06:00 PM : First Thursday Art Gallery Openings@NW Portland

Visual Arts / Architecture Flyered by Rob W.

Free is good. And so it is for radio. The concept of PRA, Portland pirate radio, is that the airwaves should be as open as the seas. On those airwaves we shall evolve culture at the fringes of fair use, what shall emerge? King Kong? YES! Walking catfish? Hopefully NOT... Musicians and DJ's Collective Consciousness, Hott Pink, Guau Guau, Quiet Countries, DATLOG, Uncle Nancy, DJ T'ant, Sappho, Masmod, AMPex and Dj Zombo lay down sonic experiments live, and on www.praradio.com. They will be accompanied by visual artists GerFunk, Dr. Medz, DFX, Chance Fisher, Christian Walker and Corey Smith. Where is pirate TV when you need it? Did I mention that this is totally illegal, oops. www.rakeart.org Rake Gallery 325 NW 6th til 10ish

Malia Jensen shows new work at Elizabeth Leach Gallery. Jensen is known for her work themed on animals, including her well known giant beaver constructed of plywood. This later work departs from Jensen's playful minimalism adding color and more baroque elements. Brooklyn's usual fauns and bunnies give way to rats, which populate The City, Jensen's current home and bears which you will not find in New York. The Fresh show of last month continues. www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th until 9PM

Portland artist Linda Hutchins shows "Line Drawing" at Pulliam Deffenbaugh. Hutchins is known for using repetition to create somewhat minimalist compositions. Past work used repeated typewritten phrases, subtly offset, filling the page densely, and edge to edge. For this show, pen and ink lines are repeated to fill the papers' space, entirely. www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com 929 NW Flanders closes early first Thursday, about 8PM

PDX shows a video piece, Fallen, by Ryan Jeffery. This was the work shown in the Peripheral Produce Portland Experimental and Documentary Film Festival world championship of film. It features a very Brothers Quay-esque machine of cast acrylic by artist Kari Merkle which will also be shown in the gallery. Jeffery is also known for his super-8 accompaniment of musicians Small Sails. This work represents a welcome evolution for PDX Gallery in showing video art. It illustrates perfectly the continuity between live music visuals in the club, sit down cinema, and video art shown in galleries. www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders if open on first Thursday, it will close by 9

Chambers presents a performance "Research and Development" by poet Lisa Radon and musician Tim Duroche at 7PM. Both draw water from deep creative wells, individually, and here, together. www.chambersgallery.org 207 SW Pine Gallery open until 9

I am a huge proponent of beauty in art. The Hickey school. But I require more, like thoughtfulness, and that is why this is a selective guide to Portland art shows. Glass? Portland is home to the Bullseye Glass Company, one of the world's few manufacturers of the raw materials for glass art. Bullseye does a good job at curating contemporary glass art into their gallery, but often the work is just all beauty. This month, I will make an exception for pure beauty: see the work of Anna Skibska. Its lattices of lampworked glass rod with the diameter of uncooked spaghetti. Might be better seen on a quiet day. www.bullseyeconnectiongallery.com 300 NW 13th until 9

The Mark Woolley Gallery presents a show of visionary art, "Internal Guidance Systems" curated by Seattle uber outsider Anne Grgich and London outsider heavyweight Colin Rhodes. Visionary art is usually classed with outsider art, art by self taught artists, crazy people and the like. One definition is "art outside the art world". It was popular in galleries in the late '80s and early '90's. Collectors, miffed at being manipulated by the red hot '80's art market turned away from New York. As a result many Southern artists inspired by god to create obsessive work, such as Howard Finster, were drawn into the gallery system, most notably by Atlanta's Fay Gold Gallery. Its popularity in commercial galleries has faded, although I understand there is more interest in Europe, which has its own homegrown visionary artist-architects such as Gaudi and Hundertwasser. The journal of outsider art is Raw Vision, yours for further study. Actually I like some of it, though less lately, but that's me.

Outsider art and its visionary branch are popular in Portland, so here is a chance to compare the gallery view of it with the street view on NW 13th or on Alberta. Portland locals Walt Curtis and Allison O'Donoghue show beside artists from the UK and France, as well as other US artists.

The show is spread across both Woolley locations 120 NW 9th and the Wonder ballroom site 128 NW Russell which will host and opening Friday www.markwoolley.com

Valentines shows "suite b" work by and benefiting the collaborative art group similarly named. Included are "eclectic crafty wares. pieces include sculpy objects, collaborative drawings, video media and much much more". All works inexpensively priced. til late 232 SW Ankeny

p:ear shows collaborations by street youth with Tom Cramer. p:ear corner of SW Alder and 8th

Portland Art Center shows Linfield College art department thesis work. This is totally pot luck, but perhaps artist Chris Moss, who teaches there, has had an effect. portlandart.org 32 NW 5th til 10

Compound gallery presents illustrations of some future universe, Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000 by Kow Yokoyama. 880 years in the future opposing forces are fighting for control of earth. Still. When will they ever learn? www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th til 9:30

The Vorpal Space in the Everett Lofts will show "Readymech" flatpack paper toys. www.vorpalspace.com corner of Flanders and NW Broadway. until 11

Tilt shows "Horizon Line" new landscapes, curated by Mark Brandau, who is responsible for the Portland Modern project. www.tiltpdx.com 625 NW Everett #106

Genuine Imitation shows paintings by local multi artist Mo. www.genuineimitation.com 625 NW Everett #110