Area view Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art's inaugural show (photo Jeff Jahn)

We broke the story a few weeks ago but tonight marks the return of one of the gallerists who started First Thursday, Jeffrey Thomas. He's charmingly bemused the unveiling isn't ON First Thursday but that hardly matters, the exhibition shows off Jeffrey's zen tinged tastes brought back from his days as a gallerist in SOHO and the Portland branch of Jamison Thomas, which was one of the first Pearl District spaces. PDX Contemporary and Froelick (now 20 years old) both learned the trade at the Jamison Thomas Gallery. His background simply makes him different than any other gallerist in the Northwest, it shaped him but it has also given him a tremendous amount of perspective that being out of the game for 20 years can give you. If he hadn't been a consistent part of the art scene here this would be a massively jarring re-introduction... but to many of us it wasn't an if but "when" situation.

The space is a nicely proportioned white box and the inaugural show The Sum Of Its Parts - Part 1 consists of few area ringers like Mary Henry, Brain Borello, Sean Healy, Laura Fritz and James Lavadour. There are comparative newcomers as well like Ben Buswell and Brad Mildrexler (among others) as well as former Jamison Thomas artists Cyrilla Mozenter and Heather Hutchinson. The other very interesting aspect of this are the open racks of Murdock Collections in back with literally hundreds of interesting objects and art, at the preview last night it proved how an existing business can have new life brought by the traffic that Jeffrey's new gallery brings.

The Sum Of Its Parts 1 | February 11 - March 21
Opening Reception: February 11 6-9PM
Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art
2219 NW Raliegh



Aly Khalifa

On Thursday the talk by Aly Kalifa looks like a very interesting talk for designers and entrepreneurs.

"Aly Khalifa is design entrepreneur that is addicted to inventive culture. He has specialized in innovation development and launched products for some of the most exciting sports brands in the world. Trained as both an engineer and a designer, Aly has traveled extensively for 19 years to manufacture sporting goods design and technologies. His collaborations have garnered more than 16 patents, been nominated for a Grammy Award and exhibited in the Louvre."

Aly is the co-founder of Designbox, a multi-disciplinary workspace of creative professionals. He is also the founder and leader of SPARKcon, the nation's largest open source festival that promotes local creative culture.

Aly Khalifa
Talk: February 12 6:30-830PM
AC+D Studios | 421 NE 10th Ave.