Conversations

Artist and Designer Ruby Webb Is Building a World of Her Own.

A key theme in both artists' work is transformation. Bilhartz explores the ephemeral through surrealist landscapes and portrait, while Ogden presents bold, crisp, and vibrant geometric designs. Blonde on Blonde beautifully showcases how these two friends, with their distinctive styles, are united by their creative process and a shared desire to create. A reminder that art can transform both the artist and the viewer's experience of the world.

I had seen lying horizontal in acid baths in Simone Fischer’s. In their verticality on the wall, they confronted me with their sheer scale, no longer allowing me to look down on them. Striations in rust, etched car-dealer for-sale flags, and even dessicated flies trapped in acid tracks, unabashedly received my gaze and spoke back.

Artist Simone Fischer passionately relayed the fundamental elemental kinship at the heart of her sculpture process in metal and how it comes full circle—from the landscape, to the industry of the working classes that historically immigrated to the area, to her hands.

An interview with Lucy Cotter by Jess Nickel following the opening of Cotter’s second exhibition, Unquiet Objects, in her Curator-in-Residence series, Turnstones, at Disjecta.

Through a conversation that starts and stops in May 2020 and is then revisited in March 2021, one year after the pandemic began. They discuss how Ackerman’s paintings, although often humourous and joyful, serve as a visual attraction for ruminative dialogues surrounding sorrow and intimate healing.

Knecht’s paintings rest in a dichotomous, fringe space. Her color palette is bright but sickly, her figures grin through pain. Loose, wobbling bodies move like the wind, but also feel trapped and isolated on the canvas. While Knecht’s references to folklore and mythology are rooted in deeply human emotions and understandings, her figures are also experiencing a newness—her mothers feel profound joy while facing discomfort and challenges yet unknown.

An interview with M Acuff by Laurel V. McLaughlin about M Acuff’s artistic practice, which, ranges from object making to installation to video and performance.

As I visited Haley Darya Parsa’s solo exhibition, The sun leaves me to find you, at Third Room Project, my first gallery show since the March lockdowns (on a rare but welcomed sunny day in Portland, OR), I was stunned by the gentle power of the installation

As our town continues to remain on pause, with art happenings postponed indefinitely, Luiza Lukova interviews Holly Osborne from the comfort of their respective homes, touching on inspirations, emotions, and experiences.

Davey Barnwell works primarily in painting and illustration. She boldly uses color in her visual language, which is often rooted in memory and her abstracted forms and shape serve as a way to understand her own surroundings.

We met in her studio at Yale Union in SE Portland to talk about poetry, grief, and narrative a few weeks ago, before Portland closed for business under our current health crisis.

An interview with Kalaija Mallery, the director of Third Room, an artist-run alternative art space that’s been operating since 2017. We highlight this space and the concepts that helped frame its existence, and where it’s going moving forward.

Interview with Sullivan, chatting about her artistic process, her history with the Lake Oswego Open Show, and her creative direction.

Interview with Los Angeles based artist Lilian Martinez following the opening of “Soft Shades” at Nationale in Southeast Portland.

Interview with Portland based artist Aby Henry.

Interview with Portland-based artist Tabitha Nikolai following the opening of “Utopia Without You” at Williamson | Knight in Northwest Portland.

Interview with Portland-based artist Claiborne Colombo following her solo show at 1122 gallery. 

Interview with Portland-based Artist & Educator Amy Bay following her solo show at Melanie Flood Projects. 

An interview with artist and co-director of Dust to Dust, Emily Nachison.

Portland-based Artist, Educator & Curator, Avantika Bawa discusses her background, how she maintains and balances her art practice with being an educator, the evolution of her work, and her upcoming solo show at the Portland Art Museum that is open from August 2018-February 2019.

Interview with BriAnna Rosen, artist and founding member of Killjoy Collective, a gallery dedicated to showcasing artists who identify as women in Southeast Portland since 2016