SOU’WESTER EVENTS!

Sunbathe is the devastatingly catchy, fuzzed-out pop band brought to you by songwriter Maggie Morris. Suffused with lyrical honesty and a raw performance style, Morris can command the stage coasting along on an abundance of hooks and lighthearted guitar. Sunbathe has quickly gained notoriety for their captivating live performances, touring with the likes of Typhoon and Built to Spill, all the while living and breathing a DIY ethos. Referring to themselves as the most punk pop band in Portland, Oregon– Sunbathe cites ABBA and The Ramones as two of their biggest influences yet they will remind you of neither. Their songs will leave you feeling nostalgic for something that you probably only experienced in a dream. 

Chitra Subrahmanyam loved Portland well before they moved here. As a youngster in the East Bay with a cool older sister, they were handed down a mix CD that included some material by the late Elliott Smith. Hearing “Between The Bars” opened the door to other Portland acts like Smith’s former band Heatmiser and Sleater-Kinney. The allure was immediate. 

“When you’re going through something, especially as an angsty teenager, it’s not really hard to find something that speaks to you in music from people like Elliott,” Subrahmanyam said. “And when I was starting to drum, finding bands that were so dynamic —that had this balance between quiet and loud, and this seething undertone that ran through even the quieter parts — appealed to me as someone that feels like people think I had nothing to say or offer but at home, I got to bang on shit and let that out.” 

Moving to Portland felt, in some ways, inevitable, drawn here as Subrahmanyam was by the music and a promising post-graduate program in speech pathology. Since arriving, they have slowly worked their way into the artistic community, starting their journey drumming for artists like Mo Troper and Balloon Club. 

But after taking a few introductory guitar lessons, Subrahmanyam began to write their own songs, amassing a collection of lowkey but powerful material that they have recorded and performed under the name Phone Voice. 

Their debut release, 2021’s cradle tape, is a perfect blending of the confessional and the metaphorical, as Subrahmanyam unpacks broken relationships and inner torment. “I am the air that surrounds you,” they sing over agitated waves of distorted guitar on “river.” “River of shame, you flow within me / yet you are nowhere / not around me anymore.”

In this workshop we will use plaiting and twining to create a small basket. We will be weaving with hand harvested and natural materials, including cedar bark, cherry bark, sea grass and iris leaf. We will be creating unique shapes and designs using these 2 techniques. 

Rose Covert is a constant maker and an artist who creates in many directions. Her paintings, sculptures and woven works have been displayed throughout the Pacific Northwest. Most recently Rose has been engaged in woven sculptural work made of plants growing within a 30 mile radius of where she lives. Rose makes these very intricate and wild shapes by weaving one stick at a time, thus creating pathways to follow and build upon. As a member of the Columbia Basin Basketry Guild and a childhood educator Rose moves seamlessly between student and teacher, learning from the materials, the process and the people she works with.

As a teacher Rose is drawn to engagement and embodiment, beginning by exploring the mediums and materials we’ll be working with then using our senses and intuition to get a feel for what we’ll be making. Her teaching style has an emphasis on the magic and play of making, using questions and conversation as a way to encourage connection and imagination. 

Workshop cost $80

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Coach Phillips Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Initially formed in 2017 as an acoustic duo of vocalists Wade Phillips and Jessica Kim, Coach Phillips is a 5-piece band including Chet Baughman (drums/saxophone), Joe Oakes (guitars/misc.) and Tom Moskal (bass). The Seattle-based project has produced one full-length record to date and two EPs— the most recent being ‘Three-Chord Songs, Vol. 1’ released in May 2022.

‘…in the same sandbox as Hovvdy or the like, breaking bread with old emo tendencies and dipping it in the wine cup of present bedroom pop.’ – Nathan Lankford, Austin Town Hall

!mindparade (unplugged) : Presented by Sou’wester Arts

!mindparade is a psychedelic/experimental project that formed in Bloomington, Indiana. Originally the solo bedroom project of Alex Arnold, the live show and recordings are fleshed out by a revolving cast of musicians utilizing electronics and orchestration. !mindparade’s beautiful cacophony of bombast is pleasantly bewildering. Wild flourishes of dreamy psychedelic instrumentation zoom past you in all directions like standing in the middle of a busy intersection.

Currently based in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Jeremy James Meyer: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Jeremy James Meyer is an artificer of song. A songwriter’s songwriter. He crafts redemptive songs full of woody rock ‘n’ roll tones. His deep, penetrating voice has a wide range, and is especially captivating in his droning, lower register. He spent the last decade drifting around, a tool belt troubadour, working carpentry by day, bringing folk music to the people at night. As with most well traveled songwriters it’s hard to tell where the road ends and Jeremy James Meyer begins. His songs seamlessly blend plain-language and poetic lyricism. They wander from personal truth to outlaw legends. He’s capable of cathartic protest songs, cosmic country canticles, and dive bar sing-a-longs. Whenever, and however your path crosses with Jeremy James Meyer’s (and it will) prepare for an enchanting, psychedelic trip through cosmic American music.

“Alive and OK by Jeremy James Meyer is a lesson in what country music can be. This is not the pop country of Nashville. This is real country music with stories and melodies that keep the listener engaged. Whether it’s a foot stomper or a song made for slow dancing, Meyer delivers songs that will get you moving.”

-Americana Highways

“Last year was a devastating time for fans of Americana, country, and pretty much anyone who loved a well-written song with the passing of Walker, Prine and Billy Joe Shaver all in the span of six months. It’s heartening though to know there is another generation of talented singers and songwriters eschewing current trends and fads and focusing simply on writing timeless, relatable music agnostic of specific genres. Meyer is certainly one of those acolytes to the greats, alongside peers like Todd Snider and Hayes Carll carrying that tradition into the future.”

–Glide Magazine

In this workshop we’ll explore elemental printmaking techniques, creating multiples or one-of-a-kind prints with a rolling pin or tiny press. Monotypes are a painterly print, using Akua Non-toxic soy and honey based inks with brushes, brayers, stencils and templates, ferns, feathers or leaves. We’ll do Trace monotypes, Foil printing and Collograph to create fantastic textured surfaces. We’ll also explore Gyotaku, the Japanese art of fish printing, using rubber fish to transfer ink onto paper or fabric. Other elements addressed will be chine Colle’, making a stamp, relief printing, printing on fabric, everyday items you can use for art, Scratch Foam printing, Stamping with Easycut, Tape design plates and more! Workshop is 10AM-2PM and cost is $90.

Jane Pagliarulo received a BFA in Printmaking from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She cut her teeth as a fine art printer at Hand Graphics in Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1989 to 1996 she printed lithographs, woodcuts and etchings. As a monotype printer she has worked one-on-one in creative collaboration with artists having tremendously varied conceptual and technical approaches. As a result Jane strays beyond the traditional boundaries of printmaking.  In 1996 Pagliarulo moved to Oregon, founding a printmaking workshop in Hood River. In 2007 she co-founded Atelier Meridian, a collaborative membership printmaking studio in Portland, where she teaches workshops and prints editions. In her own prints, Pagliarulo approaches the landscape with an abstract realist’s eye for the edges and shapes found in the expanses  of the American West. Unique spacial tensions are created with the push and pull of brush strokes and erasures. Unpredictable marks and subtle veils of color are employed as the printmaking process delivers mysterious surfaces  of ink in confluence with paper.  She exhibits nationally and is represented in Portland by the Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery and Print Arts Northwest.

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Bijoux Cone: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Bijoux Cone (Formerly Bryson Cone) is a visual artist, filmmaker, musician and producer based out of Portland OR. Bijoux Cone’s debut album “Magnetism” was released February 19 on LA based label Cleopatra Records. Her forthcoming sophomore album is pending release.

Bijoux Cone’s music explores themes of love, loss and identity paired with lush melodramatic synth pop and disco synth grooves.

The live band includes/has included members such as:

Bijoux Cone (FKA Bryson Cone, Reptaliens, Gary Wilson & The Blind Dates),

Hannah Blilieh (The Gossip, Chromatics), Bambi Browning (Reptaliens, Blouse),

Ben Steinmetz (Kyle Craft), Thomas Mabus (Reptaliens, Wampire),

Chris Hoganson (Fur Coats, Wampire) and Cat Hoch (Blackwater Holylight).

In this workshop students will learn basic embroidery techniques (5 basic stitches) through stitching your favorite  plant, vegetable, or herb using recycled materials and/or through altering a piece of clothing: hats, jackets, patches, or bags (Please bring your own piece of clothing to alter). Participants will be guided through a process of choosing a plant you identify with, learning about its properties, then experimenting with multimedia techniques to create a piece of hangable or wearable art.

Chloe Jacobson grew up in the dry, oaky lands of Southern Oregon and headed north to the lush forests of the Pacific Northwest to pursue a major in Visual Arts and Psychology from The Evergreen State College. She chose to pursue the healing power of the art process professionally through getting graduate degree in Transpersonal Art Therapy at Naropa University, and now practice as full time art therapist with the LGBTQIA population in Portland, Oregon. She is a multimedia artist specializing in embroidery, painting, and collage to express sensations, feeling spaces, and to tell stories of empowerment and liberation. She walks the edge of fine art and craft to explore the natural world through my lens as a queer art therapist. She blends media to reframe and re-contextualize, while offering simple messages. She especially seeks narratives of natural perseverance, adaptation, justice, and resilience in the face of adversity or human constructs. Her background in art therapy informs my process as being a platform for healing self-reflection, through making the latent, blatant.