Another week, another scintillatingly entertaining and devastatingly insightful arts section. VISUAL ARTS: Matt Stangel interviews local sculptor Meredith Dittmar about her kid-oriented show at Black Wagon, and why Portland won’t be seeing any of her more ambitious new work anytime soon. BOOKS: I review two books that can rightly be categorized as “memoir-ish”: Ariel Gore’s […]
Artsy
PHART CHART TOPPER!
This week’s PHART CHART TOPPER is Beth Austin! Congrats, and look! We’ve animated it for you! Will you be the next PHART CHART TOPPER of the week? Submit your art or photos to the Mercury‘s Flickr group, and start PHART-ing today!!
Vote for TriMet’s Poetry in Motion Poems
(I’M DOING A POETRY POST, SUCK IT STEVE.) Literary Arts just announced that they’ll be adding thousands of new poems to TriMet buses in April, and there’s a survey on their website where you can vote for the poems you’d like to see added. I find Poetry in Motion very conflicting because while I wholeheartedly […]
Haiti Benefit Raises Nearly $180,000—Now, Let’s Look In The Gift Horse’s Mouth…
Congratulations to sometime Mercury freelancer Stephen Marc Beaudoin for organizing last night’s benefit for Haiti, which is likely to have raised $180,000 for MercyCorps. The high number is in large part due to a matching donation agreement by the Ray Hickey Foundation, and a $23,000 donation from American Steel’s Howard Hedinger. It’s a remarkable achievement […]
PHART CHART
This week’s PHART CHART TOPPER is Magnificentaur! Congrats, and look! We’ve animated it for you! Will you be the next Phart Chart Topper? Submit your art or photos to the Mercury‘s Flickr group, and start PHART-ing today!!
Fontanelle Gallery: Closing!
Image lifted from Fontanelle’s website On view at Fontanelle: Juliana Bright’s “Here Mama, Here It Is” After a year and a half in business, Fontanelle Gallery will close at the end of the month. The press release announcing Fontanelle’s closure was admittedly sad, though positive overall, emphasizing a capital of success built over the course […]
Tonight: Black Wagon Presents Meredith Dittmar
Local artist Meredith Dittmar will be exhibiting new sculptures tonight from 5-8 pm at Black Wagon (3964 N Mississippi Ave). Dittmar’s last hometown show was in 2007, at Compound Gallery. As the artist doesn’t show much around town— recently she’s been busy showing in Berlin, Istanbul, and Mexico City— this is a rare opportunity to […]
This Week’s Mercury Arts Section
For your enjoyment and edification. BOOKS: The Value of Nothing: Raj Patel’s new book argues that a fundamental problem with our economic system is a disconnect between prices and value, particularly as low-priced goods often inflict hidden costs on the public. He also says this: “There are two novels that can transform a bookish fourteen-year-old’s […]
Oh, Snap! A Mercury/No Star Photo Contest
No Star Clothing has been operating in Portland for 10 years, churning out clever message tees to, as the company’s stated vision puts it, “make smiles happen.” Today they’re officially launching two offshoots: 4th and Forever, dedicated to sports tees (think “Fuck Kobe” and “Sonicless in Seattle“) and Oh, Snap!, a photo tee site that […]
PHART CHART
This week’s PHART CHART TOPPER is Dawn Riddle! Congrats, and look! We’ve animated it for you! Will you be the next Phart Chart topper of the week? Submit your art or photos to the Mercury’s Flickr group, and start PHART-ing today!!
Moth Storytellers Announced
Tickets to next week’s Portland installment of the New York-based storytelling series The Moth sold out within hours of being released—even though the list of storytellers hadn’t been announced yet. If you were lucky enough to snag tickets, here’s info on the host, and four of the five storytellers (the fifth remains unannounced.): Tom Shillue […]
Lady Gaga + Polaroid = “Fashion/Technology/Photography Innovation”?
Lada Gaga got “a real job.” She is the new creative director of Polaroid. Read it and weep: As reported in the Guardian: “I am so proud to announce my new partnership with Polaroid as the creative director and inventor of speciality projects,” said the pop star. “The Haus of Gaga has been developing prototypes […]
