FIRST THURSDAYS IN THE PEARL One of the liveliest, longest-running evening art strolls in Portland, this festive, arts-centric gathering spans the Pearl District, with more than 40 galleries, restaurants, bars, and other businesses hosting exhibit openings and other parties and receptions. Most events take place from 6 pm until 9 pm, with a number of…
Winter Events and Happenings
HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING This year’s much-anticipated Pearl District holiday season kicko takes place Saturday, Nov. 28, from 4:30 to 6 pm at Jamison Square Park. Join your friends for caroling and the illumination of the 30-foot-tall tree designed in the style of an Oregon Cascade ir and decked spectacularly with colorful lighting. Local businesses will…
Portland Center Stage Winter Season
Where: Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave, 503.445.3700 // pcs.org When: Santaland Diaries, Dec. 2– 27; Twist Your Dickens, Dec. 9–31; Great Expectations, Jan. 16– Feb. 14; Forever, Jan. 30–Mar. 20; Each and Everything, Feb. 6– March 27 “Irreverent and di erent” is how PCS artistic director Chris Coleman describes Twist Your Dickens, which returns…
Pearl District Block Party
On September 11, the Pearl District Neighborhood Association welcomed residents, workers, and more than a few visitors for great food, live music and dancing, and craft beverages from Rogue Distillery and Public House during the 24th annual installment of this fête and fundraiser on NW 13th Avenue. pearldistrict.org Photos by Amy Ouellette
Art in the Pearl
Art lovers and buyers talked with artists and explored a fantastic selection of paintings, photos, sculptures, and crafts during this Labor Day Weekend festival, September 5–7, on the North Park Blocks. Photos by Amy Ouellette, except last photo by ComeWeCreate
Stage Right
The crown jewel of the Brewery Blocks celebrates its 10th season as home to Portland Center Stage. In 2004, the venerable Portland Center Stage (PCS) theater company— which formed in 1988 as an offshoot of Ashland’s prestigious Oregon Shakespeare Festival— launched a campaign to construct a state-of-the-art performance complex inside a compelling but challenging existing…
Fall Events and Happenings
CREATIVE SPIRITS Ranked by Art Fair SourceBook among the nation’s top 10 arts and crafts festivals, the 19th annual Art In The Pearl (pictured above) takes place on the verdant North Park Blocks throughout Labor Day Weekend. Come browse the eye-catching artwork at this lively, lighthearted, and free festival featuring works by more than 100…
Art on the Mind
Considering mental illness through the eyes of artists At first glance, J. Pepin Art Gallery (319 NW Ninth Ave, 503-274-9614, jpepinartgallery.com) looks like a fairly typical contemporary Pearl District art gallery, with its high ceilings, clean lines, and unobtrusive indirect lighting. The walls display vibrant acrylic and oil paintings as well as works in encaustic…
Portland Center Stage Fall Season
On the U.S. Bank Mainstage, enjoy Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic Our Town. At the dawn of the 20th century, tiny Grover’s Corners in New Hampshire witnesses some of life’s most memorable moments, from first-time love to family secrets and small-town conflicts. Then Ain’t Misbehavin’ propels theatergoers into the Harlem Renaissance through sketches, dance, and jazz legend Fats Waller’s courageous, joyful music.
Summer Events and Happenings
LIFEWISE OREGON BERRY FESTIVAL Did you know Oregon leads the nation in the production of blackberries, boysenberries, and black raspberries (and ranks near the top in red raspberries, blueberries, cherries, and strawberries)? Come out and celebrate the state’s berry prowess on the Ecotrust grounds—festivities include a farm market, a “know your Oregon berries” booth, canning…
Summer Gallery Shows and Openings
Works by George Perrou Caplan Art Designs // 1323 NW 16th Ave, 503-319-6437 July 2–31, 2015 Rich acrylic color, crisp lines, and bold shapes rule in artist George Perrou’s (featured above) world (studioperrou.com). Inspired by the Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. cartoons of his childhood, Perrou mixes whimsical ideas with midcentury modern– style animation and design.…
Music Mingles with Art on First Thursdays
INTOWN JAZZ presents intimate concerts at the Tea Zone and Camellia Lounge Each First Thursday in the Pearl (the next one is May 7), vocalist Annie Averre and bassist Shao Way Wu will act as musical hosts, introducing regional jazz greats as well as up-and-coming local artists and touring Grammy winners, as part of the INTOWN JAZZ series at Tea Zone…
An Intimate Evening of Chamber Music at Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy to Host Portland Youth Philharmonic’s chamber orchestra, Camerata PYP The legendary Pearl District–based advertising agency Wieden+Kennendy (224 NW 13th Ave) is providing fans of contemporary classical music a wonderful evening performance by the exceptionally talented Camerata PYP, the chamber orchestra of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Held in the Wieden+Kennedy atrium on April 26 at 4 pm,…
The Spring Season at Portland Center Stage
Gerding Theater at the Armory 128 Nw 11th Ave, 503-445-3700, pcs.org On the U.S. Bank MainStage PCS treats theatergoers to Michael Hollinger’s (Opus) new and humorously nuanced translation and adaptation of edmond Rostand’s beloved late-19th-century romantic comedy, Cyrano. The mainstage season closes with Three Days of Rain, Richard Greenberg’s Pulitzer Prize–nominated enigmatic and revelatory family…