Category Archives: Arts & Culture

By Joshua Lickteig | Contributing Writer

A mid the black-and-white interior of Autumn Coffee (3286 NE Killingsworth Street), a gallery of photographs by Franklin Engel enamors patrons with Portland’s architecture (namely bridges), hand-painted art cars of decades yore, and urban and scenic environments of Europe. The café’s bright modern space perfectly complements the local artist’s documentary and spirited works.

Light pours in through a tall window onto Engel’s photographs, whether in colorful spans of stillness, sepia meditations or cascading greyscales of streets and landscapes. Near a long mochawalnut table, there is a panoply of early bridge photographs – Hawthorne, Steel, and Broadway (the city’s first drawbridge) to mention a few – and a selection from Engel’s Painted Cars, “counter-culture statements about [. . .] the automobile”, the artist’s statement reads.

On a Saturday afternoon, I met with him in his studio to learn more.

Engel, 79, grew up in Mt. Vernon not far from The Bronx. His father worked in Manhattan and as a child he enjoyed theater, museums, and jazz in New York. By the age of 9, he was shooting with a Kodak Brownie, a box camera with a rotary shutter. In 1963, he recalls, he and a highschool friend would take pictures at JFK airport, once suddenly riveted by Sonny and Cher waiting for their flights. He became drawn to the process of darkroom printing, and the required precision of working with negatives and chemicals; when developing and printing took “hours and chemistry, not minutes and megabytes,” he says.

Engel moved to Portland in 1969 and had his first exhibition in the city around 1972. Of the travel images on display, he says, “My first journey to Spain in 1984 was through Andalucía on my old 3-speed Raleigh English racer. I carried with me a Hasselblad with two backs, two lenses, a tripod and two 35mm cameras. Multiple visits to Portugal were spent documenting a small subculture in the village of Belmonte.”

Between 1987 and 1997, Engel worked as a bridge tender, ensuring 24-hour access to vessels traveling on the Willamette. “I spent many hours looking out the window at dynamic skies, strumming a guitar or reading… with unique views of the bridge deck, the girders, the counterweights, and the suspension cables. As I lifted the bridges, clambered along the elevated catwalks, and greased the massive gears – I grew to respect and delight in the uniqueness of each bridge. I’ve always marveled at how man can create such incredible machinery.”

As he built his portfolio and developed his craft, Engel worked as a wedding photographer and with Yuen Lui studio which had expanded from Seattle’s Chinatown.

Overall Engel’s work evokes a lyricism of ongoing transformation within the elements and passageways of life. “Photography provides a still moment of the transition of time,” he says. The show can be viewed through the end of February. Postcards and prints are for sale.

Joshua Lickteig is an artist and engineer. He was born near the other Milwaukee and has been in Portland since 2018. His latest book of poems is called Half Moon Day Sun.

By Kepper Petzing | Contributing Writer

“So much of our world is curated and often what we see is the beautiful, finished product – whether it is art in a gallery, or a posting on social media. This event offers the opportunity to come and see what’s behind all of it – a lot of messiness – a lot of failures,” says artist Juli Rae Vignola.

What she’s talking about is Portland Open Studios, an annual event where 100 Portland artists open their studios to the public for tours. Portland Open Studios is also the name of the nonprofit that has put on the event for the past 26 years. Tours will run October 12th-13th and 19th-20th and six of the featured artists are in Concordia.

“There is a range from polished studios to people who are just painting on their kitchen table.Your neighbors are creating stellar work with just what they got”,  says participating artist Carson Abbert. Inspiring ideas don’t come solely from the art; artists often have creative homes or yards. 

Many works are also for sale. Concordia resident Lowen Berman says. “Just go on the tour. You’ll learn a lot, meet interesting neighbors, and you’ll have a good time.”

More Info

portlandopenstudios.com
October 12th & 13th and October 19th & 20th from 10 am – 4 pm 

The tour guide is on the website, which includes information on each artist along with samples of their work. You can search by neighborhood, artist’s name, or medium. Tour is indicated by black and yellow posted signs.

On September 7th, the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) based in NE Portland hosted its 12th annual Neerchokikoo powwow. Neerchokikoo is a revitalized Native American village; an ancient gathering site near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers in what is today the Cully neighborhood. Since 2010 (with breaks during COVID) the powwow has welcomed thousands of community members from over 380 tribes to gather and celebrate Native culture through dance, music, art and food. 

Set up in the center’s gymnasium, a vendor market showcased more than 30 artisans offering jewelry, clothing, and traditional medicines. Delicious fry bread and Indian tacos were also available for purchase. When I first entered the covered area I was greeted with rhythmic traditional drumming accompanied by Native singers. Taking their turns on the dance floor, community members of all ages dressed in beautiful regalia danced in a swirl of color throughout the day.

The Neerchokikoo Powwow honors partners, volunteers and donors whose contributions to NAYA’s work have enhanced the lives of youth, families and elders. This year, NAYA is celebrating its 50th anniversary and the theme of the event  was “reclaiming our past, cultivating our future.”  The honoring ceremony was not only a tribute to the tribal councils but also a recognition of the enduring connection between the land and the Native American communities that have long called this site home.

“As an ancient Native encampment and gathering site, NAYA’s campus at Neerchokikoo has historic and cultural significance. For many centuries, Native Americans from tribes throughout the area came to this land to gather, trade, and build community,” says Ann Takamoto, Naya’s Director of Development.

The Neerchokikoo Powwow brought together hundreds from the Native American community. As a guest, I was overwhelmed by the power of celebration. It’s hard to translate into words the beauty and love I felt in the room. The care put into each beautiful regalia, some with hard earned eagle feathers, and dresses covered in tingly metal bells were inspiring and I was mesmerized by the power of the drums.

Around dinner time someone came over to me and offered me food. I enjoyed a delicious plate of salmon, wild rice, greens, and berries, all examples of Native first food. Then the dancing continued into the evening. 

The whole day was a powerful tribute to pride, love and honoring cultural history. It was an experience I’ll never forget. 

By Marsha Sandman | Contributing Writer

On a quiet alley off of NE Killingsworth St. and behind 5516 NE 27th Ave., you will find a world of wonder. As a painter, writer, poet and educator, Anne Jennings Paris has graced the outside wall behind curator Jennifer Jones’s home with her writing and painting in an art exhibition titled “Memories of the Kingdom”. The exhibition incorporates poetry and acrylic paintings in four future “retellings” of the Concordia neighborhood’s recent past.  

 The Allery, a play on the words “gallery” and “alley,” is the brainchild of artist Jones, one of the owners of the residence. Combining her love of public art and engaging her neighbors and friends, she decided to start The Allery. Exhibiting large scale framed paintings, it has become a popular summer locale in the Concordia neighborhood. 

Paris is also a Concordia resident and makes art in her backyard studio. She is the third artist to grace the outside wall behind Jones’ home and is a two-time recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize. Paris has created works for the Portland Japanese Garden, Cedarwood Waldorf School, and the University of Portland. Originally from Florida, she is a graduate of Wesleyan University and received her MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University.  

 “Traveling around the world is inspirational. I treat the world around me as an art school. Places tell stories,” says Paris. Paris’ current project will be joining the team at Tyler FuQua Creations to build a large metal sculpture at Burning Man, a weeklong large-scale festival where extreme creatives gather in a remote desert in Nevada. This October, she will be offering a poetry workshop at The Omega Institute in upstate New York, as well as teaching how to use AI ethically in writing and art.  

 To enjoy the artwork and writing of Anne Jennings Paris visit the Allery and to learn more about her go to her Instagram page @PDXPOET.

 “Alleys are special places,” Jones says. “They are public right-of-ways, but they feel private. I wanted to create a place where magic can happen through surprise encounters with art.” Most of the exhibit will be open through November and two 4’x 8’ large-scale panels are up all year. 

After living east, south, north and west, Marsha Sandman is home at last. And she wants to hear your story. Contact her at MarshaJSandman@ gmail.com.

By Kepper Petzing | Contributing Writer

When people harnessed fire, it was for warmth, light, food, and protection. Then, people began using fire to make things they needed, and to make them beautiful. This month we get to see some of the results. Everyone is invited to the 41st annual Ceramic Showcase by the Oregon Potters Association and Gathering of the Guilds being held at the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, April 19th – Sunday, April 21st.

This unique artisan exhibition is one of the largest art shows in the Northwest. More than 300 artists working in metals, glass, wood, beads, fiber, and clay will be displaying and selling their wares, doing demonstrations, providing activities and more. Each artist is required to be present, so attendees can visit with them and learn about each piece. Admission is free with easy public access via light rail, streetcar, and bus, plus plenty of parking (which is not free.)

Three Concordia artists, who are participating this year, use fire to make their art. for many years for Head Start, helping children explore art. She still teaches part-time. In 2002, a stained-glass class captured Kennison’s interest and her interest turned to glass.

“I was hooked and never looked back.” By 2004, Kennison had her own kiln in her basement, and began showing her work at Gathering of the Guilds. She has worked with fused glass jewelry, fused glass items functional and nonfunctional, and mosaics. “I love putting colors together in different ways. The best part is when you let go and let the glass tell you what it wants to do.”

Kennison is a member of the Pacific Northwest Glass Guild where she can play with glass, learn, and develop relationships with other glass artists.

“I thought, ‘Do it now.’”

Sophie Bertrand has been creating pottery for the past 10 years. Five years ago, she and her husband built a small ceramics studio at their Concordia home. Bertrand is mostly self-taught, after taking a wheel class and falling in love. Two years ago, she quit her job to become a full-time potter. “I thought, ‘Don’t wait, do it now.”

Last year, Bertrand began selling her work at Saturday Market. This will be her first Ceramics Showcase. She shares, “pottery makes me happy when I make it. I hope it makes people happy when they use it. I want my coffee mugs to bring joy to the start of the day.” For people who say they don’t have room for another mug, Bertrand recommends a mug shelf displayed as art on your wall. Each day, you pick which mug to brighten your morning coffee.

“I love fire.”

Marsha Sandman found her passion for making jewelry as a student at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks… and that was it! She creates one-of-a-kind pieces in silver and gold using a torch and ancient techniques to fabricate her work.

After many years of metalsmithing and selling her work nationwide, she is enjoying the slow lane of retirement. Sandman is a member and past vice president of the Creative Metal Arts Guild which meets monthly. She is also a Concordia News contributor.

As a lifelong traveler, she has brought home many unusual stones to adorn her work. Sandman claims that she loves fire and it shows in her creativity.

The Showcase and Gathering are focused on the functional arts – art you can use and wear.

Three additional guilds that will be at the showcase are: Guild of Oregon Woodworkers, Portland Bead Society, and Portland Handweavers Guild. If you go, please stop by our Concordia artists’ booths to meet the artists and enjoy the artistry, skill, and joy they give to our community.

Kepper Petzing has lived in Concordia for 42 years. They are nonbinary. They love community and the public spaces where we can be together.

Yankl Falk says it has “very distinctive colors and flavors.” Sophie Enloe describes it as “both deeply sad, and deeply happy.”

What they’re talking about is traditional klezmer music. And this month, Concordians get to hear it for themselves at the second annual Portland Klezmer Music Festival.

The festival, slated for November 2–5 at various locations citywide, will include concerts, jam sessions, educational workshops and a dance party. You can visit bubbaville.org/klezmer for the full lineup of venues and events.

What is Klezmer Music?

Klezmer originated in the Middle Ages among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, where it was performed at weddings and other social events. Over time, it took on vestiges of Baroque, Turkish, Romanian, and Greek music as well as German and Slavic folk dancing.

Falk, a Portland clarinetist for over 40 years who’s been described as a ‘luminary of the klezmer world,’ concedes that in 19th century Europe, klezmer’s chief instrument was the fiddle.

But the sound and style of klezmer, like any aspect of traditional culture, changed and evolved over the years. By the early 20th century, klezmer had become popular in the US and by the 1930s, ensembles began including musicians that were influenced by the Big Band and early jazz music of that era. Klezmer bands became larger, developed hybrid forms, and the clarinet was now klezmer’s dominant sound. American Jews were assimilating and so was their music.

As klezmer grew in popularity, the bands got smaller. Falk believes this was because of a dearth of funds to pay musicians during the Depression, combined with improvements in recording equipment. Whatever the reason, the music’s popularity eventually waned until it got rediscovered and revitalized in the 1970s.

Today, klezmer bands can be small or large, include a variety of wind and string instruments, and play traditional, modern, or hybrid forms.

The Festival

The Portland Klezmer Festival was created by Bubbaville, a local nonprofit aimed at educating the public and encouraging appreciation of traditional music and dance. Since its founding in 2008, Bubbaville has hosted dances, concerts, campouts and competitions for artists and patrons of Cajun, country, and other traditional musical forms.

It was Enloe, a fiddle player sitting on the Bubbaville board, who came up with the inspiration for a klezmer festival in 2019. She and treasurer Suzanne Savell wrote grants and scheduled musicians for the first event, scheduled to take place in April 2020. But it got derailed by the COVID pandemic, Enloe says, “so we did some online workshops for musicians instead.”

The Sound of History

Both Enloe and Falk grew up in Jewish homes and have loved klezmer music since they were children.

Enloe’s father was a cantor; a song leader for Jewish worship services, and she says “he would play klezmer CDs for me starting when I was six or seven. When I first heard it, I had a feeling of it sounding familiar, like it was ‘my music’.”

Adds Falk: “It’s deeply personal—it’s the fabric of my upbringing. When I play klezmer, I feel my grandfather’s presence, and I want to pass that down to my grandchildren.”

The festival’s opening concert — featuring Falk and his current band, The Carpathian-Pacific Express as well as The Bieszczady Mountain Boys — is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Thursday, November 2nd at Alberta Street Pub (1036 NE Alberta St.). The entrance fee is on a sliding scale from $12-15.

Why should you go? Because Falk says, “klezmer is fun, exciting to watch live, and it’s unlike anything you’ve probably heard before.

Dina Sage is the Managing Editor for CNews and enjoys engaging in the arts and outdoor activities. She lives with her husband, daughter and their pets.

By Kepper Petzing | Contributing Writer

The artist behind the artist In his Concordia studio, Mark Silva is putting the final touches on a masterpiece, a photographic print created by internationally renowned landscape photographer Michael Kenna. It is likely destined for a major gallery or museum in one of a dozen countries.

Silva grew up in Oakland, CA. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2002. Kenna and Silva began their collaboration in 2000.

“We’re like an old married couple,” Mark says, “we finish each other’s sentences.” He compares their relationship to members of a band. “Michael is the lead singer and the lead guitarist. I play bass, hopefully keeping things together.”

The collaborative process

The process begins with Kenna wandering the globe creating photographs in the early morning hours or late into the night. He’s become known as the father of night photography, with exposures ranging from minutes to 12 or more hours. He uses medium format cameras, exclusively black-and-white film and all his photographs are printed by hand in a traditional optical darkroom.

Often photographing in mist, rain, or snow, Kenna says, “I prefer suggestion over description. The world is pretty chaotic, seemingly always speeding up and getting louder and more visually dense. I am interested in finding and creating calm shelters from the storm, places where quiet and solitude is encouraged and inner contemplation possible.”

Kenna develops every print by hand and when he has done all he can with camera and darkroom to achieve his vision, he turns it over to Silva to polish and perfect. Working with brush and ink, Silva ensures that there are no blemishes or unevenness in the background and removes unwanted objects or distractions.

“I’m Photoshop Version 0.0,” jokes Silva while performing his meticulous work under magnification. Every part of their process is by hand, so each print is unique. When done, Silva mounts the prints for display and distributes them to galleries and museums. Silva also helps edit Kenna’s books and organizes his exhibitions.

Local exhibit on display now

Kenna’s current exhibition, TREES 1973- 2023, will be on display at PLACE Galeria, 735 NW 18th Ave, through July 14th, M-F from 10-6. Silva will be there every Thursday from 4-6pm, to answer questions and share an additional 40 prints not on display.

“For 23 years I have made these exhibitions that travel far and wide, so I asked, ‘How about we do an exhibition in my town?’ Then I met the kind folks from PLACE and they were thrilled to host a Kenna exhibition. They said, ‘Tell us what walls you want and what color they should be and we’ll make them for you. So I had the creative freedom to sculpt a dream Kenna exhibition.”

Silva chose wild red walls and stark white walls and decided where each piece goes.

“I put the prints on the ground and started moving them around, until I got a photo poem that I liked. [The result] was one large poem with individual songs within.”

Silva has lived in Concordia since 2007, refusing to relocate because he loves our neighborhood and the small-town feel. For more information on Kenna’s photography, visit www. michaelkenna.com.

Kepper Petzing has lived in Concordia for 40 years where, with their partner Lowen, they raised two children. They love trees and Mark and Michael’s work.

By Kathy Crabtree | Contributing writer

If you are looking for a creative solution for a curious student who is struggling in a mainstream learning environment, Paige Wright, a local clay and ceramic artist, might have a suggestion for you.

Wright admits that she was not stellar at academics but found success and a tool to express herself in clay. That experience built confidence in her ability to become better at reading and writing skills, as well as a reason to study them.

Her sculptures are eclectic collectives of creativity. She has an appreciation of multi-faceted incongruent busts. Her “kiss-kiss” bust consists of a male head encased in a helmet covered with flowers. Her works have been professionally showcased at various venues in the Portland area.

Inspired as a 9-year-old art student of Margarita Leon, a noted art educator in Northwest Portland, Paige continued her ceramic studies in high school, mentored by Cindy Irby. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Montana, followed by a two-year residency at the University of Washington, and earned a master’s degree with an emphasis in ceramics.

“My mission is to make space so that people can build a relationship with their creative practice,” she said. “It takes time to see what is inside one’s head and to react to what one can create from that.”

She offers art lessons for students between the ages of 7 and 16 who desire a greater art experience than their current school offers. Adult classes will be offered for those seeking to refresh their creative practice by expanding their ideas with exposure to clay and three-dimensional building. Small group classes are scheduled weekly, and private lessons and special project sessions can be arranged. Group parties are ideal for birthdays or corporate team building.

Along with her classroom offerings, Paige is a full-time multi-disciplinary artist, currently available for commissions ranging from portraits in ceramics, house-number tiles, drawings and paintings with experience in production pottery and large-scale murals. Consultation in ceramic professional practices, glaze formation, documentation photography and technical envelopment are also available.

Interested students can find her Lil Studio Classroom, 3522 NE Liberty St., adjacent to her home. “The studio-classroom designation offers a two-fold purpose,” Wright said. “A studio calls to action the art of creating while a classroom offers a space for growth.”

She also plans “U-paint” group fun creative classes, summer art camps and figure-in-clay workshops with dates to be announced.

Classes are forming now and are two hours long and sold in 10-class bundles on a rolling basis, ongoing so a student can re-register.

Kids (7-16) Art Lessons: Sundays, 1–3 p.m. or Tuesdays, 4:30–6:30 p.m.

Adult Art Lessons: Mondays 1–3 p.m.

Registration applications can be found at paige@thewrightclay.com. For information, call Paige Wright at 406-544-7472. Kathy is a recent transplant from the Midwest and, as she reports in CNews, things are a lot different here.

Our neighborhood is home to Carey Lee Taylor, an accomplished poet and photographer whose inspirational sources include what she sees in Concordia. Take her poem “A Woman on 22nd and Killingsworth.” Taylor explains how she came to write it after a walk in Concordia.

“‘A Woman on 22nd and Killingsworth’ was inspired when walking home from Alberta Park one winter morning at the beginning of the pandemic,” she says. “The image of this couple stayed with me all day, and the poem, I hope, gave them a chance to be seen with the dignity they deserved.”

Taylor is the author of The Lure of Impermanence (Cirque Press 2018). She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the 2022 Neahkahnie Mountain Poetry Prize. Her work has been published in Ireland and the United States, and she holds a master of arts degree in school counseling. She has lived in the Concordia neighborhood for four years. You can learn more about her at careyleetaylor.com.

A Woman on 22nd and Killingsworth

sits in a wheelchair
outside Cornerstone
Community Church —

foam curlers in her
hair, she pulls a tube
of lipstick from her purse.

At the curb
an orange extension cord
snakes from the open door

of a duct-taped camper
to an electrical outlet
beside her.

An unshaven man steps
from the camper, moves
towards her, bends

down, and kisses
all that pink—bedded in her hair
like Magnolia blossoms,

clasped
to her head
like a crown.

Concordia Neighborhood #3

It makes no difference to the sky
what happened here,

or the east wind taking its
much-needed break.

Even St. Michael
was taking vacation

from shattered glass
and squeal of tire

seated at the bar of some
scuzzy seaside honky-tonk,

on the ebb tide
of his third beer.