The delightful vagueness of the term abstract means that it is a perfect binder for many of October's art offerings. Also this month, Portland Open Studios celebrates its 25th anniversary and the Sitka Art International celebrates its 29th year.

The author and violinist discussed and demonstrated literature and music at the latest of 3A’s Listening Labs.

Warm up with M.R. O'Connor on the science of wildfires, poetry readings, and Halloween story time.

What began as a way for student athletes to de-stress has grown to serve people dealing with trying situations, from caregivers to the seriously ill.

K.B. Dixon's cultural-portrait series continues with visual artist Marie Watt, classical percussionist Niel DePonte, dancer & choreographer Oluyinka Akinjiola, poet & storyteller Brian S. Ellis, and actor & Portland Revels leader Lauren Bloom Hanover.

About 60 films of the weird and macabre will spool out at Portland's Hollywood Theatre in the 28th annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Oh, the horror!

The Portland company gets down to the nitty-gritty as it prepares to open its 20th season with a trio of world premieres.

The Portland artist and co-founder of the Antler & Talon galleries was a rising star in the arts community. She will be remembered for her unflagging support for artists, her local community, and the environment.

In the newest edition of the –Ism Youth Files podcasts, host Jenell Theobald talks with young artists about the challenges of disability during and after the pandemic.

A ramble through public art spaces and a new exhibit at Salem's Bush Barn Art Center that Pitt calls her last public show reveals the heart and spirit of a remarkable and beloved artist.

Green shows in Ashland, Indian music in Portland, Gustav vs. Gabe, queer and femme.

The center, with The Refindery shop and Repair Cafe, has a mission of helping people “step away from the garbage.”

Decades of battle over a pristine old-growth forest climaxed with the devastating 2020 Beachie Creek fire. But new growth is happening – and photographers are documenting a rebirth.

Also opening: Chloe Dumont's debut feature "Fair Play," "Flora and Son," and Gareth Edwards' "Creator."

As the fall dance season kicks in, shows ranging from Pilobolus to circus acts, fright nights, Camille A. Brown, and a dance film festival hit the stage.

Art education teacher Cibyl E. Kavan draws on her imagination, current events, and her wide-ranging knowledge of fellow artists to light the creative sparks in her young students.

The pianist, professor and Portland Piano International founder’s warmth and wisdom made him a gentle leader in Oregon classical music.

The former Oregon political figure's new memoir takes her back to the 1950s and life-shaping experiences from teaching in England to seeing apartheid first-hand.

Wolf takes on animals, art history, and textures of all types in eleven new paintings. Shannon M. Lieberman unpacks the many art historical references and visual intrigue.

Broadway Rose Theatre pulls out all the stops on the sizzling revue "Ain't Misbehavin'," a celebration of Waller's music and milieu.

The multi-screen installation documentary focuses on the life of Frederick Douglass. Julien's project embodies the notion that there is always more than one version to any story.

“He led with his heart, and what a huge, open heart it was!”: The leader of Portland Chamber Orchestra and the Siletz Bay Music Festival leaves a giant gap among musicians and friends.

The festival's just-announced 2024 season suggests a return to the kind of lineup that's excited audiences in the past. Plus: Fats Waller and the joint are jumpin' at Broadway Rose.

The series of five podcasts by young artists and writers continues as Cara Chen hosts "World On Fire."

Authentic music making and memories highlighted the recent PSCO concert “Authentic Self,” which featured music by Mozart alongside works by Florence Beatrice Price, Gerald Finzi, Joaquín Turina, and more.

Also this week: "Radical Wolfe" pays tribute to an iconic New Journalist, and a hungry Hindu demon haunts a group of teens in "It Lives Inside."

The “Ambassador's Portal” by Ken McCall replaces a beloved sculpture as the city expands its public art offerings with plans for five more new pieces and an arts garden.

Tackling apocalypse and perseverance with the local consort of professional and amateur musicians.

The show, in the McMinnville gallery through Oct. 6, features work by artists from Outside the Frame, a nonprofit that mentors unhoused youth.

The Portland production of the doomsaying contemporary opera balanced farce and gloom.

As a new biography hits the book stands, Seattle theater critic Misha Berson recalls her own interactions with the late, great American playwright.

The innovative Portland dance company enters a new season in a spirit of collaboration, civic renewal, and fresh ideas.

Another year, another symphony season. Join our Puzzlemaster-in-Residence Daryl Browne as she conducts you through the musical highlights with this month's crossword puzzle.

Tickets for opening night Oct. 20 go on sale Monday and are expected to sell out fast, say organizers of the event held at the High Desert Museum.

Bag & Baggage's "Our Utopia" riffs on themes from Thornton Wilder's classic. Plus openings, closings, and Bill Rauch's debut with the new Perelman Center in New York.

A special, five-episode series from Stage & Studio of interviews by and with 20 young artists and writers begins with the podcast "And That Happened."

Ten Fifteen Theater will present a world-premiere staged reading of “Bartow” next month in Astoria.

The erstwhile Portland author's new book shows how today's professional basketball stars influence fashion, style and more.

"Mutt," the first feature film by director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, follows a trans man in New York over the course of two days.

The exhibition includes collage-based works from 44 artists from over the last 60 years. The works confirm the generative capacity and flexibility of collage as an artistic practice.

The awards to Oregon arts and cultural groups and county and tribal cultural coalitions are a bright spot in a difficult financial year.

A new artistic director and a revived, walk-through "immersive installation piece" at Zidell Yards keeps the veteran devised-theater company moving forward.

Choirs all over Oregon and Southwest Washington celebrate the close of summer programs and the beginning of fall concerts.

The Nov. 4 festival, presented by Literary Arts, is slated to feature events with more than 100 Oregon and national authors.

As summer’s end draws near and a new arts season approaches, some Oregon music institutions are welcoming new leadership, while others have suffered losses.

News & Notes: A new series of lectures on prominent women artists of the 20th century; The Immigrant Story goes live at The Armory; The –Ism Youth Files kicks off a podcast series.

The trio of violinist Inés Voglar Belgique, cellist-composer Nancy Ives, and pianist Susan DeWitt Smith performed music by Tomáš Svoboda, Ernest Bloch, David Schiff, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Ives.

Access and opportunity are at the heart of the mission of Pendleton Center for the Arts. The mission is especially fitting given that the center's brick-and-mortar location was originally a Carnegie library.

From Portland's museums and galleries to the Guggenheim and Whitney to Amsterdam, Australia, Berlin and beyond, Angela Allen focuses her camera on people interacting with art.

From the annual Art Harvest Studio Tour to metal and fiber arts exhibits, a double handful of autumn gallery and studio shows to catch in Yamhill wine country.

The heady shuffle of "52 Pick-Up" extends its winning hand. Plus: Good news/bad news in Oregon theater, CoHo Clown Festival, a little Sondheim music, openings and closings.

The Portland biennial's point of depARTure: In a world of multiple crises, political art is having its day again.

With a new 4K restoration, Godard's 1963 indictment of the post-studio era is worth revisiting 60 years later, when Hollywood once again finds itself at a crossroads.

An intimate, experiential report from the long-running Happy Valley campout music festival.

The director talks about his new film with Marc Mohan ahead of two screenings this weekend at the Portland Art Museum.

Patience, attention to detail, and years of experience are big factors in this niche profession.

‘Chakras – The Wheel of Energy,’ a sold-out show of Bharatanatyam dance and Carnatic music at Hillsboro’s HART Theater, brought an energizing flavor of classical Indian art forms to an eager Oregon audience.

Working hard with Renegade Opera, Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival, Cascadia Composers, Lose Yr Mind Fest, Ural Thomas, Amenta “Yawa” Abioto, and more.

Born following a ruckus about “political” symbols in local schools, the professional company -- part of Yamhill County's thriving theater scene -- aims to create a safe space for minority communities.

Why everyone's flocking to an old Victoria's Secret to see a Beckett play. Plus: "Tina" on tour, the joys of a kids' backyard theater camp, and a question: Must the show go on?

Musician/educator Mary-Sue Tobin premieres new music based on classroom experiences as she joins musicians Alan Jones, Darrell Grant, Domo Branch, and others at the 10th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival.

The longtime curator and director, who spent almost half a century at the Portland Art Museum, was an internationally recognized expert on Asian art.

Local production of Nico Muhly’s opera brings complex emotions and conflicting points of view to Lincoln Hall.

The biennial features the work of local, national, and international artists at venues across the city. The opening festivities August 24-27 included performances, events, parties, and openings galore. Georgina Ruff reviews.

The city's plan to go its own way on arts funding and policy is "a huge mistake" that doesn't have to happen, the Regional Arts & Culture Council's Carol Tatch writes.

The city commissioner speaks out on charting Portland’s future: increasing investments in arts, culture, and music.

Renegade Opera's artistic director, Danielle Jagelski, talks about the company's beginnings, its approach to opera, and its upcoming production, "Adam's Run."

The 27th annual Art in the Pearl festival highlights Portland's Labor Day Weekend. Plus, art around Oregon in Astoria, Eugene, and The Dalles.

Director Maite Alberdi’s documentary chronicles the plight of a Chilean journalist with Alzheimer's and his caregiving wife.

Mobile venue SoundsTruck NW hosted an improv-based concert co-sponsored by IRCO and Montavilla Jazz.

A conversation with the Nasalrod bassist and DIY label chief.

Converge 45 brings a suite of compelling shows to Portland-area art spaces and there is plenty to see around the state as well. Jason N. Le has the intel on September's art events.

The singer and guitarist performed a sizzling set of jazz standards and pop classics at Portland’s struggling jazz club.

The McMinnville plumber taught himself to paint by watching YouTube tutorials during the pandemic. This fall, he's teaching classes at Back Door Studio.

As the fall performance season approaches, there’s still time to catch some of the best dance summer has to offer, including performances by Linda Austin, NW Dance Project, B. Movement Project, and more.

Organizers say this weekend’s show aims not only to feature local and regional bands, but also to draw national bands to the city’s growing music scene.

Authors appearing around the state include Ann Patchett, Chuck Palahniuk, Casey Parks, Paulann Petersen, and others with names not beginning with P.

The Toledo Art Walk over Labor Day weekend epitomizes the city’s arts-centric focus, built largely on the legacy of painter Michael Gibbons.

The poet, painter, and writer, whose novel "Mala Noche" was turned into a film by Gus Van Sant, was a fixture of Portland's poetry-reciting club scene in the 1970s and '80s.

In a tiny Southeast Portland space, a lean and lively actors' theater is emerging. Up next, "52 Pick-up." Also: openings and last chances.

The Portland academy’s live multimedia performance tribute to the Talking Heads film incorporates original work by students with disabilities.

The Portland artist's stack of birds in The Reser's plaza brings something special to the Converge 45 biennial: a touch of joy.

Amid the move to a new headquarters and other staff changes, the nonprofit – home of the Portland Book Festival and Oregon Book Awards – will be led by an interim director this fall.

The new-music flutist joins an extensive roster of musicians at four concerts on the coast.

The Portland Art Museum's redesigned, glass-ensconced addition, due to open in summer 2025, will make viewing easier and could be a boon to an ailing downtown.

OrpheusPDX’s production of American composer Nico Muhly’s contemporary chamber opera explores women’s complicated relationship with their religion — and each other.

Also opening: "Aurora's Sunrise," "Bank of Dave," "The Elephant 6 Recording Co.," and "Ignore Heroes - The True Sounds of Liberty."

As the festival winds up, a pair of concerts at Archery Summit and Sokol Blosser wineries create a tasty blend of new and old sounds.

The Tualatin resident will be joined next month by 12-year-old poet Thomas Fitzgerald in a reading benefiting HORSES on the Ranch in Prineville.

The Cascadia Composers founder leaves a legacy in music and more.

At Russo Lee Gallery, an Indigenous artist's images suggest a "green colonialism" in which extraction of minerals for new technology once again overrides tribal rights.

Book review: K.B. Dixon on the celebrity portraits by a "poor working-class clod from nowhere (who) grows up to be a famous London photographer hobnobbing with cinematic royalty."

“The fundamentals of the economy are getting stronger, but people are still skittish” – and theater companies are suffering for it. Plus: Anonymous Theatre plays Pirate.

“How Can You Own the Sky? A Symphonic Poem Honoring Native Wisdom” tells the story of the forced march of Native Americans from the Rogue Valley to the Coast.

In the first of two summer productions, OrpheusPDX staged a gender-bent version of “Il Re Pastore.”

Plus: "Landscape with Invisible Hand," the films of animator Ishu Patel, and Pietro Marcello's "Scarlet."

The city's decision breaks the vision laid out by the late Commissioner Nick Fish, Dr. Mitchell argues, and harms smaller and more diverse arts groups.

Martin Cooper's new film at Cinema 21 tells the stories of innovative Portland animators Jim Blashfield, Joanna Priestley, Rose Bond, Zak Margolis, Joan C. Gratz and Chel White.

Financial problems stemming in part from the pandemic, an expensive construction project, lack of expected state funding and a national slump in theater attendance force a drastic step.

Ownership of the longtime Black arts center is transferred, and PassinArt Theatre will become a major decision-maker.