Portland, Ore. -- The New Oregon Interview Series brings three prominent Portland art makers together for an evening of intimate conversation. Painter Michael Brophy, Cooley Gallery director Stephanie Snyder and Dark Horse Comics editor Shawna Gore sit down to discuss their work and how our visual art culture is evolving on November 11th at Urban Grind East.  Collected by the Seattle Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum and Microsoft, Brophy’s work was the subject of a Tacoma Art Museum exhibition, “The Romantic Vision of Michael Brophy”, and appeared in their recent 9th Northwest Biennial.  A 2007 Getty Foundation Fellow, Snyder is the director/curator of the Cooley Gallery at Reed and has co-hosted the Back Room discussion series.  An editor at Dark Horse since 2003, Gore’s work on the CREEPY Archives and the Herbie Archives hardcover series earned her two 2009 Eisner Awards.

Host Nora Robertson conceived the New Oregon Interview Series to find out how Portland’s blossoming creative culture has developed and where it’s headed. “A lot has changed in the past decade,” Robertson says. “The best perspective comes from the artists themselves—and the designers, writers, chefs, and venues who make things happen here.” “A lot has changed in the past decade,” Robertson says. “The best perspective comes from the artists themselves—and the designers, writers, chefs, and venues who make things happen here.” The Oregonian's Barry Johnson remarked "at this point, we don't know whether we're headed back where we left off 18 months ago or whether we're going somewhere completely new. That question is at the center of the New Oregon Interview Series."

Audiences can sit in and join the discussions at eight live events, all slated for the last week of each month at Urban Grind East, near NE 20th Ave. and Sandy Boulevard. Over forty interviews will be published in a printed anthology; some are currently available online. The series presents its book night on Monday, October 26th, at Urban Grind East, 2214 NE Oregon St., from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., doors open at 6:00 pm. Beer, wine, coffee, and light snacks will be available for purchase. Admission is $5 at the door.  Letterpress artist and bookmaker Clare Carpenter of Tiger Food Press will also discuss her work creating a limited-edition letterpress broadside based on the interviews.

The New Oregon Interview Series is presented by New Oregon Arts and Letters, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization formerly known as 2GQ, the publishers of 2 Gyrlz Quarterly.  More information can be found online at http://www.2gq.org/neworegon.html.

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CALENDAR LISTINGS:

New Oregon Interview Series
An evening of conversation with three Portland art makers
Host Nora Robertson with Michael Brophy, Cooley Gallery’s Stephanie Snyder and Dark Horse Comic’s Shawna Gore
Urban Grind East
2214 NE Oregon St.
Wednesday, November 11th
7–8:30 p.m., doors open at 6:30 pm
$5 at the door