Music Blog

 

 

When I hear the words "Art and Music Festival" I think of hand crafted soaps with scents like lavender and patchouli. I see rows and rows of knitted hats and booties. I feel lunch coming up. 

But this is not that festival. The Fifth Annual Siren Nation celebration was co-created by longtime local band booker December Carson in 2006 to honor and showcase working female artists of the region. The idea is simple: women of the art world come together with the understanding that they all need art to survive, and for art to survive they need to continue to create and influence future creators.

Carson noticed, as a booking agent, that many of the local music festivals and events were hosted and played primarily by men. This realization took shape in the form of a four day festival where both sexes of all ages could come to support and discover new art in various mediums. The only rule is the art has to be made by female hands.

This year's festival kicks off at Albina Press, where local painters, photographers and other creators have been working hard to get their pieces into the month-long exhibition hanging on the walls through November. "What Comes After Yes," features 2D artwork that is influenced by the feeling each artist had when she decided to turn her hobby into a full-time habit.

 

 

After the opening art show the party moves across the river to Mission Theater for two separate showings of "Hit So Hard: The Life and Near Death Story of Patty Schemel, a bio flick featuring the drummer from the grunge rock outfit Hole. Stick around late for a Q&A with the subject herself, where you can ask her what it was like to spend so much quality time with Kurt and Courtney and how she managed to battle her own demons in unison.

 

 

Ex-Sleater-Kinney songstress Corin Tucker and her band will play Doug Fir Friday night while hazy-voiced Luz Elena Mendoza and the rest of Y La Bamba plays the next night at The Woods alongside Laura Gibson (who'll no doubt be showing off some new material from her upcoming La Grande). Kimya Dawson headlines a Mississippi Studios matinee show Saturday afternoon along with drum core rockers STLS and the teen team Sassfest, who formed after meeting at Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls last year.

 

 

And Sunday? Sunday's where the crafts come in, rearing their ugly little button-eyed bobble heads. Just kidding. The day of rest will be well spent walking the halls of the Kennedy School, participating in abnormal art classes including an introductory on sugar crafting and bike maintenance and sorting through hand-crafted jewelry, clothing and more made from local designers (think laser-cut wood earrings, retro baby onesies, jewelry made from stalactite and... scented soaps).

 

 

The festival closes with a headlining performance by Shara Worden, the dream catching multi-instrumentalist who just released her third album under the moniker My Brightest Diamond earlier this month. All Things Unwind is as much an ode to icy urban Detroit (where the singer recently relocated) as it is a folkloric incantation of the time spent in between time where love, rage and fantasy is all that matters and nothing else makes any sense. Fore more information on the Siren Nation Music and Arts Festival, visit sirennation.org.

Tagged: video