Arts & Culture

The Essentials

13 Portland Shows, Events, and Pure-Genius Things to Know This October

From George Saunders to a comedy about cockfighting to a major museum exhibit about Laika, here's what you can't miss this month.

09/13/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson and Fiona McCann

Northwest Lore

50 Years Ago, One Scratchy Home Movie Made Bigfoot a Northwest Icon

Nobody has definitively proven that the creature on the film is fake. And, really, does it matter?

09/13/2017 By Leah Sottile

Dance

Celebrating 20 Years of White Bird Dance

The venerable dance presenter launches its 20th season this fall. We look back on big moments from the last two decades.

09/13/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson

Film

A Riverside Moviehouse Breathes on the Embers of Portland's Film Underground

Located in a 93-year-old former fireboat station, BoatHouse MicroCinema showcases independent, local work.

09/13/2017 By Fiona McCann

Long Story Short

Meet Adrienne Nelson, the Second Black Female Judge in Oregon History

"I moved to Oregon in the summer of 1994. When I got here, people were honest about the fact that there’s not a lot of diversity."

09/13/2017 By Eden Dawn

Fearsome Remedies

A New Book Looks Back at Medical Quackery

From radioactive drinking water to a nice lentil poultice, here are cures for what ails ye.

09/13/2017 By Ramona DeNies

Advertising

A Portland Ad Agency Plays Matchmaker with Bands and Brands

"This is like a young fawn in the forest."

09/13/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson

Style Spotlight

Local Photographer Holly Andres Survives a 43-Day Fashion Road Trip for New York Magazine

She circled the country, from Portland to New Orleans to DC and back, meeting women and shooting beautiful photos.

09/12/2017 By Eden Dawn

PoMo Picks

Top Things to Do This Weekend: Sept 7–10

From garbage paintings to environmental operas, OK Go to Kubrick on 70 mm, here are ways to distract yourself as the world burns.

09/07/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson, Anyi Wong-Lifton, and Fiona McCann

Food News

New Portland Pop-Up Dinner Series Celebrates Black Artists

Black Feast will debut Sunday, September 10, exploring themes from Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider.

09/06/2017 By Tuck Woodstock

Everyday Activism

Here’s Where to Eat, Drink, and Donate to Support Eagle Creek Fire Relief Efforts

Portlanders can eat fancy barbecue, drink beer, or swill cocktails, all while helping their neighbors.

09/06/2017 By Kelly Clarke and Tuck Woodstock

PoMo Picks

Top Things to Do This Weekend: Aug 31–Sept 3

From cat-themed sketch comedy to edgy theater, alfresco concerts to fermentation festivals, here's how to fill your Labor Day weekend.

08/31/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson and Anyi Wong-Lifton

Poetry

Samiya Bashir Will Smash Your Definition of Poetry at TBA

In advance of 15 m = ?, the Portland poet talks race, gender, and survival as an artist of color.

08/31/2017 By Bryanna Briley

PoMo Picks

Top Things to Do This Weekend: Aug 24–27

Catch Iggy Pop, Nas, and Lizzo on the waterfront, ponder climate change at the theater, watch This Is Spinal Tap on a downtown roof, and eat dumplings and empanadas in Montavilla.

08/23/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson and Anyi Wong-Lifton

Parks

Happy 100th Birthday, International Rose Test Garden!

Celebrate the Portland park—100 years old this summer—that inspired writer Katherine Dunn's cult classic Geek Love.

08/22/2017 By Ramona DeNies and Rachel Wilson

PoMo Picks

Top Things to Do This Weekend: Aug 17–20

The eclipse is coming. Here's how to survive the last days before total meltdown.

08/17/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson and Anyi Wong-Lifton

Fall Arts

20 Shows You Can't Miss in Portland in Fall 2017

From Joe Biden to George Saunders, cash-register exorcisms to garbage paintings, here's what you have to catch this season.

08/14/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson and Fiona McCann

Profile

Portland Artist Arvie Smith Paints the Black Experience in Blazing Color

As he nears 80, Smith—easily one of the city's most technically skilled painters—confronts race with sardonic humor and fantastic beauty.

08/14/2017 By Rebecca Jacobson

The Art of Resistance

In the Age of Trump, Portland Artists Clap Back

From a climate change song cycle to a drag queen in a Trump mask, here's how local creators resist.

08/14/2017 By Fiona McCann

Fun & Games

Real or Nah? Guess the Actual TBA Performance!

Which of these outlandish acts truly went down at the Time-Based Art Festival?

08/14/2017 By Marty Patail