Dave Knows Portland

Free Admission at the Portland Art Museum 26-November-2010

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Portland Art MuseumIn celebration (?) of Black Friday, the Portland Art Museum is offering free admission today from 5pm until 8pm.

Browse the Museum’s permanent collection, explore sculptures, paintings, and works on paper by one of the Pacific Northwest’s most distinguished artists, and see one of the most important examples of 19th-century American painting. Also, check out our unique selection of gifts available in the Museum Shop to get a head-start on your holiday shopping.

(Actually, since July 2009 the museum has offered free admission every fourth Friday, so the Black Friday connection is just a coincidence).

Visit the Pittock Mansion during the Holidays (2010)

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2011 Pittock Mansion holiday plans here!

Pittock Mansion Ready for the HolidaysThe Pittock Mansion has been closed the last few days as volunteers, designers, and local charities prepare it for the holidays. On November 22nd the public is invited in again to share in A Northwest Christmas: The Natural Beauty and Bounty of Oregon. The mansion will have been transformed into a holiday wonderland. Festive decorations, ribbon, garland, poinsettias, and more than 15 Christmas trees will fill the historic house.

Admission is free for members, $9 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+), $6 for youth (ages 6 – 18), and free for children ages 5 and younger.

The holiday display stays up until January 2nd. The mansion is open every day from November 22 until January 2nd 2011, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Hours daily are 11am until 4pm.

Lots of people are enthusiastic about the holidays, so the Mansion can get pretty crazy. To help alleviate the crowding the park offers a free shuttle from December 18 through January 2. Park your car by PSU (or take the train or bus downtown) and head over to PSU Parking Garage #3 (entrance on SW 12th or 13 just south of Market Street). The shuttle bus will pick passengers up every hour from 11am until 3pm, return shuttles departing the mansion hourly from 11:30am until 4:30pm (if it’s snowy or icy, call ahead to make verify shuttle services!).

OMSI After Dark (27-Oct-2010)

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OMSI After DarkThe latest OMSI After Dark takes place October 27, 2010.

That’s right, childfree OMSI! With beer!

Bring cash for the beer and wine bar. Enjoy special menu items at the OMSI Cafe.

The current featured exhibition is Identify: An Exhibition of You. A sneak preview of Design Zone, OMSI’s latest exhibition, will treat revelers as well. There’s also body painting, a giant hamster ball, a cider making exhibition, a DJ, and squid dissection opportunities ($5/person). Of course OMNIMAX ($4) and Planetarium ($3) shows will be showing too.

Hours are 6pm to 10pm. Admission is $10 for nonmembers (free for members). You can buy tickets online, or at the door (no reservations necessary). 21 and over only! Visit the OMSI After Dark webpage for more details.

October 15: Art & Beer at the Museum 2010

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Art & Beer at the Museum 2010Artist Eric Steen has a knack for combining his passions, no matter how incongruous the combinations might at first appear.

His blog, Beer and Sci-Fi, for example, combines discussion about beer, science fiction, utopian dreams, movies, and tall tales with activism and social art.

Some of Eric’s past art projects include Drinking Beer With Friends and Working for PICA’s 2008 Time Based Art’s Festival, Good Beer = Good Times at Portland’s Igloo Gallery, and the first Art and Beer at the Museum, which took place last year. It was a success, and it’s back:

Art & Beer (2010) is the second event of it’s kind, brought to you by Eric Steen and the Portland Art Museum. Art & Beer combines beer, one of Portland’s most well known crafts, with experiencing art. For one night only, you can sample three new beers from Coalition Brewing, Hopworks Urban Brewery, and Rock Bottom Brewery at the Portland Art Museum. Each brewery received a tour of the museum’s collection, selected an artwork and will make a beer inspired by that artwork. The selected artwork and the beer style will remain a surprise until the night of the event. This beer sampling is part of a one night event called Shine A Light, an event that will host a number of performances, time-based art actions, music, and more. The entry fee for the event is $12 and will give you access to all the art and performances, the museums galleries, and unlimited sampling of the three new beers.

Art & Beer at the Museum 2010 takes place Friday, October 15 from 6pm to midnight at the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park).

Entry is $12 and includes access to all the Shine A Light: A Night at the Museum events, collections and free beer samples.

More details are available here and at Beer And Sci-Fi.

October 9: Storm Day at the Pittock Mansion

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Pittock Mansion in the aftermath of the Columbus Day StormStorm Day: Commemorating the Columbus Day Storm takes place at the Pittock Mansion on Saturday, October 9 2010 from 11am until 4pm.

OMSI representatives will be on hand demonstrating a small tornado chamber, a weather balloon, and a Van de Graaff generator. They will also lead hands-on projects to create a wind vane and a rain gauge. Guests will share stories from the 1962 Columbus Day Storm. The Red Cross will provide storm preparation tips.

On Columbus Day, 1962, the most devastating wind storm in recorded history to hit the Pacific Northwest, known as the “Big Blow,” caused major destruction in northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The extratropical cyclone, which began as Typhoon Freda, was the greatest natural disaster to strike the West Coast in more than half a century.

With wind gusts reported of up to 170 mph, the 1962 Columbus Day Storm was 125 miles wide and covered an area of 75,000 square miles. It caused at least 46 fatalities and hundreds of injuries, and destroyed more than 50,000 homes. Total damages were in excess of $200,000,000 (in 1962 dollars) in Oregon alone.

The then privately owned, and up for sale, Pittock Mansion sustained significant damage during the storm. A fundraising effort by concerned citizens spurred the City of Portland to purchase the mansion in 1964 (for $225,000!). It was restored and in 1965 opened as the historic house museum we know it as now.

Regular admission prices apply on Storm Day. Members and children under 6 get in fro free, youth (6-18) entry is $5, adults $8, and seniors (65+) get in for $7.