All events listed occur on the first Friday of the month and are free and open to all visitors unless otherwise specified.
FIRST FRIDAY BIKE RIDE | START AT SIDESTREET ARTS
Hi! We are back at it again for October! Last month we had about 28 people come out. I encouraged people to dress in cat attire since Sidestreet Arts had a cat themed show. And I found out you moved on to another gallery. Congrats!
Ride info…First Friday Art Walk (bike to art galleries)
Start at Sidestreet Arts, 140 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97214
Led by Lynn S and Viv
Fri, Oct 3, 2025
meet at 5:45pm, enjoy 1st gallery for 30 min, ride at 6:15pm
First Friday Art Walk is a monthly tradition where art galleries stay open late, bring in artists, have free food, and have hands-on arts projects. http://firstfridaypdx.org/
Biking is the best way to get around to these wonderful galleries, as they’re spread around inner SE/NE. We get to 5-8 galleries, depending on how long our group spends in each gallery. We don’t know exact routes and galleries, because we decide in the moment. We’ll stay out until ~9:30pm, then see if folks are up for a group dinner afterwards. Join for as many galleries as you like, and leave when you wish. If you have a sound system bring it! I love music on group bike rides.
Ride details: 5-15 minutes of biking between galleries. Our ride is perfect for new cyclists and families with kids. We’ll go at a slow pace so folks can socialize, and everyone can keep up. We’ll use small neighborhood streets with minimal cars.
6 PM @ 140 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR
THE TAROT SHOW | Splendorporium Gallery
Please join us for the opening reception for THE TAROT SHOW, an October tradition, Friday, October 3rd, 7-9 PM.
This show features new work by Tara Cochrane (from her soon-to-be-released deck the Rose Season Tarot) and over 30 other local artists exploring the themes and imagery of the Tarot in a variety of styles and media.
We will have:
Ice cream and coffee for sale by Sinister Coffee and Creamery
Live Piano Music by Lee Comet
Tarot Readings by Kosmic
And Doll Tarot Readings by Ophelia Darkly
Our Children’s Gallery (inside the main gallery) is showing the Day of the Dead Show, with new work by students in our Art4Life programs.
To learn more about Art4Life, visit art4life.net.
Pictured: The Universe, handmade collage by Tara Cochrane
7 – 9 PM @ 3421 SE 21st Ave., Portland, OR
Monsters Ball | Witching Hour Tattoo
Welcome to Monsters Ball, a curated celebration of the strange, the surreal, and the sublime!
This group exhibition gathers a cast of creatures summoned from the minds of over 20 contemporary artists—beasts stitched from memory, myth, humor, grief and fantasy. Across all visual mediums these monsters take on many forms: elegant or grotesque, absurd or tragic, serious or comedic, endearing or terrifying.
Grand reveal party is Oct 3rd, 4-9pm. Works will remain on display through November.
4 PM – 9 PM @ 1960 SE Hawthorne Blvd., ste 102, Portland, OR
False Faces and Facades | GAGALLERY
Dear Friends,
Please join us at Gagalley for a very special Group Art Exhibition.
False Faces and Facades, a group exhibition at Gagallery.
Exhibition Dates Date: October 3-26
Opening Reception, 6:00-8:00 pm, October 3
Light refreshments and snacks provided, along with performance and music. This will be a lively evening!
Visual Artists: ahuva s. zaslavsky, Aidan Grealish, Amy Isler Gibson, Ariana Gazca, Chase Voorhees, Cherie Savoie Tintary, Cheryl Chudyk, Claire Read, Eric Evans, Fredrick Zal, Jenny Wilde, Jessica Rogers, Kate Garklavs, Kellette Elliott, Lynne Conrad Marvette, Maggy Marsh, Melissa Jones, Michael Pollard, O. Rae, Ochen Kaylan, Raleigh Gray, Robert Fields, Sam Case, Stefania Salles Bruins, Tiffany Peterson, Tiffany Peterson, Tre Roberts, Zena Kanes
Poetry by Ocean
Performance By AngryKunt
Music from Andycriest Van Creep
6 PM – 8 PM @ 2035 SE Belmont Street, Portland, OR
First Friday Open studio | EAST CREATIVE COLLECTIVE
Come explore our studios filled with art, live music, local vendors, tarot readings, and more!
October 3rd
6pm-9pm
211 SE Madison St, Portland, OR
It’ll be a great night to shop, connect, and celebrate the spooky season. Bring friends and support local creatives!
Featured art: @adamsapple243
6 PM – 9 PM @ 211 SE Madison St., Portland, OR
Visions of the Void | Azoth
Color and Sound presents…
“Visions of the Void”
An eclectic array of talent, music,
artistry, performance and installation art.
A late night first Friday event.
October 3, 2025
Doors 8:30, show at 9 pm
$15 for all night, $10 after 11
21 +
Azoth, 87 + Sandy
To the right of Americana Dispensary
Music by
LUSH (Funkhouser B2B Mr. Relish)
Cellographic
Ben Martens
The Translucent Spiders
Axon Chamber
Performances by
Alison Lockfeld (contortion)
Changing Bodies (dance/Seattle)
Visuals by
Cyclop Toad
Immersive art installation “DynaMandala”
By Life_Agent_PDX
Live painting by
Matt O’Tousa
Experience the “Visions of the Void”
October 3
9 pm
Azoth
9 PM @ NE 87th Ave and Sandy Blvd. (next to Americana Dispensary), Portland, OR
Exquisite Community | LEDDING LIBRARY
“Exquisite Community” features figurative collage works created by collaborating artists of the Greater Portland area. Based on the Surrealists’ game of “Exquisite
Corpse” from 100 years ago, “bodies” are composed of four sections: head, upper torso and arms, lower torso and upper legs, lower legs and feet. Participating artists create their sections in secrecy, building disparate parts toward a whole body.
“EC”, now entering its’ 6th year, began in response to an open call by Kolaj Magazine back in 2021. Since 2018, they have sponsored World Collage Day every May to raise global awareness of this accessible medium.
Originally, the renaming of the project to “Exquisite Community” from its “Corpse” origins emphasized the participants’ vital connectivity beyond the isolating effects of the COVID epidemic. This impulse continues as a healing counterpoint to all forms of societal divisiveness.
Come view the exhibit of 18 extraordinary artworks curated from an amazing collection of 41, that spans 2021-2025. Witness several dozen artists’ explorations, many of whom are members of PNWCC/Pacific Northwest Collage Community. Each artist showing what they found contained within a bodily section, then comprising a wildly abstract group of figures, full of feelings and ideas.
Organized by MJ Connors Davison @exquisitecommunitycollage
3:30 PM – 6 PM @ 417 SE 21st Ave., Milwaukie, OR
Mystery & Moonlight | Sidestreet Arts
Sidestreet Arts is having a featured show called: Mystery & Moonlight, featuring artists Dawn Panttaja, Jaclyn Evalds and Ha Austin. Join our First Friday opening Oct. 4, 5-7pm, and meet these fantastic artists and hear them talk about their fairy inspired, and moonlit garden themed artworks. Don’t be a dewey toad sitting on a log, and meet us there!
5 PM – 7 PM @ 140 SE 28th Ave., Portland, OR
Robyn A. Frank: Are We There Yet? | RSA Projects/ RISO Studio Arts
A cloying rejection of the present often said in boredom, frustration, or yearning. Maybe underbreath, a hot sigh. The unsaid addendum. …well we should be.
Robyn makes work that deals with a range of emotional and philosophical ideas about life — change, our sense of self, and relationships. When they name a show, they am thinking about titles that feel reflective of the work broadly, are catchy, and hone in on the emotionality of my present. This phrase jumped out at me, feeling exasperated with the comparison and shoulds; exasperated with the flamboyant disregard of human rights; exasperated with the devastation of our planet. “Are we there yet?” I thought, pleading, longing for … b e t t e r. But “are we there yet” is an oversimplification. Because …Who is “we”? Where is “there”? And “yet” is a small but loud addition that, in three short letters, obscures history and denies context.
This collection includes new works alongside pieces completed in recent years. As a whole, the collection is a place in time along a journey in making. A place to check in with the present. Are we there yet? Yes, yes we are. Robyn’s work is a celebration of change. Thinking about change as the cyclical duality of creation and loss. This constant process happens with or without our attention. We experience ourselves through others, through our context, and through history. Relationships are active and create-able, changeable.
Visually, these ideas are explored through format, shape, and color. Some pieces are diptychs or triptychs, such that the panels are inherently in relationship to one another and exist as a part of a whole. Often, I use repeating or reflecting shapes to represent duality of self — the innate up and down of all things — or to symbolize change across time or context.
Color is used symbolically. Gradients are a literal expression of transformation, of change. The gradient fields connect to observable sky hues during specific times of the day and times of the year; another expression of change as relates to our experience of time. Moreover, color grounds the sense of place of my work in New Mexico.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Robyn A. Frank (they/ she) is a queer, jewish artist living in Albuquerque.
As a full-time studio artist living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Robyn makes paintings, prints, and art objects for galleries, retail, and wholesale clients. Her art practice explores relationships, change, and our sense-of-self through a visual language of color and shape
Check out Robyn’s Website
https://robynafrank.com/
Follow Robyn on IG
https://www.instagram.com/robynafrank
6 PM – 9 PM @ 1327 SE Division St, Portland OR
JOhn teply, spanish guitar | Irving street tapas
Come see legendary Spanish guitarist John Teply!
6 PM – 9 PM @ 701 NW 13 Ave., Portland, OR
COME INSIDE: Zoe huddleston | ADX GALLERY
Explore a tactile, gore-inspired fiber installation. This is an art show delving into themes of bodily autonomy, horror movies, and the blurred line between ugliness and beauty. Revel in the glittery, soft, anatomical wall art. Touch EVERYTHING! Be rebirthed into a world of open minds and weird art. And above all, have faith in your own bad taste!
Friday, October 3, 2025
Check out Zoe’s Work Here
5 PM – 9 PM @ 417 SE 11th Avenue, Portland OR
FABULOUS fall first friday | Bite studio
Group print show.
6 PM – 10 PM @ 2000 SE 7th Ave., Portland, OR
Flux & Venusians | Ford Gallery PDX
FGPDX proudly presents our newest solo show, times 2! Mysteriously mystical sculptures from Efraín Vera and ethereal abstract work from César Castillo. We’re talking twice the enchantment from these bold creatives.
Flux and Venusians by opens Friday, October 3rd in the foyer of FGPDX. 6-9PM at the Ford Building in SE Portland.
6 PM – 9 PM @ 2505 SE 11th Ave., Portland, OR
Calm in the Chaos | Ford Gallery PDX
Friends and art lovers! Join us Friday, October 3rd for Calm in the Chaos, a group show at FGPDX. This luxurious collection of art will help calm the nerves in these hectic times. Slow down, chat with friends, and explore your new favorite work! 6-9PM inside the Ford Building.
6 PM – 9 PM @ 2505 SE 11th Ave., Portland, OR
Contact Us
We do our best to make the list as complete as possible, if you have an event or correction you would like to see listed please send show details to Info@FirstFridayPDX.org or use our easy online event submission form.