New Oregon Arts & Letters (formerly 2GQ)

NEW OREGON WINS RACC GRANT FOR PLAZM MAGAZINE

New Oregon Arts & Letters has become the new publisher of Plazm, a magazine of art, design, and culture founded in 1991 in Portland. We are pleased to return Plazm to nonprofit status (like it was in the early days) and we are very pleased to announce that RACC is helping us get the next issue to you.

 The Regional Arts & Culture Council awarded us a Special Opportunity Grant of $12,050 toward publication expenses (namely, the print bill) for Plazm issue #30, slated for publication in fall 2010. Thank you, people of RACC!

TSA GALLERY: COMING TO A GARDEN NEAR YOU.

Some of Oregon's most interesting art, music, and performance over the decades has unfolded in the basements, backyards, and unsanctioned public spaces, encouraging homegrown creativity to make itself happen far from the restrictions and expectations of formal venues. In this spirit, the Temporary Semi-Autonomous Gallery series explores the confluence of public, private, and domestic space. 

TSA launches in July with Meg McHutchison's "the garden of broken (beloved) objects" and continues with Gary Wiseman's new work "Monument (Couldn't Have Done It Without You)." The series is curated by fellow artist Tiffany Lee Brown of presenting organization New Oregon Arts & Letters...

BOOK POWER! JUNE 14 WALKTHROUGH

Is print dead? Not if 23 Sandy has anything to do with it. The gallery, which specializes in book arts and printed matter, hosts an artist walkthrough of their exhibit "Book Power" on Saturday, June 14th, at 4 pm.

Book Power brings together books from over forty artists whose work addresses social, political, and environmental issues ranging from racism to war to political upheaval. Join artists Jim Lommasson, Edgar Papazian, Randi Parkhurst, and others, who share the stories that inspired their books and discuss how their work calls for social change. According to the gallery, Lommasson's book, which contains the words and images of returning Iraq war veterans, is especially moving. 

If you miss the artist walkthrough, you can still see the show Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays noon to 6 pm.

Or maybe you could just stay home and wait for the iBook.

Chuck Palahniuk and Ursula K. Le Guin Speak at Write To Publish

Award-winning authors Chuck Palahniuk and Ursula K. Le Guin will be sharing their publishing experiences at the Oolicon: Write to Publish open house event, May 23, 2010, at Portland State University. Write to Publish is Ooligan Press's annual conference on the art of getting published. Also appearing are Too Much Coffee Man creator Shannon Wheeler, an Eisner winner and New Yorker contributor, Oregon Book Award-winning children's author Deborah Hopkinson, and National Book Award-winning YA fiction author Virginia Euwer Wolff.

Workshops for writers and industry professionals May 22nd and Open House mixer on the 23rd, $215 for full conference. Discounted writer's price of $130 for both, $32 per workshop. Tickets at Portland State University box office, 503-725-3307.

UPCOMING STUFF YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT

From our April 2010 email update. Sign up now to receive one in your very own inbox every month or so.

April-May: the Easter Island Project goes to South America + the South Pacific

July: Artist Dinner Series talk
First Friday opening of the TSA Gallery: Meg McHutchison

August: TSA Gallery showing artist Gary Wiseman

Keep reading for all the details...

Portland on Portland: Image + Word

Artist/curator Nan Curtis, filmmaker/architecture critic Brian Libby and writer Floyd Skloot with host Nora Robertson dig into how Portland's identity is reflected in art locally and to the outside world.
The New Oregon Interview Series joins the White Stag Block Talk in exploring Portland's evolving creative culture and how it is in conversation with other regions. University of Oregon White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch St., Tuesday, April 20th, 6-8 PM, open wine and beer bar, FREE. More info here.
Or over here.

WRITER & ARTIST RESIDENCIES

by Tiffany Lee Brown

There's nothing to refresh the soul like an artist or writer residency. In the Northwest, residencies at Soapstone, Hypatia, and Caldera plucked me out of everyday life and into nature. They offered silence and solitude. Most importantly, they reminded me why I do the work: I do the work *to do the work.*

Living in a lull, a bubble in the woods, I am responsible to no one except myself. I'm not thinking about how to pay the rent or whether I should hire a videographer to properly document my next performance so I can try to get another grant someday. I'm not scrambling to doctor appointments and art events. I'm not on the freakin' Internet all day. 

I'm just being. I'm walking. I'm feeling the rain on my neck. I'm building fires to keep myself warm. I'm writing, writing, writing... making, making, making... I'm sleeping, too. I'm having afternoon tea and playing solitaire. It's bliss. Productive, amazing bliss.

DINNER SERIES: EAT, TALK, ART.

Whaddowe love as much as making art? Talkin' about it! Oh, and drinking. And food. All at once.

Thus, Linda Austin and Tahni Holt present the 2010 Artist Dinner Series: six dinners featuring conversations with twelve different artists. At each supper, you'll find under twenty guests, along with food, wine, and dessert. Dietary restrictions are accommodated. 

Reserve a spot early for July 24, when New Oregon Executive Imperatrix Tiffany Lee Brown and Plazm magazine Art Director Joshua Berger (pictured left) are the guests. Expect a knock-down, drag-out sparring match as these two artists—who may or may not also be, uhh, shall we say, intimately involved with each other—discuss the creative process. Watch out for shrapnel!

Get your reservations (and the secret location of your dinner) by emailing hello@tahniholt.com.

February 27: Angelle Hebert + Angela Fair  •  March 20: Linda Austin + Kristan Kennedy
April 24: Tahni Holt + Ethan Rose  •  May 22: Cydney Wilkes + Lisa Radon
June 26: David Eckard + Linda K. Johnson  •  July 24: Tiffany Lee Brown + Joshua Berger

New Oregon Interview Series on Portland's Urban Space

Nora Robertson sits down with Mayor Sam Adams, Portland Monthly editor Randy Gragg and prominent architect Brad Cloepfil together to discuss their work in shaping urban space and how our built environment is evolving. Listen in or float a question in our final conversation in the series.

Coming up on Monday the 22nd, 7-8:30 PM, Urban Grind East, 2214 NE Oregon St., doors open at 6:30, beer and wine, $5.

Read on for more info.

"THE GIFT" AUTHOR LEWIS HYDE AT PNCA

Creativity and the common good are the theme of Hyde's talk at the PNCA commons this Thursday. Known and adored for his book The Gift, Hyde appears in Portland courtesy of PNCA and Lewis & Clark College.