All events listed occur on the first Friday of the month and are free and open to all visitors unless otherwise specified.
First Friday Art Ride | Start at Sidestreet Arts
Start at Sidestreet Arts (art gallery), 140 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97214
Ride leaders: Lynn S and Viv
Fri, Sep 5, 2025, 6:00 PM
meet at 6pm, ride at 6:15pm
Casual ride to art galleries for the First Friday Art Walk.
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.
https://www.shift2bikes.org/calendar/event-22255
6 PM @ 140 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97214
CAT-TASTIC! | Sidestreet Arts
A cat-themed art show, featuring local artists. Feeling frisky? Come to Sidestreet Arts’ free opening and have a puuurfectly fabulous time.
5 PM – 7 PM @ 140 SE 28th Ave., Portland, OR
Wendy Nicholas Patterns of a Lost Summer | GAGALLERY
September 5-27
Opening Reception
September 5th, 6pm to 8pm
Gagallery is open for artist’s receptions,
special events, and by appointment.
To schedule an appointment
text (503)464-6703
email gagallery.pdx@gmail.com
instagram @gagallery.pdx
6 PM – 8 PM @ 2035 SE Belmont Street, Portland, OR
OPEN ARTISTS’ STUDIOS | EAST CREATIVE COLLECTIVE
FIRST FRIDAY! – It’s fun!
The East Creative building is home to more an ever-evolving community of artists, musicians, and creatives.
Come by and visit their art studios, see the work, and meet the artists on FIRST FRIDAYS!
Featuring new artists every month, new exciting art, installations and more.
Buy direct from local artists!
6 PM – 9 PM @ 211 SE Madison St., Portland, OR
Playing The Cards | Art Design Xchange (ADX)
Art Design Xchange (ADX) presents Playing The Cards, an exhibition exploring the creative potential of Playing Card surface. Opening First Friday, September 5, from 5–9pm, the show invites artists and viewers alike to reimagine the familiar format of cards—whether playing, tarot, or collectible—as vessels of meaning, memory, and play.
Collage transforms everyday media—magazines, books, discarded prints—into miniature universes. Each piece captures expansive concepts on a pocket-sized canvas, demonstrating how small formats can carry big ideas. From playful experimentation to meditations on culture, entertainment, and nostalgia, the exhibition highlights the power of analog creation in a digital age.
Much like a deck of cards, these works reveal unexpected connections and interpretations when viewed together, creating an immersive gallery experience. Whether considered individually or in constellation, the collages offer viewers a sense of discovery, playfulness, and the joy of piecing meaning from fragments.
Join ADX on First Friday, September 5th, for an evening of art, community, and creativity.
5 PM – 9 PM @ 417 SE 11th Avenue, 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
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.
