Arts July 1, 2014

The Buzz at Maker’s Dozen, Peoples Art of Portland

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4-H was a big summer activity in my rural hometown in the 1980s. While other fourth-graders raised calves, rabbits, poultry, and other farm animals, I hunted bugs. To this day I know the common names of a large number of insect species found in northern Michigan. I obtained this knowledge by chasing down field and forest critters that most people avoid touching. I captured them with a big white net, then either freezed or asphyxiated them with isopropyl alcohol in a mayonnaise jar, before finally affixing the corpses to a styrofoam board with very thin, black pins. This was 4-H Entomology. Besides the brutal, Victorian-era science lesson, this summer activity gave me an appreciation for insects—their vastness and varieties and even their beauty. I found this mostly with butterflies and moths, some fierce-looking beetles that had their own aesthetic plusses, but I largely ignored the more common insects. Ants, sawbugs, weevils, and especially common flies had no place in my collection. Anyone who wanders into Paxton Gate on Mississippi Avenue and examines its collections knows that a housefly as an artifact is not commonplace. Certainly not a single housefly…but what if it were thousands of flies? I saw something recently at the Maker’s Dozen…

Mario Robert
Arts, Events June 24, 2014

Art Opening at Goodfoot on Thursday, June 26

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Mario Robert began his painting career at the Mexican-United States border, where Jaurez runs abut El Paso, Texas. He was 16. He watched as violence forced a once-beautiful border city, Jaurez, into a bloody ghost town. The images he saw there affected his painting as much as his world view. This impact on his work did not change until he relocated to Portland. His work is now heavily influenced by the kindness he meets on Portland’s streets, which he describes as strange and mysterious. View his work as part of a group exhibit that opens Thursday at the Goodfoot (2845 SE Stark St.). Three other Portland-based artists round out the show, which runs through July 30. Beth Myrick works primarily with spray paint, reclaimed wood, and a positive message. Her art often features depictions of animals that walk the line between realism and fantasy. Heidi Elise Wirz is an illustrator and screen printer, who is influenced by legends and mythology, particularly Norse, Proto-Germanic, and Celtic. Painter, illustrator, and animator Christopher Creath dabbles in surrealism and exaggeration with an appreciation for texture, both synthetic and organic. “Human experience is all I can capture or recreate,” notes Creath. “Hopefully, in some way, this…

Events June 23, 2014

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks play rare PDX show on 6/28

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Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks will play just one U.S. show this summer—and it’s in Portland. The gig, an all-ages benefit concert for Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC), will raise scholarship funds for its students, 95 percent of whom receive financial aid. On June 28, crowds will gather on the meadow of the OCAC campus on Barnes Road in Northwest Portland to witness the rare concert. Tickets are available at www.ocacconcerts.com. Malkmus, an Indie Rock Hall of Fame inductee and Portland resident, was the co-founder, lead singer, and songwriter of the influential 1990s indie rock band Pavement. He formed Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks in 2000, bringing together musicians Mike Clark, Joanna Bolme, and Jake Morris. They have six albums in their tenure, the most recent being Wig Out at Jagbags released in early 2014. Below is the video for the song from that album called “Cinnamon And Lesbians,” which was shot in Portland. About Oregon College of Art and Craft Founded in 1907, OCAC has earned a reputation as a leading college of art and craft in the United States.  Known for its exceptional faculty of artists and makers, the uniquely small, mentor-based community is comprised of approximately 180 students who pursue full-time bachelor’s…

Arts, Events June 20, 2014

Preview: Maker’s Dozen at People’s Art of Portland Gallery

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This Saturday marks the third Saturday of the month, meaning the People’s Art of Portland Gallery (700 SW 5th Ave., Suite 4005) that sits atop the Pioneer Place Mall downtown will be ushering in a new exhibit to debut to the masses. For its third annual show, Maker’s Dozen will bring together thirteen artists from different mediums and styles with Portland ties. The reception runs from 5 to 9 p.m., while the show continues through July 13. Peoples Art of Portland, Po Boy Art/Jason Brown, and Chris Haberman co-present the show that aims to showcase the work of new and veteran artists along side one another. The featured poster artist is David D’Andrea, whose style is reminiscent of 1960s and ’70s album art, and who looks to everything from almanacs to crumbling encyclopedias for inspiration. Works by Brian Echerer/ Velo Gioielli, Ali Schlicting, Hilary Larson, Daniel Haile, Melissa Dow, David Guardado, Kyle Gossman, PDX Magazine No. 2 cover artist Kelli MacConnell, Kimberly Bookman, Jessica S. McGrath, Matthew Hopkins, and Sharden Killmore round out the show. Pictured above, work by Daniel Haile. Below are more works from the exhibit                

Uncategorized June 12, 2014

LitHop: a Literary Pub Crawl

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This evening, beginning at 7, a mass of literary talent descends upon NE Alberta Street like a swam of fully mature locusts. Authors, poets, and spoken word artists will read their work simultaneously, creating a buzz at six different locations up and down the street. Portland’s second annual LitHop will see Hawthorne Books, the IPRC, alice blue, Eraserhead Press, Unchaste Readers, and Publication Studio each host a series in which readers will perform for 15 minutes, in quick succession. The idea is to create something of a literary pub crawl. During the event, listeners can pop up and down the street to hear several, very different performances. Three readers will perform for 15 minutes each at the top of the hour, leaving the remaining quarter-hour to talk, drink, or move on to the next place. “The 15-minute time slot gives readers more of a spotlight,” says Kevin Sampsell, who produces the event with Jeff Alessandrelli and Bryan Coffelt. “And they’re great writers so they deserve that time,” adds Sampsell. And he notes that the 15 minutes gives listeners “quality time to get into the voice and style of each writer.” One of those writers is Mykle Hansen. “Whenever we bring…

Events, Featured June 3, 2014

Joshua Ferris and Narrative Mechanics

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By Ross Blanchard Above: PDX Magazine Editor-in-chief Ross Blanchard (left) and author Joshua Ferris at Dave Weich’s Narrative Mechanics event. A couple of Sundays ago Dave Weich, president of Sheepscot Creative, invited around a dozen guests to his home in Southeast Portland for his first Narrative Mechanics event. The gathering focused on interviews and discussions with strategic communicators. His first interviewee was Josh Ferris, who was in town on a book tour for his new novel To Rise Again at a Decent Hour.  This was not a “meet the author, ask him about his typewriter” scene at all. From the moment I entered Weich’s home, I could tell that something different was about to happen. So could the other guests, most of whom it appeared, like me, didn’t have much of a clue what was going on either. There was a camera crew, a small staff, a bartender. Guests were handed tarot-sized cards with inexplicable quotes on the back. We were given small round stickers and asked to place them below similar quotes on posters hung on the dining room walls. The meanings of these activities would be revealed later, I was told (they were). Then we were invited to have a drink, to…

Events May 15, 2014

PDX Magazine No. 8 Release Party Saturday, 5/17 at Ford Food + Drink

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Dear Readers, Get your mitts on our finest issue yet this Saturday at our PDX Magazine No. 8 Release Party. It’s at Ford Food + Drink (2505 SE 11th Ave) from 7:30 to 10 p.m. We have two remarkable Portland writers who are also renowned performers in the lineup: frequent contributor to the mag Famous Author Mykle Hansen as well as poet Leah Noble Davidson, whom we covered in our very first issue of the magazine. Both will ply their literary talents before you. Wander by, meet the staff, hobnob with the many contributors to the mag, get those back issues you’ve missed, and most importantly, pick up a copy of No. 8. When I claim No. 8 is our finest work yet, I’m not being the slightest bit hyperbolic despite the seven stupendous issues that precede this one. Number 8 features a Portland cityscape painted by Chris Haberman (see the image above). At the magazine’s center spread is a removable art poster of this painting minus all the identifying marks we need to put on the cover version. Also, writer Mike Allen falls in with Portland moonshiners, Leo Daedalus survives the world’s most dangerous drinking game. Not that our…

Uncategorized April 15, 2014

Creative Block Party

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By Darka Dusty Painting by Halyna Cisaruk If you’re an artist, writer or musician (and if you’re in Portland, Oregon, chances are excellent that you ARE an artist, writer or musician), you have things you believe you do well, and things you believe you do really well, and things you know you could improve, and things that make you think you should hang it up and get a real estate license. And things you think you suck at. You’re probably much harder on yourself than you should be, especially if you try to live a creative life. As an artist, a writer, musician or anyone who regularly summons your muse or faces your creative demons, you are part of a very special, sensitive club. We creative types feel things deeply. We cry easier than most, and maybe this causes us to drink or smoke more than most, or find other ways to alter our perceptions. Sometimes we just need to momentarily numb ourselves from the intense majesty of life. The beauty we perceive around us can just be too goddamn much to take, making our emotional pain and passion excruciatingly unbearable. It’s also what causes us to see things in…

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Video April 1, 2014

Keyon Gaskin Performance at Place, March 30, 2014

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At the closing event “You Can’t Ride the Bus for Free Forever” for Place (an installation gallery in Portland), Keyon Gaskin performs amidst the exhibit “Shit Balloons.” According to gallery owner Gabe Flores, the exhibit contributed to Place losing its lease at Pioneer Place Mall. The gallery closed March 30, 2014 after its lease was abruptly terminated.