Art House in Bakery & a Spacecraft on Congress

Movement is afoot in Portland's gallery scene. The Jameson Gallery has spun off its framing business and Drew Wilen and Graham Wood from the Jameson frame shop have turned it into Art House Picture Frames. Jameson owner Michael Rancourt has moved his gallery to the Bayside space most recently occupied by 3 Fish, and Art House has set up shop in the very cool Bakery Building on Pleasant Street.

I stopped by yesterday and chatted with Drew, who's shown here in front of just some of the frame samples they've moved over from Jameson's Commercial Street space.

All the Jameson frame choices are still available, and Drew and Graham have added locally-made, eco-friendly frames. Frames like these shown here are being crafted from salvaged material and non-toxic finishes in the back room.

The gallery hosts an opening during the upcoming First Friday Art Walk (Feb. 6, 5-8 pm), with a show of small works by Brita Holmquist, Lisa Dombek, Larinda Meade, Tanya Fletcher, Caren-Marie Michel, Suzanne DeLesseps and Andrew Abbott. Here are some of the works waiting to be hung.

You can find the shop at 61 Pleasant St.

Another neat gallery to check out this upcoming First Friday is Constellation Gallery. The new space shows the work of David A. Marshall, Nathan Broaddus and Matthew Isgro. With limited hours right now, the gallery is doing its part to support public art with a window installation that is part of the Windowkammers project sponsored by SPACE Gallery.

I checked out the installation before 10 am this morning when the light made it virtually impossible to take a picture of this fabulous piece called "Now Your Spacecraft Will Be Your Peace" by Randy Regier. Should you be passing by 511 Congress St., take a detour up into the plaza (right next to Thai Chef Buffet) and have a look for yourself.

Winter Bash rocks the house at the PMA

A huge crowd packed the Portland Museum of Art for last night's Winter Bash hosted by The Contemporaries in celebration of the opening of the "Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography" show. It was another amazing party attended by many of Portland's beautiful people. The show itself is a definite must-see, and it was a blast to check out how everything came together after getting a sneak peek as it was being installed last week.

I knew it was going to be a stellar gathering when I walked out of the coat room and the first things I encountered were trays of mojitos and lemon drops. And even though I have a known weakness for lemon drops, I opted for the mojito because I knew those test tube-style glasses could spell trouble.

The evening's delicious eats came courtesy of Kitchen Chicks Catering, and Gritty's, Portland Beverage, Southern Wine & Spirits, Stirrings and Diageo all donated funds in support of the bar. And while none of my photos do justice to how absolutely stunning the Great Hall looked, it was the result of the creative talents of Moonlighting Productions, Pandora LaCasse Design and Transformit. To give the event a real rock show vibe, Reverb greened up the party and made sure it was a carbon neutral event, which is what this Portland-based nonprofit does for tons of touring shows.

The museum's chief curator Tom Denenberg (left) and co-chairs of The Contemporaries' Steering Committee Hilary Robbins and Chris Robinson gave us some insight into the show, and shared the wonderful news that the group surpassed its fund-raising goal and raised more than $26,000 in support of the "Backstage Pass" show. Way to go Contemporaries!

I got a chance to talk with lots of friends, and even managed to snap a few photos.

Here's Elena Murdock and Kristen Levesque.

Here's Carla Kingston, Jonathan Dunitz and Shannon Bryan.

And here's a photo of the photographers. Both Jacqueline Richardson and Samuel Cousins were among the paparazzi there to capture all the action. You can see some of Jacqueline's photos in MaineToday Seen.

Even Adam and I rolled out our best rock 'n roll looks.

Should you want to be a part of The Contemporaries next throw down, be sure to join up before April 28, when we'll be getting a private tour of The Artist Studio Building.

UPDATE: Check out more photos from the party on Samuel Cousins' Flickr site.

Posh new digs for Head Games & The Landing

The Head Games Salon for Hair & Body recently moved into an expansive space, which includes the brand new Landing Center for Healing Arts. Salon owner Alanna Peterkin kindly offered to show me around the renovated salon, which features lots of planet-friendly materials, such as cork floors and low-VOC paint.

When you first walk into the space at 116 Free Street, you see these salon stations (note the hanging hair dryers) and the curved bar. At the bar, stylists not only mix up hair color, but also cocktails for customers.

To the right of this area is a lovely white couch, where Peterkin (center) and her team of first-rate stylists agreed to gather for a photo.

Tucked into the well-lit area at the front of the shop, there's a make-up station featuring the all-natural Young Blood line. The salon also offers its own line of hair care products called Use Me, which I wrote about last September for Switch.

Peterkin's good friend Deanna Talarico (left) is the force behind The Landing, which offers daily classes in things like yoga, spinnng, Zumba, pilates, KettleBall, Latin Dance and Tai Chi. She's standing here with instructor Valerie Davis who offers LifeBreath classes. The drop-in rate for classes is $15 per hour, and you also can buy packages, such as the 10 Hour Package for $120, which allows you to attend any classes you want and includes a one month membership to the Heat Suite.

Speaking of that Heat Suite, the basement level of the buildings offers a number of massage therapy rooms, showers, a regular hot air sauna and this infrared sauna, which uses infrared radiation to instantly and directly heat your body. Come spring, Peterkin plans to add lockers and a storage area for bikes. She'll then sell passes to bike commuters allowing them to use the showers and changing rooms.

Need a cut or a color? Call them up at 773-8393.

Habitat's Portland homes go green

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland's Build it Green mini-subdivision held an open house on Saturday to showcase two of its homes that are nearing completion, and Adam and I went with my parents to check them out. Habitat hopes both will achieve LEED certification from the US Green Building Council when done. The homes are part of a four-home building project the nonprofit is undertaking on Demerest Street. Two of the homes will be sold to Habitat-qualified families, and the other two (the ones we toured) will be sold to first-time home buyers through a Maine State Housing Authority program.

You can see the solar hot water panels that are in process of being installed on this one-story, three-bedroom home. All of the home designs come from the Maine State Housing Authority's Mainestream Green Home Designs competition. The competition challenged architects to design affordable homes that are efficient and healthy places to live.

As you can see, there was quite a crowd that showed up for the tours. The refreshments were an attraction, but so too were cool features such as radiant-heated, stained concrete floors, salvaged doors from the ReStore and cabinets from Maine Green Building Supply and Indisco. The pervious concrete used on the driveways was really cool too. It looks like regular concrete, but allows water to drain through into the soil instead of running off into the storm sewers.

Both houses even have lovely granite countertops.

While the other homes are all spoken for, I hear that this one is still in need of a buyer.

And for folks who like the convenience of city living but want a bucolic setting, you really can't beat these views.

Behind-the-scenes peek at 'Backstage Pass'

Yesterday I was treated to a preview of the amazing "Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography" show currently being installed at the Portland Museum of Art. The museum's chief curator Tom Denenberg gave me a tour of the exhibition, which features almost 300 images drawn from the country's largest private collection of rock photographs. The collector, who summers in Maine, generously made his collection available to Denenberg and the museum and only asked in return that he remain anonymous.

Here preparator Kris Kenow is hanging the first grouping of works. This section features images of jazz musicians, such as Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Charlie Bird Parker.

Nearby, these images of Elvis Presley wait to be mounted on the wall.

The Beatles command a whole wall to themselves.

So do the Rolling Stones. In the beautifully produced catalogue accompanying the show, music journalist Greil Marcus writes about Philip Townsend's 1963 image depicting 19-year-old Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and says "He is going to put them on one side, force the Beatles onto the field on the other, and fight and win a war. He is going to take over the world."

The anonymous collector goes for images of artists taken at the height of their careers and away from the stage. He also prefers works where the musicians look directly into the camera. As a result, an electric energy of youth and the power of stardom practically pulses from the gallery. The show features all the major rock legends from the '60s, '70s and '80s - everyone from Jim Morrison and Led Zeppelin to the B-52s and the Beastie Boys. When the show opens to the public on Jan. 22, it's sure to attract blockbuster crowds.

Because doesn't everyone want to gaze into the eyes of a superstar and try to tease out what kind of mojo makes a rock god stand out from the crowd?

Italian couple serves lunch at new eatery in Old Port

Lovers of authentic Italian will want to check out the brand new Paciarino in the Old Port. Located in the spot where Akari used to be before it moved to Middle Street, the restaurant is serving lunch Monday through Saturday. The focus of the menu is the fresh pasta and sauce, made from scratch each day.

The restaurant is owned by husband and wife team Fabiana De Savino and Enrico Barbiero. Wanting to live in a smaller community than their hometown of Milan (where they owned two restaurants), they took a vacation to Maine and then moved here for good in August with their daughter. It seems Milan's loss is Portland's gain. But the love goes both ways, as Fabiana told me "we are here because we fell in love with Portland."

Painted with soft yellows and blues, the sunny, open space has a country Mediterranean feel. These lovely unfinished tables and chairs only add to the casual atmosphere. And all this comfort relates to the restaurant's name, which is an Italian slang that sums up the happy emotions of going to your grandmother's house and having her make your favorite meal.

This open kitchen is visible from the dining area and right next to the freezer cases where you can pick up a package of sauce or pasta. Fresh pasta and sauce are available for purchase too, you just need to call a day in advance to order it.

You also can grab imported Italian treats, such as olives, olive oil and pates.

And should you want to try your hand at making pasta the true Italian way, check out the cooking classes held twice a month. The cost is $85 per person or $140 per couple, and each class is limited to six people. Right now the focus is on making pumpkin ravioli, and each class is capped off with a delicious meal of the food the class prepared.

Paciarino is located at 468 Fore Street. It serves lunch from 11:30 am-2:30 pm, Mon. - Sat. Take-out is available from 2:30-6 pm. FMI call 774-3500.

Car sharing comes to Portland

Portland's brand-new U Cars have rolled into town. Two of these sleek PT Cruisers can be found parked on Elm Street (next to the library and across from the METRO station) and another two can be found on Commercial Street, near the ferry terminal. U-Haul runs U Car Share, which is one of a growing number of car sharing programs operating throughout the country.

The concept behind these programs is simple. Rather than going to the expense of owning and operating a car that sits idle for days or weeks at a time, city dwellers can instead subscribe to a car sharing program and just pay to use it when they need it. Reserving a car is easy, and it's all done online.

Normally the sign-up fee for U Car is $50, but if you go to the U Car website, click on Portland, ME and register using the code MAINESWITCH2009, the fee will be waived.

After that the costs are straightforward. You pay $9.50 an hour, up to a maximum of $66 for the full day. You don't even have to pay for the gas. Everyone benefits from this program (whether you sign up or not) because it means fewer cars on the road and cuts the city's need for parking.

The U Cars have designated on-street parking spots that the city has made available free of charge for one year. After that, U Car will pay for the spots.

Old Port art walking on a cold January night

The Daniel Kany Gallery in the Old Port was packed last night, during the opening reception for Benjamin Lambert's "Fish-Birds & A Snail" show during the January First Friday Art Walk. Lambert unveiled a quirky collection of disfigured ceramic monsters I just wanted to hug. The pieces reference evolution, pollution and the growing gray area between the concepts of natural and synthetic, all the while making you want to smile.

Oh, and the wine was mighty tasty too.

Over at the new Se Vende Underground gallery, I was just as taken with Beecher Cotton's line-up of hybrid heroes. These delightful mixed media sculptures included "Bush Bug" and "Mole Cat." A work called "The Twins," where two black elephant bodies are topped with two baby doll heads, showed us just how quickly cute can turn to creepy.

To warm up from the icy art walking temps and contemplate these creatures further, Adam and I ducked into Novare Res Bier Cafe. We poured over the ever-growing menu before deciding to share a Koningshoeven Quadruppel (which costs $21 but serves up 3 glasses) and a number of the absolutely exquisite small plates.

It was the perfect way to cap off a cold winter's art walk.