documentary of work

2011-11-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

12 Drawings on display at The Firehouse Gallery in Grants Pass, Oregon. The show will be up through November.

Was very sad to miss Seattle's "Short Run" small press festival. While I was half dead on the couch with bronchitis in Portland, my friend Sharon sold my wares for me!

August News

2011-08-04T13:06:00.001-07:00

making charcoal!

2011-07-21T23:39:00.001-07:00

Upcoming Drawing and Writing Workshops in the Multnomah Arts Center "Writing Places" series

2011-06-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

Swan Island Workshop. Saturday, Jun 4th 11am-4pm.
What makes Portland Portland? For an unconventional answer, explore Swan Island, an
industrial site, active port, former island, and threatened ecosystem, with visual artist Nate Orton and writer James Yeary. James and Nate will demonstrate the methods used in their ongoing My Day zine series, which for seven years has examined sites that define or undermine Portland's image. Throughout the walk, the class will undertake the artful documentation of the surroundings, generating the material for a collaborative My Day project. All participants will receive copies of the completed project.
Portland Central Library Workshop. Saturday, July 30th 11am-4pm.
See the library as a book of its own: read from its resources of fiction, fact, art, and music; take as sources the people and pages that surround you; and respond in writing and artwork of your own. Writer James Yeary and visual artist Nate Orton (authors of the My Day zine series) will spend the day with you in the Portland Public library, guiding you with models, examples, and exercises. Work produced in the workshop will later be compiled into a collaborative follow-up book to James and Nate's 2009 volume My Day at the Library.

For more workshop information or to register please call 503.823.2787 or visit www.multnomahartcenter.org. For direct signup: www.portlandparks.org/register

2011-05-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

Nate Orton Draws the Portland Art Museum.
15 drawings inspired by master works in the Portland Art Museum’s permanent collection.
Reading Frenzy Independent Book Shop Opening: First Thursday, May 5th 6-9pm
921 SW Oak St PDX 97205
readingfrenzy.com

For the past seven years, Portland based artist Nate Orton has frequented the Portland Art Museum in order to analyze and draw his favorite and sometimes least favorite master works of the museum's permanent art collection.

For this show, Nate has selected over a dozen paintings and sculptures that have repeatedly caught his eye over the years. Nate draws the original composition while bending (and sometimes diminishing) the meaning, composition and purpose of the old works in order to bring them closer to his own artistic voice.

Nate Orton holds a BFA in studio art/printmaking and has been exhibiting his work throughout Portland since 2005. He's also the publisher of My Day, a sporadically published zine documenting various day trips in works, pictures and ephemera. Much of what he observes on these pedestrian odysseys are reworked into larger drawings and paintings.

7 of my sketchbooks on view early March.

2011-02-24T18:38:00.000-08:00

Field Work Gallery

1101 SW Jefferson St. Portland OR

March 1-7th. 12-6pm

LIBRARY is an exhibition curated by Delphine Bedient. Its materials were assembled through an open call process, allowing each participant to curate their own personal collection. Items will be organized with attention to these origins. The public is invited to come and browse the exhibition during open hours. LIBRARY's collection will include handmade books, cassette tapes, sketchbooks, novels, comics and more.

LIBRARY will be viewable from March 1st to March 7th, with open hours daily from 12 to 6 pm. Additionally there will be an open house on Saturday March 5th from 5 to 9 pm.

See more info and updates here: http://mademoiselledelphine.blogspot.com/p/library.html

First Friday, February 4th.

2011-01-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

I will be showing 20 sculptures and 10 drawings this February thru April. The art opening will be First Friday, Febuary 4th, 5-9pm at the Olympic Mills Commerce Center Gallery, 107 SE Washington Street, 97214. Gallery hours are M-F 8am-10pm.

For a Personal tour please contact:

John Graeter
E: graeterartrep@gmail.com
FB: graeterartrep
Twitter: graeterartrep
503. 975. 9516

Images:
Man On Drugs. 2010. 7X16X6". Mixed media on wire armature.
Nothings free except Rain. 2010. 7X20X11". Mixed media on wire armature and wood base.
It's You! When you arrived. 2010. 6X9X6" Mixed media on wire armature.

2010-12-04T00:24:00.000-08:00

2010 Annual: Memory Upgrade
Juried by Juan Alonso

Opening Reception Thursday, December 2, from 6pm to 9pm
CoCA Pioneer Square, 310 First Avenue South. Seattle, WA

From December 2, 2010 - January 1, 2011, CoCA Pioneer Square will present Memory Upgrade, a juried exhibition featuring work from 16 emerging as well as established artists in a wide variety of visual media, including 2d, 3d, and video.

Memory Upgrade explores the ways in which artists have responded to the global financial crisis by changing various aspects of their work. Considered collectively, these artists hint at the heightened importance of memory, history, and the role of the artist to affect social change.

Over 150 artists from across the county, Europe, and Australia submitted works for consideration. CoCA has presented the Annual since 1989, each time inviting an independent juror to select the work. For this year's 21st anniversary of the show, CoCA is proud to have Juan Alonso as juror.

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, December 2, from 6 - 9pm at CoCA's Pioneer Square location located inside the former Elliott bay Book Company at 310 1st Ave South in Pioneer Square. Juan Alonso will announce prizewinners at the reception and field questions via satellite from Miami / Basel Art Fair. The announcement will be broadcast live on CoCA TV.

Participating artists include: Minh Carrico, Laura Castellanos, David French, Douglas Gast, Sarah Gilbert, Harold Hollingsworth, Phillip Hua, Alma Leiva, Nia Michaels, Nate Orton, Scott Schuldt, Patti Shaw, Garric Simonsen, Tereza Swanda, Kate Sweeney and Jillian Vento.

November Group Show.

2010-10-31T23:02:00.001-07:00

2010-08-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

Most of my books will be for sale here! +friends.

2010-08-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Shows in August.

2010-07-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

A drawing I made as a homage to the bitchin' Morris Graves painting that is hanging at the Portland Art Museum will be at...

Morris Graves Centenary Invitational Art Exhibition & Séance  
Rock/DeMent, the Corridor, and Angle Galleries, 306.S. Washington St., Seattle
  Opening reception First Thursday, August 5 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM  
Exhibition continues through August 28, 2010
http://www.rockdement.com/events/msmg.html
A few My Days at...

Zine and Photocopy Art Exhibit, Seattle WA
perfectcopyandprint.com

A drawing I made of the Burnside Bridge is at the...

OLYMPIC MILLS COMMERCE CENTER. Through August.
pdxbridgefestival.org

2010-06-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

First Friday
Opening Reception
6pm-9pm July 2, 2010

I Want to Feel at Home Here
Group show curated by Megan Scheminske

July 2-August 27, 2010
Exhibition Hours 3pm-5pm Weekends
(and by appointment call Gavin at 503-729-3223)

MP5³ Lobby Gallery and 1st FL Hallway
Milepost 5 Lofts
900 NE 81st Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97213

Portland, Oregon - June 21, 2010 - Milepost 5, Lofts is excited to have Megan Scheminske curating a group show of artists from around the country for the visual arts exhibition of July-August, 2010. Ms. Scheminske is a local artist and curator living and working in Portland, Oregon.

Find out more about Megan at http://www.meganscheminske.com/
MP5³ and 1st FL Hallway
I Want to Feel at Home Here
Curated by Megan Scheminske

Exhibition Statement:
I Want to Feel at Home Here features the work of twenty artists from the U.S. and Canada exploring themes of home, place and belonging through the medium of paint. From modern, post-industrial landscapes to depictions of intimate physical and psychological refuges, the works evoke dissonant feelings of calm and dis-ease, playfulness and nostalgia, as they reflect on the spaces we create, inhabit and covet as painters in the 21st century.

Artists Include:
John Berry (IN)
Joey Borovicka (MO)
Michelle Daly (OR)
Rachel Eckstein (NY)
Jaik Faulk (OR)
Jason Greene (OR)
Grant Hottle (OR)
Julienne Hsu (CA)
Steve Kim (CA)
Chris Knight (OR)
Elizabeth Malaska (OR)
Jane Mount (NY)
Nathan Orton (OR)
James Olley (ON)
Shannon Rankin (ME)
Chris Russell (CA)
Allyson Smith (IN)
William Swanson (CA)
Amy Talluto (NY)

Stumptown Comics Fest

2010-04-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

the good people at The Pony Club will be peddling variouse MY DAY books at the Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend, sat and sun, april 24-25th.

On the Act of Walking

2010-04-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

I will be participating alongside James Yeary reading and perfornming our three volume book/zine "Walk Across Portland" in front of a live audience. James will be reading and I will be re-drawing pictures recorded from the walks on my trusty overhead projector. We will be sharing the stage with the writers of the book "Ten Walks/Two Talks" which records the dialog between writers Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch as they walked the streets of New York.

Concordia Coffee House 2909 NE Alberta
Wed, April 21st. 7:30pm
5$ suggested donation

more info...
flim.com/spareroom
nathanorton@hotmail. com

2010-02-23T13:25:00.000-08:00

my day in vancouver (not BC) washington (not DC) can be found at powells and reading frenzy in portland. drawings by me, words by james yeary.

February News.

2010-01-27T15:37:00.000-08:00

I have a drawing at the ridiculously large Portland Love Show. February 12th-March12th. Opening reception Friday at 7pm. Olympic Mills Commerce center, 107 SE Washington St.

news

2009-12-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

a very thoughtful write-up of my day walking from mt. tabor to the zoo can be found at, http://galatearesurrection13.blogspot.com/2009/12/publications-written-or-edited-by.html

news

2009-11-30T15:50:00.001-08:00

i have a mixed bag of drawings, paintings and sculptures at the HALF and HALF cafe, 923 SW Oak st. next to Reading Frenzy. all december long.
write up here: http://www.urbanhonking.com/halfandhalf/

i also had an interview published at artismoving.blogspot.com.i t's a cool website out of california that is surveying art and artists throughout the west... i get a little communistic towards the end of the interview.

2009-11-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

2009-11-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

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November News

2009-11-08T18:27:00.000-08:00

The Video of the Artwork Distribution for Papergirl Portland has just come out. Had a great time passing out artwork on bike!

I have 3 drawings and a few sculptures being displayed in conjunction with the Symposium on Multicultural Affairs at Lewis Clark College in Portland. The symposium lasts Wed Nov. 11th thru Friday Nov. 13th. All lectures and performances are free. Go to lclark.edu for more information.

I can't beleive this is MyDay issue #10! MyDay walking the Swan Island Industrial Park with James will be out this week. Find them at Powell's and Readingfrenzy in Portland and as always, by emailing me.

Also, I have an unbelievable number of drawings in the new issue of "Fine Lit" I think the first run has already sold out but word is a new run is being printed this month. fine-lit.com

October News

2009-09-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

"Family" Group Show at Launch Pad Gallery.
Opening Friday October 2nd, 6pm. 534 SE Oak St- Portland
www.launchpadgallery.org

"Papergirl" Group Show at Second Nature Boutique
Opening Friday October 2nd, 6pm. 811 E Burnside, suite 119-Portland
Closing reception October 18th where all the artists will roll up their works and ride through the city on bikes as papergirls and paperboys handing out their work to strangers for free!
secondnature.blogspot.com
hoodturkey.com

I have a few drawings in the comic/art zine "fine literature" out in October and found around town, all the alternative comic fests in the west and at studiojfish.com

Going to Maine to draw orange trees. Be back mid October.

2009-09-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

2009-08-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

AUGUST NEWS:

Opening this week and up until September 12th. I have two large drawings at the Satellite Art Gallery in La Grande, Oregon. This summer, if you are near La Grande, I highly encourage you to stop by the gallery. The Satellite has a lot of energy and good work going into it every month. I'm always happy to be part of shows there. More info about the show and the gallery... satelliteartgallery.com

COMING DOWN:
My self portrait, "portrait of the artist as a carny (true story)", will be coming off the wall of the Good Gallery in Portland, Oregon at the end of the month. More info on the show and gallery... goodpdx.com

OCTOBER:
Opening October 2nd. I have a Drawing at the Launchpad gallery for the themed family show. More info on the show and gallery... launchpadgallery.org

ONGOING:
You can find the "my day" books for sale at awesome bookstores, Reading Frenzy, and Powell's in downtown Portland, Oregon. Current issues out: "My day at the library" "My day walking across Portland" and "My day walking to the end of Hillsboro".

portland zine symposium this weekend

2009-07-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

I will be tabling at the zine symposium selling all 9 "My Day" books as well as James Yeary's "From Cause" and Many more Portland friends' books.

Portland State University
Smith Memorial Ballroom

Friday July 24Th 2:30-7pm
Saturday 10AM-5PM
Sunday 10AM-4PM

2009-07-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

5 day trip down the coast alone on my bike. it rained every day.

2009-07-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

2009-06-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

2009-06-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

going to idaho to paint and draw at my regular spots... it's much warmer this time around. ill be bad at answering emails until july 1st.

2009-06-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

my day at the library. 18 pg.. letterpress cover by james yeary at the IPRC. available at powell's in portland and the reading frenzy, or through me.

2009-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

2009-04-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

satelliteartgallery.com check it out...

2009-04-06T10:42:00.001-07:00

still one car seat left if anyone else wants to join us for the opening night!

teen challenge

2009-02-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

asked my neighborhood thrift-store, teen challenge if they would allow me to "hangout and paint" inside last month. I had a great time, people shopped on, ignored me, talked to me, asked me about painting "you ever watch that one guy? on television? the uhhh... happy cloud guy......".Me: "Bob Ross?" Him: "yea, Rob Ross, that shits the best", and so on. One older man hopped behind a piano and and played old jazz standards for a half hour or so. Woman haggled prices, guys watched the tv's for sale on the couches for sale and the supervisors instructed the trainees to, "leave the artist guy alone and let him do his thing, he ain't bothering no one". I was an odd fixture but for the most part, people saw me, looked me up and down and continued on, I was no more a distraction to them then say a well behaved panhandler. next stop... walmart?

2009-01-22T20:43:00.000-08:00

in idaho. attended my grandfathers funeral, painted in the freezing cold every morning, went on drives with traci. the interior west seemed exceptionally exotic. many painting will come from this week.

2008-12-26T14:51:00.001-08:00

a friend described a homeless person pushing a shopping cart up a snowy hill last week and how his body was buried into his mobile home, making the body and material almost indistinguishable. i forgot to show my friend this sculpture after he told the story.

2008-12-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

Pedtown's scenic escapism, the graphic designer's Asian finches nestled in the Douglas Fir, the clean line demarcating contours that don't exist in nature (they exist in vacuums), lack of grays -in Bridge Stump, under this guy?

: too much creation, not enough recording. As if Mexicans were only worth painting if they're in Mexico and not on Ankeny. Plus I like Courbet and was thinking a revisit.

2008-11-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

junior varsity helping put the book together, james wrote, i drew.

my day walking across portland vol. 1: 242nd to 41st ave. both zines are avaliable in portland at east and west powells (powells.com) reading frenzy, tender loving empire (NW) and the together gallery (NE). or email nathanorotn@hotmail.com.

2008-11-24T00:08:00.000-08:00

new paintings, this is not a plant and detail paintings of my small apartment, im currently interested in simple architecture and how it relates to my ab-ex paintings from the early 2000's, I feel they are one in the same... both focused on color, composition, and feel. lower left will likely by painted over.

2008-11-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

new my day zine, "in oregon city" out now. can be found in portland at powells, reading frenzy, or email me (nathanorton@hotmail.com) and you can swing me 2.50$. gresham 242nd to E41st out soon...

2008-10-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

halloween night. made a mask and some drawings.

fight in your neighborhood!

2008-10-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

saw this a couple of years ago.

oil on wood. 6X7" this took me 2 years to paint.

2008-10-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

across the street of my window a shopping cart has mysteriously showed up, debating adding it in.
.

2008-10-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

after countless nude photos of myself in my elephant mask, over the summer an unidentifiable swarm of bugs took over my beloved vessel. she had to be retired.

photographer!!!! i mean...painter!!!!!!!

2008-10-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

last week i was drawing at a train stop to start a backdrop for a new painting. my standard process for a new painting is to start with a day of drawing in my sketchbook and then finish with a couple of polaroids for reference. then work with these on a canvas. as of late i have been playing devils advocate with all representational artists that i talk to by questioning why they would possibly use a camera to represent what they see in a apinting (most that i know do this). so they see the thing at hand, or the photo. i have been on the fence for a year now, wether painting from a photo is a good or bad thing. during this outing a man comes up to me and says "hey train artist, cool stuff!!! mind if i watch" "sure" i say and keep drawing. "you know im an artist myself" the man says, "but let me show you something, here's my camera and a stack of photos. look at this... a train... but look at the background... nothing to impressive huh?" "I guess not" I shrug. "Well say behind that train I put THIS!" The photo he slides out is a flower bed taken somewhere downtown portland. "See, I don't have to sketch a friggin' thing, I jest take pictures, make slides of them, put them in a projector, trace what i like and then paint!" At this point I was mesmerized by this creature that looked one part homeless, and one part booger from the original nerds movie. I simply nodded and said "uh huh, un huh" over and over. He felt that he was relinquishing me from ever having to sit on the ground and draw perspective lines in shitty weather again. "you can just get strait to the painting now" he said. I silently stared deep into his eyes trying to figure how this man came to me in this time of my photography crisis, the silence was only broken when he quietly said... " I fucked a lot of chicks in art school". Seconds later his train pulled up, he rose, told me about a show he had at forever art in november (look it up!!!) said his name in the wind (jeff something)and stepped into the crowd. james varsity happend to be about ten feet away writing/drawing and said "what'd that guy want?" "oh nothing, just told me that i shouldn't paint from photos".

-above, old drawings and flowers from wedding

rain!

2008-08-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

rained all day today! thinking even more of winters in portland. a day of rain shuts you in, a full day of rain puts you far away from the city, our californians and miscellaneous metropolitan implants are forgotten or at least kept a bay for the time being. you don't have fine dining restaurants during a day of rain, no quirky shoe shops, no expensive clothes, fast cars, no pretensions. just concentration. you do as you need to, not as you want to. above- my hallway painted during a month of rain, last january. 10X15"

park at night

2008-08-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

oil on canvas 10X7 inches

one day junior varsity mentioned in a brief phone message that there was a shopping cart lodged high up in a tree at a park nearby. the only time i was available to make time for this splendid scene was very late at night, my wife and i arrived to find no shopping cart in sight but instead a marvel that was almost as unbelievable: a woman on the park swing-set mumbling hysterically to herself swinging as high as she possibly could. it was unclear weather she was trying to kill herself or merely make a full rotation around the bar! off to the side were two people yelling at the drug addict pleading with her to stop and calm down, the woman did not listen. my wife and i kept our distance then left wishing that we would have seen a shopping cart in a tree since that painting would have been more comical and less depressing than the one actualized.

last winter

2008-08-02T01:30:00.000-07:00

been thinking about winter lately and have thought about how comforting the rain is/was. have been longing to her the rain when i go to bed and hear the same rain when i wake up in the morning. i found this bird dead in a mud puddle last november. the painting was done that night but never finished. the painting above the sink was altered significantly. the bird was buried in the mt. hood wilderness in a severe rain storm later that week.

bikes vs. art or bikes AND art

2008-07-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

pic of my bike tour through the columbia gorge last month. i rode this alone and reveled in the days i spent speaking little. i saw many amazing scenes, named my bike and found about a million painting ideas. one day, i saw a man stare at me as he stood in the doorframe of his mobile home without a shirt and wearing a worn-out pair of levis. his eyes followed mine from the beginning to end as i was spinning past his house in some nameless town in the high desert of central washington. i knew at that moment that the bike tour was extremely important. most people won't walk through a nameless town, most would forget driving through this one, but biking through was just about right... if not perfect.

national stories of terrorism

2008-07-28T01:08:00.001-07:00

This painting depicts two toys: a barbarian and a soldier. The viewer is free to create his/her own narrative or justification of the conflict represented. The barbarian could be looked as an American, or as a Mexican Indian, or as a Spanish conquistador or any other nationality that has forced it’s ideas, opinions, or ideals on another culture. This painting is about conflict between nations.

oil on canvas on book cover. 5X8"

junior varsity, i don't buy more than most

2008-07-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

transportation series

2008-07-23T19:32:00.001-07:00

car. oil on cigar box lid. work in progress 6X8 inches.

after my bike tour up the WA gorge iv'e been thinking about forms of transportation and how one could live in/off of them. thus far i have found that most don't do it recreationally like myself, (besides the fact that i have a home to come back to when im tired of camping off my bike) living off a wheeled device is a pretty sure sign that someone is impoverished. last week i read about a carpenter that had such a hard time affording 4$+ gas that he moved into his truck. i find it utterly rediculous that the state of gas prices can force people to move into their vehicles, or rather, i find it utterly ridiculous that gas prices can affect americans so hard! i want to meet people that live in forms of transportation to understand this more, maybe im being extremely ignorant to a much larger picture (no pun). rasta space bike her i come!

the story of abraham, live!

2008-07-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

action adventure theater of portland chose to act my painting "the story of abraham". was great to see.

2008-07-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

traci and i working on a drawing for our wedding this weekend.

2008-07-13T00:44:00.001-07:00

i know how to!"the story of abraham" work in progress. oil on wood, 11by11"

how do you blog?

2008-07-12T01:39:00.000-07:00

how do you blog?