10. WASHINGTON PARK, the Japanese Garden and the Portland Rose Garden
All three of these beautiful areas are basically in the same spot. Washington Park is a huge 400 acre park with many walking trails and beautiful views of Mt Hood and Portland as well as quiet area beneath the huge trees. The Japanese Garden is absolutely beautiful, with different areas of the gardens coming to life in different seasons. And the Rose Garden has over 6800 rose bushes representing 557 varieties – major wow!

9. SOUTH WATERFRONT PARK
Portland reclaimed it’s Willamette waterfront for the people with this waterfront park. Get great views of all of the bridges, plus a really nice walk or bike or skate along the river. On the southernmost end of the walk, there is a small marina and nice outdoor cafes to enjoy some perfect July weather.

8. PEARL DISTRICT – downtown
ok, this is cheating in my top ten, cause there’s lotsa stuff in the Pearl that you have to see. They are all in walking distance to each other, so you can make a day of it, and then be there in time for Happy Hour!
• POWELL’S BOOKS – the largest independent bookstore in the world. It’s awesome, with collections of basically everything with used and out of print mixed in with the new. You simply cannot go to Portland without visiting Powell’s.
• Museum of Contemporary Craft – they had a great show while we were there. The gift store is impressive too, lots beautiful of glass, pottery and jewelry.
• Tanner Springs Park and Jamison Square – I mentioned these parks in an earlier post. Tanner Springs is a beautiful small natural area, very well done, and Jamison Park is a fun urban kids play fountain

7. a tie for VENDETTA and Rontom’s-
Vendetta = hip yet casual drinks and snacks hangout – great patio!
Rontom’s = mid-century mecca yet casual drinks and snacks hangout – get the Mojito with Cilantro in it – yum!

6. MISSISSIPPI AVE ARTS DISTRICT – see a buncha cool art on “Last Thursdays,” go to the BLACK WAGON for some hipper than thou baby stuff (and cool art), step across the street and have a martini to some cool grooves at Moloko Plus (used to be Mississippi Avenue Social Club), or grab a beer in a much more casual spot, complete with a veggie brat at Amnesia Brewing. And if you are there in July, you can’t miss the Mississippi Ave Street Fair! It puts those cute little town arts fairs to shame.

5. HAWTHORNE DISTRICT - go ahead and get your Stumptown Coffee on Belmont or Fresh Pot coffee on Hawthorne, then peruse the street for all of it’s awesome vintage shops, especially, House of Vintage, check out the Bagdad Theater and Pub, and enjoy all kinds of delicious small restaurants and pubs.

4. Broder – gotta go for brunch – Swedish food, whatever that means. All I know is that for brunch I got this awesome baked scramble in its own teeny tiny iron skillet – so cute – and great! It’s a tiny cute little spot…don’t forget to order the adorable Danish pancakes.

3. Alibi Restaurant and Lounge – totally authentic Tiki – LOVE IT – the cocktails are great and decorated with paper umbrellas, and there is Karaoke every night. One of my most memorable places to visit in Portland.

2. SATURDAY FARMER’S MARKET – If you’re in Portland on a Saturday, you just gotta go. Local. Delicious. Fun. Music. etc. See an earlier post for a larger description.

1. NAVARRE – Portland’s full of great eats and drinks. Navarre is at the top of the list. Navarre is a small place which truly changes it’s menu based on what they received from a local farmer. Everything feels as if it was cooked for you, served casually, family style, and desserts and wines are chosen specifically to pair with the food. this is a great date night, gathering of friends or casual night out for treats. Deelish. (we did a full write-up on Navarre last year. see it here.)

Other fun places:
mod shopping: Hive Modern, Relish, Canoe
chains but worth seeing Portland Style: Whole Foods Portland, DWR Showroom, West Elm, Horny Toad’s Lizard Lounge
other awesome eats: Bay 13 (seafood), Silk (vietnamese), Pok Pok (thai), Beast (euro-portland),
Voodoo Doughnuts, Hotlips Pizza (and homemade fruit soda!), Burgerville

Check Portland Octopus out for a lot of great Portland info.

Sunday, July 20, 2008, a show opened at the Museum of Modern Art that looks to be both interesting and thorough about the challenges architects have faced selling the idea of prefabricated houses. The show encompasses a timeline, beginning in the 1800’s with factory-produced buildings. It then spans the next 200 years, showing how the idea of prefabricated housing returned with each new architectural movement and yet, has continuously struggled to find solid footing.

The show not only encompasses historical stories, plans and pictures, but an array of models, including a walk-in model in the exhibition space. The finale is 5 fully built homes on the 54th street lot of MoMa. The pictures look completely surreal, with these 5 homes right in the middle of the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Check out the MoMa site for a complete journal of the show, including pictures and a video of the installation process: www.momahomedelivery.org

The NY Times also has a good review of the show, including a slide show.

Last month (June 6), Endless Grind and FM Goods of Raleigh had a collaborative show and benefit called “Drawing Blanks.” A bunch of blank skateboard decks were painted by local artists, and then they were all silent auctioned on the First Friday in June. The auction benefitted The Disabled American Veterans of NC.

The show was great and packed! but the audience was more into the scene than owning any of the decks. Lucky for me, cause I scored these 3 Paul Friedrich cowboys for a nice price! Picked ‘em up today and just had to share.

Milkmaid, Shaun Richards (contact Designbox for purchase info)

Designbox is privileged to host Shaun Richards’ latest show called Click Clique, which the News and Observer named as one of this week’s Art Picks. “Click Clique is a new series of paintings and constructions that examine social dynamics, and nostalgic constructs, along with the interplay of media within American society. Richards’ work, evolving from an interest centered on the South, questions notions of beauty, artifice, and materialism, as well as the subtle contradictions that make living in the South a unique experience.”

The opening of the show was this past Friday, March 7, and was very successful. Many visitors had never seen Richards’ work, and were impressed by his old world painterly quality that somehow keeps its contemporary edge. For those familiar with Richards’ work, the show offers the opportunity to see Shaun experiment with a smaller canvas. He treated this small size differently than his better known larger works by exploring tighter croppings and simpler foreground to background relationships. This reduced field of view ultimately alters the story of each painting or theme in interesting ways.

Shaun has done a lot since returning to NC and moving to Raleigh in 2006, including but not limited to:
January 2007 – awarded the Regional Emerging Artist Residency at Artspace.
September 2007 – recognized as one of the “21 under 31″ of 2007 by Southwest Art magazine.
March 2008 – won Best in Show out of 600 entries, 61 of which were accepted, at the North Carolina Artists Exhibit (sponsored by the Raleigh fine Arts Society and juried by Larry Wheeler, Director, NCMOA). The exhibit is currently up at Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

Shaun is represented by Flanders Art Gallery in Raleigh and Fountainside Gallery in Wilmington. He has studio space at 311 Martin St Galleries.

The Designbox show is up until Friday, March 28. Hours are Monday-Friday 10am-5pm or by appointment.
Shaun’s site is here.

Pictures below are from past shows – not necessarily what you will see this year…
Check the Fearrington site for full details.

White Hand, Peter Callesen 2007

Distant Wish, Peter Callesen 2006

Distant Wish (detail), Peter Callesen 2006

Click here to see more from his gallery
(or see his bio for more gallery info and representation).
If you are interested in seeing his work in person, his next show opening (his first solo show in Denmark in 5 years) is at
Helene Nyborg Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark, and opens Apr 17th, 2008.

Below are some details on products that will be on sale at this year’s Brand Fandango:

AH Peele
Good stuff (like awesome screenprinted tees) made with love.

Blue Barnhouse
Letterpress & design out of Asheville, NC. Beautiful cards, stationery and other nifty gifts.

Nahualli’s Chocolate Seeds
Chocolate Seeds are made with peeled organic whole cocoa beans enrobed with dark chocolate. Oro are made from dark chocolate covered cocoa nibs accented with 23K gold.

Gamila Facemods
Facemod: Self Centerpiece Candlesticks fuse the latest in 3d printing technology with the classic Edgar Rubin illusion of faces and candlesticks. Just provide Gamila with a photograph of your favorite person’s profile, and they will generate a candle holder made directly from their face! The whole process can be witnessed at the show.

Gamila Teasticks
From the original tea infuser born and bred in Raleigh, Gamila has this month launched the translucent Gems collection which is tailored for herbal teas. Gamila also has a range of Tavalon teas and Adagio glass mugs.

Mila Art Jackets
Local artists Paul Friedrich, David Eichenberger, Casey Porn, Joey Fralin, Dale Flattum, Beth Khalifa, Adam Peele and others have created art jackets to fold around your iPod. Slip your ‘pod into a Mila Bikini for permanent screen protection, and then snap it in and out of your favorite Art Jackets.

Pacific Design Indie Art iPod and PSP Gaming Cases
Celebrate local artists Paul Friedrich and David Eichenberger going national in Circuit City and Sears! These cases have highlighted the local art sene with their artwork decorating your favorite digital device.

mostess {creations}
designs for the modern homemaker (including beautiful aprons and baby bibs).

Wootini
mysterious cavalcade of oddities

sewbliss
cool—knit-sew—too…

Julie Armbruster
encaustic paranoia and curiosity with a glimmer of hope.

Kiona van Rhee-Wilson
lucky Accessories: designs with a universal notion of beauty

Geoff Wood
husband . photographer . band member . son . uncle . friend

John Mercer
tasty bites on canvas

The Joyery
Cute and Comfy Coffee Cuffs

Stir Studios
Modern jewelry with a vintage flair

Are You Decent?
funky fresh elegant jewelry design

Horse and Buggy Press
letterpress printing (and more) for the jet age (and beyond)

Aditi Singh, Untitled, Charcoal and Ink on paper, 22×30in.

Jagannath Panda, “Avtaar,” Acrylic on canvas and fabric, 5×6 ft

N,S. Harsha, “White Shadow,” Cloth fixed to ground, 45×70 meters

Reena Saini Kallat, “Saline,” Marble on fabric, 10ft base diameter

I’d love to know of more inspiring art, design, or cool spots in India. Please send me your thoughts.

Here’s a pic of the Mark Ryden auction entry: