Let there be lights, and other attractions
A look at upcoming events on the local art scene
The possible cure to your seasonal affective disorder begins Feb. 6 and lasts through Feb. 14 when the city lights up our cold winter nights with amusing and mesmerizing objects that glow in the dark. From the large bright art installations in Pioneer Courthouse Square to the tiny and ornamental thingamabobs that spark and sparkle elsewhere. The main nights are Friday and Saturdays (Feb. 6 and 7 and Feb. 13 and 14), but there will be something to see on all nine nights in storefronts and empty retail windows, hotel lobbies and local businesses.
The Winter Light Festival is like a circus for your eyes. Smile, stare and fall in love with the twinkly lights like you did before you could talk. You will feel life is fun again in a fun city! It’s like magic in Northwest, Southwest, Downtown, Northeast, Southeast and North Portland. From midnight blooms and electric dandelions to LED hula hoops, illuminated cuttlefish and interactive installations, you move through to something called the Quantum Jungle, which visualizes quantum physics through touch-sensitive springs and lights. (I really can’t explain.) So not only will you be wowed, you might learn something, too. And the event is free. It really does get bigger and better every year. In fact, this year there will be more than 200 light-based artworks and performances: juggling, song, dance, even opera.
Food and drink can be purchased.
See the website: https://pdxwlf.com/
The Benson Jazz Revival returns on Wednesday with the Shamus Hamlin Trio. The jazz revival at the Benson Hotel, 309 SW Broadway, is held every Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the lobby. There will be a lineup of local jazz greats playing through March including the Ron Steen Trio, the George Mitchell Trio, and King Louie & Renata Caranto. The series is free. Food and drinks are available. It’s Portland classy. (See the NW Examiner’s previous story at https://nwexaminer.com/p/getting-into-a-groove-at-the-benson?utm_source=publication-search )
For the full schedule of musicians, see https://bensonhotel.com/hotel-press/news/the-benson-hotel-revives-portlands-jazz-spirit-with-new-weekly-series/
Cinema 21 Saturday Morning Classics will be shown in February.
“French New Wave was responsible for a new way of looking through the camera lens,” Cinema 21 Saturday Morning Classics film curator Elliot Lavine said, noting how the movies changed filmmaking in the late 1950s and 60s.
Lavine chose four French New Wave films for the 11 a.m. Saturday Morning Classics series because they typify that era. No longer were movie scenes all about smooth transitions. The scenes were “herky-jerky” and could be unconnected to each other. They were messy, like real life.
The old guard may have recoiled, but New Wave fit with the experimental times of the 1960s. You will also find the influence of French New Wave in both British and American films of that era. For example – “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Two For The Road,” “The Graduate” and “Bonnie and Clyde.” There has been a resurgence of interest in French New Wave recently because of Richard Linklater’s 2025 film “Nouvelle Vague,” which has been described as a “love letter” to Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless.”
Godard will be one of the filmmakers featured in the series. Also included are Francois Truffaut, Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda.
At 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31, you can see the last in the January Hitchcock series. “I Confess,” filmed in 1953. It tells the story of a Catholic priest who is wrongly accused of murder. He can’t seem to save himself, even though he knows who the real killer is — the man confessed to the priest. However, the priest has to keep honor the secrecy of the confessional, which means he can’t share what he knows with police, even if he has to sacrifice his own life. Not exactly a who-done-it. Rather, a what-do-I-do-now-God?
There’s a different theme every month at Cinema 21, at 616 NW 21st Avenue.
For the full schedule: https://www.cinema21.com/saturday-morning-classics
Art + Design on 9th: It’s not First Thursday, but it’s something like it. On Thursday, Feb. 12, from 5 -7 pm, 11 art galleries and design showrooms on Northwest Ninth Avenue will stay open late so you can stroll and sip your way down the street. Each spot will host wine tastings from different Willamette Valley Vineyards. Galleries include Elizabeth Leach, Hive and Blackfish. Design showrooms include Ann Sacks and The Joinery. Wines will be from Adelsheim, Sokol Blosser and Elk Cove. It’s free.
The organizers say Art + Design on 9th is not a one-time event. Plans are still in the works to make this happen a few more times this year. The idea is to highlight the concentration of art and design businesses in the Pearl. And perhaps, show Portlanders that the Pearl is still here, still creative, still special.
For more information on which galleries and showrooms will be open and which wines will be served at each place, visit https://artanddesignon9thave.com/.
Portland Folk Festival will be held Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 and 31, at McMenamins Crystal Ballroom. The folk fest features 30 local and national artists, including Hot Buttered Rum (a bluegrass, folk, jazz and soul band); Marty O’Reilly (inspired by Woody Guthrie, Howlin’ Wolf, and Sister Rosetta Thorpe); and Worth and Stain (roots in delta blues, melodic folk and vintage soul).
The Festival is a benefit for Sunstone Way, which provides shelter to those who need housing and other services.
Doors open at 5 p.m. at 1332 W. Burnside St. For more information visit htts://portlandsfolkfestival.com/.
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