncan Malashock, Philippe Blanchard and Mark Essen with artist made video games; Elizabeth Lamb (OSU White Box): Weird Fiction; False Front: Jason Doize; Golden Rule: Emily Counts; Half/Dozen: Michelle Liccardo; Kelly Rauer (Portland Art Center, NAAU): Mack McFarland; Little Field: Nathanial Oester; RECESS: DIY Lover, Alicia Gordon, Sean Patrick Higgins; Place: Juleen Johnson; Tribute Gallery: J.Brown and Courtney Cullen. The following will also bring artists: Ditch Projects and Grand Detour. At the Pioneer Place Mall, bounded by SW Morrison, Yamhill, 5th and 6th. Third floor. 6PM-9 Free



And a little off the beaten path is the always entertaining San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade and Treasure Hunt! Parade & Hunt. San Francisco 4:30PM & 5:15 Free & $10-40 per person

February 17 Carolee Schneemann at PCC

Carolee Schneeman is an artist working since the late 1950's as painter, performer, filmmaker, writer. Definitely an artists' artist, and an artist driven by issues. She has inquired into the body, sexuality, experimental dance, food and the socio-political issues of war and feminism. Schneeman speaks of her work in a talk titled Mysteries of the Iconographies. This is a big win for PCC to present such an artist, it was organized by the students themselves, good job. Performing Arts Center, PCC Sylvania Campus 12000 SW 49th. 7PM. Parking per carload $3, Lecture Performance Free

February 11-12 Revenge of Revenge of Revenge of The Whale

Moby Dick is an epic American novel. It is still interesting today, weaving themes of American exceptionalism, Christian dominion over the earth and beasts, the then quest for whale oil, now replaced by ground oil, anthropomorphism of whales, more realized now, and tragedy. Since I think I read it last in about junior high school, a reading may be a pleasant refresher. Organized by the IPRC, 135 readers will read aloud a chapter of the book. The event starts at Powell's Friday evening and continues at undisclosed locations for a continuous 24 hours. At Powell's Books 5PM-10 Free

February 11 UN Susan Rice

Susan Rice will be Secretary of State. She is bright and accomplished. To get to that position, you have to have made grave errors that seemed right at the time. It's the way of the world. The current Secretary of State was surely involved in the US and the UN not intervening in Rwanda in 1994. Rice was involved in the 1999 Lomé Accords which not only legitimized one of the 20th Century's most horrific rebel wars, but rewarded its leader with control over the country's diamond exports. Nonetheless, she is a fascinating speaker and, as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, one of Obama's most powerful foreign policy team players. Rice speaks as guest of the Portland World Affairs Council. Tickets www.worldoregon.org/events/registration/susan_rice.php At the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park. 7PM $20, $10 students

February 10 RECESS is Over

The Artistery has declared success and is closing. The Artistery has been one of Portland's most successful all ages venues. Music is art. It's not covered here because others do it much better elsewhere. Music and art have thrived together at the Artistery in a building likely to be town down by developers and that day has come. It joins whole neighborhoods no more that were home to artist studios, band practice space, experimental performance spaces, collaboration and leading edge culture, worldwide.

An Artistery project is the RECESS Gallery programmed by experimental curator Tori Abernathy. Abernathy combines a deep curiosity for systems thinking, social practice ideas proposed by Joseph Beuys and a John Cage-like process of chance combination. In an ongoing, The Synthesis Series, at RECESS and in other venues, she has arranged artist collaborator pairs by chance, that shift. Other shows have included leading idea based Portland artists, social media themed art, mobile phone generated art, art on language and memory.

This Thursday is one of the last times the art venue will be open. Stop by. At RECESS recesspdx.blogspot.com 4315 SE Division 7PM-11

February 9 Blow Dyne

Khaela Maricich is performer The Blow. In several incarnations, The Blow has included Jona Bechtolt, now half of Yacht, and has been solo. Khaela has also performed stellar multimedia spoken pieces, essentially stories. Melissa Dyne is a polymode artist too, working in large scale sculpture installation, inspired by a deep interest in science. They have been collaborating lately, combining songs, narrative, lighting and sound influenced by audience reaction. So in a way the audiences become coequal participants in something new. Perhaps it's social sculpture, or audience, artist, performance sculpture. Hear about it. At the Cleaners at the Ace Hotel, corner SW 10th and Stark, 7PM-8:30 $7

February 6, 7 Stratman on Film

I first came across experimental filmmaker adventurer Deborah Stratman through Matt McCormick's Experimental and Documentary Film Festival. Matt distributes some of Stratman's films. Stratman's Kings of the Sky is the fruit of traveling lightly with camera into Uygurland, Western China. I worked on a project with a stellar Uygur translator, but we didn't talk politics, so the idea of tightrope walking as a cultural meme is cool. Stratman has formed a relationship with Portland as a result of that initial encounter too. Sunday she shows films and workshops with aspiring filmmakers at the NW Film Center. Monday she speaks at PSU. Recommended.

Workshops and consultation through the Film Center www.nwfilm.org/calendar/2011/02/08/deborahstratmanw11 10AM-3 Sunday $20

Screenings at the Film Center nwfilm.org/screenings/32/288/#1807 Sunday 7:30PM Whitsell Auditorium $10

Talk Monday in the Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

February 6 Performance Recital

I have always found the word recital odd. It came to my ears from musician friends, performing in music school. Tonight it's the name given to a an occasional series at intimate Valentines. Movers Jin Camou and Lucy Yim have collected performers Justin Smith, Maesie Speer, Dana Dart McLean and Heather McKenzie. More at recitalpdx.wordpress.com. Event at Valentines valentineslifeblood.blogspot.com 232 SW Ankeny Art 9PM, $5-10

February 5 Mighty Together Whitebox Lightdome

Paulskeee, Master Culture and the Universal Zulu Nation present Mighty4. 5x5 crews battle for $500. Tecumseh and Surreal - 206 Zulu - on the wheels of steel. Live aerosol art by Kauz Roc. MC performances by Orbitron and Theory Hazit. Poppin showcase by New Lineage - BopNTodd, Donnamation, Icon - and Einstein - 45th Parallel Zulu Nation. Judges Paulskee - Rock Force Crew - Orb - Circle Of Fire, Soul Shifters - and Thesis - Knuckleheads Cali. Crews: Foreign Objects, Soul Phase, Crisis Crew, Massive Monkees, Rhythm Bandits, New Birth, Raw Action, Wicked FX, Vicious Puppies, Unleashed, Moon Patrol, Tang N the gang, Tangled Roots, Tru Roots, Art Of Movement and Hamburgerlicious. 109 SE Salmon Doors 6PM Battles 7 All Ages Kids 12 and under Free otherwise $15



Together Gallery opens Supernatural and The King's 6th Finger. Supernatural is work by Adam Friedman, Nicole Linde, David Wien, Cody Cochrane and Betsy Walton. The King's 6th Finger is a children's book with illustrations by Jolby and Rachel Roellke. Musical interludes by Barna Howard, Vikesh Kapoor, and The Moon in Light. At Together Gallery www.togethergallery.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste A Map 6PM-11, Music 9 Free



The UO-PDX Whitebox Gallery opens Collect Four, Matthew Green, Midori Hirose, Jason Traeger and Benjamin Young as curated by Jessie Hayward. It's nicely hung sparsley. Recommended. At White Box in the White Stag Block 24 NW First. Opening reception 6PM-8 Free



It's that time of year that though theoretically days are lengthening, our bodies are still in Winter. So it's a great opportunity to bathe in light. Seek the light yurt and its astral travelers for solace.

February 4-6 And Everything is Going Fine

I am convinced that the appreciation of storytelling is in our DNA. Your and my auditory neocortex differs significantly from other species while retaining the deep brain connections tied to primitive emotion.

Thus the history of human is the history of storytelling. From the Illiad and epic, spoken or sung, found in many early cultures, to our appreciation of the lyrics of the sappiest of pop music, our brains, trained by storytelling from infancy, are narrative hungry.

Spaulding Gray was one of America's primier storytellers. A theater person, he found his groove with sit down storytelling. It's a little like stand up comedy, but less ADD. For instance, see his famous monologue Swimming To Cambodia, a tiptoe around one of the top five human-made tradegies of the 20th Century.

The great filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has woven the metanarrative of Gray into a film. It's a great review of the Gray era. Many followed, including former Portlander Miranda July. Today it has become a popular art form with examples Mike Daisey, and many performative storytellers curated by The Moth, Radiolab, Portland's Back Fence, Mortified, Nervous Breakdown and more.

The film has its Portland premiere at NW Film Center. In the Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium, www.nwfilm.org 1219 SW Park, 7PM Friday, 9PM Saturday, 4:45PM Sunday $9

February 4 Eastside Art Openings

Bruce Conkle, well known for his Northwest Eco-Baroque sculpture installations, is guest Grow artist. Grow, building on its social practice art taproot, adds a lot of artmaking by Grow clients. Now they have a large exhibition space for showing guests and collaborations to the Portland Art world. Tonoght is it Conkle inspiring Project Grow artists and being inspired by them. See it at Project Grow at the Port City Development Center. 2156 N Williams Ave at Tillamook. 7PM-10



Golden Rule kicks off a new show which includes sleeping in the gallery performance experiments, An Invitation to Sleep. Artists Emily Counts, Sally England, Amanda Luna and Alexis Powell have made dream theme works for the space inspiration. At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back



Local, national, international fav Kendra Binney opens new work way down in Sellwood. At Tilde www.tildeshop.com 7919 SE 13th 6PM-9



The Press Club has art shows but I rarely get up that way Fridays. They also have great film, food and tuneage. Tonight they host Portland multiartist Rachel Blumberg. You have probably seen her illustration-style work and heard her music without putting them together. This work is flatter style figure painting. At the Press Club 2621 SE Clinton



I like Local Goods and local goods too. They often have surprisingly good art shows, and although I haven't seen this artist, Marilyn Potter, I am curious. At Local Goods, LLC 2136 E Burnside 5:30PM-8



As always, the rest of the 811 block is recommended, Nationale and Redux!

February 3 Westside Art Openings

Wondering what to do tonight? Free? Wonder no longer.


Christine Clark has been infecting metal students at Oregon College of Arts and Crafts with contemporary for some time. Her own work has run recently to very detailed wire constructions. The work is at the Nine Gallery inside Blue Sky, an artist formed and run gallery specializing in installation and contemporary work. The Nine Gallery inside Blue Sky 122 NW 8th



Courier Coffee continues its art program with a group show. The space alternates between guest curators and guest artists. This show, themed Intuition, includes Portland, Austin, SF, LA, Guatemala and other contributions. DJ from House of Records spinning international rock, soul and funk. At Courier Coffee. 923 SW Oak 5PM-late



The revenge of the Oregon Painting Society is a double show at PSU. Society collective member Jason Traeger shows New Perspectives in Cave Painting. Painting Society proper shows now you c me now you don't / joker n the deck. Trager in Autzen Gallery - Second floor, PSU Neuberger Hall, Room 205, 724 SW Harrison Society in AB Lobby Gallery, PSU Art Department Building Lobby, 2000 SW 5th. While you are there check another show in the upstairs gallery. All three, 5PM-8



PDX Contemporary has word geometry by Victoria Haven from Seattle. The work is elegant and minimal, perfect for PDX. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM



Laura Russo Gallery has Whitney Nye, known for finely detailed collage paintings, with a field of repeating elements. At Laura Russo Gallery www.laurarusso.com 805 NW 21st



P:ear has work by Jennifer Mercede, Flora S. Bowley, Sarah Cruise, Mia Nolting and Nicole Linde working with P:ear youth. At P:EAR www.pearmentor.org 338 NW 6th



Off the Westside art grid, Appendix Project Space on Alberta has a performance 4More by Carlos Gonzalez. Always a lively spot for experimental performance. At Appendix Project Space. On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. www.appendixspace.com Map 6-10ish Free



And stop by the Everett Lofts...

February 3 Innovation Energy

Energy Innovation, I'm for it. Tonight Roger Pielke, political scientist, working at the intersection of energy policy and technology research offers an energy innovation prescription. The sponsors, Illahee, are well known for finding the smartest speakers operating at the leading edge of thinking on contemporary challenges, and their solution. Tickets in advance recommended to beat the crush at www.illahee.org First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park 7PM $20

February 3 The Harmonious Society

Our view of another country, itself made up of large numbers of independent individuals, is by nature vague, or false, or both, even for those paying attention. So with China. That doesn't mean it doesn't matter or that we shouldn't try. Today is an opportunity to do so.

The harmonious society, 和谐社会, is an abstraction and slogan capturing an engineered vision of Confucianism and a contented middle class. It is really not a bad idea, perhaps it is like 1950's America. But the intense pace of change in China, growth in GDP of about 10% yearly for 30 years, has strained that society.

Part of that engineering is evolving the role of law. It can support the government or challenge it, as it does here. Law professor Margaret Lewis studies the question and presents her analysis on the evolving role of law in China. Cosponsored by the NW China Council, the World Affairs Council and the UofO at the White Stag Building, Room 142/144, 70 NW Couch, noon-1:30 Free

February 2 Second Story Moving Targets

Video art, sit down cinema, VJing and architectural video mapping are all close cousins. If they were presented sit down-style by an interactive firm, they would be called design films. That is what they are tonight.

Second Story defines this program as short self initiated work, not for client. If you know Portland, you might recognize some of the creators: MK12, Jeff Scher, Tomorrow Partners, Mark Owens, Everynone, Secondary School, Jiaren Hui, Bran Dougherty-Johnson, PSST! Pass It On, Chris Lael Larson, goodfocus, Alex Cornell, 3 Legged Legs, Nadia Tzuo, Joe Hollier, Andrew Sloat, Rob Tyler and Feel Good Anyway.

It's a great evening which we hope becomes regular. Arranged by Second Story in association with AIGA, the Moving Targets program http://blog.secondstory.com/moving-targets premieres this evening at 714 N Fremont St #200 7PM-9 Free

January 31 What is a Sustainable Building?

Portland is a leader in LEED building. We export those skills worldwide. But LEED itself is just one of a set of measures of good that will unfold over time. One of those unfolding measures will be lifecycle resource and energy accounting. For instance, a solar cell requires a large amount of energy to refine the silicon from the silicon aluminum oxides found in rock. One estimate is that a solar cell takes 5 years of operation to recover its energy cost of materials. It's the same to go from ore to metal. Then the voided energy from recycling the solar cells in 20 years into new ones should be taken into account. I'm in the cleantech field and had an opportunity to ask a Department of Energy research director about the best thinking on this very question. The answer, no serious work is done yet.

This idea first came on my radar from articles on a planned Seattle light rail system. It was designed Seattle-style to be the most costly, complex and risky solution to the problem at hand. The out of balance element was a plan to drill a route for the rail under Capitol Hill. Calculations showed that the energy of tunneling, concrete and steel would never pay itself back in energy saving. Travel anywhere in the extent of the Greco-Roman empire and you will see hand carved stone blocks reused from ancient building to less ancient building, demonstrating conservation of material and labor by reuse.

In buildings, a qualitative thought process has started, backed by some back of the envelope calculations. That's the thesis of the film tonight: The Greenest Building. The film explores the idea that reusing old buildings is more energy efficient than creating them entirely from new materials. This meshes well with the ideas in an early book How Buildings Learn.

The Greenest Building traces 5 green reuse building projects. Its focus is the triple bottom line: economic, social and ecological. It's perfect that the film has its world premiere in the Gerding Theater in a LEED certified rejuvenation of an historic armory. The film travels to other cities and is scheduled for PBS broadcast in the future.

You can find out more about the film at their website. It shows in the Gerding Theater 128 NW 11th 6:30PM Advance tickets at http://thegreenestbuildingmovie.eventbrite.com/ $9.15

January 29 The Cove

The Cove is a documentary with unwilling and unknowing subjects. That is what makes it as important as controversial. Japan is an island with a long and necessary engagement with the sea. The culture of Japan, like any, is complex. Some themes sometimes seen are an intense focus on specialization and refinement. The Japanese and American way each have strengths and blind sides, especially when judged by the other.

The small town in Japan, Taiji, has developed a specialized industry of capturing migrating dolphins for zoos and meat. To them it's normal. Their activities are not widely known in Japan. They are also the only known spot in the world with this focus. The film, which won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2009, has encountered huge resistance in Japan against any public showings.

Another layer is the sensitivity in Japan to mercury poisoning. Minamata disease is the name given to systemic mercury poisoning caused by bioaccumulation in seafood from industrial waste. From a cultural standpoint, it would probably have the equivalent but stronger psychological resonance of the recent Gulf Oil Spill. Thus an ironic discovery of the film is that the town residents face the same pattern of milder mercury poisoning from eating dolphins.

The filmmakers engage in entertaining games of cat and mouse and the use of spy cameras. Though many dolphins were killed in the making of the film, the town's extreme secrecy prevented the most disturbing events from appearing graphically on camera.

Still the film raises critical questions about our attraction to zoos and our responsibility in the great chain of being.

The film is recommended as an entree to us each in examining our relationship with the sea, and its creatures.

Sponsored by the Sea Sheperd Society, it shows at the PSU Fifth Avenue Cinema. 510 SW Hall 7PM By donation

January 27 The Revenge of the Electric Car

Is sweet. That's the mission of electric car activist Chris Paine. Paine made the 2006 film Who Killed the Electric Car?. He's finishing a new film Revenge of the Electric Car. He speaks tonight about electric cars and his David vs Goliath quest, which is looking increasingly like a win! At PSU Lincoln Hall, room 175 (basement) at the corner of SW Broadway and SW Market 6PM-8 Free

January 27-29 Seattle Portland

With a name like the Degenerate Art Ensemble you can't go wrong. And having seen them many times I can verify they are awesome. This is not an official DAE project, but it does include many DAE performers and is flavored similarly.

The plot: "Red Ridinghood faces off with her grandmother, a broken doll comes to life, a forest is born within a warehouse."

There will be a live string quartet and collaborators include Haruko Nishimura (dance), Jason Puccinelli (scenic design), Ela Lamblin (sculptural instrument), Leo Mayberry (video), Dohee Lee (dance/percussion/voice), Joshua Kohl (music), Jherek Bischoff (music), Christine Tschirgi (costume).

It's free!

At West Seattle, 2414 SW Andover Street Building F-105, Seattle WA. 7PM-8 Free



Meanwhile Portland's awesome BodyVox now has BodyVox-2, the second unit. They perform pieces originally from the BodyVox founders as part of the Fertile Ground Festival. At BodyVox Studios, www.bodyvox.com 1201 NW 17th Map 7:30PM (&2 Saturday) $15, check the website for tickets or use your Fertile Ground pass.

January 25 Curiosity Sherry Turkle

While Core 77 primarily focuses on industrial design, the Curiosity Club talks incorporate broader interests including clothing design. Tonight is that. Local designer Coco Urhausen Martinez talks about her work, including Mexican circus influences. The description of her work on the Curiosity Club web link is fascinating - read it to decide for yourself. You can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free



We have the most amazing machines at our fingertips or following us in our pockets. They are backed by a web of radio systems and fiber, and acres of data centers, many in Eastern Oregon and Washington. Normally we just use them. But some people think about how we use them. One is Sherry Turkle at MIT, a center for research and publishing in mobile and computing ethnography. Turkle is one of the leading thinkers in the world on the topic. You can see her tonight speak for free at Powells. Many videos are here, including the Colbert version last week. Turkle speaks at Powell's Books www.powells.com 1005 W Burnside 7:30PM Free

January 24 Location City Machine Walk

Portland location activists Aaron Parecki and Amber Case speak about mobile location tonight at Mobile Portland. They are responsible for the Geoloqi app and embeddable technology. Their talk is a survey of the geolocation world, how the capability can be used and demonstrations of real applications. At Urban Airship/ Cloud Four (Thanks!) 334 NW 11th 6PM Free



Portland civic discourse activists the Portland City Club sponsor a talk by Space Syntax, pedestrian planners with a very cool name. While automobile traffic planning is subject to extensive standard models, pedestrian planning has been intuitive and seat of the pants. No more, space syntax has become one of the world's experts on predicting where pedestrians will go. This should be a fascinating talk by Tim Stonor founder and managing director of London-based Space Syntax. At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Map Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free



Machine Project maker activists round out the evening as part of the PSU Monday night lecture series. Machine Project takes social practice into the art, craft and fabrication world, in the LA home and on the road to arts organizations. Talk in the Shattuck Hall Annex out front, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free



Project Grow hosts a show by Portland social practice artist Avalon Kalin documenting his Walkshops, many with the artists at Project Grow. His website gives a better idea of what's involved, or just show up this evening or until January 28 at the Project Grow gallery to find out about it! At Project Grow at the Port City Development Center. 2156 N Williams Ave at Tillamook. 7PM-10

January 23 Huun Huur Tu Stock Research

The Research Club, you, present brunch. Today's instance will be held at the mall! Research Club is collaborator with a group of artists who have taken over a closed Pottery Barn store in the Pioneer Square mall, an epic example of poetic justice. Presenters include Lisa Hoashi, public information officer for Mercy Corps projects in Haiti; Ben Popp, on matte printer compositing on 16mm film, how it was done before electronic compositing became possible in the 1980's; UO White Box Gallery curator Elizabeth Lamb on the collaborative gallery opening in the Mall in February; and artist writer Elizabeth Danger Gardner. Food is involved, but the Research Club is serious about sustainability: you must bring your own cup, plate-bowl and utensils, and take them with you when you leave. Or you may eat off lettuce leaves or recycled cardboard sheets they provide! Bring vegan or vegetarian-friendly brunch food, arrive early, stay to talk. A project of research-club.org At the Pioneer Place Mall, bounded by SW Morrison, Yamhill, 5th and 6th. Third floor. Noon-3PM Free



Portland Stock is a nanogranting project. Awards are running around $5-600. This puts them at less than government efforts such as RAAC at about $1-2K and Kickstarter in the low thousands. Kickstarter is based on large online social networks. Stock is based on about 100 interested, in person, peer artists and friends. Reservations for this simple $10 meal are required. BYOB. The proceeds of those $10's pooled are awarded to one of the usually about half dozen proposals in a two stage voting process.

RSVP by email, portlandstock at gmail dot com, the meal reservations, limited by logistics, fill quickly. Details: www.portlandstock.blogspot.com At PNCA 1241 NW Johnson 6PM-8 $10 cash only



With a name like Huun Huur Tu, you can't go wrong. Portland is a small town operating on a world stage. An example of gems hidden in plain sight is local artist shaman and throat singer Soriah. Soriah has studied Tuvan throat singing in Tuva for several years. As a result he placed third in the world in a competition for throat singing in Tuva, the only Westerner to have done so, ever. Cultural ambassador Soriah arranges Portland performances by traveling Tuvan perfomers in little Portland.

Huun Huur Tu is a world famous performing ensemble in the khöömei style. They have collaborated with Western musicians Ry Cooder, The Kronos Quartet, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Frank Zappa and their samples are being remixed into electronic tracks. In Tuvan, Huun Huur Tu is translated as “Sun Propeller” - beams of sunlight cast through clouds in the golden hour or through tree leaves by overhead sun. Soriah performs himself as well. Highly recommended for the musically adventurous.

At the Alberta Rose Theater 3000 NE Alberta. Doors 6:30PM, show 7:30. $18 advance, $20 door

January 20 Art Spark

Art Spark offers its monthly free networking event this evening. Guest presenter is the Creative Advocacy Network. It's also a free booking conference for some smaller Portland arts groups we hope can benefit from future CAN-created funding. The groups are Create Plenty, Film Action Oregon, i heart art pdx, Junk to Funk, My Story Workshops, Oregon Women's Caucus, ORLO, Portland Stock, Print Arts NW, Research Club, tEEth and Well Arts Institute. I'm familiar with some of these and they rock! The www.portlandartspark.com event is at Art Bar at PCPA, the downtown theater complex with the Winningstad and the Intermediate Theater, across the street from the Schnitz. 1111 SW Broadway 5PM-7 Free

January 19 Photographer Holly Andres

Portland Photographer Holly Andres does the Yale school well. That would be photographs of models in constructed situations, like film stills frozen in mid-narrative. We can each guess a different story, pre- and post- the instant, that's enigmatic fun. The chief proponent is Yale professor Gregory Crewdson. Crewdson was influenced by eavesdropping on his father's psychiatry practice, filmmakers and Cindy Sherman's electric observations of her social circle. He turned that into a practice of convincing strangers, and later paid models to engage in staged scenes. It's a cinematic practice with the assistance of cinematographers, direction, lighting and set construction. Andres works similarly and as successfully, with Portland resources and friends. Her work is psychologically charged, incorporating nostalgia and touching memories of childhood's mysteries. Andres gives a talk to the Art Museum Photography Council as part of their monthly noontime series. It's free and open to the public, often well attended, it's best to arrive early for a seat. The talk is in the Masonic Temple building, ask at the desk for directions to the room. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park. Noon Free

January 15 Verses Space

Place space, in the Pioneer Square Mall opens the show Verses, by Zachary and Nico Sea. In the Pioneer Place Mall, bounded by SW Morrison, Yamhill, 5th and 6th. Third floor. 5:30PM-8ish Free

January 11 DIY Rocket Science

While the earliest rockets probably go back to the Chinese, it was the Germans in WWII who created modern era of rockets. Today rockets are for everyone! That's the mission of Nathan Bergey. He builds open source rockets in Portland, and flies them. His talk tonight is about the design and development process and unexpected creative insights that have come from the project. The rockets Bergey and his open source team have built and flown have the most advanced known DIY guidance systems in the world. You can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

January 9 Publication Gym

Perimeter: We Live Here Now is a show echoing Larry Rinder's The American Effect. Off the soundly hated by New York blue chip galleries 2002 Whitney Biennial. Rinder decided to risk certain firing, already likely as a result of the Biennial. in 2003 he brought dozens of artworks by world artists themed on their view of America to a post 9/11 New York. The show was judged a success, as is the 2002 biennial, today. (Rinder later skewered the New York art fame machine in his hilarious novel Revenge of the Decorated Pigs, only available at Publication Studio, see below)

Perimeter is the work of Oregon artists born outside the United States. It is presented in collaboration with local community college galleries. Opening reception today Marylhurst Art Gym.

Artists and venues - The Art Gym, Sang-ah Choi (Korea), Horatio Law (Hong Kong), Akihiko Miyoshi (Japan), Motoya Nakamura (Japan), and Ying Tan (China); Archer Gallery, Clark College - Yoshihiro Kitai (Japan) and Kartz Ucci (Canada){January 11 - February 5}; The Cascade Gallery, Portland Community College, Cascade Campus - Yuji Hiratsuka (Japan) {February 24 - March 31}; Helzer Art Gallery, Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus - Una Kim (Korea) {January 6 – February 4}, Petra Sairanen (Lapland){February 7 – March 4}; Northview Gallery, Portland Community College, Sylvania Campus - Baba Wagué Diakité (Mali){January 6 – February 4}.

Recommended. At the Marylhurst Art Gym at the Marylhurst University www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/ Check the campus map to find it. 3PM-5 Free



A Classroom Reader is a book by Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen published by Publication Studio. Tonight is the launch, accompanied by a slide show by the artists, also at Across the Hall this month. Great people, great book, great slides and refreshments! At Publication Studio, 717 SW Ankeny Street 6:30PM-9:30

January 7 Eastside Art Openings

Art never sleeps, but galleries do. Some galleries are adopting opening schedules off the usual, and that's good. These though are open this evening.

Golden Rule has Willful Obedience by Tedd Nash Pomaski. They are obsessive drawings in what was once the pointillist style - large patterns of small marks. At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back



Delaney Allen, PNCA grad, shows In Visibility, modified photographic images. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map



Lille Boutique has occasional shows, and many are good. Tonight they show personal drawings by Amber Smith, Crying at La Bayadere. At Lille Boutique www.lilleboutique.com 1007 E Burnside



With Portland beard central, it's fitting that Land would show photographs of truely epic beards. See them at At Buy Olympia's Land Gallery www.landpdx.com 3925 N Mississippi 6PM-8



Newspace photo has Douglas Beasley and Gloria Baker Feinstein. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th

January 6 Westside Art Openings

Natan Dvir shows portraits made in Israel of 18 year old Arabs. That age is fertile material for Arbus-style exploration. It is made more compelling by intense identity, of the photographer and subjects, forged by conflict. Shai Kremer shows traces of military activity on landscape in Israel. Given the long history of habitation there, those wounds on land are probably not the first. One would hope tough, with the unending advances in the destructiveness of weaponry, that our social evolution toward peace outcompetes our social devolution towards war. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th



The Laura Russo gallery is well known for its warm relationship and career supportive connections to artists shown. This show of new artists is a nice complement to many of the artists shown for years in the gallery and collected by the Museum. Artists Gala Bent, Marcus Gannuscio, Grant Hottle, Rachel Peddersen, Megan Scheminske, Liz Tran show work. Much of it is painting, a Russo gallery specialty. Previews in the New Views section of the gallery artists page. Recommended. At Laura Russo Gallery www.laurarusso.com 805 NW 21st



Light art is a rare medium. Rarer in the Pacific Northwest, despite long grey times. Artist Hap Tivey is an early light artist, well worth your investigation, though it hasn't engaged me strongly. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map



PDX Contemporary has a group show at its Across the Hall space including gallery artists Jacques Flechemuller, Kristen Millerm James Lavadourm Anna Gray & Ryan Wilson Paulsenm Joe Maccam Ellen Georgem, Cynthia Lahti, James Lavadour, Nick Blosser, Storm Tharp, Nancy Lorenz and Terry Toedtemeier. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM



Valentines, always a great decompression and talk spot after First Thursday has Family of Origin by Lizzie Swift. Valentines valentineslifeblood.blogspot.com 232 SW Ankeny Art 9PM, Free



Recommended as always the many fine shows likely at the Everett Lofts and PNCA.