Bill Jay: Photographers Photographed
Bill Jay, one of the country's leading photo historians, has made portraits that comprise a who's who of American photographers. So if you're curious to see slides of Ansel Adams and Beaumont Newhall posing for someone else's camera, this is what you need to be doing Sunday afternoon. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave, 226-2811, Sunday, 2 pm, Free - $5
* In Defense of Art
In Defense of Art: Murals and Public Art in a Corporate Culture promises a suite of presentations with muralists from Portland and beyond, as well as Jim Prigoff, a photographer and historian who has extensively documented the trajectory from cave paintings to contemporary aerosol wall art. Portland State University, Smith Center, 1825 SW Broadway, Tuesday, 6 pm, $8-20
Music Machines
Tim Diggles, a Portland/Tucson snowbird, creates sculptures out of ceramic and "industrial junk" that serve as visual art objects as well as music-producing machines. All they need is a plasma screen and a shoeshine machine, and they'd be perfect. Mark Woolley Gallery, 120 NW 9th Suite 210, 224-5475, through Nov. 27
Space Cadets and Flying Dreams
If cartoony, illustrative painting is your cup of Darjeeling, you'll probably like Tripper Dungan # Star's (that's not a typo) Spongebob-cutesy paintings on plywood. The paintings are shaped like teeth, clouds, and elephants, and feature gnomes, bucktoothed children, and flying carpets. Nocturnal, 1800 E Burnside, 239-5900, Nov. 6- 30
* Torch Song
They keep promising an impending move, but before they head to the Pearl, swing by Elizabeth Leach to see the new works on paper by Melody Owen, one of Portland's truly amazing artists. Elizabeth Leach Gallery, 207 SW Pine St, 224-0521, through Nov. 27
* Saturation & Recollection
Gallery 500 has undergone a major renovation and now sports refinished wood floors and ultra-cool exposed ceiling beams. The new pad gets kicked off with Saturation by Rio Wrenn, who uses a rusting process to create paintings of natural and industrial decay; and also Ryan Jeffery, Ethan Rose, and Michael Bauch's Recollection, a film/sound/architecture installation based around a series of interviews. Gallery 500, 420 SW Washington, 223-3951, through Nov. 26
Gandhi Proliferation Project
Through the proliferation of a vaguely shadowy image of Gandhi, this upstart "aggressive non-violent resistance" movement hopes to spread his teachings. You're supposed to bring a T-shirt on First Thursday to get a free silkscreen of the image. Check www.areyougandhi.org if you want to see the image beforehand. Nue Gallery, 625 NW Everett, #111, Thurs 6-10 pm
