And Joe Said “Let There Be Light”

Portland-based designer Joe Futschik of  jefdesigns has just released a new line of limited edition lightbox paintings. Continuing his fascination with marine imagery and further exploring his popular legna mode (mod stripes and circles), Futschik has created these 20” x 30” digital duratrans images in brushed aluminum lightboxes, illuminated with flourescent tubes. They are produced in editions of 15 per image.

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ultra Q: makelike

You’ve seen identities makelike has designed for Masu, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Entermodal, and now STRUT, but did you know that this Portland-based design studio has also done work for Missoni/Valentino, BabyPhat, Iceberg, and W Hotels? Mary Kysar and Topher Sinkinson (see also: Swallow Press (x2) art collaborative) founded makelike at the turn of the century having met at Johnson Wolverton. The first makelike project was major—art direction, design and production for Richard Christiansen’s flagship magazine, MILK, completed in four weeks. They went on to design both Suede and Radar.

Their work has been featured in iDn, Surface, British iD, Communication Arts 2005 Design Annual and a new DGV book, Tres Logos. Having just moved the studio into the Skylab Building at 12th + Alder, makelike recently took a minute to answer the questions of the ultra Q.

Suede magazine cover. design: makelike

Qualities you most admire in design:
ML: complex-simplicity

Qualities you most despise in design:
ML: under-produced over-production Read the rest of this entry »

p:earblossoms V

Spring and p:earblossoms are in the air. This Saturday, May 5 is p:earblossoms benefiting p:ear, one of Portland’s most dynamic, grassroots non-profits that works with homeless and transitional youth using art as a gateway to building mentoring relationships that also offer education and recreation. The women who run p:ear are tireless in their work to support more than 500 young people every year.

We think a lot about making the city we want to live in. One of ultra’s roles in this is writing about artists, designers, culture workers who every day, incrementally, shape the city we want to live in. The city we want to live in also provides services and support to those in need, particularly young people. p:ear takes not a dime of public money, but does this job and does it well, and we’re glad they’re part of the PDX-scape. All the more significant that art is the chosen p:ear entry point.

p:earblossoms V: moving forward will be held at the Staver Locomotive Building (2537 NW 29th Ave) from 7-10 PM. Mike Barber brings Ten Tiny Dances to the party, food and wine are provided by Pazzo Ristorante. Tickets are $75 (two for $130) at www.pearmentor.org, or 503 228 6677.

At 10 PM, the afterparty begins. Caboose features Chris Wall of Death Cab for Cutie in a solo performance, March Fourth!, and DJ Beyonda for a mere $6.

Blue at FILTER

Sometimes blurred and battered looking, Blue Mitchell’s images, whether narrative or non-, often have a dreamlike quality enhance by his broadly inclusive imagemaking toolkit containing Holga, pinhole, Polaroid, film and digital cameras as well as alternative processes, scanners, aged paper, wax, installation, collage, and hand drawing. His work is at its best when it is simplest: when it eschews narrative and lets image (or space), texture (both captured by the camera and added through process), and color (even when the color range is that of sepia) do the talking.

Located on the Park Blocks, FILTER/TALENT (733 NW Everett) opens its offices for a May First Thursday reception for photographer Blue Mitchell from 5-8:30 PM on May 3.

Kudos to FILTER, a creative placement agency, for supporting the non-commercial work of Portland talent as well.

National Launch for REAL FUN @ OFFICE

We’re a big fan of the Polaroid camera and not just for its quality of instant gratification, there is something about the way the Polaroid treats color, the way that it introduces texture into an image that makes them very through-the-looking glass in a decidedly low-fi way. Immediate, tossed off even, the Polaroid is instant yesterday.

So if you’re going to chronicle, we suggest you do as Ashod Simonian did and drag along the Polaroid 600 One Step and its obscenely expensive film. Simonian did just that on the composite road trip(s) captured in REAL FUN: Photographs from the Independent Music Landscape. Pretty interesting that the visual qualities of the Polaroid mean that REAL FUN in some ways puts an era in a bottle while it’s still being played out. Read the rest of this entry »