artsy forager

Tag: Portland

  • Lush Layers: Karen Silve

    Lush Layers: Karen Silve

    While Mr. F and I are camping in Yosemite, I’m resharing some posts you might have missed the first go ’round!  Enjoy!

    Our memories of places and experiences are not simply visual recollections of what we saw, but a culmination of all that our senses absorbed at the time.  The sounds, the smells, our impressions of and reactions to our surroundings.  It is in this intuitive way that Portland artist Karen Silve translates her own memorable moments into abstractions of rich layers, swirls and drips of paint.

    Karen Silve | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings
    Market VI, acrylic on canvas, 50×60

    Open air markets are cacophonies of stimulation– full of mounds of colorful produce, people talking, laughing, fragrances of coffee, freshly baked pastries and other yummies– all swirl around us.  ( Can’t wait for the market here to open for Spring! ) Silve captures the friendly frenzy in her Market Series. ( above & below )

    Karen Silve | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings
    Market IX, acrylic on canvas, 42×46

    For her Sacred Places series, she explores the impact of a different kind of stimulation, those stolen moments found when we are surrounded by the quiet of nature.  Being in Portland, Silve has access to some of the most spectacular natural spaces in the world ( can you tell I love Oregon?! ).  A favorite of hers, and mine, is the Columbia River Gorge, whose lush and quiet beauty she captures in paint.

    Karen Silve | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings
    Sacred Veil II, acrylic on canvas, 58×68

    Through our travels, many times I find myself feeling like I’m a bit more attuned to my location and experiences.  Perhaps because we are experiencing new places so often, that each one seems enchanting and special in its own way.  But there are also times when we fall into the repetition and monotony of every day life and forget that each place and day is unique.  Karen Silve’s intuitive expressions of her experiences are reminding me to be fully in each moment, immersing myself into making of a memory.

    Karen Silve | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings
    Market VII, acrylic on canvas, 50×60
    Karen Silve | artsy forager #art #artists #paintings
    Morning Glow, acrylic on canvas, 48×48

    To see more of Karen Silve’s work, please visit her website.  In Portland, her work can be seen at Portland Fine Art, but check out her website for representing galleries in New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, California and the UK. Featured image is Yellow Rapture, acrylic on canvas, 96×48.  All images are via the artist’s website.

  • This Artsy Life: So Long, 2013!

    This Artsy Life: So Long, 2013!

    I don’t know about you, dear Artsies, but I am ready to say goodbye to 2013 and get to the good stuff that I just know is waiting in the New Year!  All in all, 2013 was a pretty good year for me and Mr. Forager.  For today’s This Artsy Life post, I put together a little look back at some of our favorite moments from 2013 [ in case you’re wondering about the song choice, it is “our song” and still fits Mr. F & I so perfectly ]–

    No life is ever perfect and ours, though exciting and full of adventure compared to most, is no different.  We learned a lot this year, about ourselves and each other.  We each went down new roads, sometimes things worked out and sometimes they didn’t.  But in the process, we grew and we feel like we know better now what we want and where we’d like to be.

    You can catch up on the specifics of our year in the This Artsy Life archives.  Starting in 2014, I’ll take a break from doing these features each week but will be posting scenes from our life on Instagram and will pop in here on the blog with an occasional This Artsy Life post when I have something special to share.  Meanwhile, I’m excited to begin a daily creative exercise that I’ll be posting on Instagram each day!  More on that later this week!

    Mr. Forager and I wish you all the very best in the New Year!  Thank you for coming along on this journey with us.

    All images by Artsy Forager.  Video created using the Flipagram app.

  • Artsy Spot: The Pearl District Portland

    Artsy Spot: The Pearl District Portland

    One of my favorite things to do in Portland is a little gallery-hopping.  There is such a rich creative atmosphere there and this past weekend, I was seriously craving some thought provoking art.  And boy, did I get it!  Portland’s Pearl District is one of the best spots for art viewing, window shopping, and well, just the perfect place to spend a PDX day.

    Blackfish Gallery_The Pearl District Portland

    [ mr. f checks out the work of christopher shotola-hardt at blackfish gallery ]

    As we wandered from gallery to gallery, I noticed a definite trend among the current exhibitions– a leaning toward the exploration of the scientific– whether cancer research, technology or psychology, there seemed to be a common thread of art interwined with science running through almost all the gallery shows we saw.

    Elizabeth Leach Gallery_The Pearl District Portland

    [ fixing the impermanent, featuring the work of din q. le at elizabeth leach gallery ]

    Augen Gallery_The Pearl District Portland

    [ art for oncologists, featuring the work of jim riswold at augen gallery ]

    I found the current exhibition at Augen Gallery, Art for Oncologists by Jim Riswold to be incredibly poignant in its honesty and simplicity.  The artist has been battling a 13 year fight against leukemia and prostate cancer, but this body of work isn’t just about his own battle.  It’s a show of recognition, of thanks, to the crusaders and tireless discoverers of new and better ways to combat this unrelenting enemy.  A larger than life candy dish takes center stage, filled with heart shaped sculptures inscribed with the names of chemotherapy drugs. Cancer-fighting is not for the weak of heart or spirit.  It takes dogged determination, not to mention learning the names, functions, and side-effects of numerous unpronounceable medications. At some point in each of their lives, cancer touched every one of my grandparents.  I know the kind of strength it takes to fight.

    Speaking of poignant, we discovered a new gallery on this trip, J. Pepin Art Gallery, a space dedicated to the work of “contemporary artists who are reframing the perception of mental illness.”  As I went through the gallery, reading the words of each artist, the story of their struggles and triumphs, it struck me how very powerful art as therapy can be.  How we are able to express emotions and situations through visualization in ways that words can never capture.

    AS_PDX_jPepin-1

    [ nest, detail by alexandra peterson at j. pepin ]

    We “lightened up” a bit when we hit Froelick Gallery and Michael Schultheis’ Universal Couplings of Archimedes.  Can I just say how much I love Portland?  Where else might you see an exhibition dedicated to an ancient Greek mathematician?  PDX doesn’t just celebrate its geekiness, it downright revels in it and I love the city for that.

    AS_PDX_Froelick_Schultheis

    [ michael schultheis at froelick gallery ]

    Our final stop was Butters Gallery, which come to think of it was our final gallery stop the last time we explored The Pearl District, not sure how that keeps happening, but it is always a lovely way to end the afternoon.

    BUTTERS GALLERY collage

    [ sculpture by e. tyler burton and painting by marlana stoddard-hayes at butters gallery ]

    The current exhibition at Butters, Proclivities, features the mystical work of Marlana Stoddard-Hayes.  In this new series of paintings, the artist moves through the grieving process following the death of her mother by working through the physicality of the creation, application and transference of elements onto the canvas, Stoddard-Hayes was able to liberate herself from the bonds of bereavement.  Though created during a time of grief, the paintings retain a sense of wonder and hopefulness.  A fitting tribute to a mother’s life.

    These galleries, each so different in their approach, offered up stimulating and passionate work, one of the most satisfying afternoons of art-gawking I’ve enjoyed in a long while.  The next time you’re in Portland, do yourself a favor and schedule an afternoon in The Pearl District.  You won’t be sorry!

    Peterson, Schultheis, and Stoddard-Hayes images are via their galleries’ websites, linked above.  All other images are by Artsy Forager.

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 42 [ Time Keeps on Slippin’ ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 42 [ Time Keeps on Slippin’ ]

    The end is fast approaching, ya’ll.  In less than 4 weeks, we will be setting off again to parts as yet unknown.  While there isn’t much to do in this little town during the week, there is an overwhelming amount of awesome places to see within a day’s drive!  Which means that we’ve been trying to explore and check stuff off our list before our time here is up.  This weekend we decided to hit up our second favorite Northwest city, Portland.  And after seeing it in the Fall, I must admit.. it might just take over the #1 spot.  Sorry, Seattle!

    I don’t know what it is about this time of year that makes me long for big cities.  Maybe its the mix of falling leaves, steel and concrete.  Maybe it’s how very alive cities feel in the Autumn, when there is so much going on.  We ran a few errands then headed to the Pearl District to do a little gallery-hopping.  I’ll be sharing more about some awesome shows and galleries in a separate post.  Gallery-hopping is thirsty business so we went over to Powell’s Books, a must-do whenever we’re in Portland, for a cold beverage and some book browsing, followed by vintage clothing browsing and record store browsing while waiting for Tugboat Brewing to open. ( Beer is always Mr. F’s reward following an afternoon spent in galleries ).  We jammed a lot into those ten hours in Portland.  But anytime we’re in a place we love, it’s never quite enough, is it?  Time just goes by too fast and we’re always a bit nervous that the next destination might not be as lovely.

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 42- Portland

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 42- Portland

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 42- Portland

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 42- Portland

    There is still so much we want to see and do before we leave this area!  I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get to everything on our list.  How did our time here slip away so quickly?  We’re determined to savor what’s left.  A lesson we can take into every day we have, yes?

    All images by Artsy Forager.  To see more of this artsy life, follow Artsy on Instagram.

  • This Artsy Life: Weekend 40 [ Atmosphere is Almost Everything ]

    This Artsy Life: Weekend 40 [ Atmosphere is Almost Everything ]

    With every new place, we make out a list of our “must sees” while we are there and this weekend, the sun finally came out, so we took full advantage and happily crossed a few items off our list!  One of our favorite “perfect day” activities is to do a little wine tasting.  So we headed down to the Williamette Valley in Oregon to enjoy some Fall color and hit a few vineyards.  You might remember we did a little wine tasting while we were in Southern California and while a day spent tasting wine is never a bad thing, we did find the SoCal style, with cavernous, crowded tasting rooms and glamorous, perfect people flitting about a bit off putting.  We like a quieter, cozy atmosphere, one where the winemaker himself might proudly take you on a tour of his vineyard, where staff take the time to chat and get to know you.  Maybe we’re a bit biased towards the NW, but there is just something about the wine country atmosphere up here that just feels more inviting.

    So we spent a beautiful, cloudless day exploring the Oregon countryside and finished the day with a quick detour into Portland for dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant, Pok Pok.  I swear, Mr. F fantasizes about the Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings.  This is one place where, though the atmosphere is definitely NW cool, it is all about the food.  They could serve their yummies out of a brown paper bag on a street corner and we would still line up to eat it.

    IMG_1503 IMG_1504 IMG_1500 IMG_1505 IMG_1506

    So many of our Sundays these days seem to be spent catching up and running errands, and we got a bit of that in, but took the afternoon to make the drive over to the coast, hoping to catch one of our former landlords at their coffee shop, Tinderbox Coffee Roasters in Westport.  Have you ever run across people who were just instant friends?  Tara & Nick, the owners of Tinderbox, rented their house to us a few years ago, my first time living in the Northwest and being away from Florida.  Friendly, warm, genuine people that we took an instant liking to.  The kind of people who get it.  And it shows in the coffee they brew and the atmosphere they’ve created at Tinderbox.  Unpretentious, cozy and full of life, just like them.  If you find yourself in Westport, or passing through Aberdeen/Hoquiam ( where they have a drive-thru stand ), make sure you stop and get a cup of java.  It will warm you inside and out.

    Want to see more from this artsy life?  Follow me on Instagram!

    All images by Artsy or Mr. Forager. 😉

  • Painting Confidences: Dorothy Goode

    Painting Confidences: Dorothy Goode

    I’ve been told I’m a good listener.  So people tend to tell me things.  Secret stuff that maybe no one else knows.  We all have that friend, the one everyone confides in and is completely confident their secrets will be taken to the grave.  In her Other People’s Secrets series, Portland artist Dorothy Goode has found a way to get those piled up secrets out, without ever truly spilling a single one.

    No. 3, Egg tempera and sumi ink on panel, 32x48
    No. 3, Egg tempera and sumi ink on panel, 32×48
    No. 16, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32 x48
    No. 16, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32 x48

    The artist began each panel by dipping her fingers into sumi ink, then sprawling secrets over the surface of each panel, first her own and then the confidences of others came leaking out.  The letters and forms are mostly illegible, making sure that each secret is still safely hidden.

    No. 1, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32x48
    No. 1, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32×48

    Once the secrets are spilled, the artist then covers them with colorful, scrawling abstract gestures in paint.  In that final step, I see an analogy to the way we live with our own well kept mysteries– we hide them in plain sight, often burying them just beneath the brightly colored surface.

    No. 8, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32x48
    No. 8, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32×48
    No. 13, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32x48
    No. 13, egg tempura and sumi ink on panel, 32×48

    To see more of Dorothy Goode’s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

     

     

     

     

  • These Bucks Are BUCK: Rachel Denny

    These Bucks Are BUCK: Rachel Denny

    Seattle, Seattle, Seattle ( Marcia Brady voice ).. we arrived on Saturday and are completely in love with the city but overwhelmed by apartment hunting.  So this week, I’m re-running posts featuring some favorite Seattle artists.  Sorry for the repeats, hope to be back to normal artsy blogging next week!

    Is the adjective buck actually used in the common vernacular?  Or do only So You Think You Can Dance geeks like myself know what it means, thanks to Lil’ C?  He uses it as slang for something that is crazy good and cool.  Which is exactly how I would describe the sculptures of Portland artist, Rachel Denny.

    Red Buck, polyurethane foam, wool and wood

    On my morning walk with George today, we came upon a deer munching on flowers in a neighbor’s yard ( one of the things we love about the Northwest ).  So when I came across Rachel’s work this morning, I connected with it instantly.  Her work explores that surprise of the unexpected wildness of nature in urban settings and every day life.

    Young Buck, merino wool, polyurethane foam, thread and wood

    Young Buck and Red Buck, both above, are part of her Domestic Trophies series, which while appearing at first to be whimsical and playful, actually seem to be making a commentary on how we try to justify our own violence or antipathy against nature.  The head of an animal that was once a living, breathing creature, killed for sport and mounted as a trophy gets “domesticated” and rendered impotent by blanketing it in a warm and colorful wrap of fuzzy wool.  It is now rendered to be merely a decorative object instead of a wild beast.

    The Lion and The Lamb, polyurethane foam, wood and wool

    Or perhaps the artist is comforting these poor creatures.  Covering their eyes and shielding them from a future of staring down at the same scene day after day.  Or maybe she’s just having a little fun by creating something beautiful out of something so symbolically grotesque.

    Teal Doe, polyurethane foam, wood, wool, paint and thread

    Whatever Rachel Denny is doing, I am on the bandwagon.  These pieces are fanciful and fun and if there is a deeper message behind them, so much the better.

    Go to Rachel Denny’s website for more of her sculptural work– the ceramics are great, make sure you check them out!

    All images via www.racheldenny.com.

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Misha Ashton-Moore

    It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.  Double-exposure photography is hardly a new concept, but the way Portland, Oregon photographer Misha Ashton-Moore does it is something special!  I immediately feel for her warm + cool palettes and mixture of images, sometimes subtle, sometimes completely yet beautifully disparate.  Check out more of her work in my Artist Watch today over on Escape Into Life.  See it here!

    Portland OR USA by Misha Ashton-Moore
    Portland OR USA by Misha Ashton-Moore

    Misha Ashton-Moore on Escape Into Life

    Artist found via Daily Dolan Geiman.  Image via the artist’s website.

  • LoveThisLandia: This Is Oregon

    LoveThisLandia: This Is Oregon

    My husband and I love Oregon.  George lived for a while on the Northern Coast of Oregon and last year, we lived in Southern Oregon while he worked in Grants Pass.  The beauty and natural diversity there is just absolutely incredible.  So when Joe Stevens of Shwood Eyewear emailed me about This is Oregon, a photo project “to inspire others to get up, go out and start exploring”, I told him I was more than happy to share it with you!

    This Is Oregon, photo by Julian Bialowas

    Shwoood Eyewear teamed up with photographer Julian Bialowas to photograph 10 magificient locations, all within a 90 minute drive from downtown Portland, Oregon.  The project’s aim is to “showcase the awe-inspiring landscapes waiting to be explored.”

    Columbia River Gorge by Julian Bialowas

    There will be a This Is Oregon photo show and party at The Ace Hotel in Portland on May 3rd, admission is free and so is the beer! ( If only we were closer, we would be there for sure! )  Super cool prints of Julian’s This Is Oregon work can be purchased here.  I can’t decide which one I love best.  Each one is more beautiful than the next, just like the landscape in Oregon. ( I’m leaning toward the Columbia River Gorge piece above– it’s one of our favorite OR places! )

    I hope you’ll check out the This Is Oregon website and see for yourself.  If you haven’t been to Oregon– plan a trip.  NOW.  You’ll never regret it.

    And make sure you watch this video.  It’s almost like being there.  But you need to see it for yourself!

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Anna Magruder

    Every time I go back to the work of Portland artist Anna Magruder, I fall more in love with it.  Come and see why over on Escape Into Life today!

    Observer ( Mediator ), oil on canvas, 16×16

    Anna Magruder on Escape Into Life