Shannon Gormley

In Ori Gallery’s Third Exhibit, Two Emerging Artists Create Their Own Conventions

Printmaker Lo Smith had a formative experience on an art-school elevator. “I ran into a hijabi woman on an elevator who was silently crying,” Smith says. “This big, white professor man was trying to make small talk about the weather with me. Like, we’re pretending that this person who’s obviously crying next to me doesn’t exist.” The interaction led Smith to a question that informs several works in their new show, Linoleum Flowers: “How do we protect and defend each other’s humanity in this space where all of us are fading in and out constantly?”

A Portland Composer Wants to Take Classical Music Out of its Ivory Tower

Classical composer Christopher Corbell understands if you’re not into opera. If anything, it’s not your fault. “These opera companies, they just chug away at these 150 operas year after year,” he says. “At some point, we have to start telling our own stories.”

On Her New EP, Portland MC Raquel Divar Takes Control

The title comes from the chorus on the smoky “Smith n’ Wesson.” But it’s also an ode to Missy Elliott’s “The Rain” and a general claim to power. “There’s a lot of references about just like running shit and being boss,” says Divar. But that raw bravado is new for Divar.

A Japanese Bookstore Is Moving into the Long-Vacant Guild Theatre

Kinokuniya stocks huge catalog of classic manga and new releases, English translations of Japanese novels, collectibles and imported stationary. The company has a dozen locations over the U.S., including a small store in Beaverton.

Five Queer-Centric Dance Parties In Portland

Get down, bbs.

Eleven Years and Multiple Venue Changes Later, Blow Pony Remains Portland’s Wildest LGBTQ Dance Party

In its punky spirit, and Blow Pony quickly became one of Portland’s most welcomingly freaky gatherings.

An Ursula K. Le Guin Documentary That Was a Decade in the Making Finally Got Its World Premiere

In the decade leading up to her death this January, Curry worked closely with Le Guin to make the documentary. Curry conducted dozens of interviews with the notoriously camera-shy author, her family and author like Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood whom Le Guin influenced. The film was in editing when Le Guin died in her home this January at the age of 88.

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