This weekend we stumbled upon an amazing open studios event down by the water in the industrial part of Portland. The North Coast Seed Building consists of three warehouses constructed in the early 1900s. They housed mainly seed companies until the spaces started to be informally sold to artists in the 80's, when the rooms with their unique doors and exposed brick were transformed into studios. A strong community of over 50 artists formed and has been able to thrive under the strong support of a few city officials and the building owner.
Once a year, the studios hold an open house for the public. Mike found out about the event online, and it was so awesome to be able to meet the artists in their workspace (the plentiful free food & wine didn't hurt, either ;). Some of our favorite work was of the painter Douglas Davidovich. We were privileged to talk with him about the inspiration behind his pieces and his experience living in Portland as an artist--namely the community at North Coast and the support for the art community as a whole. The building itself has so much character between its old freight elevator, rustic wood floors, and unique stairwells. Many of the studios had live music for the event, and there was a larger group playing every instrument imaginable (including a guy whistling into a beer jug) in the hall. We felt like we had been transported to another (quite heavenly) universe.
The Miami Horror show at Missisissipi Studios Friday evening was so much fun. They ended with a cover of Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al' that sincerely may have made my life. Saturday we caught the tail end of the Rose Festival's Dragon Boat race and people-watched at a happy hour along the waterfront. It was fun to see the city so lively with carnival rides, parades, and live music.
We also did get to seeing Midnight in Paris, and I really enjoyed it. Having just finished Hemingway's A Moveable Feast last month, it was fun to see so much of his words come to life through the scenes and cast of characters that was the community of expat artists in 1920's Paris. The beautiful shots of the city shown mainly at the beginning of the film and throughout made me a bit nostalgic for the week I spent in Paris after having studied abroad in Ireland. It is such a romantic and lovely place. Despite not being sure how I felt about Owen Wilson (in all of his Owen Wilson-ness) throughout the film, I really liked it and would recommend, for sure.
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| an amazing hat shop that may be my new favorite store. |
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| delicious seared ahi tuna at a restaurant by the water |
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| happy hour on a sunny saturday! |
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
8 comments:
so nice to have stumbled into your wonderful blog. enjoying the subjects you post about.
what a great weekend. my favourite part would have been chatting to the artist.
Looks like you had one seriously incredible weekend! I can't wait to get up to Portland and explore -- I only wish I could have been there this weekend.
I love the shot of the guy looking up at the huge piece (map?)
Ooooh I love that hat shop! Were they expensive?
mandy- isn't that piece awesome? its actually all of these tiny cut outs of a map glued together to form a new map, so interesting.
kayla- utterly obsessed with this shop, you would die. and some were pricey but not entirely bad- a lot of them were between $35-$45. dangerous!
What a fantastic weekend. I LOVE the photo of all the fedoras! It could easily be my favorite hat shop too...if it was in Dallas.
i love love love open studios. so much creativity and vibrance!
looks like you had an amazing weekend! love the photo of all those hats lined up and that salad looks divine!!
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