On Friday, May 25 we’ll be celebrating the opening of Garden of Grief, Rebecca Reeves’ new installation in our Little Free Library Gallery. Her ongoing themes of loss and mourning—intertwined with the compulsion to protect the relics left behind by the dead—resonate with me on a deeply personal level, and it’s such an honor to be hosting her work in our tiny gallery.
Rebecca will be here in person to talk about her work, plus we’ll have two additional guests for a special “Porch Salon” conversation about grief as it relates to the themes of Rebecca’s art: Megan Devine, author of It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture that Doesn’t Understand and Coleman Stevenson, creator of the Dark Exact Tarot and author of Breakfast: 43 Poems. Megan will be talking about the importance of sharing our stories of loss, and Coleman will be reading a poem inspired by Rebecca’s work. We hope you’ll join us from 7-9pm! Our Little Free Library Gallery may be found near 600 N. Mason St. in Portland, Oregon. On November 9 in a post-election state of shock, I bought a teeny tiny geode and a zine and sat down with both of them in a favorite coffee shop, because I didn’t know what else to do. Together, they were a small but much-needed band-aid for a broken heart. And ever since, I’ve been carrying the zine - All of Them Brujas by Portland artist Rebecca Artemisa - as a talisman in my bag.
Rebecca has conjured Hope Spirits, a magical new painting especially for the south-facing side of our Little Free Library. This mini-mural will be a beacon for visitors, and serve as a spell for all to find strength and power in the stories contained within the Library’s books. You can find more of Rebecca’s work in her Etsy shop, on Instagram, or, if you’re lucky enough to be in Portland, her zines can sometimes be found in the magical Venderia machines around town. On All Hallow’s Eve, intrepid visitors visited The Creeping Museum for bibliomancy readings with The Creeping Museum Oracle, channeled by Coleman Stevenson, creator of the Dark Exact Tarot, and Melissa Favara, curator of antique typewriters. Eerily relevant prophecies were summoned from the Beyond through random book passages, recorded on an antique typewriter, and placed in tiny manila envelopes for querents to bring home and contemplate. As with every other Creeping Museum endeavor, our Evening with the Oracle was an experiment (with more than a fair amount of anxiety and doubt on my part), and I am overflowing with gratitude for all the kindred spirits who are game for showing up (whether it be on Instagram or on my porch) and participating in our weird sh*t. The Creeping Museum loves you.
"Animating Life" at the Portland Art Museum
In case it wasn’t already evident from the fact that I operate an art gallery out of a birdhouse in my front yard, as a child I spent most of my time in an imaginary world of my own making. And I can say without a doubt that visiting an exhibition like Animating Life: The Art, Science, and Wonder of LAIKA - and seeing firsthand that there are grownups tasked with making imaginary worlds into reality - would have changed my life. I have worked behind-the-scenes with some incredible museums (including the Walt Disney Family Museum), I’ve seen LAIKA’s puppets and costumes up-close at various exhibitions and events over the years, and I have colleagues, friends, and neighbors who have worked at the LAIKA studio, yet I was still utterly unprepared for the absolute flat-out childlike wonder and awe I felt as I stepped into the gallery. These photos don’t do it justice...this show is a must-see for anyone who’s ever loved an imaginary world. Animating Life is on view at the Portland Art Museum through May 20, 2018. Our friends Wyrd War have brought a very special treat to Portland: The Fierce Ghost Eats Human Region is an exhibition of Ghanaian horror movie posters from the collection of @deadlypreygallery. The artists’ unique interpretations of American films (hand-painted on flour sacks) will delight you with their can-do spirit - check out the exhibition this week only! Visit @wyrdwar on Instagram for details.
Frederick Douglass - the most photographed American of the 19th century - was an advocate for photography as a means of establishing African American identity and countering the racist and stereotypical depictions (such as lynching postcards and minstrel imagery) that dominated the popular culture at that time. Representing: Photographs of, by, and for African Americans at the Portland Art Museum brings together vernacular portraits and snapshots from several different collections, including the family albums of a WWII Tuskegee Airman from the Albina neighborhood of Portland.
Representing is on view at the Portland Art Museum through December 3, 2017 Movie Madness needs our help! The wonderful Hollywood Theatre is running a campaign to save this iconic video store and fold it into its own nonprofit organization, preserving the shop’s irreplaceable collection and using it to engage the community in new ways. I don't want to live in a city without an old-school video store that has 80,000 titles (twice as many as Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu combined!) and original movie costumes and a “Canadian Horror” section. If you don’t either, visit hollywoodtheatre.org/moviemadness.
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