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There are musical instruments out there that never really get the respect they deserve. High on this list are the Triangle and the Tambourine – both so simple we give them to children, but both also rich in their possibility. No matter how musically sophisticated you are, I would bet you serious money you can’t tell me who the Yo-Yo Ma of the Triangle or the Tambourine is. While these masters may linger in obscurity, at least we can bring one guru of the lowly to the spotlight. Abby (she gave no last name), is without a doubt the finest spoons player I’ve ever seen.

Abby was performing down on the waterfront today, but the tourists were largely ignoring her, fixated instead on yet another guy making metallic tone spray-paint space art (what do people see in that stuff?). I was completely mesmerized. At first, it seemed she had created a special two spoon connected device, but no, in the end it is just two spoons turned with their bulbs inwards towards each other, their handles covered in white tape. She was kind enough to give me a quick lesson in which she explained how the positioning of the spoons relative to each other, the part of your hand or other surfaces you hit, and even the wind effect of moving your other hand around the spoons, and swooping the spoons in the air, all play an important part in terms of the musical tone produced. I was impressed by the washboard contraption she had built which had two tin cans, some bells and small finger cymbals all worked in together to give her a wide variety of percussive options. She explained how she watched lots of people play, and slowed down various videos to really learn the different technical traits of different techniques. Clearly her hard work has paid off, as she is now a joy to watch. Sure, we need great violinists, but I’m glad we have some spoon players like Abby as well.

(Abby was kind enough to pose with Cutie also, but she seemed a bit confused by his wings and articulated bum. )

Abby and Cutie

Sahar and I were at the first Thursday art fair in the Pearl and were pleasantly surprised to find two new Portland area artists we now love (they are new to us anyway).

The first find was the self-described artist and surrealist Chuck E. Bloom. Chuck explained how over the past 7 or so years he has been painting on increasingly smaller and smaller canvases, getting down to a size as small as 1 by 2 inches. He displayed a variety of surreal landscapes peopled with coffee cups, fantastical tree buildings that seem a mix of Dali and Hieronymous Bosch, and a variety of other wonderful, thought-provoking images. He described his creative process as feeling like a kind of wanderer through a landscape, arriving just after some important moment has occurred, but too late to encounter the person that was actually there in that moment. So, the paintings are devoid of people, but you can see the traces they have left behind (if they ever were indeed there in the first place). Some of the pieces have quite complicated geometry and masses of swirls and waves, while others are more serene. We purchased a piece named “Been though this Before”, a 3 by 3 inch picture with a half barren tree, a flash of lightning in a green sky, and a coffee cup on top a pile of books on a small mound of rocks, its vapor rising all the way to the top of the canvas. This is one of his calmer works, but it immediately resonated with a variety of very personal images for us. The lightning reminds us of the trip we made out to Portland from the east coast, driving through some of the worst storms the midwest had seen in the last century. The tree means a ton of things for us (the Fall season in the East, the proverbial feeling the grass is always green on the other side, the split feeling of wanting to stay and wanting to move on that has haunted us over the past few years). The books of course signify my library, and the rocks Sahar’s love of the mountains of the pacific northwest. But above and beyond it all is that grand cup of coffee, with its hopeful soul rising above the storms and the decay of time. It is rare you find something so personally resonant by chance like that, but it seems this time we were lucky. You can see more of Chuck’s work on his website ChuckEBloom.com. The piece we purchased was only $35, a complete bargain for such a meaningful piece. His other work was also very affordable. So, if you need gifts for someone that likes heady art, check his work out.

We then stumbled upon the booth of Renee Lynn Hartig, who at one time actually did an “inch by inch” show with Chuck in the past. We previously encountered Renee at the Alberta Arts Festival, and actually had taken a picture of one of her works before with Cutie.

Renee does a variety of things, including abstract landscapes and incredibly funky pet portraits. She had a series of Rooster portraits on display that were absolutely marvelous. I particularly like her series of very small landscapes (1 by 3 inch) that are painted as multiples on a single sheet. She will cut these up so you can buy individual ones, but shame on you if you do. Save up and buy the full run. They work exceptionally well as abstract animation, the kind of thing the child of Cezanne and Eadweard Muybridge might produce. We purchased one that has lovely blue tones with clouds and the colors of mountains and the desert. The small multiples like this can be purchase for $10 per painted image, again a super affordable price making her work the perfect present for anyone (who doesn’t love pretty abstract landscapes?). Renee has a very appealing painterly style and will one day be a big success I would bet (and hope of course).

Since it is Portland, of course both artists were exceptionally sweet and friendly people. It is people like these that make us loathe to ever leave our beloved Stumptown.