best of portland 2020

Kameron Messmer’s Balloon Sculptures Are Blowing Up

Since April, Messmer has been commissioned to craft garlands for drive-by graduations, rainbows and cupcakes for birthdays, and 6-foot-tall topiaries made from over 500 individual balloons.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Facebook Page Is More Entertaining Than You Think

The maintenance of the city’s dams and waterways isn’t exactly thrilling to the general populace. The team responsible for the agency’s social media is well aware of this.

Think Embroidery Is Just a Cute Hobby? Let Stephanie Griffin Educate You.

Sure, many of Siren’s Song Stitchery’s bestsellers are intentionally political—tangerine floral fabric embroidered with “Seek peace, but be ready to go to war” or “Please fuck off, thank you” in swirling cursive that was recently reposted in response to the deployment of federal officers in Portland. But she’s just as likely to stitch Pacific Northwest scenery, flying saucers, or odes to coffee.

Biig Gal Energy Is Portland’s Official Hookup for Sea Moss, the Wellness Ingredient Du Jour

Candis Hertz and Madison Castellanos always aspired to be their own bosses. Veganism helped make it happen.

A Portland Pizzeria Is Using Cardboard Cutouts of Fabio, the Dude and Dr. Fauci to Encourage Social Distancing

Reopening for Phase 1, the Portland pizza chain realized that if folks weren’t inclined to social distance out of their own sense of self-preservation, they might stand apart if they were signaled to by a lifesize cardboard cutout of a celebrity—whether it’s Jeff Bridges as the Dude or America’s most highly visible immunologist.

The Sextant Isn’t a Strip Club. But That Doesn’t Dissuade Dancers From Stopping by and Asking to Audition.

A few years ago, Kevin Welch, a bartender at The Sextant Bar & Galley, thought he’d have some fun with the sign out front.

University of Portland Professor Aziz Inan Believes Numbers Can Be Art, Especially Palindrome Dates

Aziz Inan has a way of finding the beauty in every day—or, at least, on a few select dates on the calendar.

Steve Davies Most Likely Has the Biggest Collection of Blazers Memorabilia in the World

As a 10-year-old boy in Hazel Dell, Wash., Steve Davies sent letters to all the sports teams he could think of, asking for collectibles. It was 1970, and the newly founded Portland Trail Blazers sent him a pinwheel sticker. It was the start of a lifelong quest.

Web Designer Mike Bodge Built a Site to Honor Nurses—and Another That Uses A.I. Technology to Warn People Against Touching Their Face

For a lot of people, social media is the scourge of the Digital Age. For artist and technologist Mike Bodge, it’s where he finds inspiration.

Mobile Projection Unit Uses Portable A/V Equipment to Screen Video Art Everywhere From Silos to Under the Burnside Bridge

Since Mobile Projection Unit was founded last year, Turner and D’Agostino have worked with other local artists to showcase their work in unexpected locations around the city, from a silo in the Eastside Industrial District to the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon on Southeast Division Street.

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