• Disjecta

A few weeks back, Disjecta announced its lineup of curators for the 2013/2014 season— Curator-in-Residence Summer Guthery and Portland2014 Biennial Curator Amanda Hunt— and tonight you'll have a chance to meet the ladies themselves and learn more about their Portland plans (6 pm, 929 NW Flanders, right by PDX Contemporary).

While this evening's event will feature a presentation and Q&A from the new-to-town curators, here are some quick highlights to get the introduction rolling: Both Guthery and Hunt have ties to Los Angeles' LAXART, an independent nonprofit art space where Hunt acts as curator and Guthery organizes one-off events. When I think of Hunt, I think of shows like Meg Cranston's Emerald City, a recent exhibition at LAXART that explored the construction of trends by examining Pantone's color of 2013, emerald green. Guthery has made splashes with The Canal Series (and its precursor, The Chrysler Series), a monthly series of "single evening readings, screenings, and performances," and she was recently announced as a contributing curator to this November's performance art biennial, Performa, in New York.

Though the above introduction doesn't do justice to the careers of these very busy curators (I've included bios from the official PR after the jump so you can check out their credentials), it does set me up to say one thing: Disjecta appears to be solidifying a focus shift with the announcement of this recent crop of curators. In the Cris Moss-curated Portland2010 and the Prudence Roberts-curated Portland2012, we saw Disjecta looking within city limits for a curatorial angle, bringing on the aforementioned local educator/curators to make the big calls. But when Disjecta imported Oakland's Josephine Zarkovich as curator-in-residence of the current 2012/2013 season, they set the tone for what now seems like an investment in outsider perspectives. It's probably a good move: Portland's stock of curators can feel insulated at times— a lot of the same people focusing on, if not the same artists, the same types of art— and I'm excited to see what folks outside this city are wowed by, and what they'll decide to include in Disjecta's future programming.

Anyway, more details on tonight's event can be found right here.

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They already had dibs on the sweetest lil' parade in town, the cutest bookstore, the homiest theater, AND a fun old-fashioned camera shop: what could make St. Johns quainter? How 'bout the most delightful piece of public art in town. Last Saturday St. Johns unveiled a new mural by Portland-based illustrator Carson Ellis.

• James John on a serpent, funky fish, and the city's coolest bridge: this mural has everything.

Even if you don’t recognize the name, you probably still recognize her work. Ellis's art has been featured in boatloads of publications, from the lesser-known to the better-known, INCLUDING the cover of this publication. In addition, Ellis is married to and a frequent collaborater with Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, often doing their album art.

Located on the side of the Grocery Outlet at 7741 N. Lombard, the mural was painted by Whitney Anderson and designed by Ellis. It's one amongst several pieces of public art that the Regional Arts and Culture Council has been busy with. It’s part one of the mural; the other part will be done via community participation this summer.

At 50 feet by 10 feet, there's lots of room for Ellis's signature whimsy: mythic creatures, sprightly mushrooms, old-timey technology, AND, wait for it…a hidden R2-D2!! It’s wonderful. Check out more pics, after the jump.

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Rebecca Jacobson over at the Willamette Week interviewed Mike Daisey in advance of his Tuesday show Journalism, and she did a nice job with it. I've interviewed Daisey a few times and he definitely tends to run a conversation; Jacobson sticks to her guns. I thought you guys might particularly enjoy this part:

You weighed in on The Portland Mercury’s recent blog post about you? Why?
Probably because I drank some NyQuil. It was a terrible idea. One should never respond to Internet comments. It was the Mercury! Of course I regret it. It was kind of hilarious because they talked themselves into a fascinating corner. They said, “The very fact that you’re here shows how pathetic you are, because we’re pathetic,” which I just thought was the saddest fucking thing I’d ever read, because on some level I thought they might actually want to have a conversation. I have that delusion every once in a while that people want to have a conversation on places like the Mercury blog.

The whole thing is worth a read, though, it's a good little interview.

Everybody knows this is true, but it's good to be reminded —especially by the likes of Cheryl Strayed, who is currently experiencing the kind of literary success most authors only dream of:

Going through a drawer I found the submissions/applications log I've kept off and on over the years. Just in case you think it's all been roses I'd like to report that Yaddo rejected me (as recently as 2011). McDowell rejected me. Hedgebrook rejected me twice. The Georgia Review rejected me and Ploughshares rejected me and Tin House rejected me, as did about twenty other journals and magazines. Both The Sun and The Missouri Review rejected me before I appeared in their pages. Literary Arts declined to give me a fellowship three times before I won one. I've applied for an NEA five times and it's always been a no. Harper's magazine never even bothered to reply. I say it all the time but I'll say it again: keep on writing. Never give up. Rejection is part of a writer's life. Then, now, always.

Your words of encouragement for the day, writer friends.

Manwolfs and fluoride: Two great tastes that taste great together!

Everyone has already said what can be said about fluoride in the comment section of this week's cover story (I hope!), but did anyone say anything about the cover art? Did you think that yellow-toothed screaming monster had anything to do with the story? It didn't, it's just the Manwolfs' logo.

You might remember the Manwolfs from when the Mercury brought the instant cult-classic skate film Machotaildrop to town way back in 2010.

The Manwolfs have an art show this month in the lobby of the Wieden + Kennedy building all month long. Take a break from all the fluoride yapping and go see it.

More videos from the Manwolfs after the jump.

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On the photo tip: Blue Sky Gallery has a pair of photo shows announced for next month that look rather amazing. San Francisco-based photographer Lucas Foglia's "A Natural Order" is a collection of photos taken over the course of four years spent immersed in a network of communities living off the grid in the South (they were published as a book with the same title last year). A scroll through them reveals a mix of beautifully composed and sometimes disturbing images, including a partially decomposed bear that the caption indicates was "poisoned by neighbors," a steaming pile of possum stew complete with a dramatically protruding tail (nice plating), meat soaking in a bathtub, and a healthy sprinkling of naked-person bits, all set against lush rural backdrops and some rather lovely takes on rustic home decor.

• Lucas Foglia
• Raw goat's milk, y'all! Yum!

Foglia describes the pictures as an "interpreted narrative" of life off the grid. They serve as an intimate portrayal of people who, motivated by environmental concerns, religious beliefs, and the global economic recession, build their homes using local materials, obtain their water from nearby springs, and hunt, gather, and grow their own food. His series depicts a real joy in the beauty of nature, and yet also the hardships of living in this way. "I wanted to see if I could find the absolute, if there were communities or individuals who lived off the grid and were wholly self-sufficient."

I can only imagine the stories he has to tell, and his artist's talk scheduled for Wednesday, May 1, at 6 pm is probably well worth attending. Joining him is New York artist Tamara Staples, who is a chicken portraitist. (No seriously, she has published not one but two books of chicken photos.) More on her show, "The Magnificent Chicken" beyond.

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We're giving away some tickets to tomorrow night's installment of Russian Roulette, a newish show created by Back Fence PDX host Frayn Masters and Write Bloody's Derrick Brown.

I'll let them explain this one:

How it works: each show begins with a full wheel of juicy story prompts. One of the 8 storytellers will be randomly drawn. They spin the wheel to decide the prompt for their story. They can play or pass! If they pass another teller can steal their prompt! Then the risky part…each storyteller has only 5 minutes to come up with a true 5-minute story based on that prompt!!! It’s like we invented a new game called truth AND dare!
At the end of the night, the audience will select a winner who will receive 50 bucks and some other cool prizes, like bragging rights for life. Audience rounds (we ask people to volunteer, don’t worry we won’t pull out of the audience, cuz UGH.) will also be included!

Storytellers for this round of Russian Roulette include Derrick Brown, Audrey Kearns, Brian Bradley, (LA), Arthur Bradford, Adam Arnold, Jessica Rohen, Renee Jenkinson, and Brian Ellis. Read all about 'em here.

The show's tomorrow night at Disjecta, 8 pm; you can email me by 3 pm today with "Russian Roulette" in the subject line for a chance to win (if you don't hear back by 3:15, you did not win), or if you'd rather not chance it, tickets are $12.50 advance, $15 at the door.

After nine years at the helm of radio variety show Live Wire!, Courtenay Hameister is stepping down as host.

"I am simply not a person who is built for getting up in front of 400 people for three hours twice a month," explains Hameister of her decision to step down. "I've always loved being head writer, reading my essays and performing with the sketch comedy troupe, but doing interviews and being the sole conductor of the freight train that is our live show was causing me undue stress that I finally decided was too unhealthy to sustain."

"Those who listen to the show know that I had my gall bladder out New Year's Eve, and my doctor mentioned that stress is often a factor when it comes to gall stones. I only have so many expendable organs left, so I'm quitting while I'm ahead."

Live Wire! has gotten steadily better over the years: Their guest booking is the most interesting in town at this point (who else is gonna put Kristen Schaal and Lisa Hanawalt on a bill?), and Courtenay's a great interviewer with a relatable, self-deprecating demeanor. For the sake of her organs, though, it sounds like stepping down is the right thing to do.

She'll continue to co-produce the show and serve as head writer; Seattle's Luke Burbank will step in as interim host for the remainder of the spring season, as Live Wire! searches for a new permanent host.

Continuing my day's theme of things you can hang on a wall: I've been cultivating an obsession with the art of Wesley Younie for the past couple years (full disclosure: we are friends, but I am also friends with other, more mediocre artists (you know who you are!) who I never blog about). Anyhow, one of the handful of poor decision that I, and maybe you, made this weekend was to be too tired/scared of downtown to go out to the opening of his new show, with Amy Ruppel, on Saturday at the Mark Woolley gallery space in Pioneer Place.

One of my most prized possessions is the giant Younie painting hanging in my living room, and I've been known to give some of his smaller pieces as gifts. But after seeing photos of the work (I had a mole), which will remain up until May 12, it's clear that I'm far from having satisfied the urge to look at these expansive nature motifs, in all their blue-skied psychedelia and alternating darkness, every goddamn day.

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It feels like a home decor kind of day over on MOD, where between the new collection from Pigeon Toe Ceramics and a revamped online Sword + Fern, we're overloading on the potential of a blank wall. Click over to see what we're getting into.

• Sword + Fern
• Heather Levine ceramic wall hanging.