Portland Oregon. Since 1991. plazm magazine:
documenting creative culture since 1991, live from portland, oregon.
new non-profit site in Beta at www.plazm.org ... buy back issues at www.plazm.com/store ... Art Director: Joshua Berger ... Editors: Jon Raymond & Tiffany Lee Brown
07/11/2023
Back in 1997 Jane Kinney hoped to interview with for Plazm No. 15. Jane had previously interviewed Bianca Jagger (Plazm No. 7) and was able to arrange and conduct an in-person interview with Leonard Peltier in Leavenworth prison (Plazm No. 11). But she was not able to get an interview with Michael, so we published "Michael and Me" an "interview" with Michael Moore which includes background on her arranged interview, her repeated attempts, meetings, her letter to Michael after giving up as well as a list of questions which she would ask. Michael, if you want to answer the questions, we'd be happy to publish them! The original text and all questions are now in our online magazine.
An “interview” with Michael Moore
06/20/2023
Oregon legislature is back in session after Republicans return from another walkout. Of course there's a lot of work to do in a short time.
Just wanting to alert you to a last minute billion dollar boondoggle from ODOT introduced this holiday weekend.
Not only does this bill undercut the legislative task force appointed to make the Columbia River bridge project responsibly, the money would reduce funds for transportation needs throughout the state.
Contact legislators tonight and tell them to vote no on HB5005.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP – ASAP The freeway lobbyists have included a $1 billion allocation of General Obligation Bond funds for the proposed Interstate Bridge Replacement in an amendment to H…
05/26/2023
Always worth listening to Jaron Lanier — a technologist and humanist.
Great show this month at Elizabeth Leach Gallery featuring Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Justine Kurland — there is a reception this evening from 5:30 with the artists as well as on First Thursday. The exhibit will be up through May.
We published Jessica's work in Plazm issue 29 alongside a conversation with Stephanie Snyder — sharing the print spreads here. The interview is in our online magazine (link in bio or copy and below). The print edition of Plazm 29 is sold out, but is available as part of the Plazm Collector's Box, there are only ten of these remaining, link in bio.
Do you know anything about A.I. and the trajectory it's on? Really important talk here
Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin discuss how existing A.I. capabilities already pose catastrophic risks to a functional society, how A.I. companies are caught i...
04/19/2023
Our friend Michael Brophy has an exceptional new body of paintings titled "Suburb of the Sublime" on view at Russo Lee Gallery — one image is here, with a couple of detail photos - you can see more on their website, but we highly recommend standing in front of these paintings. They are a beautiful meditation on being and place. Closes April 29th.
We featured Mike in Plazm magazine, issue 21 (1999), a few copies of the print edition are available in the shop, link in bio. Pictured here, images 4 and 5.
We also collaborated with Mike on a couple of projects — one a commission for the 30th annual Northwest Filmmakers' Festival previously run by Northwest Film Center, now PAM CUT as part of the Portland Art Museum. Image 7.
The other was for the production of Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion. In this case we adapted one of Mike's paintings of a lumberjack carved out of a tree to become the poster, adding the play title and copy to the flag. Image 6. Mike has some great stories about visiting Kesey's farm years earlier!
04/11/2023
Al Jaffee, Guinness World Records holder for the world's oldest working cartoonist, has passed away at age 102. Here's Al on kicking the bucket in part 2 of his OnCreativity interview series.
Directed by Niko Courtelis.
DP: Robert C. Bryant.
Cartoonist Al Jaffe talks with Plazm’s OnCreativity about different types of creative people, being a critic, and kicking the bucket.At 96 years old, Mad Mag...
04/10/2023
The world is there to be painted"
—Henk Pander
That was one of the two things that I wrote down during a visit to Henk Pander's home and studio with Jon Raymond a couple years ago. The other? “Mine is an immigrant story.”
It is with deep sadness that I read news of Henk’s passing this week. Henk was a treasure in our city, our state, and the art world.
Jon and I visited Henk’s unassuming house on Division street while working on a feature for a forthcoming issue of Plazm magazine. I am sharing the unfinished spreads here.
Henk Pander had been in this house for many decades. The craftsman had a remodeled upstairs and back to accommodate his studio, including a heavy-duty crane to lift his large canvases up and out of the building. He’d seen the neighborhood, the city, and the world change around him, like a rock in the stream.
We talked about the politics of our times, how he saw echoes of the past in the rise of fascism. Henk was a bridge in many ways, connecting old and new — bringing the past forward with a contemporary vision informed by his lived experience and steeped in his impeccable formalism.
Hank was deeply impacted by his time as a child in The Netherlands during World War II, witnessing inhumanity of the N**i’s firsthand. He never shied away from a subject. His painting was the ultimate creative act of preserving memory in a strange land.
He will be missed. His impact and influence will be felt for many years to come.
—Josh
04/01/2023
Showing Up
The newest film by Kelly Reichardt and Jon Raymond is getting its theatrical release beginning April 7 following showings and excellent reviews at film festivals over the past year. The film stars Michelle Williams as a sculptor preparing to open a new show amidst daily dramas of family and friends. The film is set in Portland and features scenes on location at the beautiful Oregon College of Arts & Crafts (RIP).
In Portland you will be able to see it at Cinema 21 and the Hollywood Theater.
The sculptures featured in the movie are by our friend, Portland artist Cynthia Lahti. We first featured Cynthia's work in Plazm magazine as the back cover of issue 6 (1994), and ran a 6-page feature in Plazm issue 30 (2012). Issue 6 is sold out, but copies of issue 30 are available, link in bio.
On April 10th Cinema 21 will show the film and host a conversation between Jon Raymond and Cynthia Lahti. Advance tickets recommended.
03/09/2023
At Poster House, an exhibition called “Black Power to Black People” includes graphic gems that escaped the fate of the wheat-paste bucket.
01/24/2023
Anyone else enjoying Dry January? And have you found Lolo Hops yet?
We had the honor and pleasure to work with over the past year to rename, rebrand, and relaunch their line of sparkling hops beverages. Work encompassed Brand Strategy, Naming, Brand Identity and packaging.
Aurora crafts elegant and exceptional elixirs right here in Portland using Pacific Northwest hops and h**p. They began with a line of sparkling h**p beverages and expanded to hops, which shares many similar flavors and aromas with the h**p plant as they are both in the cannabaceae plant family.
lolo comes in three flavors, Cascadia Field Blend, Yuzu Orange Blossom, and Pomelo Sage. They are light, refreshing, and delicious.
Watercolor painting and calligraphic collaboration with Stephanie Sobierski - Product photography by Nadav Benjamin
01/11/2023
Woman. Life. Freedom.
Innocent people and brave protestors have continued to be executed in Iran for using their voice in dissent. Four have been killed. Nine more face death. The executions must be stopped.
Inspiring, as always, to hear from artist
Sean Burns () spoke to Shirin in - published just before the new year - about the current protests in her home country and how the art world can better act in solidarity with the insurgents. You can find the interview in the link in the Frieze bio.
Some of these works are shown in the Frieze article are from Shirin's ‘Women of Allah’ series. Back in 1999 we were delighted when Shirin granted us permission to use a few pieces from her ‘Women of Allah’ series on the packaging for the Muslimgauze CD Hussein Mahmood Jeer Tehar Gass. This is one of a half dozen Muslimgauze albums we designed covers for, all on Soleilmoon Recordings. Shirin's images were juxtaposed with photos we scanned from some hundred year old Egyptian postcards Josh had in his collection. Last image shows the 18 x 24" poster. Design by with creative direction from &
11/30/2022
We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of friend and inspiration, George Lois.
Here's an OnCreativity interview that did with the legendary art director and provocateur about discovering ideas, permeating contemporary culture, and getting punched in the f*cking mouth. ⠀
Get Your Claws Out, a short fashion film centered on the importance of women voting. This one-minute piece by director and photographer Holly Andres in colla...
10/16/2022
It did happen here.
I am a longtime fan of Josh MacPhee's poster project Celebrate People's History justseeds. Last year, after inviting him to participate in Bend Design and corresponding exhibit at the Scalehouse, I stood in the gallery surrounded by walls of these posters, soaking in the energy and the stories. We write history.
I was thinking about what poster I might make related to the region where I've lived for so long. I had recently been inspired by the reporting and storytelling on the It Did Happen Here podcast on KBOO Community Radio and thought a poster about that time would be a good addition.
I remember being a young punk going to shows in the late 80s in Portland, Oregon and witnessing the bullying, intimidation, and hatefulness of N**i skinheads. Portland was a haven for these racists who roamed the core of the city unhindered. I also vividly recall the brutal 1988 murder of Ethiopian national Mulugeta Seraw by a racist skinhead crew.
The murder raised alarm bells across the city and resulted in diverse sub-cultural and cross-cultural organizing. Many people worked together forming an unlikely collaboration between groups of immigrants, civil rights activists, militant youth and q***r organizers who came together to successfully confront Neo-N**i violence and right wing organizing in the Rose City.
Three core groups: the Portland chapter or Anti Racist Action; SHARP—Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice; and the Coalition for Human Dignity took to the streets and worked behind the scenes to root out the Neo-N**is. From out-and-out brawls on the streets and at punk shows, to clandestine intelligence gathering exposing right wing and white nationalist organizing, the three groups united on their home ground over and over to attack fascists. The culturally diverse alliance had many successes- including driving out the overt white nationalist skinheads from the streets of Portland.
But that is not the end of the story. Neo-N**i skinheads grew their hair out, some put on suits and ties, others went online and continued to organize, at times even working directly with the Portland Police Bureau.
The rise of the Proud Boys and other militia-style right wing groups and vigilantes perpetuating violence against peaceful Black Lives Matter and antifascist demonstrators, not to mention politicians like Christine Drazen who have tied herself to far right militia members and supporters of the January 6th insurrection - illustrate the need for a continuum of organizing across cultural lines.
There is more that unites us than can ever divide us. It Did Happen Here. This history can be a model today and into the future.
Showing images from my physical mechanical as well as the final printed piece. The 11 x 17" poster is available for $6 at the Just Seeds website.
*For more on this history, listen to ItDidHappenHerePodcast.com and be on the lookout for their forthcoming book.
Thanks to the IDHH podcast crew for help with source visuals, fact-checking, and editing. Listen to it.
—Josh
09/12/2022
Joshua Berger on memories from 9/11/01 and the subsequent AIGA Voice02 conference.
Memories from 9/11/01 and the AIGA Voice02 Conference
09/07/2022
A beautiful conversation between Jon Raymond & Lisa Wells in Orion Magazine about their two recent books and a case for optimism.
Various Republican candidates, most recently Trumper Kari Lake in Arizona, have been using the '80s pop-heavy-metal classic "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister to rile up their GOP rallies.
"Attention QANON MAGA FASCISTS, Every time you sing 'We're Not Gonna Take It' remember it was written by a cross-dressing, libtard, tree hugging half-Jew who HATES everything you stand for. It was you and people like you that inspired every angry word of that song. Write your own damn song."
---Dee Snider, frontman of Twisted Sister
You're watching the official music video for Twisted Sister - "We're Not Gonna Take it" from the album 'Stay Hungry' (1984). "We're Not Gonna Take it" has be...
08/25/2022
Jon Raymond writes about the inspiration behind his latest novel in Literary Hub.
Definitely this book should be on your reading list!
Jumping off Wallace Stevens’s classic poem, “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” 13 Ways of Looking asks authors to show the visual inspirations for their latest projects, with accompanying backgro…
08/20/2022
Amazing story, images in this monumental work of landscape art.
In a remote Nevada valley, the artist Michael Heizer’s astonishing megasculpture is finally revealed.
08/20/2022
Plazm No. 5 cover and spreads
The cover features the art of Jeffrey Burk, design by . We proudly proclaim in the table of contents “this issue’s cover art was created entirely on the Macintosh computer.”
Contents designed by Joshua Berger using Marcus Burlile fonts and a Matthew Dennison illustration.
Who is freed by free trade? Interview by David Barsamian, design by .
Next couple spreads designed by Christina Maier.
We wanted to add color, but we couldn’t yet afford it. Niko came up with the idea to add a different stock signature. We continued that approach, expanding it to larger signatures, and negotiating a paper sponsorship for those pages, adding color and lowering costs. Niko designed the “No defrosting” Plazm subscription ad on image 5. His friend Patrick made us a yacht.
Interview with Earth First! by Joshua Berger, spreads designed by John Boiler. The last page faces a Plazm fonts ad designed by Marcus Burlile.
Issue 5 is sold out. A few copies are still available for museums and libraries.
08/09/2022
The Portland Stamp Company is gearing up for the midterm elections.
08/04/2022
Jon Raymond interviewed by Brian Libby in Oregon Arts Watch
on publication of his latest novel , which is a must read.
Jon Raymond has been busy. Over the past 18 years, beginning with the publication of his 2004 novel The Half-Life and the 2006 Kelly Reichardt-directed movie Old Joy, Raymond has seen the publication of four novels, a book of short stories and a collection of journalistic writings, while Reichardt h...
07/28/2022
Did you get to the book release event at Powell's yesterday? Jon Raymond's important new novel Denial reviewed in Newsweek this week ... imagining the present in the future has become an optimistic act ...
The novel examines how justice contends with the natural state of an unforgiving world, among many other moral topics.
07/27/2022
The future of the Earth under climate change is 'Denial' — Plazm editor Jon Raymond on NPR OPB today. "Imagining a future that is not pre-ordained." Listen here:
Ayesha Rascoe talks with Jon Raymond about his novel, "Denial," which takes place in a future shaped by climate change.
07/27/2022
Longtime Plazm editor Jon Raymond's latest novel is being released today. Join him at Powell's Books, Inc. for a discussion with Leni Zumas tonight at 7pm.
Denial is a powerful, compact work of fiction imagining a not so distant future with Nuremberg style trials for crimes against the climate. Who's guilty and how should they be punished? Big oil executives? Coal baron Senators perhaps ... What if you could catch one of the climate offenders?
Written during in Portland during 2020, a backdrop of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, massive forest fires, and rising fascism, Jon imagines a future.
Unlike many apocalyptic futuristic stories, in this novel of the after times life goes on, but in new, forever changed ways.
07/27/2022
Always great to see friends collaborating.
has an new show of drawings opening July 30 from 5-10 pm, more details in their post.
Sharing the drawings that Ed did for us for the cover of Plazm No. 17, framed in the studio.
See the show! Fisk has been closed for two years since the pandemic, here's their first show back.
07/24/2022
Do you know that Jon Raymond's new novel Denial is coming out? It's quite amazing.
Interview in Portland Monthly
The latest book from author/screenwriter Jon Raymond depicts transformative climate action ... and then whatever comes next.
05/31/2022
Another great review of Kelly Reichardt & Jon Raymond's latest collaboration starring Michelle Williams — ‘Showing Up’ — this from
Featuring ceramic sculptures by artist Cynthia Lahti (Plazm 30, Plazm 6).
A sculptor nervously prepares for an exhibit while juggling the distractions of her family and friends in this gorgeous reflection on making art, the fourth collaboration between the director and star.
05/29/2022
"Surely one of the most accurate screen depictions ever of the loneliness and small-bore milestones of the life of an artist."
Kelly Reichardt & Jon Raymond's latest collaboration screens at Cannes. Featuring ceramic sculptures by artist Cynthia Lahti.
Rep. Kurt Schrader faces a strong primary challenge after repeatedly breaking with fellow Democrats.
05/16/2022
Plazm donated services to create a new logo a few months back to support Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Oregon. The deadline to get your ballot in is May 17
🗳 V O T E 🗳
If you live in the newly drawn Fifth Congressional District which now includes areas of southeast and southwest Portland and all the way out to Bend, you have a chance to impact this nationally watched race.
Let's elect someone who listens, someone who cares, someone who isn't in beholden to corporate interests, let's elect
05/13/2022
Here in Oregon, the primary election is May 17 (ballots due by then). We believe democracy works best when everyone participates. Please do you civic duty and vote. 🗳
Encourage your friends to vote with these The Portland Stamp Company vote stamps we made carrying the national November 2022 midterm election date. $10 per sheet, all proceeds benefit ACLU.
Midterm and primary elections typically have lower turnout. Your vote has an even greater impact in such elections.
04/25/2022
Apparently our Instagram page was hacked and no longer exists. We had initiated a support inquiry, but support is a kind word for the type of technical assistance one can expect from Instagram - we know as we just went through a different scenario related to age for The Portland Stamp Company.
Many things were posted to the IG page. Probably some were also shared here. Nonetheless it is disconcerting that a page can simply disappear. Hopefully it will be restored.
Two pieces of advice:
If you receive a text message from 32665 related to Instagram, ignore it or mark it as spam.
Back up content you want to have access to. If the only place it lives is on a social media platform, you don't control it.
04/14/2022
Plazm was pleased to donate our time & design a new logo for the fantastic Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Oregon
Jamie is running to represent all of us in Oregon's newly redrawn Congressional District 5 in Congress. Jamie takes no corporate PAC donations and is a lifelong public servant.
Meanwhile, her opponent has been in the news for some questionable stock trading Kurt Schrader while in Congress. He's the largest recipient of Big Pharma donations and is a regular recipient of money from the Koch brothers big oil machine. First there was a $655,000 ad buy by Pharma-backed dark money group Center Forward and now a $181,000 ad buy by Lobbyist-led dark money group Better Jobs Together.
Jamie is endorsed by local unions, local and national activists including Indivisible Oregon Indivisible Guide as well as four local Democratic parties including Deschutes Democrats, national leaders like Elizabeth Warren and many others.
Ballots go in the mail in Oregon in two weeks. The newly drawn district runs from SE and SW Portland down to the north end of Salem then over to Bend. You need to be registered as a Democrat in order to vote for Jamie in the primary.
04/01/2022
So much great work in the new book published by - love seeing the cover of Plazm No. 17 in here, one of many wonderful contributions Ed has made to Plazm over the years. The original art pictured here in a frame on the studio floor - in the original cardboard it was mailed to us in. Some detail images for your viewing pleasure. Pick up the book from Unit. We still have a few copies of Plazm 17 in stock, link in bio.
03/18/2022
Red BullShorts
Our friends at are looking for work with a classical inspiration for thier Short New Play Festival 2022 with the theme of Alchemy. Open submissions. The deadline is MONDAY, APRIL 4.
Selected Shorts are collected in these books every couple years. We've designed four covers so far?
The festival is scheduled for Monday, July 11, 2022. Six brand new short plays will be selected from this open-submission process to be presented alongside new plays from commissioned writers.
03/17/2022
Good times and a spirit of collaboration.
Since 2007 has made a point of letting their beers evolve, continually learning from the magic that happens between the brewer and the drinker. This celebration of craft led to collaborating on new beers and cans with our fellow Pacific Northwest artists, artisans, and makers for fifteen years and counting.
We are very happy to help play a small part in bringing this latest collaboration to life: Short Sands.
It was great fun to team up with on the can design. Some sweet new merch will follow, naturally :-) Subscribe to the Fort George newsletter on their website if you want to be the first to know.
This helles style lager is a a loving tribute to the Tillamook County beach of the same name. 1% of proceeds benefit and - Short Sands releases at Fort George on Saturday, throughout the PNW a little later.
Back in 1991, Plazm was founded as a creative collaboration among artists, designers, and writers. Thirty years later, we're delighted to collaborate with creative, successful clients like Fort George Brewery.
03/08/2022
The Daily Heller : Don't Let Putin Have Last Licks Print Magazineint Magazine
The Portland Stamp Company x Nina Dzyvulska
Kyiv/Kherson–based Ukrainian illustrator Nina Dzvulkska has released a set of stamps with the Portland Stamp Company benefitting the organization Voices of Children.
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Plazm is a creative studio founded in Portland, Ore., in 1991 with the launch of Plazm magazine. Together with our clients, we solve problems, tell stories, and seek out truth.
Context
Plazm magazine started as a cooperatively published, not-for-profit periodical that sparked a nascent creative community in early 1990s Portland. As the magazine garnered accolades and awards, it spawned a commercial design and branding firm whose clients have included Nike, LucasFilm, and MTV, along with local businesses and nonprofits such as PICA, the Northwest Film Center, and Fort George Brewery.
Plazm Design co-founder Niko Courtelis moved back to Portland from New York City a few years ago. He and Joshua Berger relaunched the studio with some of their long-term collaborators in fields such as type design, editorial content, and public policy. Plazm magazine is now published by the 501c3 nonprofit PICA, under Josh’s leadership as founding Art Director.
V O T E ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻 Take a friend to vote. Text your neighbors and remind them to vote. DM your followers with a vote sticker or links on local voting options. For good measure, early.
J B L A N D : Great to talk to one of the founder of this iconographic award winning cultural magazine that have shaped the upraising creative community in the early 1990s Portland, Joshua Berger. We talk about our responsibility to REGISTER and go to VOTE, while discussing over the various visual jewels created at PLAZM and at his PORTLAND STAMP COMPANY.
One of our Bend Design 2019 Partners, PLAZM, is giving away a Bend Design pass! You might want to take advantage of this awesome opportunity, or share with a friend that you want to attend with you!
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