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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           NEMO Presents: Portland Looking Up -Artwork by Chris Donnelly

Join us Friday, August 7, 2009 for the opening reception of Portland Looking Up – featuring the paintings and carvings of artist Chris Donnelly.

Portland Looking Up will highlight Chris Donnelly’s work of paintings and carvings. The exhibit will focus on Donnelly’s travels through Portland, where he became captivated by the shapes of the industrial water towers, and their contrast to the neighborhoods below.

Discovering Portland by bicycle last summer, Chris noticed the shapes quietly looming overhead. Like floating ships or low-tech space ships at rest just above the neighborhoods, these water towers have a presence. As if monuments from a bygone era, they fade into the landscape despite their size and visibility. These giant vessels venerate our most precious resource. The striking blue sky of Portland summer provides the backdrop for these strong shapes. While strong and industrial looking, their round shapes and patina create a friendly character. Painting these pictures helped Chris get to know Portland.

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BENEATH THE SURFACE: FLORA, FANTASY & FABLE IN SURFACE DESIGN

PORTLAND, OR — NEMO and Pattern People present BENEATH THE SURFACE: Flora, Fantasy, and Fable in Surface Design, May 1st through May 31st.

Opening Reception, Friday, May 1st, 6pm to 10pm, with Music provided by Spencer Product.

BENEATH THE SURFACE is curated by surface design studio, Pattern People, and highlights the work of influential, contemporary surface designers through the mediums of wallpaper, prints, and 3-dimensional objects. The work presented demonstrates how patterns can give dimension to an otherwise flat surface and create a world that pulls in the viewer. Focusing on escapist and fantastical themes, the exhibit features utopian landscapes, folkloric fables, and interpretations of magical inner journeys.

The exhibit includes designers from the U.S, Japan, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the U.K:

Anna Giertz, Chelsea Heffner, Dan Funderburgh, Deanne Cheuk, Eno Henze, George Moskal, Joanna Bean, Jo Hamilton, Katrin Wiens, Kinpro, Kustaa Saksi, Laundry Studio, Linn Olofsdotter, Marc Curtis, Michael Leon, Mike Perry, Nama Rococo, Osmose, Pattern People and Timorous Beasties

For show details please click here.

About Pattern People:
Claudia Brown and Jessie Whipple Vickery are Pattern People, a surface design studio based in Portland, Oregon. Pattern People creates prints for fashion, products, and interiors. Their designs and illustrations have been featured in “Devils in the Detail” by Page One Publishing, “Patterns” by Drusilla Cole and “Simply Pattern” by Viction:ary. Pattern People Web Site
Contact Pattern People

A Time For Lions: Artwork of Blake Britton and Jonny Fenix

PORTLAND, OR – Nemo presents A Time For Lions, with the artwork of Blake Britton and
Jonny Fenix, a photo exhibit opening on Friday, April 3, 2009 6-10pm. The show will run through
Monday, April 27, 2009 at Nemo: 1875 SE Belmont Street in Portland, OR. The opening
reception includes a special musical guest.

A Time For Lions, may be a call to action in response to the incomprehensible, unjust and
unconstitutional, which both Britton’s and Fenix’s works address. Though similar in its question, their
work is vastly different in application. Fenix takes a playful, satirical approach to the contradictions
of mass media and the realities they gloss over. While Britton’s works have more traumatic
manifestations of a world experience. Both artist implicate themselves, their privileges and their loses in their work, making more multidimensional pieces that invite the audience to question their role in these inconsistencies.

Blake Britton was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1978. He has spent the time since observing the
relationships between humans and their existence while studying the craft processes of the past. His
current work he examines the social paradigms that exist within our own culture and brings into
question the complacency of free thinkers, entitled mongers, and the otherwise forgettable bravado
we encounter daily. The work serves him as both question and statement, as ambiguous as truth, as
heavy as feathers. He currently lives with his wife and cats in Portland, Oregon where he works a
freelance artist and prop maker for film. His work has shown in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Philadelphia,
and Portland among other places.

Jonny Fenix was born in Nacogdoches, Texas in 1973, and currently lives in Portland Oregon. He
walks the world with his daughters and wife and wonders why mankind isn’t. Why is man’s push to
extinguish rudely everything natural? Quietly screaming. From neither school nor the streets, he spent his boyhood in the desserts of Arizona thinking to himself, “this looks like the bottom of the ocean”. Researching everywhere, he attempts to create what his mind sees. Artwork, furniture, sculpture, letters to friends, they are the same and loaded. Soft but Sharp. Pretty and Painful. To say nothing is not possible. His work has shown in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and New York.

American Blur: Photos by May Juliette Barruel and Tamar Monhait

Friday, March 06, 2009 6-10pm. Free admission. Complimentary Wine & Beer.

PORTLAND, OR — NEMO presents American Blur by May Juliette Barruel and Tamar Monhait, a photo exhibit opening on Friday, March 06, 2009 6-10pm. The show will run through Wednesday, April 01, 2009 at NEMO: 1875 SE Belmont Street in Portland, OR. The opening reception will include special musical guest, Sigmund Henry.

american pie. american eagle. american literature. american football. american cars. american dream. american english. american flag. american express. american dollar. american airlines. american idol. american frontier. american pitbull. american presidents. american blur. American Blur examines the images that make-up the “American” consciousness both individually and collectively. Barruel and Monhait exhibit work that creates the feeling of an overwhelming barrage of the social and physical landscapes identified as “American.”

May Juliette Barruel holds a master of arts degree in American Literature from l’Université de Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle and a professional certificate from New England School of Photography in Boston, Massachusetts. A native of Grenoble, France and a resident of Portland, Oregon since 2000, she works as both an artist and curator. As an artist, she creates textile-based work that addresses the themes of nostalgia, obsession and loss in an intimate and often voyeuristic fashion. Her photography reflects the dreamy experience of her foreign eyes in America. As a curator, Barruel has been responsible for Stumptown Coffee Roasters’ downtown gallery since 2006. She has exhibited work by: Portland artists Ty Ennis, Paige Saez, Nicholas Pittman, Norm Sajovie and Alex Steckly; San Francisco photographer Jeff Warrin; and Los Angeles filmmaker William Haswell. Barruel also owns Nationale, a shop and gallery on Portland’s east side.

Tamar Monhait is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Portland, Oregon. She was born and raised in Chicago and has spent time between the two cities studying Electrical Engineering and Art. Her work explores process, ritual, music mathematics, technology, and time. She has participated in group shows at Disjecta, Hall Gallery, PNCA, Mark Woolley, Jace Gace, and the Newberg Gallery at the Glasgow School of Art. She also had solo exhibitions at Stumptown Downtown.
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NEMO is a Portland-based integrated branding, marketing and design shop. NEMO’s capabilities include brand strategy, design, motion graphics, interactive development, film, video, print and photography production. NEMO is at 1875 SE Belmont Street in Portland, OR.

NubbyTwiglet.com: An Art Retrospective

Nemo Design is very excited to present NubbyTwiglet.com: An Art Retrospective by Nemo’s own Shauna Haider, opening on Friday, October 03, 2008. The show will run through Monday November 03, 2008 at Nemo Design: 1875 SE Belmont Street in Portland, OR.

Stripes, shoes and letter forms are collaged into tight, slick pop art on wood and ceramic that are sealed in epoxy resin.

These sturdy and fashion-conscious collages are produced by hand in single editions. Personal photos are edited and combined with fashion magazine cut-outs to create graphically-charged collages that blur the lines between fine art and design.

The Black & White Graphic Insight series is an ode to my love of graphic design. Stark lines and a heavy mix of a mostly black and white palette are a bold contrast to the natural surfaces.

The largest and most complex series yet, Black & White Graphic Insight aims to spark a new-found appreciation for collage as a fine art form.

For further information, please visit http://www.nubbytwiglet.com.

Find more videos like this on NEMO

Nemo hosted Shayla Hason’s Hope Is A Muscle photo exhibition last night. Here’s the video with Shayla discussing her work with the Portland Rock N Roll Camp for Girls.