On Saturday, to take a break from the pressure-cooker of DorkFest, Mrs.5000 & I went out on an art date.
It was fab. Here's what we saw.
First Stop: Marylhurst Art Gym
Artist: Dianne Kornberg
The "Art Gym" is a former school gymnasium on the campus of Marylhurst University, south of town here in the City of Roses. It's a great space. The exhibit was photographs by Dianne Kornberg, who does a lot of work with botanical and zoological specimans that she has dug up in the biology departments of various colleges.
The photographs in this show fell into three groups: remarkably evocative color images of seaweed, black and white photographs of insect specimens, and large-scale composed images of animal bones. My favorite were the bones. They are pure luminosity. Macabrilicious.
If you want to see this show, by the way, you better call in sick. Wednesday the 24th is the final day. The price is right: free.
Third Stop: B. Rogers Gallery
Artist: Dave Meeker
B. Rogers is a small gallery operating out of half a duplex at 734 N.E. 19th Ave (East Side, yo!). It's mellow, cozy, and informal. My kind of gallery.
Dave Meeker makes strange and funny and wonderful things out of ordinary objects. I'll just show you some pictures, then you can visit his website, then you can go visit the gallery if you happen to live in, uh, the 503.
Convex and concave arrays of pennies.....
One of a series of "hurtballs" made from bristling clusters of screws and nails. Handle with care.
One of a series of oddly beautiful serving bowls made from melted and shaped plastic cutlery.
Second Stop: Portland Open Studios Location #68 or something
Artist: fingerstothebone!
Artist: fingerstothebone!
It's been a big month for frequent L&TM5K commenter fingerstothebone. Not only was she Vice Dork of DorkFest '07, she was also featured prominently in a story in the Portland Tribune! Also, another one in the New York Times, which we're told is an East Coast newspaper with a good reputation.
In addition to her extremely groovy book arts work, which I've mentioned in the past, we got to ogle such paintings as this one:
In addition to her extremely groovy book arts work, which I've mentioned in the past, we got to ogle such paintings as this one:
as well as "gocco" screenprints like so:
Her website is chockablock with enough images to keep you entertained and aesthitically pleased for as long as you like. And I'm sure she wouldn't feel cheapened if you bought something, either. Tell her michael5000 sent you! She'll tack on another five bucks for "shipping"!
Yay! Diane K and I in the same L&TM5K entry! Diane's one of my very favorite artists, and she was my teacher for a whole year at OCAC (back when it was OSAC) in the late 80's, early 90's...well, somewhere around there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shoutout. I relish my Vice Dork endorsement, and all the links. But just a itty bitty nitty picky -- you missed my Asian Reporter gig on Oct 2!
(Oh yeah, if you're Michael5000's friend, shipping is $8...special!)
(And I'm still looking for nudy photos of g...)
And wow, the Dave Meeker website is amazing! I love the bag sculptures, and the utensils!
ReplyDeleteThe hurtballs are pretty awesome. I digs it.
ReplyDeleteI really need to get out to all the local galleries. There's some really interesting stuff out there... I love the punch bowl, and the bird picture.
ReplyDeleteOh, you're a Portlander! Funny how the cultured bloggers tend to be...
ReplyDeleteI left PDX because the economy was imploding. I hear it's better now. I miss it, except for the hobos. Texas is no Oregon.
@fingers: Asian Reporter link, coming right up:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.asianreporter.com/arts/2007/40-07pos.htm
@g: We've seen the hurtballs a couple of times, but this time they let us pick them up. They're awesome. They, you know, hurt.
@rebel: Don't get the misimpression that I'm spending every spare hour savoring the arts scene or anything. But yeah, whenever Mrs.5000 & I do this sort of thing, we're glad we did.
@Chance: City of Roses, baby! Problem with being a lifestyle destination is, there's always a few fewer jobs than there are applicants. (The hobos aren't my favorite element of the local landscape, either, but they are encouraged by a local custom of meaningless generosity which is, in a way, commendable.) Economy's clicking on well enough for the moment, in any event. Come on back!
Also, I love that you went on an art date. Kewl!
ReplyDelete