Call For Entries: Styles 2007

Church & State at Gen Art Styles International Design Competition 2006

Gen Art, the future farmer of fashion, has announced an international open call to established and emerging designers for their Styles International Design Competition and Runway Show. Portland’s Church & State were finalists in 06, selected from an international field of hundreds of designers.

This year again, finalists will be selected by a committee of editors, buyers and stylists. The key for designers is that the 25 finalists show in on the runway in NYC on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 where a panel of “celebrity fashion judges” choose five winners for the $5,000 prizes. Caveat designer: Nathaniel Crissman and Rachel Turk of Church & State were only permitted to show two pieces…an abbreviated chance to state your case. However, when being a finalist puts one in their company, as well as the company of Rodarte, Sari Gueron, and Cloak, one realizes the potential benefits of ex-po-sure.

You can download the application and get more information about the competition here. The deadline for entry has apparently been extended to Friday, March 30.

More about Church & State on ultra.

Happy Fourth for Motel

Cosmic Yeti, Megan Whitmarsh via motelgallery.com

Today, Jennifer Armbrust marks the fourth anniversary of her gallery, Motel (19 Northwest 5th Avenue, Suite C). On NW Couch between 5th & 6th, Motel has been one of that neighborhood’s pioneers as an arts destination along with neighbor Katsu Tanaka and his Just Be/Compound across the street. They’ve seen the coming of the Portland Art Center, Organism’s temporary space, Upper Playground’s art shows, and more. And soon the Winkler project a few blocks west, housing four galleries and the Museum of Contemporary Craft, will bridge the gap between their contemporary art outpost status and the galleries of the Pearl.

Meanwhile, Armbrust has made change in Motel as well. Intially one-part gallery and one-part little shop with a carefully curated selection of handmade goods, Armbrust transitioned to gallery-only and began representing a handful of emerging artists, many illustration-based in a Dzama-like fashion. With a keen eye and smart business sense, she has taken chances on next-gen artists and taken Motel to art fairs like Aqua in Miami, developing relationships with non-PDX collectors to the point that most of the work she sells will not hang in Portland. Along the way, Armbrust co-founded PORT, Portland’s top-notch visual art criticism weblog, and Forty Under Forty, a networking group for young creative entrepreneurs. Whew.

In honor of the anniversary, check out the new Motel website.

Organism Toasts Portland Artists

Katherine Bovee & Philippe Blanc at Fresh Trouble

Portland’s newest contemporary arts presenter, Organism, shows integrity and heart-in-the-right-place by hosting a different kind of fundraising evening. Reacting to a trend in arts organization fundraising that depends on artists to donate their work (when the donations should perhaps be flowing in the opposite direction) , Organism instead is inviting you to “toast” (and get a great meal in the bargain at Screendoor, with chefs formerly of clarklewis and Paley’s) ten artists Organism director Jeff Jahn calls our “cultural ambassadors,” well-traveled artists who are showing around the world and in the process, putting Portland on the map.

It’s a great diverse group Organism has assembled with some of ultra’s favorites including video artist and filmmaker Matt McCormick (it’s not too late to see his show at Elizabeth Leach), Carson Ellis who does melancholy, vaguely narrative work in pen and wash, Brenden Clenaghen, whose reliefs are among our favorite pieces of art one can hang on a wall, and Katherine Bovee & Philippe Blanc, whose computer-age-referencing conceptual work is brilliant. And you definitely want to sit at a table with art-instigator Nat Andreini of Sincerely John Head.

The Organism Toast Gala is April 2 at 7 PM at Screendoor (2337 E Burnside). $75 tickets can be purchased on the Organism website. You are invited to dress for the occasion.

Designer Profile: Joe Futschik of JEF Designs

Joe Futschik’s work illuminates spaces. The designer behind JEF Designs does modern lamps, wall graphics, and prints that subtly transform Portland spaces like clarklewis and Crema. We recently talked with Futschik making lamps on the floor upstairs at Hippo Hardware, art vs. craft, San Francisco, and JEF Designs.

What kind of difference did show2003 at Design Within Reach make for you? It was a launch point wasn’t it?
Well, for one thing, Michael Hebberoy was one of the judges on the panel. He said, “I love your lighting. I’m doing a new restaurant, and I’d like to use your lights.” On my card at the time there was an image that was similar to those on my wall panels. He asked if I did the piece in Opolis Design in the Gotham Building. I said, “Yes.” So then he wanted paintings too. Read the rest of this entry »

Buckman Art Sale

Sarah Fox

We who value visual culture in Portland are lucky that the next generations have options like DaVinci Arts Middle School, Northwest Academy, and Buckman Arts Magnet Elementary. They’re a hothouse for the PDX artists, designers, writers, and performers who may do Great Work in the next ten to twenty years. So whereas in other communities schools sell candy bars as fundraisers, in Portland, we have schools that sell art and craft (and for the most part it’s not “artsy” or “craftsy”).

Melissa Stiles, Stubborn WORKS

This weekend, March 16-17, Buckman Art Show & Sell returns for its 17th year, a two-day sale and celebration. We don’t imagine other schools can boast performances by Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney, extraordinary food from Navarre and Il Piatto, and art and craft that is otherwise found�like Melissa Stiles sleek architectural jewelry in aluminum and resin (buy your lover a set of cufflinks!) or Sarah Fox’s silver and felted wool jewelry�at places like the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Kurumi Conley’s cheerful glass dishes make great hostess gifts.

underscore 6. Shannon Tudyk

What we’re particularly interested in seeing more work by Shannon Tudyk whose graphic mixed-media pieces concerning and making use of repurposed office forms and ledgers collaged, painted, overstitched we’d seen at the Portland Art Center. She’s now making work with the paper from used teabags!