Sometimes we like to branch out a little bit and give you tech types a bit of culture. A little something to think about. Gaze at. Feel.

That’s just we we did with last week’s episode of Strange Love Live. We invited photographer and artist Mark Colman on to give us a little show and tell about his work currently on display at PIE. We talked to Mark in studio before his exhibit, tune in to find out what he had to say:

SLL Episode 136: Mark Colman Exhibit at PIE

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This Friday we have a show I just know you won’t want to miss. Join us live at 10 PM as we welcome Robert Wagner (PDXSucks) to the SLL studios to find out more about pdx.fm!

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For more info on the Strange Love Live podcast visit their site.

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On sunny days, I spend a lot of my lunch hours out in the South Park Blocks. The South Park Blocks will always be special to me because of the years I spent at PNCA, which at the time was housed within the walls of the Portland Art Museum. Those tree-lined blocks hold a lot of memories of a time when my life was dedicated solely to the purpose of drawing and painting. My life is a little different now.

Yesterday was one of those perfect Portland summer days, not a cloud in the sky and in the upper 70s. I headed out into the South Park Blocks for my afternoon ritual of park bench sitting and daydreaming, a ritual that is shared by quite a cross-section of the local population. Grey-hairs, street kids, office workers, tourists, homeless, and students on summer break – the sun brings them out in droves. But yesterday? Our daydreams had musical accompaniment.

I’ve seen this guy and his xylophone before, but unfortunately I’ve been too rushed to really stop and take more than a brief listen. How sad is that, really? That I didn’t have time to appreciate an impromptu musical performance staged in the very park that I used to sketch in? And I have no memory of what was so important at the time that it kept me from enjoying the moment. My former self would have stopped.

But yesterday I had my entire lunch break ahead of me, no rushes or worries. I took my spot on a nearby bench and fully indulged all of my senses. Xylophone music is so soothing and hypnotic and there is this certain way that music sounds when heard through sunlight. I watched as others stopped and listened for a while. I watched those tall trees sway as the breeze moved through them. I studied the kaleidoscope of patterns created by the shadows and sunbeams. I felt a moment of pure joy in a day mostly filled with office tasks.

There has been a lot of worrisome cyber-ink lately dedicated to the survival of the arts in Portland, especially over on the Portland Arts Watch blog. Economic times are tough and artists are hardly immune from the impact. Some would argue that in hard financial times, art is expendable. I both agree and disagree with that sentiment.

But I also know a secret. As tough as the economic times are, artists are tougher. Making art is, in many ways, taking nothing and turning it into something. All you really need to create a masterpiece is a pencil and some paper. Did you know that Toulouse Lautrec made hundreds of paintings on cardboard? He was hardly deterred by not having the money for finely stretched canvases and his cardboard paintings now hang in the world’s finest museums. Those artists who are driven to express themselves will always find a way to do it. Like the guy and his xylophone.

This notion was reinforced again for me today when I saw this simple child’s drawing sketched into the bricks in front of the Portland Art Museum.

It’s actually kind of a brilliant idea. If you want to get your work noticed but don’t have a significant portfolio – make some drawings on the sidewalk just outside of the city’s largest visual arts institution. Fantastic! I only wish I had thought of it first.

Artists are highly adaptable and can turn almost any environment into their canvass or stage. Chalk + sidewalk = art gallery. Park + xylophone = concert hall. The equation can be really that simple. The arts in Portland will survive. Our job is to take the time to notice and appreciate the art around us, and ideally open our wallets when we can.

I only had a dollar on me to throw into xylophone guy’s hat, but I can give him a little free publicity here to make up for it. I Googled him. Turns out, his name is Michael Charles Smith and what I’ve been calling a xylophone is actually a marimba. Check him out.

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Monster

Last week, there was an intriguing post on Craigslist regarding the Monster, a sculpture created by art student Tuna Fish. Tuna needed someone to adopt the Monster and give it a good home. I emailed Tuna hoping I could give this cute guy a home and was informed that someone had taken the piece from the front window without Tuna’s permission. Tuna’s parents didn’t even get to see the first showing of Monster.

Have you seen the Monster? If so, can you please leave a comment or email me at dieselboi at gmail dot com and I’ll pass your info on to Tuna.

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I was heading up North Interstate yesterday afternoon to pick up some groceries at my favorite New Seasons when I eyed this great little piece of art by one of the MAX crosswalks. This is directly opposite where the old Crown Motel use to be which is now a new 5 story apartment building.

I love this little guy. It is red paint on a salvaged piece of click together flooring like you buy at Ikea. The paint (you may not be able to make it out in this photo) is a tree. It made me smile. If you think something like this is littering, step off.

As I drove by this morning, it was gone. It may have been picked up by a stranger (hopefully sitting on someone’s mantle) or by the art police or by the artist. I’ll let the artist know here – I loved it and you made my day by putting it out there on Sunday. Thank you.

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Bridge

Originally uploaded by dieselboi

If you wanted to go visit Portland’s Swan Island, you have to drive down Going St. As you head down towards the river, you end up driving under a covered pedestrian bridge just west of N. Interstate blvd. A few years ago, we discovered that people had been leaving locks on the bridge and assumed every lock had a reason. We acquired our own lock and on our anniversary we hung it from the fencing.

Recently though, on the way home from somewhere, we realized the overpass had been covered by yet another medium – stuffed animals! It has taken me a week to get over there even though I live 4 blocks away, but at least there were some dolls left. While I can make assumptions about the locks, I have no idea about the toys. Maybe there doesn’t need to be an explanation. Maybe it is just good fun.

If you do have a special event coming up and want to commemorate it, find a lock and head on over there with your special someone. Bring along that stuffed Bart Simpson doll too.

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Picture 282.jpg

Originally uploaded by dieselboi

You may remember a couple of years ago when Buses used to tear down SW 5th and 6th, dodging between cars, pedestrians and bicycles. Ahh, the heady days of the former bus mall with the rampant drug dealing and the 1970’s era shelters. Most of that is gone or has moved to SW 3rd and 4th with the buses. Also gone is a great piece of art.

Soaring Stones was a great installation on SW 5th outside the SAK’s building. Back in the beginning of construction, TriMet announced that they were not going to keep the stones and offered them back to the artist. It was a great loss of public art for Portland. Now all we have are some concrete planters in their place. Oh, and they are ugly concrete planters. I hope there are plans to decorate them in some way – maybe tile or another form or art.

Where are the Soaring Stones now? Not sure. The artist teaches at University of Washington and back when they were moved, PAgent reported that he was trying to find a place for them there. As stated, this was a great loss for the city.

Unfortunately, I cannot locate a photo of what they looked like before the construction. Bad me. Here’s an example of a similar installation at Whitman College in Walla Walla.

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