Portlandia turns 30
The 30th anniversary of the installation of the Portlandia statue on the Portland Building, 120 S.W. Fifth Ave., will be celebrated from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, across the street at The Standard Insurance Plaza.
Portlandia was designed and constructed by Raymond Kaskey a $198,000 commission and is made of hammered copper sheeting formed around a steel armature. Its one-third the size of the Statue of Liberty, the only larger statue of its kind in the country. It was made in Maryland and shipped to Oregon by railroad, where crews reassembled it and sent it by barge and truck to the Portland Building.
Mayor Charlie Hales, Arts Commissioner and former Mayor Bud Clark will be on hand at the Regional Arts & Culture Council event on Oct. 8.
Neil Young
The great songmaker and wordsmith comes to Portland on his Rebel Content tour with Promise of the Real. His latest work is The Monsanto Years, and Neils Village also accompanies the tour to share information about regenerative and sustainable practices and engagement. The details: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, Chiles Center/University of Portland, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., ticketmaster.com, $80-$175
Swingin Speakeasy
Heres a fun event: The Rose City Rollers champion roller derby home team, the High Rollers, will be hosting their annual Swingin Speakeasy, 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at The Village Ballroom, 704 N.E. Dekum St. ($5, info on Facebook). High Rollers members and casino game dealers will be dressed in period costumes for the Prohibition-era party, and attendees are encouraged to dress up as well. Therell be casino games, dancing, a photo booth, a costume contest and raffles.
Whos coming!
Not long after postponing their 2015 dates, including the Portland concert because of Roger Daltreys viral meningitis, The Who has rescheduled its The Who Hits 50! North American tour. It starts Feb. 27 in Detroit, and visits major cities until concluding May 29 in Las Vegas included will be a date May 17 at the Moda Center. All tickets from the original concert this fall will be honored; other tickets and VIP packages are available at thewho.com.
Fast Break screened
Film curator Greg Hamilton will host a screening of the 1978 documentary film Fast Break, about the Portland Trail Blazers, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd. ($8, hollywoodtheatre.org). Hamilton will be joined by Jason Quick, longtime Blazer writer for The Oregonian, for the screening and a discussion about the film and the 2015-16 Blazers.
The film recently was shown at the Maysles Cinema in New York City. It features members of the 1977-78 NBA championship team, including Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas and Jack Ramsay, and is a personal and compelling film that examines the team on the court as well as off.
The Art Gym
This fall marks the 35th year of Marylhurst Universitys The Art Gym as a venue exhibiting some of the most significant and timely art of the region. The gallery is in the process of strategic growth through a five-year plan focused on sustainability of the gallery, wage standardization for artists, increased catalogue production for artists, completion of renovation, and new piloted programming.
As part of the plan The Art Gym will be one of the Pacific Northwests first Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.) voluntarily certified organizations, (with certification pending fiscal 2015-16), implementing standardized wages for artists, including honorariums for exhibiting and support for art production.
Marylhurst University will match a $1 million challenge grant from The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation by 2019, to endow the director and curator positions to increase to full time in perpetuity. All contributed funds to The Art Gym during this time are matched by the foundation into the endowment, so donations are automatically doubled in support of the gallery.
The Art Gym will present a large retrospective exhibit of the work of Kartz Ucci through Dec. 5. The gallery is at Marylhurst at 17600 Pacific Highway and is open from noon-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays.