New Oregon Arts & Letters (formerly 2GQ)

NORA'S ON "ART TUESDAYS"

 KZME's "Art Tuesdays" television show, hosted by Dennise Kowalczyk of Metro East, recently featured Nora Robertson of our own New Oregon Interview Series along with Alicia Rose, currently of Mississippi Studios. Audio is now online!

One quick correction: Nora slipped and said that 2 Gyrlz's predecessor, Two Girls in Eugene, was founded by Lisa Newman. In fact, Lidia Yunavitch was a co-founder, and Lisa worked with the organization.

If you're curious: Lisa co-founded the nonprofit 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts in Portland a number of years later, together with Llewyn Maire McCobb. The first Enteractive Language Festival (EL-fest), a grassroots performance and arts festival lasting an entire month in venues throughout the city, took place in 2002. That's also when 2GQ was founded. A project of 2 Gyrlz, 2GQ produced webzines, printed journals, and multidisciplinary events. 

The 2GQ staff inherited the legal structure and organization of 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts in 2009, when Lisa and Llewyn moved to England for a long stay. We changed the name to New Oregon Arts & Letters, changed up the Board of Directors a bit, and instituted a new Mission Statement. And that's the story of how New Oregon came to be. Left: Nora performing in a site-specific performative installation by 2GQ, "Play Me," at Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival.

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.

NEW OREGON & PLAZM AT PUBLICATION FAIR THIS WEEKEND

Featuring art & design books; Plazm magazines, books, T shirts, & posters; letterpressed works and holiday-appropriate fare from New Oregon collaborator Tiger Food Press/Clare Carpenter.

December 20th, Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Downtown Portland at the Ace Hotel "cleaners" space
Corner of SW Stark and 11th Ave

PIMP OUT YR ZOMBIES FOR ANABEL, featuring Soriah

PIMP OUT YOUR DEAD (a benefit for Anabel Ramirez) this Friday in Portland features the one and only Soriah, along with Unknown Pleasures and the delightful Synchronicity Frequency, plus DJ's and zombie pimps & ho's.

100% of the proceeds from the door, auction and raffle will be going to help pay for Anabel's medical bills. She does not have insurance and is currently undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. Come dressed in your pimped out dead best, if you want, and bring your hos with you (or just acquire some while you're there!)

Anabel was Chair of the Board o' Directrices for our originating nonprofit org, 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts, and we love her.

Friday, November 20, 2009 at 9:00pm, Bossanova 722 East Burnside PDX
Facebook event link right here

New Oregon Interview Series: Visual Art

Host Nora Robertson sits down with Michael Brophy, Stephanie Snyder and Dark Horse Comics' Shawna Gore

Collected by the Seattle Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum and Microsoft, Brophy’s work was the subject of a Tacoma Art Museum exhibition, “The Romantic Vision of Michael Brophy”, and appeared in their recent 9th Northwest Biennial. A 2007 Getty Foundation Fellow, Snyder is the director/curator of the Cooley Gallery at Reed and has co-hosted the Back Room discussion series. An editor at Dark Horse since 2003, Gore’s work on the CREEPY Archives and the Herbie Archives hardcover series earned her two 2009 Eisner Awards.

Urban Grind East, 2214 NE Oregon St
Wed, November 11th, 7-8:30 PM, doors open at 6:30, $5 admission.
More info here.

Pictured above: Food Night with Matt Lounsbury, Greg Higgins and Naomi Pomeroy
Photo Credit: Steve Fritz

GREG HIGGINS, NAOMI POMEROY, & MORE: FOOD CONVERSATION WITH NEW OREGON INTERVIEW SERIES

What do Portlanders love even more than bikes, rain, and books? Food and drink, of course! Join us Monday, October 26th, for live interviews and conversation with chefs and culinary entrepreneurs from Higgins (Greg Higgins), Beast (Naomi Pomeroy), and Stumptown (Matt Lounsbury).

It's all part of the New Oregon Interview Series with host Nora Robertson.

October 26
Urban Grind East
2214 NE Oregon Street
7 to 9 pm. Admission $5.

TIFFANY LEE BROWN ON NPR/OPB THIS WEDNESDAY

New Oregon director Tiffany Lee Brown will be a guest on the Oregon Public Broadcasting show Think Out Loud on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. The show airs live 9:00-10:00 a.m. on National Public Radio stations throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington.

TOL welcomes your online comments and live calls to the show. So get on the horn and ask an intelligent, nice question or share your story! The online discussion is already underway. During the show, call 888-665-5TOL (or 665-5865), or email comments to thinkoutloud ((at)) opb.org .

INTERVIEW WITH A MISFIT

In 2009, Suzanne Burns has read her work in every Portland venue from Powell’s to the Loggernaut Reading Series at Urban Grind East to Voodoo Doughnut Too—but not poetry, as those who know her might expect. Burns’ newest is a collection of short fiction entitled Misfits and Other Heroes, published by Dzanc Books. Its stories whip up a whirlwind of bizarre characters and luscious desserts that make the reader feel repulsed (or, at least, confused) and hungry at the same time. I asked Burns about her love triangle with fiction and poetry, her sweet tooth, and why she sequesters herself in Bend rather than living amongst her freaky peers in P-town. Interview by Kristy Athens.

How did a fiction book come about for you? Was this a new form?

Fiction has always been my first love. I do have random poetic affairs from time to time, but my passionate relationship with books began in high school with The Illustrated Man and The Catcher in the Rye. When I was a junior, the state made us take standardized creative writing tests and I wrote two short paragraphs about an imaginary visit to Ray Bradbury’s writing studio. My English teacher, Mrs. Boon, pulled me out of class the day the tests came back and I remember being scared because I’d never been in trouble before. (What could someone like me, the quiet, obedient Gothic girl, have done so wrong?) With a grave seriousness she told me, “You received the highest marks in the district. You really need to be a writer.” And to think … I wanted to be a lawyer!