The Films of Tomorrow

Dear Liza,

This past Sunday, I took a break from wrestling with the French map quilt to go to the movies with Grandpa Nelson and Auntie Bridgett. We walked a mile down to the Tomorrow Theater on Division Street.

The Tomorrow is an old movie theater that has been resurrected by PAM, our Portland Art Museum, as a community place to show movies and feature local artists, attracting families and artists to enjoy all sorts of art together.

To make sure everyone had fun, our old friend Selfie Bot was there, drawing pictures of folks and making everyone smile.

On the “previews” screen, we saw that our friend Jack Kent had been here just days before, drawing Sketchy sketches during the showing of “Wayne’s World”. Clearly, this is a place we need to get to more often.

We got popcorn and sodas, and “The Iron Giant” began. Grandpa and I had seen it years ago, but it was new to Auntie Bridgett. We all enjoyed it very much, and I realized at the closing credits that it was an early creation of Brad Bird, who later created “The Incredibles” and a dozen other wonderful animated films since then.

We were still talking about the movie as we walked home, and we passed this poster for a completely different event. Funny how some images just get into the cultural mind and stay there….

Love,

Grandma Judy

Selfie Bot

Dear Liza,

Every time we go for a walk in Laurelhurst park, there is a surprise. Saturday evening, we found Selfie Bot!

Selfie Bot is the creation of artist Kelly Fry, a local artist who does animation, book illustration, and public art installations.

The way Selfie Bot works is…

You sit in the chair and Ben Denham, Selfie Bot’s assistant, rings some little bells to wake up the Bot inside (I’m guessing it is artist Kelly Fry).

Then you smile and wait a few minutes, and your portrait pops out the front of the Selfie Bot. C’est moi, non?

I wasn’t the first portrait of the evening, and I wasn’t going to be the last, either. After me, a lady and her family stopped by and had a lot of fun visiting with Selfie Bot. Art you can interact with is always fun!

Love,

Grandma Judy