February 3 Eastside Art Openings

Recess has a show Hypercorrection with Paul Clay, Sokhun Keo, Krystal South, and Ross Young. Usually I don't have the patience for overly vague artist statements. But this one is more substantial:

"Our attempts at improving ourselves are often founded on misinformation. We temper conventions that marginalize and impair us.

The artist’s use of mimicry, material transformation, and dissimulation to incite critical discourses not only illuminates the ambivalence of salient cultural ideologies, but more subtly infers his/her desire to be perceived a certain way.

Hypercorrection results from the effort to improve oneself on the basis of an incongruent analogy.

While pursuing their conspicuous goals (the myth of cultural authenticity, material/relational value, fetishization of the Other and social mobility), the artists of Hypercorrection inadvertently offer intimate portraits of themselves. The works have the potential to alter the proclivities of the audience, expanding each viewer’s capacity for transformation".

Should be a good show. At RECESS recesspdx.blogspot.com at Oregon Brassworks Building, 1127 SE 10th 6PM-11



Nationale has Luminosis mori, by Portland photographer Wendy Given. Two bodies of work, nicely printed. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map



Black Box has a group landscape show which covers quite a span of well made work, neither jarringly radical nor namby pamby. At Black Box Gallery www.blackboxgallery.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 212 upstairs 5PM-8:30 Free



Union Pine has fourteen artist-doers in a show Duo. At Union/Pine www.unionpine.com 525 SE Pine 7Pm-late Free



Newspace has a very large group monochrome show, curated by the director. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Map



Pushdot has selections printed large from portraits released in book form by Portland photographer Tatiana Wills. The portraits are of modern dancers in straight up portrait style style, eventually to become a book. At Pushdot Studio www.pushdotstudio.com 2505 SE 11th Avenue Suite 104



Half Dozen closes Arteries by Lisa Berry and opens If I Were You:An Apology From Myself To Myself by Gabe Flores. At Half/Dozen Gallery www.halfdozengallery.com 722 E Burnside (enter on 8th) 6PM-9



Land opens Wild at Heart by Trish Grantham and Lisa Congdon, a romance-themed show. At Buy Olympia's Land Gallery www.landpdx.com 3925 N Mississippi 6PM-8



The Jupiter Hotel drops its own gallery tonight. The hotel proper was the site of a short lived art show modeled after Art Basil Miami's Aqua. Now they are back with a gallery opening on first Friday. They have repurposed the registration area, now relocated next to the tent area, into a 24x7 gallery curated by an late career Frenchman. That means French curators on both sides of Burnside! The show tonight is painter Christoper St. John. At the Gallery at the Jupiter Hotel www.galleryatthejupiter.com 800 E Burnside all hours

February 2 Westside Art Openings

Joe Thurston has a new show Nothing Leading Anywhere Any More Except to Nothing. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map 6PM-9



Late career artists Mel Katz and Henk Pender have a show at Laura Russo. Katz connected Portland and New York in the 1960's. Without that Portland art would not be what it is today. Pender brought an old school European painting aesthetic to Portland which influenced many, including his family who connected Portland art and LA. At Laura Russo Gallery www.laurarusso.com 805 NW 21st



For an art history lesson, stop by the David Hockney print show at Augen. Hockney picked up the pop vibe at RCA in the UK, later living in California. Important art person. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis early close 8



Blue Sky has two intense and obsessive shows this month. Jamey Stillings became entranced by the construction of a high road bridge over the Colorado River. It is a bypass of the road over the Hoover Dam for post 9/11 security reasons. David Rochkind likewise has documented a small part of the drug war in Mexico. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 6PM-9



PDX has a group show of gallery artists Patrick Abbey, Amjad Faur, Jacques Flechemuller, Ellen George, Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Victoria Haven, Justin LʼAmie, Jeffry Mitchell, Arnold Kemp, Elizabeth Knight, Cynthia Lahti, Nancy Lorenz, D.E. May, Kirsten Miller, Susan Seubert, Jane Timkin and Heather Watkins. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM



Hellion has two shows in their new space. In League is formed of pairwise collaborations in which one artist started the piece, shipped it, often to another country, where it was finished by another. The artists are HR-FM +Cole Gerst, Mijn schajte +Rudy Fig, Nishi +Blaine Fontana, Inohaco +Scarecrowoven, Hsiao Ron Cheng +Kalina Tate , Taka Sudo +Michael Amorillo, Yohei Takahashi +Deseo, Nigamushi +Tripper Dungen, Anneli Olander +Naomi Nowak, Michinori maru +Keegan Onefoot, Anneli Olander +Junker Jane. The other show is 1 Hand Cannot Hold 2 Watermelons, a show of illustration style work by Pandemic, Spenser Little and Jaclyn Rose. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com 19 NW 5th Suite 208. Through the lobby of the arched brick entry, up the stairs and to the back. Very upper floor Japan-style. Map 7PM-10ish Free



Fifty24 has Faux Money Faux Problems by Portland artists. It's a current topic Occupying many. At Fifty 24PDX in Upperplayground.com 23 NW 5th


Early PSU's White Gallery opens a show by Portland Painter Jenny Vu. It's in the SW area of the second main floor of the PSU Smith Center.



Valentines has Dark Rooms by Matt Connors. Valentines valentineslifeblood.blogspot.com 232 SW Ankeny Art 6PM-late Free



Pulliam Gallery has a group show by James Boulton, Linda Geary and Paul Kottke. At Pulliam Gallery www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com until 8



Encaustic is a big thing in little Portland. Encaustic painter Kelly Williams has pulled together some favorites and also a show of artists using art as therapy. At Portland Center for the Performing Arts SW Broadway and Main.



The $100 show is an out of town illustration show curated from out of town. The work is priced at 100 dollars accordingly. Deets at 100dollarshow.com. At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th Map 5PM-9 Free



UofO in Portland has a faculty show, Notes on a Recent Arrival, Carla Bengtson, Craig Hickman, Colin Ives, Dan Powell, Jack Ryan, and Kartz Ucci. At the University of Oregon White Stag Building, 70 NW Couch 5:30PM-8:30 Free



The Everett Lofts are always recommended - the Everett Lofts 625 NW Everett. Bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th Map

January 31 Open Source Art

Walter Benjamin's seminal essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction laid down ideas on the back end of art: from maker to the viewer experience. We are experiencing a complementary revolution on the front end, sometimes called open source art making. Social practice art is a branch. Open innovation in products and design is another. Crowdsourcing is a term often used. While a comprehensive view of the topic cannot be constructed by an individual, because the view itself is open source and evolving rapidly, there is an opportunity tonight to hear a talk about it by two individuals, Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese. Recommended. Part of a very high quality lecture series by Oregon College of Art and Craft www.ocac.edu. The talk will be held at the Portland Art Museum in the Mark Building (nee Masonic Temple) in the Miller Gallery which is immediately to the right off the lobby. Arrive early, seating is limited. 1219 SW Park 7PM Free

January 30 Trade School

There may be a Monday Night Lecture tonight, though the organizers have yet to publish it. It may be a web conference with Caroline Woolard, artist cocreator of Our Goods, a creative barter network. I've found the web conferences draw a smaller crowd and are less compelling, you can draw your own conclusions. There is also conflicting information on the time, it may be 6:30PM or the usual 7:30. Lecture Series pdx.edu/art/mfa-lecture-series. In the Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. Free

January 29 Research Brunch

The Research Club brunch is back. They invite you to Brunch #21. Bring some vegetarian or vegan-friendly food, a plate, cup and utensils, and yourself. Listen to engaging speakers. A project of Research Club at the Collective Agency 322 NW Sixth Ave (between Everett and Flanders), Suite 200. See their website, collectiveagency.co for details on how to get into the building. Noon-3 Free

January 27 Sundry Bikes

Portland artist Micki Skudlarczyk started in ceramics like many Portland artists. I'm talking about you, Alfred grads. And like them, she has traveled far in sculpture since. A tactic is the use of materials that take us, and her, out of our comfort zones, though from a purely rational standpoint they should not. Since we are all flesh and bones, maybe we have a built in survival mechanism to not want to dig deeply under the skin. A breakthrough was on one of her international residencies in Mexico where she was able to see a cow slaughtered and butchered in the traditional way, outdoors and by hand. That inspired a series of artworks made of animal parts remaining after the meat is separated. Sundries is the meat industry term for those "miscellaneous items of little value". This show Sundries Serenade, is a continuation of that series, an installation made of skin and hooves, gently cleaned, sung to and displayed. Closing reception at Good Gallery 4325 N Mississippi 7PM-10



For the last month, the Project Grow Gallery has hosted an ever evolving sculpture show of bikes and bike part made projects: The 2012 Bicycle Experience: Prototypes, Visions & Dreams. Johhnie Olivan is one of the guest artists. His Rejuiced Bikes gathers bike parts to be reutilized, even as sculpture, instead of being melted for metal, providing one more use trip. The Portland phenomenon the Sprockettes perform too!This is the closing event for the show. At Project Grow at the Port City Development Center. 2156 N Williams Ave at Tillamook. 7PM-9 Free

Januray 26 Occupation

Brad Cloepfil created Allied Works Architecture in Portland in 1994. His initial projects include sculptural works on the Marylhurst Museum land, the W+K headquarters in an old warehouse, residences and interior projects. Since Allied has opened a New York City office and built many structures, and many of them are art museums. Tonight Cloepfil releases a book tracing their work, Occupation, and speaks about the firm's journey. It's a brief event and book signing. At the Art Museum. Regular admission applies, so you can go early and take in the entire museum, or if you are a member, you can go for free. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-8 $15, free members

January 23 Camintzer

Late career conceptual artist Luis Camintzer makes installations as well as 2d work and photography of a political nature, in the broadest sense of the word. His talk is a joint production of PNCA and the PSU Monday Night Lecture Series pdx.edu/art/mfa-lecture-series. In the Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

January 21 Lumber Place Prison Peoples

The Lumber Room hosts its second discussion with the artists of the Interior Margins show, the curator and the creator of the space. The creator of the space is an articulate art force and up to date on contemporary art. At The Lumber Room lumberroom.com 419 SW 9th, above Liz Leach Map 11AM-1PM Free



The mall galleries are open for one of their monthly confabs tonight.

Jason Starin & Daniel J Glendening open New Function - 2d and sculptures.

Gabe Flores continues Intimate Historical Fictions, large scale sculptures inspired by personal experiences.

Palma Corral has a new installation, International Paradiastole Pageant. In the installation, mannequins wear clothing made of utilitarian manufactured items with loaded associations.

Chris Freeman shows his new video I’m Getting Too Old For This, beginning at 7PM. It's a social practice open source video piece in which the artist's friends made segments themed on aging, boredom and melancholy. The artists working on the project are: Wayne Bund, Jodie Cavalier, Kristin Derryberry, Petra Fortes-Schramm, Adrienne Huckabone, Kayla Martin, Brandon McWilliams, Joe Noreen, Portia Roy and Jamie Marie Waelchli.

At Place, placepdx.tumblr.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. If the mall appears closed, enter the film theater building adjacent, travel through the tunnel to the Place mall, and take the elevator to the 3rd floor. 700 SW Fifth. 6PM-9 Free



Adjacent to Place, The Peoples Art of Portland opens "People of Peoples", work by Ali Schlicting, Anna Magruder, Brin Levinson, Chris Haberman, Chuck Bloom, Dan Pillers, Heidi Elise Wirz, Jen Berry, Jesse Reno, Joel Barber, Joshua Abraham, Kendra Binney, Kyle Gossman, Larry Christensen, Matt Schlosky, Patrice Demmon, Robert Paulmenn, Sam Arneson, Roger Lealamanua and Wellie Glenn with poster artists EMEK, GUYBURWELL and Gary Houston. 5PM-9




This show is well worth seeing. The hue of a repeating graphic covering the main space walls entirely is lit with green and yellow light, producing a disconcerting feeling opposite the usually calming use of those colors in institutions. Peter Haley a well known late career artist presents Prison, a graphic work consuming the walls at Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 6PM-9 Free

January 19 Art Spark

Art Spark is back at the Mt Tabor Theater, below the snow line. www.portlandartspark.com At Mt. Tabor Theatre, 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd 5PM-7 Free

January 18 Biophilia Papermaking Happiness

Portland is one of America's best examples of new urbanism. We have a climate that gives us plenty of options for urban plantlife. Those plants are breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen too. Can we go further with plantlife in our cities? Timothy Beatley believes so. Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning is his book detailing those thoughts. He believes plantlife can cover roofs, the walls of buildings, the medians between sidewalks and the streets, everywhere. Why? The biophilia hypothesis, coined by the great Edward O Wilson, proposes humans have an innate drive to experience other living things. Beatley gives a talk this evening about his work. At PNCA www.pnca.edu 1241 NW Johnson Map 6:30PM Free



PNCA hosts a master papermaker talk this evening too. Paul Wong visits from New York's
Dieu Donné where he makes paper by hand in support of artist projects. At the PNCA www.pnca.edu The Bison Building, the MFA in Applied Craft and Design Studios 421 NE 10th 6:30PM Free



The Economics of Happiness is a new film by Helena Norberg-Hodge and coworkers at the International Society for Ecology and Culture. That group has worked extensively in Ladakh, in Northern India. The film is a call for local economics from worldwide leaders in sustainability. At adxportland.com 417 SE 11th x Stark Map 5:30PM Free

January 14 American Medium

American Medium is a project in New York by Travis Fitzgerald and Josh Pavlacky from Appendix Project Space in collaboration with Daniel Wallace of Extra Extra. Their first show will be Jon Rafman in April. But they are having a celebration tonight with photos of the space and samples of the work. At Publication Studio 717 SW Ankeny 6PM-8 Free

January 13 Interior Appendix Bot

Jasper Spicero presents Interiors, based on video game rendering technology. He is an intermedia student at PNCA. At Appendix Project Space www.appendixspace.com On the alley between 26th and 27th, South of Alberta. Map 6:30-10ish Free



Jess Fogel shows her illustrations at Albina Press. Fogel also illustrates children's books, so good happy Winter art is forecast. At Albina Press, 4637 N. Albina x Blandena 6PM Free



Not art but tool: Pocketfactory loaded their Prius with a couple of Makerbots, Kinects and software and are on a cross country road trip to demonstrate it. They have a concept for a company that manufactures one-of or small quantities of design and craft items using bot magic. The Makerbot is a relatively inexpensive 3d printer. You can see videos of it in action. In a very meta move, key parts of the Makerbot can be made by a Makerbot - robots making robots! What it makes comes from plugging it into your computer. The design can be made by 3d drawing and design software. A shortcut is a 3d scanner. Open source software can be used to turn a Kinect into a scanner! For artists it can be a sculpture factory. At Brainsilo www.brainsilo.org map 6PM-9 Free

January 12 Tripper Museum

Every month the Art Museum invites an artist to select a work from the collection, then give a talk about it to an intimate crowd, which might include you. This month, choreographer and modern dancer Tahni Holt speaks. Holt is known for brainy architectural dance works, and participatory works in the social practice world. It requires museum admission, to keep the museum from becoming even more nonprofit than it already is, so go with a member or make an afternoon tour. If interested, meet promptly at 6PM at the side entrance by the courtyard. Reservations suggested, it can sell out. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-8 $15, $5 members



Tripper Dungan makes bright lowbrow illustration. Trippy! At Black Wagon blackwagon.com 3964 N Mississippi Map 5PM-7 Free

January 12-14 Flamenco!

This blog has been a champion of flamenco and Portland has had flamenco hot flashes. With teachers moving on, it's been quieter for flamenco in town. But it's always a pleasure when we have a visit from out of town performers. Noche Flamenca is the world touring project of Soledad Barrio, and her ensemble of additional dancers and musicians. They are presented by White Bird www.whitebird.org in the Newmark Theater 7:30PM $25-60

January 9 Global City?

Is Portland a Global City? A destination for travelers like Barcelona, Venice, Kyoto, Shanghai, Geneva? We could do better. How about creative companies or even major companies inlocating? John Jay has a vision for the next generation of Portland. It's Portland as the creative persons' destination. Part of the plan is a small creative business incubator and travelers' hostel in gritty Chinatown. PIE has gained rapid success. Is this PIE II? Hear Jay, who spends quite a bit of time in the world's major creative cities propose Portland's possibilities and challenges in attaining a vision of Global City. It's part of the City Club's Bright Lights Series, a gathering of planners, architects and interesting people to hear discussions, primarily of urban planning. At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th Map Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free

January 8 Anonymous Pattern Sampling People

Do people sample patterns or do patterns sample people? Does the essence lie in the sample or does it reside in the viewer? The Pattern People are visual samplers. This show of their work, titled Collision, would not have been technically possible only a short time back. The Pattern People, Claudia Brown and Jessie Whipple Vickery, based in Portland-London sample the visual world and remix it into surface design. It can take the form of fabric, wall paper, murals, packaging or illustration. To me it has a great feel, that can surely be evolved to stay fresh. And I think we are able to simultaneously respond to all the associations in the source material. At Stumptown Belmont 3356 SE Belmont 6PM-8 Free


Usually the Marylhurst Art Gym is a space for regional mid-career artists to show. A small number of them are high concept or conceptual. The curation, which has been very consistent, is anything but high concept. So this show is a surprise. The show has been put together by a guest curator from Bogota Columbia. And the artists are anonymous: they have made an agreement with the space thus:

Agreement: You, “Artist D” are entering into an agreement with the “Curator” and The Art Gym. Both “Artist D” and “Curator” agree to never confirm your participation in this exhibition to the press, Art Gym museum staff members, students, other artists, friends, family, or anybody who might fall outside of this list. Your participation will not be listed on any press materials, statements or documents outside of this one. If a direct question is asked of your participation a straight lie of, “no, I have nothing to do with any of this” is perfectly acceptable. Upon signature of this contract, your authorship is officially obscured.

Artists A, B, C, D, E & F each had different experiences, and it's fascinating to read about it on the gallery website. Better yet, match each narrative with the work by visiting. There will also be a gallery talk January 12, noon. At the Marylhurst Art Gym at the Marylhurst University www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/ Map 3PM-5 Free

January 7 Pure Collection Gallery

Ampersand Vintage is a Portland amalgam of fine and found, cheesy and meaty, photography and 2-dimensional ephemera. Tonight they open two shows of found, covering all those ingredients. Robert E. Jackson has been an obsessive 15 year collector of snapshots. Ampersand is publishing a book, Pure Photography, based on that collection. Ampersand also collects vintage snapshots. Tonight they open a show of Jackson and Ampersand photographic findings. At Apmersand Vintage Printed Material www.ampersandvintage.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste B. Map 6PM-10 Free

January 6 Eastside Art Openings

The new year finds some galleries carrying shows from December, or vacationing. Others have adopted mid-month openings as a regular strategy. But there are some notable shows opening tonight.



Highlighter is a show of painting with artists Amy Bernstein, James Boulton, John Brodie, Timothy Scott Dalbow, Marie Koetje and K Scott Rawls. It will be bright and perky.

It also wins the copywriting award for the month: "[the curators] openly engage with the now in order to emphasize the heuristic energy guiding such innovation in the first place. Through a shared language of brilliant colors and jostling patterns, inspired in part by the excess of modern culture, the canvases of [the artists] function as a playground for symbolic and formal invention. However, despite such non-representational tendencies, the works ultimately renounce the highbrow tenets of traditional abstraction in favor of more relatable, personal experiences. Like an aesthetic transubstantiation, the act of painting converts momentarily from a studied medium to a mean for catharsis as the artists attempt to decipher society’s fraught existence through each arresting stroke. Whatever the end result, it is always this encounter that matters most for, as Mr. Dalbow avows, 'each painting is an excuse to ask the question again.'"

At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map Free



As population growth slows, people migrate away from small towns. Despite our web of electronic connections, we prefer to touch in person. So we have ghost towns in America. The same can be found worldwide. In the heady days of the Soviet Union, the tiny town of Tiski, Тикси, was settled by scientists and the military as a research outpost in the far North on the Arctic Sea. January high temperatures average -36F. Although the republic in which Tiksi lies is rich in natural resources, they are all mined far to the South in towns served by rail. In contrast, the only way to get to Tiksi, above the Arctic Circle, is by charter plane. Now it is becoming abandoned. Photographer Evgenia Arbugaeva was born in Tiksi, and lived there until 8. At 26, she returned to document the town disappearing through the lens of her memories. She focuses on the built environment, and experiences of the remaining residents, including children, who have the infinite landscape as playground. This is her first solo show in the United States, a great accomplishment for Newspace. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Map Free



Emily Bixler shows necklace-like sculptures or sculptural necklaces made of industrial materials. They work. Blair Saxon-Hill shows her halftone collages, work she pioneered at Fourteen30 gallery. Very high quality in both cases, and they fit well together, even if the large space gives both a chance to breathe. At Union/Pine www.unionpine.com 525 SE Pine 7Pm-late Free



Cheyenne Sawyer of Atlas Tattoo shows her illustrations. At Albina Press East 5012 SE Hawthorne 6PM-8 Free

January 5 Westside Art Openings

Robert Frank is a classic photographer known for a 28,000 image series of portraits, The Americans, made 55 years ago. Those stunning black and white images pioneered unusual framing, which would not be foreign to today's hipstamatic snappers. Frank grew up in Switzerland and came to the United States at age 24. With his outsiders' eye, he began the epic documentary project at 31. Americans, made throughout the United States over 2 years, captured an impressionistic view of a country on the verge of the 1960's intensity. He continued working and Blue Sky last showed his work in 1981. Frank's new Blue Sky show is Painkillers, a series of prints from Polaroids selected with the participation of Blue Sky from the photographer's archives. They cover the 1970's to today. Frank usually shows international museums, This month he shows at Blue Sky.


Also Karen Miranda-Rivadeneira shows Bliss Street, photos of her extended family's home in New York.

At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 6PM-9



Ethan Rose shows Reflection, a sculptural installation with unique bells. Today anyone implementing a bell would synthesize it, or record one, then simply play it back over a loudspeaker. Rose started with mechanical bells, like something from an old factory, with exposed mechanisms. The striker is motivated by sending electricity through a coil of wire, clearly visible. There are ten bells on one wall of the gallery. On the facing wall are ten speakers. Rose recorded each bell, then reversed the recording in time, the sound of the bell backwards. One recording plays, from the soft decay to the strike. At that moment the corresponding bell rings, then decays. The process repeats, with electronic recordings of the bells overlapping with the actual bells. It's worth spending time with it sometime when the gallery is not crowded. It's quite stunning. Rose has also made a very reasonably priced editioned recording of the installation. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM



SCOOP 6PM continues until January 14 at UofO's White Box Gallery. Dustin Zemel's multi-channel video piece uses local television news, acted by local artists. Each of the seven "newscasts" covers the same story, differently. At the University of Oregon White Box Gallery whitebox.uoregon.edu. 24 NW 1st



Hellion has Internal: Apprentice, Intern Assistant, Talent with Joey Alvarez, Joseph Bergin III, Alex Despain and Christa Mariottini. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com 19 NW 5th Suite 208. Through the lobby of the arched brick entry, up the stairs and to the back. Very upper floor Japan-style.
Map



Camera Obscura: Outside In(n) is a show of pinhole rephotography by Darius Kuzmickas. The camera obscura is an early imaging system, in which a lens or pinhole lens casts an image in a darkened room from the world outside. Kuzmickas used hotel rooms and apartments as camera obscura, then photographed portraits lit by the obscura images. If you know anything about optics, that the images are inverted should not surprise, nonetheless the result is striking. He also includes a series of ironic sunset photos made by the same process, Ocean Pinholes: Sunset. At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd 6PM-8



Illustrated is a show of illustration work by Meredith Butner, Jess Fogel, Lily Gilbert, Amy Ruppel, and Lisa Schonberg. Curated by Iris Porter. At Valentines valentineslifeblood.blogspot.com 232 SW Ankeny Art 6PM-late Free



Augen has a group show. It's a good opportunity to see the span of aesthetics the gallery supports. Artists include Deanne Belinoff, Bill Brewer, Sally Cleveland, Jonnel Covault, John Dempcy, Trish Grantham, Jef Gunn, Chris Kelly, Eva Lake, Royal Nebeker, Jim Riswold and Mary Wells. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis early close 8



PSU has a show by students who participated in their program in Italy, Summer last year. The artists are Artists are William Bruno, Fara Di Noto, Stephanie Drachman, Gabriela Golez, Yibo Lu, Robert McKirdie, Riley Werner and Amanda Wilcox. At PSU MK Gallery in the PSU Art Department Building, Second Floor, Room 207, 2000 SW 5th 5PM-7



The myriad galleries at the Everett lofts are always recommended. At the Everett Lofts 625 NW Everett. Bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th Map

January 3 Cats!

This is primarily a visual arts blog, with excursions into contemporary performance and worldchanging. But we love it when Portland creative communities cross boundaries as with the Fin de Cinema series. The event pairs an iconic or ironic film with a live soundtrack provided by a bevy of Portland's most interesting musicians. Tonight it is the 1963 Cassandra Cat from Czech director Vojtěch Jasný, now at SVA. It has something to do with a magical circus cat who reveals the true motivations of individuals, which of course is threatening to society. It's a technical accomplishment in its time; hand coloring, optical printer? Live musical accompaniment is provided by Typhoon, Tu Fawning and Brainstorm, with DJ Coldyron and DJ Pattern and Shape. At Holocene www.holocene.org 1001 SE Morrison 8:30PM $6

December 17 Finite Reproduction Place

Monoprints are an accessible medium for artists and art lovers in the age of infinite reproduction. For artists they are quickly made, for art lovers, they can be correspondingly inexpensive. They can be messy fun for artists who have made them before, and for arists new to the medium. Artists Abra Ancliffe, James Archer, Ray Anthony Barrett, Amy Bernstein, Pat Boas, Derek Bourcier, Christine Bourdette, John Brodie, Will Bruno, Christopher Buckingham, Wayne Bund, Nolan Calisch, Bruce Conkle, David Corbett, Matthew Courtway, Posie Currin, Dana Dart-McLean Melia Donovan, Liam Drain, Jenn Feeney, Damien Gilley, Renny Gleeson, Daniel J Glendening, Sam Guerrero, Bryson Hanson, Stephen Hayes, Jesse Hayward, Yuji Hiratsuka, Deborah Horrell, Linda Hutchins, Sara Kacvinsky, Vanessa Kauffman, Gina Keough, Beth Kerschen, Chris Lael Larson, Cynthia Lahti, Tina Lange, Kendra Larson, Michael Lazarus, Jen Lorentzen, Dana Lynn Louis, Alex Mackin Dolan, Victor Maldonado, Mack McFarland, Michael McGovern, Rachael Miller, Jenene Nagy, Melody Owen, Bonnie Paisley, Michael Parich, William Park, Trude Parkinson, Brittany Powell, MaryAnn Puls, Kyle Raquipiso, Kent Richardson, Morgan A Ritter, Catherine Rondthaler, Ben Rosenberg, Calvin Ross Carl, Amy Ruppel, Jack Ryan, Blair Saxon-Hill, Stephen Slappe, Ashley Sloan, Stephanie Snyder, Krystal South, Rory Sparks, Raf Spielman, Anya Spielman, Jason Sturgill, Gary Sweet, Joe Thurston, Everett Vangsnes, Samantha Wall, Valerie Wallace, Heather Watkins, Jacob Wilkinson and Christy Wyckoff get together for an afternoon party to experiment with monoprint making. In the evening, you can buy them for $50-250. At 500 NW 14th x Glisan 6PM-9 Free



Place opens works by Takahiro Yamamoto, Stephanie Simek, Palma Corral, Gabe Flores and video by Krista Dragomer with Rashin Fahandej tonight.

Two of our greatest human needs are to make narrative and to be heard. Many of our space exploration projects have included messages to other intelligent lifeforms, impressed as images and recordings, of our place in space, and our life. These crafts narrate our world in hope that on their long journeys someone will hear them. Our will to be heard is so strong that it matters not that they may be heard only generations after we cease. An example are the golden records on the Voyager I & II missions. In the Golden Records, Simek draws inspirations from the brainwave recordings carried by Voyager's golden records.

Takahiro Yamamoto is a photographer and performer from Japan via LA and now at PNCA. He shows Postal Experience and 2 performances.

Palma Corral and Gabe Flores are the founders of Place. Flores comes from a philosophy background, but in art is focused on identity. In Intimate Historical Fictions, he relates some of his current memory of his past life in a tree structure. In The Red String, Corral illustrates in a figurative installation, animated by sound and light, some prototypical gender attraction patterns.

Krista Dragomer and Rashin Fahandej collaborate on a video project 160 Years of Pressure, constructed together from their disparate geographic locations over the last 4 years.

At Place, placepdx.tumblr.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. If the mall appears closed, enter the film theater building adjacent, travel through the tunnel to the Place mall, and take the elevator to the 3rd floor. 700 SW Fifth. 6PM-9:00 Free

December 10 200x10x8x8=40+ Bear Craft

As we have written, there has been a history of modular art shows in Portland: a uniform form factor and a huge group of artists. This group has refined that process to an art. In this case, 200 artists have made 2000 pieces of art, 8 inches square. They are all for sale on a cash and carry basis (checks and credit cards too) for $40 each. The Big 200 Po'Boy Art show (actually now over 250 artists) taking over all the galleries in the Pioneer Place Mall 700 SW 5th, 3rd floor 2PM-10PM
Postscript: this project sold over $70,000 worth of art in less than 6 hours. That's an accomplishment. The target next year, 500 artists.



Readers may notice we don't cover crafts extensively. But we do like the Crafty Wonderland, now a once a year reunion at the Oregon Convention Center. There is a parallel event at the Sandbox Studios nearby. Saturday and Sunday.



Orlo is a Western meditation (and magazine, the Bear Delux) centered on the intersection of art and the environment. They have their annual party tonight at their space in Zoomtopia. From 7-9:30 they have Santa photo and portrait drawings, performances until 11:30, and an ugly sweater contest at about 10, final round 11. There will be auctions of art and the like. At Orlo orlo.org (ignore last year's Dec 4 date on the website, that was 2010, this is 2011) 810 SE Belmont 7PM-midnightish $10 donation

December 9 Irreality TV Poetics and Black Wagon Oz Food Art

PNCA continues its public programs on the intersection of sustainability and art. Tonight they host a talk by Stefani Bardin who critiques the food system with art. She is collaborating with medical researchers to use a video endoscope capsule to traverse the digestive system, filming a complete digestive cycle, making real The Fantastic Voyage. At the PNCA www.pnca.edu collaborative design studio 1330 NW Kearney 5PM-7



Worksound holds its resident artist potluck talk tonight with Dustin Zemel on Televisual Intagibilities: "visual and reality spaces in non fiction television". He has made a faux newscast with Portland artists as "news personalities". Poet writer curators Lisa Radon and David Abel talk about the intersection of visual art and poetry. Both have curated recent word-visual art shows. At Worksound worksound5.tumblr.com 820 SE Alder Map 7PM-10



The film, the Wizard of Oz, is a mythical fable, wrapped in a musical. It is a better vehicle than most for pop culture sampling because it transcends generations. Other pop culture sampling is only resonant with very narrow age group, and within that, a narrow subculture. Those narrow samples are hilarious to only a few, an inside joke. The Wizard of Oz film was based on a children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Artist Gesine Kratzner, draws her inspiration for her art from an East German translation Der Zauberer der Smaragdenstadt of a Russian translation of the English original of the book. The resulting work resembles a Tim Burton take on Oz. Opening at Albina Press, 4637 N. Albina Ave at Blandena 6PM-8 Free



The kids store Black Wagon opens their latest show this evening, whimsical illustrations by Lee White. Schooled at Art Center Pasadena, White has a long illustration career, including childrens' books. At Black Wagon blackwagon.com 3964 N Mississippi Map 5PM-7 Free

December 8 Greater Art

Graeter Art Gallery launches a print sale this evening by artists Brin Levinson, Miguel Gonzalez, Jesse Reno, Theodore Holdt, William Chad Willsie, Mario Robert, Phresha Le Vandalé & Abraham Wylie; complementing their other affordable artworks in other media. At Graeter Art Gallery www.graeterartgallery.com 131 NW 2nd Map 5PM-7

December 3 Disjecta Ampersand

Disjecta opens a show False Starts, Repairs, and Overhauls by Mark Licari. they are large scale drawings that comment on our contemporary predicament. At Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 6PM-10 Free



Ampersand is a tightly curated art book store with a very fine focus on photography. They hunt vintage prints, by known and anonymous image makers. They curate shows, often photo-based, and even publish photographers books. They have been operating three years on Alberta and they are expanding to include the Together space next door. Tonight is a celebration of all that. They also open several shows in the expanded space: watercolor figures by Dan Gluibizzi, figure paintings by Chris Crites, Polish and Russian posters from the 1950-60's and drafting exercises from a French student made between 1902 and 1904. At Apmersand Vintage Printed Material www.ampersandvintage.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste B. Map 6PM-10 Free

December 2 Eastside Art Openings+

Even though some people have declared Design Thinking dead, I'm not buying it. In fact, I urged AI to bring their ID program here (and they did, though probably not because of me). Startup ID facilitators Hand Eye Supply and ADX are active in Portland. ID is on the radar of PNCA, MOCC and UO. Local firm Ziba has credibility far beyond Portland, and of course the elephant in the room is the big shoe company.

Tonight's program is an element of the embrace of design thinking by PNCA and the Museum of Contemporary Craft and design. The presenters, Studio H, operate a design-build program for school children in North Carolina. There is a show in the MOCC for the next weeks of the designs conceived and built by students. There is also a meet Studio H Sunday at ADX 10-noon.

Tonight Emily Pilloton, Studio H co-founder talks about her program, the student experiences and answers your questions. Presented by the PNCA Museum of Contemporary Craft www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org. At Ziba Design Auditorium www.ziba.com 810 NW Marshall 6PM-8 Free



Portland artist Kendra Binney has a show of the psychological landscapes inhabited by the creatures of her imagination, animals and wide-eyed characters.
At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside



George Eastman did not invent film and Edward Land did not invent self developing film, but they each brought it to the masses. Land created Polaroid, bringing the capability to check and share the exposure immediately. Revolutionary at the time, it seems quaint in relationship to today's instant gratification electronic photography. But there is a romance with instant, and when Polaroid ceased making film and cameras, The Impossible Project bought the factory and revived the medium. The new film fits vintage cameras. So if you are interested in Polaroid romance, there is a way to continue. Ann McGarry has the Polaroid romance. For 15 years she has been making instant photographs. Her work is now promoted by The Impossible Project itself. This show is a reminiscence of moments captured over that time of personal significance. At the Hawthorne Albina Press 5012 SE Hawthorne 6PM-9



The snapshot predates Instagram, arguably it was invented by Kodak's Eastman. And the snapshot is the theme of this show, The Snapshot Aesthetic. At Black Box Gallery www.blackboxgallery.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 212 upstairs 5PM-8:30 Free



Worksound has been engaged in a residency program this Fall with artists Michael Endo, Ray Anthony Barrett, Dustin Zemel, Lisa Radon and Sammy Shaw. Tonight Shred of Lights is an interim result of those collaborations. Lisa Radon, well known arts writer and poet reads at 7 with a series of eight small dances by Lydia Rosenberg, Jin Camou, Morgan Ritter, Jane Zemel, Stephanie Simek, Ashley Sloan, Lucy Yim, and Molly Radon-Kimball. Sound by Doug Theriault. At Worksound www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder Map 6PM-9



Half|Dozen Portland's bipolar gallery in a good way continues In Want of the World by Tia Factor and opens Arteries by Lisa Berry. At Half/Dozen Gallery www.halfdozengallery.com 722 E Burnside (enter on 8th, in the basement) 6PM-9



Tilde has the Teeny Tiny Show, small works by Portland artists Vivienne Strauss, Nicole Linde, Michele Maule, APAK, Jenna Robertson and Kate Bingaman Burt. At Tilde www.tildeshop.com 7919 SE 13th Avenue 6PM-9



Homeland has a show Gang of Four with David Coyne, Emily Costa, Zack Costa, and K. Scott Rawls. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9



Newspace has a Christmas show by Jesse Rieser and Chris Willis. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th



Belmont Stumptown has Kristin Flemington, of the Homeschool Art Shop, whose work flexes between photography, painting and even Louisette making. At Stumptown Coffee 3356 SE Belmont 6PM-8

December 1 Westside Art Openings

Moly Vidor makes luminous lush sensual oils which are portraits of flower blooms. It seems like something from more than 100 years ago, and out of character with the rest of the gallery's minimal work, but somehow it works. This is a new show of that work, Honeydrippers. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM



Linda Hutchins continues to make challenging work, and in this case it's a collaboration with poet Endi Bogue Hartigan. In Silver and Rust, Hutchins draws on the walls of the conceptual gallery, the Nines, with ten self designed styli, one per finger. It is distinct from her usually Zen-like process of minimal drawing. The Nine Gallery inside Blue Sky 122 NW 8th



Gamic Magic is a show by Jesse Reno and Theodore Holdt who both make paintings dense with abstracted by illustration style figures. And though distinct, their styles are quite compatible. See for yourself at Graeter Art Gallery www.graeterartgallery.com 131 NW 2nd Map



Augen Gallery has always maintained a healthy balance between international print artists and local original artists. So it's exciting they are showing longtime Portland illustrator and collagist Trish Grantham. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis



Fifty24/PDX is an urban male-oriented exhibitor. But this month, they go girl, with XX Marks the Spot: An all X Chromosome Art Show. You will probably recognize some of these artists: Jill Bliss, Lisa DeJohn, Olivia E. Fuente, Trish Grantham, Eilish Hynes, Yellena James, Mel Kadel, Bishop Lennon, Melanie Mikecz, Martha Rich, Amy Ruppel, Tammy Stellanova, Vivienne Strauss, Betsy Walton and Heidi Elise Wirz. Music by "soul man" Cooky Parker. At Fifty 24PDX in Upperplayground.com 23 NW 5th



Grass Hut has Ferris Plock and Kelly Tunstall. Grass Hut in Floating World. www.grasshutcorp.com 400 NE Couch



Hellion is one year old. And they are expanding into a larger adjacent space. They have a group show of some of their artists tonight. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com 19 NW 5th Suite 208. Through the lobby of the arched brick entry, up the stairs and to the back. Very upper floor Japan-style.
Map



Compound has the Doodling Show. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th



Portland loves social practice art, and social practice in the service of art distribution fits that framework. This one night show, in which artists make small work and you trade it, takes place at Hand Eye Supply tonight.

Hot One Inch Action was created by Jim Hoehnle and Chris Bentzen in Vancouver, BC, in 2004. A few dozen artists have made art into buttons. You can buy a random set of 5 for $5, then trade them with the other buyers to make your ultimate collection.

Artists include Alexis Eve Deprey, Ali Cat. Leeds, Amy Jenkins, Angela Hancock-Reavis, Audrey McNamara, Bala Atabek, Bethany Ng, Bryce Pedersen, Charles Hall, Chrissy Ortez, Christina M.I. Gyulafia, Danielle Weiss, Elli Adams, Eric J. Millar, Harlan Whitman, James Baker, James Walton, James Wigger, Jen Rombach, Jenya Andreev, Jesse Narens, Karl Edwards, Katy Meegan, Keegan from KeeganMeegan & Co., Kevin C Huynh, Kyley Quinn, Leda Zawacki, Lisa Wilde, Lyndsey Lee Denyer + Marc Faulkner, Mari Navarro, Marika Paz, Marilyn Romaine, Marsha Franco, Maryanna Hoggatt, Matt Edward, Max Taschek, Megs Senk, Morgaine Faye, Nicole Gartland, PMurphy, Scott DaRos, Shawna X. Huang, Skye Blue, Spitfire w/ Ximona, Steve Ebert, Tobias Berblinger, Tristana Lee, Tyler Segel, Valia Dempsey and Zachariah leBaron d'Avignon. At Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com 20NW 4th 6PM Free



Joakim Eskildsen has made a large documentary project of Roma, Gypsy, life in Europe. You can see a fraction of the images made and stories gathered over six years in Hungary, India, Greece, Romania, France, Russia and Finland. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 6PM-9



Body Gesture is a show of some big names in feminist art from the 1970's and 1980's. Normally this would be only seen in museums, but you can see it in a small gallery here. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map 6PM-9



Pulliam Gallery has a group show, an opportunity to see the style of their stable. At Pulliam Gallery www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com until 8



Flight 64, one of Portland's printmaking coops, opens their show Ink Control tonight. The studio has gathered some quite good artists, judge for yourself. At Backspace www.backspace.bz 115 NW 5th. 6PM-late Free



Synthetic landscape painting and landscape painting are identical twins separated at birth. The synthetic is more practical for the artist when you don't have a landscape model handy or when you need to repair flaws the landscape image. X Zone Verboden by Brian Visser is a synthetic landscape painting show inspired by pop culture and surrealism. At Stumptown www.stumptowncoffee.com 128 SW 3rd



The Everett Lofts are always recommended - see them all. At the Everett Lofts 625 NW Everett. Bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th Map

November 29 Curiosty Outfitters

The Curiosity Club presents a talk by the creator of luggage and bag maker Vanport Outfitters. Inspired by the family's sail business, the bags use traditional materials and reused materials. The aesthetic is Northeast Atlantic coast. A presentation of the Curiosity Club, you can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit the talk and demonstration in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

November 21 Artists Talk Place

Wynde Dyer, Jason King and Jane Schiffhauer have made work at Place this month. I always enjoy one on one discussions with artists about their work, and in Portland it's common. Tonight is a sit down opportunity for each artist to talk about their work to you with the participation of PNCA professor Mary Preis. At Place, placepdx.tumblr.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. 700 SW Fifth. 7PM Free

November 20 Float On Brunch

The Research Club invites you to Brunch #20. Bring some vegetarian or vegan-friendly food, a plate, cup and utensils, and yourself. A project of Research Club at the Collective Agency 322 NW Sixth Ave (between Everett and Flanders), Suite 200. See their website, collectiveagency.co for details on how to get into the building. Noon-3 Free



Flotation tanks are a relatively old new age sensory deprivation environment. They were invented in the 1950's by noted neuropsychology pioneer, John Lilly. Trained at CalTech, Dartmouth and University of Pennsylvania, Lilly is also known for research on dolphin intelligence and as an early founder of SETI research.

Flotation tanks allow individuals float in body temperature water with the salinity of about the Dead Sea, making them buoyant, simulating weightlessness. They are sealed from outside light and sound.

Float On is a commercial business renting time in tanks. They invited 150 artists to experience the tanks, then make artwork inspired by the experience. The artwork has been published in a book, Artwork from the Void. (They also have a music program, and a CD of music from floaters)

Tonight they hold a release party for the book. At Float On www.floathq.com 4530 SE Hawthorne 7PM-11 Free

November 19 B.Y.O. Open Studio Settlement Place

The PNCA MFA program vibes with cheap warehouse space. Makes sense, artists are the quintessential small business persons, their own individual startup. Art student studios are the prototypes of working artist studios. Tonight, PNCA masters students throw open their studios for you to see and interact. At PNCA www.pnca.edu 1830 NW 19th 6:30PM-11:30 Free



Place, the gallery in the mall, is home to 3 1/2 projects with their own names we shorten to just Place. They are Peoples' Art of Portland (really not a part of Place, but adjacent, and with a different curatorial angle), Place (formerly Pottery Barn), Place (formerly Present Perfect) and Screen, the half for video work. I've always been confused by the naming, and I can't guarantee I've got it right. But their monthly events, in all the spaces are well worth a visit.

Therein you will find an installation by Rhoda London with a video by Harrison Higgs. Prolific Portland writer, Richard Schemmerer has Framed or Frame of Mind. For Sale By Owner: 1751 Easy St. is an ambitious autobiographical installation sculpture, by Wynde Dyer, a 1/3 scale model of the home she grew up in. She has constructed it primarily by her own hand and has been occupying it over much of that time. Jane Schiffhauer has an installation, The Myth of Memory. In Screen,
translations is a project by Jamie Marie Waelchli in which she translated a text back and forth between languages repeatedly, ultimately producing nonsense which nonetheless provided new insights into the original intent. It's really not surprising, artificial intelligence, including language translation, has suffered from overstated predictions of its capability, and occasionally ridicule of claims for translation. Today the greatest advancements have been made by using United Nations translations as a heuristic for statistical machine translation. Place also has a performance series, tonight it's PositionMax Beta by Jason King. Place has an expanded website with details. At Place, placepdx.tumblr.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. 700 SW Fifth. 6PM-9:30+ish Free



The UO White box is hosting an open and curated night of projected visuals. It's titled Bring Your Own Beamer, B.Y.O.B. The curated part of the program is courtesy of (Sub)Urban Projections of Eugene. Portland artists are encouraged to bring their own work and projector to add to the program. Accompanied by DJ Leftovers. At the University of Oregon White Box Gallery whitebox.uoregon.edu. 24 NW 1st 8PM-11 Free

November 18 Boatspace Rag Live Transmission Talk

Communication is not unique to the human species, but we have worked hard to perfect it by technical means. Communication at a distance, and to masses more than a few, has been the Grail of technologies from movable type to mobile wireless internets.

The telegraph, beginning with inventions in the early 1800's, was the point to point web of the time, primarily following railroad routes over distances. Early telegraph pioneer Morse sent a prophetic inaugural message, "What hath God wrought?", between DC and Baltimore in 1844. Eventually submarine telegraph cables spanned the ocean.

Telegraph messages, carried by wire, spawned wireless transmission, based on the research of Hertz and others. Early wireless radio carried telegraph codes. Later analog modulation was developed. That allowed voices and music to be broadcast at a distance. That brings us to current history.

Any sufficiently evolved technology is indistinguishable from art, and that is the theme of performances tonight accompanying a book release of Transmission Arts: Artists and Airwaves.

Performances tonight include Chloé Womack's Community Amateur Radio Project, Weird-Fiction's sculptural transmission, The Video Gentlemen's rogue television broadcasts and Joe Milutis' text experiments.

The fascinating book, Transmission Arts: Artists and Airwaves, covers 90 years of transmission arts - video, audio and codes transmitted by radio, sound and the internets.

Performance and book release at Monograph Bookwerks monographbookwerks.com 5005 NE 27th x Alberta Map 7PM-9 Free



Artist, writer and curator, Sam Korman, opens I Want To Believe, an essentially one night show, tonight, at the Labrador. Korman is noted for a year of shows in his garage, extensively documented in a Publication Studio book, and for curating a great show, Watersports, on the boat. Pop culture is a rich vein for sampling into art. We are familiar with the references and each carries emotional associations attached as we first experienced them.

Korman is a writer, and the press release for the show is well worth a look. You don't have to believe aliens have visited earth in spaceships to see the show!

The show takes place on a 65 foot boat moored in the Willamette River near Sauvie Island. At 12128 Labrador Project www.labradorproject.com It's moored by Fred's Marina 12900 NW Marina Way, Portland. Map More detailed directions, don't get lost, on the website. 7PM-10



Fourteen30 hosts Mike Bray and Glen Baldridge tonight in a talk about their works in the current show at the gallery. At Portland's only member of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 922 SE Ankeny Map 6:30PM Free



Kalakendra presents classical Indian musician Kartik Seshadri and his ensemble, including Arup Chattopadhyay on tabla. Both are young generation virtuosos fluent in traditional rags, their own compositions and collaborations with Western musicians. By Kalakendra www.kalakendra.org at 909 SW 11th 8PM $20, $15 students

November 17 Dance Mushroom Spark

Yvonne Rainer is one of the world's most accomplished modern choreographers and experimental film makers. Studying with Graham, Cunningham and Waring, Rainer was a cofounder of the seminal Judson Church Dance Theater at age 28. She expanded into experimental film, including incorporating film and dance. It's a rare chance to see Rainer in Portland. She speaks at PNCA tonight www.pnca.edu 1241 NW Johnson 6:30PM Free



Paul Stamets is one of the foremost experts in the world on mushrooms. What's more he is an entrepreneur and the foremost innovator in creating new relationships between humans and mushrooms. If you think mushrooms are boring, listen to Stamets speak.

Lewis and Clark is bringing Olympia-based Stamets to speak today. Here is a bio for Stamets from the Lewis and Clark website:

"Paul Stamets has written six mushroom-related books, with his most recent being Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. He is the author of many scholarly papers in peer-reviewed journals (The International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms; Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Herbalgram, and others). He has written more than twenty patents. He started a medicinal and gourmet mushroom business, Fungi Perfecti, LLC, in 1980. Stamets is the sole source supplier and co-investigator of the first two NIH funded clinical studies using medicinal mushrooms in the United States. He has been working with the NIH governed BioShield BioDefense Program since 2005 to develop new defenses against bioterrorism.

In 2008, Paul received the National Geographic Adventure’s Magazine’s Green-O-vator and the Argosy Foundation’s E-chievement Awards. In November of 2008, Utne Reader recognized Paul as one of the 50 Visionaries of the Year. In February of 2010, Paul received the President’s Award from the Society of Ecological Restoration. In October of 2011, Reader’s Digest chose Paul as one of the Eco-Heroes of the plane, reflecting how deeply his message has penetrated into the depths of American society. In March 2010 Paul received the ‘Packy Award” from Sustainable Business Coalition and Whole Foods Market’s Green Coalition for the Life Box™. Paul’s talk at TED.com on how mushrooms can help save the world has been seen by more than a million viewers and has been rated in the top 10 of all TED talks."

Stamets joins us from fair Olympia (Washington), his home, to speak tonight at Lewis and Clark College in the Templeton Campus Center Council Chambers, which is not a large room. At Lewis and Clark College www.lclark.edu 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road. Mind the campus parking regulations. 6PM-8 Free



Art Spark is back with jazz accompaniment to Create Aplenty, which promotes the elimination of single use plastic packaging and containers by using them twice as craftworks. If they are successful, theoretically they will eliminate their supply stream. At Vie de Boheme 1530 SE 7th 5PM-7

November 15 Plazm

Plazm is a successful Portland small business that has combined art, design and publishing. Their community of visual designers, type designers and writers spans 20 years in Portland. A Plazm retrospective is at Archer Gallery this month, Tonight, Plazm cofounder and creative director, Joshua Berger, talks about the Plazm experience. At the Clark College Archer Gallery www.clark.edu/news_events/archer/index.php. In the Penguin Union Building 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA. See the campus map www.clark.edu/maps/google/index.php 7PM Free

November 14 Jaar on Jaar and Gilding Disruption

Alfredo Jaar is one of the world's greatest living interventionist artists. Some pieces are stunning and others are too obvious. So it's fitting that his lecture tonight is entitled "It's Difficult".

Trained as an architect, Jaar has explored Africa, globalization, genocide, homelessness and immigration as well as other topics through photography, installation, performance, sculpture and film.

Representative works and their themes include Chilean politics with Studies on Happiness; 1981; gold mining in the Amazon with Gold in the Morning, 1985; vacant media gaze in Untitled (Newsweek) 1994; immigration policy and national identity with One Million Finish Passports, 1995; the responsibility journalists in war and crisis, in this case Sudan, with Sound of Silence, 1995; Africa in the media in Searching for Africa in LIFE in 1996; Rwanda with the stunning The Eyes of Gutete Emerita in 1996; geography and cartography in A logo for America 1997; the genocide in Rwanda with Let There Be Light in 1998 as well as many other projects in years since on the topic; homelessness with Lights in the City, 1999; a comment on children and play in the context of a lost generation in Playground, 1999; the separation of families across the US-Mexican border in Cloud, 2000; the lack of museums in Africa in Culture Boxes, 2000; freedom of information and ownership in Lament of the Images, 2002; South Africa in Hope, 2003; Italian Fascism in The Gramsci Trilogy, 2005; economic problems in the German reunification with Requiem for Leipzig, 2005; poverty in oil-rich Angola in Muxima, 2005; immigration again in Escalera el Cielo; 2006; the formation of cultural identity using advertising tools in Questions Questions / Domande Domande, 2008; globalization with The Marx Lounge, 2010; a park for contemplation of atrocities of the current centuries with Park of the Laments, 2010; AIDS with Emergencia, 2010; the missing in Chile in The Geometry of Conscience in 2010; truth and war news in the group show Seeing is Believing with May 1, 2011 in 2011; global media and the art viewer gaze in Three Women, 2011; the value of civilization in remote locations and the value of education for children in Dear Marcus 2011; and documentation of Occupy in 2011.

Jaar's work travels together with Ai Wei Wei, subject of an upcoming documentary, Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry. Jaar is more overstated; Wei Wei more veiled and subtle. But the antiparallels between where each makes work are something to think about.

Jaar speaks at Blue Sky Gallery (unless they move to a larger space) tonight. Sponsored by Oregon College of Art and Craft. Reservations 971-255-4165. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 7PM Free



Paul Gilding speaks about his book The Great Disruption on how society could respond to climate change, if it was viewed as a crisis. Gilding, from Australia, a country leading thinking on climate, has lead environmental organizations and consulting groups as a social entrepreneur. Gilding speaks at PNCA www.pnca.edu 1241 NW Johnson 6:30PM Free

November 12 Butoh Art Towne Sprawling Lumber Geology Recess

Portland's butoh outpost, Water in the Desert, is known for striking, and even spectacular experimental performances, of this Japanese, most modern of dance forms. They have been hosting Yukio Suzuki for a workshop. Tonight the workshop participants perform a work of their own making with Suzuki. At the Headwaters Theater, by www.witdpresents.com 55 NE Farragut St. #9. The theater is in the back of the building by the railroad tracks facing Winchell Street. 7PM $5-10



Disjecta holds their annual art auction party this evening. It's a good opportunity to see the work of a great cross section of Portland artists, and chat with fascinating individuals in the art community. At Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 7PM-late $20 advance, $30 door



The Towne Storage Building is a longtime artist studio spot which you have seen crossing the Burnside Bridge. Tonight over 25 studios in the building will be open for an inside view of art making and an opportunity to purchase work directly from the artists. Note carefully parking signs, the area is known for towing. At the Towne Storage Building 17 SE 3rd 6PM-10 Free



Music schools are by nature sprawling affairs. They comprise musics past, present and future. The staff and students have ever evolving interests. Each student is an individual performer and member of a rotating cast of ensembles. The concert this evening is a demonstration of that creativity mixed and remixed.

The Venerable Showers of Beauty Gamelan collaborates with Ki Midiyanto from UC Berkeley, vocalist Peni Candra Rini from Java and musicians from Seattle’s Gamelan Pacifica, Portland's Northwest New Music and the college chorale.

The program has contemporary work, the 1982 Double Concerto for Cello, Violin and Gamelan by noted microtonal composer Lou Harrison and Missa Gongso, a 2005 mass written for gamelan choir by Neil Sorrell. At Lewis and Clark College www.lclark.edu and www.vsbgamelan.org Evans Auditorium 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road 8PM $20, $15 students



Interior Margins opens today, but it is not open. It will be open later in the week though. Portland curator Stephanie Snyder from Reed and Sarah Miler Meigs have curated a show women artists to the Lumber Room. The Lumber Room is the project space of noted Portland collector Sarah Miller Meigs, arguably Portland's most serious contemporary collector. Artists selected are Judy Cooke, Léonie Guyer, Victoria Haven, Midori Hirose, Linda Hutchins, Kristan Kennedy, Michelle Ross, Blair Saxon-Hill, Lynne Woods Turner, Nell Warren and Heather Watkins. It's a show of quiet abstraction by primarily mid- to late-career artists from Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. Public viewing Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 17-Januray 30 excepting holidays. At The Lumber Room 419 SW 9th, above Liz Leach. 11AM-6PM Free



Jeff Jahn, artist, curator and creator of Portland's big art blog PORT has organized a show, foreGround, at PSU's premier gallery the Littman. ForeGround is inspired by geology. The artists are Ben Young, Jim Neidhardt, Zach Davis, Arcy Douglass, Jacqueline Ehlis and Matthew Picton. Jahn gives a curator's talk about the show this afternoon. At the PSU Littman Gallery in the Smith Center 2nd Floor 1825 SW Broadway. Talk 2:30PM Free



Recess Gallery is back in session with (Im)material by Chase Biado, Alex Mackin Dolan, Michelle Liccardo, Kyle Raquipiso and Jay Spicero. Their statement is too good to pass up: "(Im)material addresses the divide between what’s there and what’s not. What does it mean to be made of material? How is our visceral existence affirmed when we encounter other beings? There’s no room for bodily detritus in the quick and effortless navigation through what we call the virtual. As the technicolor veil slips away, one is left amidst a seemingly immaterial atmosphere . A zone where physical contact is confined to the brushing of ‘cookies’ off a hard drive or the deep pulsing of fiber optics under our feet. By and large, artists in our technological zeitgeist - like those represented in (im)material - are moved by this abandonment. As with any disturbance, they are compelled to respond with divergent methods. In this case, across a spectrum from a primordial return to brute physicality to reappropriations of the digital that exacerbate their dystopian worldview". At RECESS recesspdx.blogspot.com at Oregon Brassworks Building, 1127 SE 10th 6:30PM-10:30 Free

November 11 Intimate Raga Potluck

Although photographer Lindsey Marla Lynch often works with professional models, Lille Boutique has her charming portraits of everyday individuals in lingerie they have chosen as their favorite or something with deep personal significance. The show is titled I See London, I See France, from the childhood rhyme, though there is nothing childish but innocence about the show. At Lille Boutique www.lilleboutique.com 1007 E Burnside




It's Yoga Shala's birthday. To celebrate it, Michael Stirling performs a program of ragas. Stirling is a long time proponent of Indian music of the subcontinent and experimental music in Portland, including teaching. He has studied in India and with noted composer and minimalist pioneer, Terry Riley. Yoga Shala has an evening of events, noted on their website, all free, beginning at 6:30PM, in addition to the concert which closes the event. At Yoga Shala yogashalapdx.com 3808 N. Williams Ragas 10PM-11:11 Free



Worksound has made a lab this Fall with resident artists Michael Endo, Ray Anthony Barrett, Dustin Zemel, Lisa Radon and Sammy Shaw exploring studio practices, critical thinking, artists as curators, social practices and relational aesthetics. The artists relate to the community through a series of potluck talks. Tonight Ray Anthony Barrett with guest Michael Lazarus discuss their work. At Worksound www.worksoundpdx.com 820 SE Alder Map 7PM-10 Free

November 10 Character Design and Renwick Night at the Museum

The art museum invites an artist once a month to talk about a piece in the collection. Tonight it's Vanessa Renwick, Portland filmmaker and installationist. Later everyone retires to the cafe for drinks and more conversation. It requires museum admission, to keep the museum from becoming even more nonprofit than it already is, so go with a member or make an afternoon tour. If interested, meet promptly at 6PM at the side entrance by the courtyard. Reservations suggested, it can sell out. At the Portland Art Museum www.pam.org 1219 SW Park 6PM-8 $12, $5 members



Black Wagon is Portland's go to spot for kid things. The selection is well curated. They also have a rotating art program, curated with the same care. Tonight they open a show by Margaret Meyer. Meyer is a character designer who makes 3d characters for stop action animation and 2d versions too. At Black Wagon blackwagon.com 3964 N Mississippi Map 5PM-7 Free

November 9 Sustainable Design

Natalia Allen speaks tonight about design, particularly of clothing. It's part of everyone's life but its production, distribution and disposal needs work. At the PNCA www.pnca.edu The Bison Building, the MFA in Applied Craft and Design Studios 421 NE 10th 6:30PM Free

November 8 Architect Artists

James M Harrison is a Portland artist architect. Harrison is responsible for some of the Eastbank esplanade public art and saving the Lovejoy Columns. His talk, "The Earth Is Not Up To Code", is sure to be entertaining! A presentation of the Curiosity Club, you can tune into the free live webcast off the Core77 site or visit the talk and demonstration in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 23 NW 4th 6PM Free

November 7 Pie Ranch

Pie Ranch is another example of a common PSU lecture series menu item: social practice artists working in the food chain: growing it, preparing it and eating. In this case, it's an educational farm on the California coast. A part of the PSU MFA Lecture Series pdx.edu/art/mfa-lecture-series. In the Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7:30PM Free

November 6 Time-based Stock

Stock has solicited proposals for time-based art projects. You can select your favorite for funding tonight. 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

November 4-5 Yukio Suzuki

From its small place on earth Portland operates in a world stage. Through our creative networks we weave a web of inspiration by artists traveling from here and to here. Yukio Suzuki comes from Japan to perform in Portland and conduct workshops. Details at witdpresents.com 8PM $12-20

November 5 Magic Nature

Magic>Nature is a group show on mystic iconography in landscape art. It's a rich vein of culture fueled by an Internet of possibilities in spiritual sampling and even pseudo-science. Curated by Michael Endo and Emily Nachison, ME EN, it includes John Bohl, Lauren Marie Cherry, Tia Factor, Lauren Payne, Kendra Larson, Hermonie Only, Andrew Rogers and Ian Waite. At False Front Studio www.falsefrontstudio.com 4518 NE 32nd Map 7-10 Free

November 4 Eastside Art Openings

We make a joke about Portlandia's "put a bird on it". Amy Ruppel is probably the artist responsible for Portland's bird meme. One of her themes has been bird silhouettes filled with mysterious colored stripes residing in larger illustrations, with light backgrounds. Ruppel has now turned to painted bird portraits, but with a darker tone than Audubon, even malevolence in her Mean Birds show. She has a series of state birds in more a schematic style. This show is Know Your Oregon Backyard Birds. Mot mean, it's a classic dynamic of light and dark, and perfect for the recent Halloween season. Molly Bosley also shows her elaborate dioramas made of thrift store finds and intricate cut paper backgrounds, in mason jars. At Tilde 7919 SE 13th Avenue



Glitch, previously noted, closes at Homeland tonight with a performance. Sue-C from Oakland performs one of her audio visual pieces live, animating work of her own design from photographs, collage, drawings, models and fabric. There will also be short video works by Jesse Malmed, Evan Meaney, Julie Perini, Tom Sherman and Dustin Zemel. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9, performance 7:30



Potatoes and tomatoes, we would be in a sad world without them. And it would be a sad world if we did not have people dedicated to preserving the old varieties and crossing them creatively to make new tasty and colorful varieties. Tom Wagner is a world expert in potato and tomato varieties and proponent of open source genetics in food. Who can be against that? He has dedicated his career to preserving potato seeds, without the seeds, potatoes are just clones. Wagner speaks on bioregionalism, plant diversity, nutrition and genetics tonight. He also displays his potatoes in the art gallery. At Project Grow at the Port City Development Center. 2156 N Williams Ave at Tillamook. 6PM-9 Free



Nationale is the winner of the copywriting award of the month.

"Like Sartre on shrooms, the playful illustrations in Edward Jeffrey Kriksciun’s second exhibition at Nationale, Bone Less, revel in the absurdity of the human condition. Amidst trippy watercolor swirls and jarring geometrical patterns, his ragtag crew of skater punks, bug-eyed wanderers, aliens and cartoon dogs grapple with the surrounding world through humorous, oſten foul-mouthed, expressions of youthful rebellion. Kriksciun’s unabashedly simple drawings harken to the dazed doodles of a suburban teen, transforming his subjects’ existential and anarchist tendencies into SoCal assertions of joyous self-expression. Shaka a cop, moon your neighbor- life demands the occasional LOL.

In addition to Kriksciun’s framed works, Bone Less will also include smaller digital drawings “faxed” over to the gallery by the artist on a daily basis.

Recent Portland resident Edward Jeffrey Kriksciun currently lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. A self-proclaimed 'artist via skateboarding,' Kriksciun’s work attempts to question the norm through humor and a devilish dash of barbed naivety."

At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map



Newspace has three shows. Author Lisa Wells, and photographer Bobby Abrahamson show The 45th Parallel, documentation of small Oregon towns on their way to becoming ghost towns. Live music by Nick Jaina. Jennifer Steensma Hoag shows video pieces Separation and Nearly Five. Coming to Homeland through a national competition, Andrea Land, shows In My Room, enigmatic portraits of children in their own physical and mental spaces. It's not an Arbus gaze, and the work is posed, but it has a great quality. Thus the artist wins the rare second place copywriting award of the month.

"I enter into the process of creating a photograph on both a conscious and subconscious level. My portraits of children contain various layers of information relating to the artist, the subject and a mutual exchange between the two. The work seeks to explore the psyche of complex individuals. Each young girl, while physically existing in the natural world, also thrives in another realm, an insular dream state, with her gaze turned inward. The photographs exist as both fictional and autobiographical creations (growing up in an all female, Midwest household). Relating to the temporary situation of childhood, I am fascinated by young individuals’ imagination and intensity of experience. My curiosity about childhood, as a state of limbo and a game of illusion, creates additional layers with which to contemplate. Visually exploring the girls’ stances and embellished environments, the audience enters into a private world of vulnerability, isolation, imagination and memory. A delicate balance exists between the real and the imagined, the beautiful and the grotesque."

At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th



To Make a Flame is a show by Glen Baldridge, Walead Beshty, Mike Bray, Brendan Fowler and Alex Hubbard. At Portland's only member of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 922 SE Ankeny 6PM-9



Half/Dozen continues Kendra Larson's Glass Lakes and opens Tia Factor's In Want of the World. At Half/Dozen Gallery www.halfdozengallery.com 722 E Burnside (enter on 8th) 6PM-9



Land has papercut art by Nikki McClure, from Olympia. At Buy Olympia's Land Gallery www.landpdx.com 3925 N Mississippi 6PM-8