Our First, First Thursday

First Thursday is an institution here in Portland, an early evening of art around Downtown and the bus mall as I call it, or the Pearl District if you like. [ That humble little area, I never thought back when I lived on 6th and Couch above Fellini/Satyricon that that yucky slice of heaven would look as gorgeous as it does now. ] Wrapping up around 1030-11 just in time to hit the bar.

But I am off topic.

We are very excited to have our maiden show here in PTown.
Dave and I are going to be showing at Virtuoso Studios this next First Thursday, March 4th. There will be some of my work, some of Dave's work and collaborative work. We are bringing a bit of merch. too, like boxsets, ACEO's, etc. as well as our original work. Graciously sharing the walls with us is Brent Wear , also the charming, couture, creatrix, Kirsten Moore of Piper Ewan. Life is better with handmade lingerie.


323 NW 6th Ave

On 6th between Everett and Flanders

Collective Locale

I want to start taking photographs of window art by Scott Campbell of "Extremo the Clown" fame. If you don't know him, you should, he's one of the finest performance artists around. He's a painter in oils as well as a sculptor of cars, magnificent art cars. Gargoyles, fountains, scenes in bas relief and the man driving is dressed like a clown complete with puppets.

This is why I call him a performance artist. Sure he's a great painter and his cars are awesome but the whole package is just over the top bad assidry. He brings it to the people, on the streets, at the bank, down the freeway. I first started seeing him because he banked next to where I worked 11 years or so ago.

As far as his window art, I saw it randomly, then started looking for it and now it is a collection. A collections of locations where I have seen an Extremo window painting. Advertisements for the store inside. Smiling, expressive filing cabinets beckon you to come in and purchase an office chair. I have driven in Salem Oregon and seen an Extremo window and of course all over Portland. Once I was watching HDTV and the lady being interviewed gave a tour of her house. Low and behold she had an Extremo painting in her front room, I am good at spotting them. I asked him to confirm it was his. Also being from St. Johns Portland, Radke's Auto is a landmark for me. With its huge sign and neon race car, the huge lettering on the front of this corner building: wait could that be. I am 98% sure that it is the work of a younger Extremo, perhaps at the start of his career? It has been there since I was a baby.

The point is there is a level of local permeation that I think goes largely unnoticed. There are a lot of people who know of the "clown in the art car" but I think it might surprise people how at large he is. So support your local clown, he's just out making people smile. I think that is a might fine vocation.



And did you know he's a musician too? And ran for Mayor and placed pretty high. The next step is to document the locations, then compile them. A fun art project begins.

PS the painting of his that I own contains his actual hair, the hair that was cut off soon after the picture above was taken. I know that has a bit of an "ew" factor but I thought it was a good cross section of his more serious oil paintings and his sculpture. The bust is three dimensional and made in the same manner his cars are.

Backyard Chickens: Its a good thing.

Almost a case
Originally uploaded by A.K. Miles

To all my chicken loving brethren, across the the world should you look west:


The Martha Stewart Show in NYC is taping a show on urban farming in March 2010 and are looking for urban chicken farmers (among others) to be in the audience.

If you're interested in being there, you have to request tickets and help them understand why you should be in the audience. The details are in Anne's email:

If you or someone you know have recently turned your backyard space into a chicken coop or turkey pen, we have a special show that's just for you! We're filling our studio audience with individuals who raise livestock in urban environments as we celebrate the backyard farming movement. If you're interested in attending this show, please be sure to tell us about yourself and your backyard farm, as well as why you'd like to be part of this special audience. Please feel free to spread the word and request tickets as soon as you can if you're interested!

The link to request tickets is www.marthastewart.com/get-tickets; scroll down to "calling all urban farmers."

Keeping chickens is quite a big deal these days, and thats cool: pets with benefits. We have a few girls ourselves: Diamond, Atilla the Hen, Crystal, and Chick Norris who we recently adopted having been found roaming the streets. We get 3-5 eggs a day, ranging in color between off-white, tan, a speckled one and a slate green. My kids love having them, like a petting zoo in our backyard. We bond over caring for the hens, they are messy and quite a lot of work. The coop was purchased, a modified rabbit hutch and the run/tractor was made by me. The majority of the wood was scavenged from an abandoned pile and cost nothing. A box of screws, a borrowed miter saw and some poultry netting. Also my husband putting on the side supports. Three of the chickens I raised from two weeks old and one free lost chicken to add an extra egg a day. Pretty good all around I'd say.

I first saw someone in the city keep a chicken about 7 years ago, my friend Eryn had a rooster. He lived in downtown Portland right on SW.5th Ave, it was a big red-orange rooster and he was gorgeous.

A full on self-indulgent post, Post.

I NEED these. For my inner Charlie One Horse Cowgirl Diva.
http://www.zappos.com/charlie-one-horse-by-lucchese-cowgirl-cherry-tooled?zlfid=111

I am going to start a change fund for myself. All the loose change that I save anyway will now be going towards Angela's boot fund. thank you, that is all.

The RAW Collaboration

Newly hung in my living room are the three remaining paintings of the RAW series. I can't believe that I haven't mentioned these before. I think they are easily some of the best work Dave or I have done. The photo to the left being my personal fav, I love Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It is part of a collection in San Diego, as is Audubon.

Anyhow the idea we had was pretty simple, and the inspiration straight forward: Morris Louis exhibit opened at MCASD (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) that Dave and I went to Downtown. When you see the stains or stain paintings or whatever in the books they look unimpressive but when you are looking at a painting like that, as big as the whole wall.... well that's is a bit different. Its like being directly in front of a rainbow. Minus the tiny Irish folk. You don't see the muddied or overly simplified color strokes. You see subtle colors blends created by the different washes of watered down acrylic.

Like Louis, we used unprimed canvas that was hand stretched and nailed by either Dave or I. When asked about the process people are generally surprised that Dave doesn't paint the face on and then I make splatters over the top. Instead we make it more of an exercise: keeping in mind who we are painting I mix my color stains and make an abstract painting that can stand on its own, then while that is drying Dave paints into the existing lines I created. He incorporates a lot and lets my painting insinuate the picture at times. For instance much of Darwin's beard was drawn in by my colorwork first, and much of Cousteau's hat and facial highlights. I don't tell Dave which way it goes so he looks at it in different positions for a while before deciding where to paint. I think that is my favorite part, the spontaneity. This had led to one painting that didn't feel right, and we each only get one go at it so we scrapped it.

For now it is all naturalists but we have a larger project in mind. I can't wait!

Top to Bottom: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Charles Darwin and John James Audubon. I will have to get decent pictures of the other two, Desmond Morris and Jane Goodall.

Denyse Schmidt's String Theory

One of my favorite museums is the Museum of Contemporary Craft, here in Portland Oregon. I have to check out their website every on a fairly regular basis to see what is going on, seminars, podcasts etc. Today I checked out the podcast available on Denyse Schmidt, quilter extraordinaire.
It is interesting to hear her progression and process in both the individual quilt and how she got to where she is. I am very inspired personally by her move to the industrial warehouse and the business she has created there.

Denyse also makes fabrics for FreeSpirit and has some books out by Chronicle Books.
My favorite title is What a Bunch of Squares but her Quilts
book is full of tips, patterns and projects for the modern quilter.

Of course she is an American
Craft super star, I tend to glamorize those who make it to the pages of American Craft. My friend Michael Fields, exhibit designer of the San Diego Naural History Museum and maker with his son of Bagriculture Bags ( I absolutly love these bags and am a proud owner of one myself), was on the cover for one of his baskets. I have tried to find it with no luck, so if anyone has an older stash of these mags I'd love a scanned copy. My friend Cyan Bott was also splashed into a recent ( Dec./ Jan. 2008) article called Port to Port that looks at the two big craft meccas Portland Oregon and Portland Maine. I bask in their glory.



The podcast is here: http://www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/media/2009_07_17_Denyse_Schmidt.mp3

Bringin' Spats Back

These are incredible, I encourage you to check out the details. The maker is Emma Greenwood, an Australian trained in leatherwork and custom made footwear.

Her blog is Aprons and Hammers and you can see some of the steps in making these gorgeous shoe/spat combo as well as other creations. She also has a pair of trainers called NYC Kicks that make me a bit tingly. The detail is what strikes you first, even the thread on the shoes themselves are multicolor mirroring the embroidery itself. The pure technique is beautiful, they are so well made. I love spats anyway but this pair is over the top cool.