Portland State Recent Grad Show


A painting of mine was chosen by guest curator James Yood for this upcoming show of alumni work in PSU's Autzen Gallery. The show opens this Thursday, with an opening reception on Saturday from 6 to 9 pm. Yood also is giving a lecture on Monday the 16th in Shattuck Hall (Rm 198) at 7:30 as part of the Monday Night Lecture Series.

Judging by his curator's statement, Yood seems pretty cool. Straightforward about art rather than pretentious and uber-conceptual (my perception of what many artists bound up in the academic world seem to be -- I likely just need to meet more people in that category). I'm going to try to make it to the lecture and see if that impression pans out.

Je Suis Arrivé

My new site is up. Finally. Yay! Only about a month later than I had promised people. Tomorrow is the second Craft in the Village -- at last month's, I was telling people that the new site would be up in only a few days. This time I would like to be able to tell people that it IS up.

I only have one good excuse, and that is that it's incredibly difficult to do php coding when your only tool is trial-and-error and access to google. In that vein, slowly I will add a couple more contact and inquiry forms, but for now you'll have to be satisfied with my e-mail list subscription form.

Anyway, go browse around! You'll see I have a fine art section and a design section, so paintings, prints, cards, wedding invitations, and so forth are all available in the same place now. Plus, there's an event calendar, which is pretty full these days. Come out and say hey!

Crafty Wonderland, Here I Come...

I've been gearing up all week for my first real foray into the world of the Craft Fair. I've had this week off from my "day" job, which was very nice, and I did my best to not stress out too much. As far as prepping for the actual show/sale, I succeeded, but other shit happened anyway. Like having my week book-ending by my car being in the shop. I had to get it towed in on Monday because the driver side axle gave out (it actually failed while making the first turn on the way to the shop), and then had the privilege of taking it back in on Friday when the passenger side axle started to go. But they gave me a cushy loaner, which really is nicer and newer than my own car, so I can't complain too much.

But back to Crafty Wonderland: I'm fairly well prepared. Better prepared than I was for my Seven Virtues show. It's a strange feeling, being prepared... I printed a bunch of brand new cards which will be debuting tomorrow, including my full Concentric line and a mother's day-inspired card. I also had to put together a little table set up. It's pretty cute for a first go at it. I'm excited.

So, you should drop by and say "Hi," unless you're physically out of town, hospitalized, or one of the half-dozen people who still have a job. If you can't make it, I'll list all my new cards on my Etsy Sunday evening/Monday morning. But the April Crafty Wonderland sounds like it's going to be full of awesomeness. In addition to the vendors, it's also Crafty Wonderland's 3rd birthday, and Faythe Levine of [book-turned-film] Handmade Nation is going to be there 12-2pm to talk about the film's Portland premiere. PLUS, there's giveaway stuff and donuts for the first people there. (If I don't eat them all before the doors open.)

So be there!!!

What: Crafty Wonderland's 3rd Birthday

Where: The Doug Fir Lounge @ 830 East Burnside, PDX (if you've never been before, it's around the side and downstairs, look for the sandwich board)

When: Sunday, April 5th, 11am to 4pm

How Much: 44 vendors! Free admission!

Then, you'll be able to find me at a new art walk/craft sale/street fest starting up in Vancouver, WA, called "Craft In The Village." It's being organized by Chris Stevens, who has years of experience as a vendor at these sorts of events, and is now growing his own from the grassroots level. The first one is on Friday, May 1st, 4-8 pm, and they're slated to run through September. More info as it approaches.

February: short but busy

It amuses me that I've taken on so many shows in a month that is so short. At least I'm keeping busy! So here's the gauntlet of show cards and info (in chronological order, for your convenience):

First to open is the Robot Love show at the newest and itty-bittiest gallery in NoPo, Good. It's a group show in which I have a painting. Look for my standard fleshiness with a touch of disturbing technology, and, um, arachnid-ness. (That's just how it came out.) I'm excited to see the range of artists that the gallery and its owner, who's very cool and talented, btw, have attracted.

The gallery is located at 4325 N. Mississippi Ave. The show opens on the 6th -- that's this Friday -- with the reception running from about 7 to 10. (If you want to run into me, hang around till the end. I'll be swinging by after I get off work at 9.) If you miss the opening, normal gallery hours are Thursday 4-7 pm and Saturday noon-4pm.


Next up is the 4th Annual Love Show. It's still put together by the Launch Pad, but this year it's in conjunction with Chris Haberman/Portland City Art, and it's gonna be huge. So huge, in fact, that it's not going to be held at the Olympic Mills Building, just a few blocks away. See if you can find my piece among the work of 200+ artists. I'll give you a hint, it's a screen print.

The Olympic Mills Building is located at 107 SE Washington. (Careful: Google maps seems confused about which street is Washington.) The opening is the 13th, that's next Friday, from 7pm to midnight. Plus, it's doubling as a charity event: bring some canned goods or buy a piece of art and help out the Food Bank and Buckman Elementary.
Normal hours for the show are tentatively Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm, and "some" Saturday hours. See the show's website, www.launchpadgallery.org/loveshow4, for specifics.


And last but not least, my very own solo show at Seven Virtues. I'm calling it "Wet Paint" because it's all new work. So new that it's not even done yet! (No, really...) Paintings small and large and a handful of limited edition screen prints guarantee a variety of price points.

Physical show cards are in the mail -- but only if I have your address! If you want one, email me your mailing address and I'll send one on its way.

Seven Virtues is located at 5936 NE Glisan, right on the corner. The show will be up by Monday the 16th, but the reception will be on the 19th (that's a Thursday) from 6-8ish in the evening. Come have some coffee and chat with me!

Andrea Zittel Lecture

I went to the Andrea Zittel talk last night at PSU. Packed house -- a bigger turnout than I've ever seen for a Monday night artist lecture. I felt lucky to snag a spot on the floor from which I could actually see the projector screen and wasn't blocked by other people's heads. And this was in the new room they have for the artist lectures -- I can't imagine everyone trying to fit in the old venue.

(I'm not going to recap the whole evening. The lecture will supposedly be made available on Art Talk AM, though at the time of this posting it's not.)

Anyway, it was really great -- the lecture, the crowd, the general vibe. I caught myself admiring Andrea Zittel's dress before I even realized it was her, and once I realized that it was, I couldn't help but wonder if it was her own creation. It's true that her personal uniforms are now from a few years back, but it definitely looked like it fit into that vein. (Or maybe it was related to this smockshop tangent.) I was also surprised at her age. Turns out she's 43. She seems very youthful... and it's hard to get a sense of perspective on an artist's progression through just looking at articles and whatnot, but her talk actually helped me do that much better.

I found her to be very approachable, personable. And she had a lot of interesting things to talk about, like how freedom can be found in the loopholes of society, flying under the radar, rather than having and accumulating more and more. (Something I should really take to heart.) She also talked a little about her choice to not make money off reproducing her work, mass producing her creations for sale. I found that very refreshing... it's not a stance that I hear much in the art world (not to say that it's not common, but I think it's either not voiced very loudly, or it's repressed).

Perhaps the most interesting thing she talked about was a residency where she spent a week in a "vacation from time," as she called it. The residency was in a basement studio, which lined up perfectly with a project she had been wanting to do. She wanted to see what natural rhythms or cycles developed without the structure of time. I guess she ended up feeling like hell from it, but I think that would make an awesome ongoing residency program. I, for one, would love to be a resident in a program like that (see previous post).

All in all, I found it to be a lovely evening, very encouraging, if not inspiring. I need to go to more Monday night lectures.