Creative Storm
The crisp fall air is back, combined with the onset of Portland showers and with it a slew of creative events in October that don’t involve pumpkins.
Here are some thoughts from a few I attended:
10/18/07 - Art Chantry lecture- PNCA
Seattle-based design icon Art Chantry spoke to a packed house last Thursday at PNCA. He shared his portfolio and spoke casually about design in a pre-computer era and his visual representations of the punk/grunge movement. This garbage man turned designer spoke of his extensive “trash” collection of 1950 Sears catalogs, old encyclopedias and children’s books. He is best known for his unique typography, to which he attributes to his label maker, and his self-described collage style of art. He is very hands on with his work, utilizing scissors, glue and a Xerox machine to achieve the grunge factor. Chantry would stop at nothing to achieve an authentic look including burning pages and shooting a bullet through a stack of posters. At a time of grunge brushes, stock photos, and free fonts, Chantry encourages you to get down and dirty and look to the trash for inspiration.
10/21/007 - Film Screening, Eloquent Nude - Hotel deLuxe
This documentary by a Northwest filmmaker (who was kind enough to attend and introduce this movie at the screening) tells the story of photographer Edward Weston, and his model and wife, Charis Wilson. Weston was one of the first to give photography a new purpose, from the recording of everyday life to expressions of an artform. He was particularly known for his close-ups on human forms as well as natural forms of shells and peppers. To Weston all had beauty in front of the lens, and the curves of a nautilus shell were equal to that of the curve of a woman’s back. Many of his photographs remind me of the work of Georgia O’Keefe, whom I discovered he had met and admired. Other artists on Weston’s speed dial were Diego Rivera and Ansel Adams. Hmmm…could O Keefe, Weston, Adams and Rivera be the modernist North American West’s response to the French’s Monet, Renior, Cezanne, Pisarro?
Three upcoming events ALL on the same day, October 25th - choose wisely!
1. W+K Ignite - An open forum hosted by Wieden + Kennedy. Anybody can enter a topic and have open floor. There are sure to be some awkward moments, some laughs and maybe some boos, good luck Crystal.
2. Sandstrom lecture - 52 Limited sponsors this speaker event. PDX design celebrity Steve Sandstrom speaks on design v advertising.
3. Potluck Slideshow - This unique event combines a potluck with short artist slideshows about 5 minutes each. Slideshows can tie into the theme “lust” or can just be a random collection of artist’s work. All of course, set to music.
Bring on the rain, with events like these who needs the outdoors?
