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November 1, 2007
portland open studios tour: westside
by gl. at 2:55 am
this year the portland open studios tour eastside conflicted with a letterpress class and the opening of the portland society for calligraphy show opening, so we made up for lost time on the westside the next weekend. i'm getting better at poking around those areas, which can be pretty confusing and lost-inducing.
we bought the calendar at linda's pre-party for the eastside open studios. i picked potentials from it and plotted their locations on a google map the night before. still, with just one day, we got to relatively few artists:
shu-ju wang: first stop! shu-ju promised me a copy of the print she made for trixie as part of her "portland suite." we even got to see the eponymous "the last bedroom," where shuju has created drying racks out of track shelving: when not in use, the track stay on the walls, but the brackets & foam core "boards" get put away. clever! i also met jeremy from rake gallery, who was a total sweetheart and grand assistant. he & shu-ju play well together.
if you want to buy your own portland suite print, this is what the copy will say: "Ever notice the little toy horses hitched up to the metal rings embedded in the sidewalks? Or Trixie the Poetry Car, a light blue car covered in poetry magnets, zooming around town? These are the things that make Portland wonderful and make me happy to live here. There is at least one more print coming, inspired by the world's smallest public park here in Portland."theresa andreas o'leary: theresa was immedately warm & welcoming to all who walked in the door, and wanted to show everyone what she did in each painting to communicate what she sees in the world around her.
one of the other things i find inspiring on the tour is seeing what artists surround themselves with to inspire and motivate them. in theresa's studio we found large, striking landscapes with striated color, as well as this artist checklist posted to a magnetic board:
- paint with your eyes
- think what things might become
- let the brush talk
- be in love with change
- find the elegance
- see the big picture
- make it a pattern
- identify the extraordinary
- don't get gauche
- keep it fresh at all costs
- take your time
blake van roekel: i saw the website for magma and was entranced. i had no idea what the studio space was like and i was really looking forward to seeing a demonstration. it's in a tiny activspace storefront (i love activespace!), but the woman at the counter was busy with another couple and so we didn't get to see a demo.
nicky falkenhayn: several metal sculpures on display in an intriguing half-finished house addition. but again, not very interactive. where does it all happen? what goes into making a large tangled metal sculpture? she was busy talking to friends, so we never found out.
jane levy campbell: jane extended us an invitation to come visit this year, after discovering our last review of her studio in 2005: "last stop! a watercolorist with a simply phenomenal house who did a hoyt arboredum series i found quite pleasing." this is all still true -- and this time her husband printed maps of their space so you knew where you were and what series of pictures you were looking at. in addition, they've since acquired a sweet blue heeler (?) puppy, who would repeatedly run around in a loop through the back yard stalking & herding you. alas, we didn't get to talk to jane nearly as long as we would have liked, which was a shame because she has such a vibrant personality and though she is blessed with plenty of it, she believes that talent isn't the most important thing in art.
posted by gl. | November 1, 2007 2:55 AM | categories: exhibits & events