Museum Events

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Upcoming

Open Days at the Museum
The Zymoglyphic Museum
6225 SE Alder St.

The museum is open for visitors on the second and fourth Sundays of the month! Open hours are 11 AM to 3 PM. Details are available here

Recent

Museum as Muse IV
1122 Gallery
7629 SE Harrison, Portland, OR
Opening Friday, Sept 13, 2024, 6-9 PM
Open Day Saturday Sept 21, 12-4 PM
 
The fourth annual group show of art from the museum's 2024 residency program, featuring the work of:
Heléna Dupre Thompson - Abstract macrophotography of selected museum artifacts - pigmented kombucha scobies, bacteria, algae, and copper patina
Lyndsay Hogland - 3-D Painting with metal salts, preserved in resin
Patty Burns - A miniature gallery of the Plastic Age
Alice Langlois - Botanical anomalies
Zac Banik - A priestly robe, a language machine, and speculative ethnography
Sam David - A Rust Age ceremonial artifact

See here for details!
Museum as Muse III
Experiment PDX
1421 Stark St.
Opening Sept. 8, 2023, 6-9 PM
Last day Sept. 30
Available for viewing during Experiment's open hours

Third annual residency show! This year's residency show has moved indoors to Experiment PDX, a Portland science-and-art themed event venue. The show includes a literal depiction of a hidden natural world, art grown from crystals and fungus, art made from chemical processes and algorithms, and the perennial themes of natural object assemblage, museums, curiosity cabinets, and creatures that live nowhere else but the Zymoglyphic realm.

Details here.
Algae Happy Hour
Experiment PDX
1421 SE Stark St, Portland, OR
Sept. 12, 5:30 PM

2023 resident and algae enthusiast Shelly Smith of Seattle's Studio Cornix presents a lecture with algae-based cocktails and snacks!
Museum as Muse II
1122 Gallery
7629 SE Harrison, Portland, OR
Opening Aug. 19, 2022, 6-9 PM
Open day Aug. 27, 1-4 PM
Closing event with artist panel, Sept. 11, 5-7 PM
 
The second annual group show featuring art from the museum's 2022 residency program!
Featuring the work of:
Sam David
Eileen McGarvey
Nicole Quarles
Pamela Hadley
Terra Fenderson

See here for more information on the show and the residency!
Atlas
Carnation Contemporary
8371 N Interstate Ave #3, Portland OR
Dec. 4-19, 2021

Group show featuring samples of work from Portland's artist-run art spaces and initiatives, including the Zymoglyphic Museum.
Museum as Muse

1122 Gallery
7629 SE Harrison, Portland, OR
Opening Sept. 10, 2021, 6-9 PM
Open hours Sept. 19, 1-4 PM
Closing Oct. 10, 2-5 PM with artist panel discussion at 3 PM

An excellent review of the show!

Art from the Zymoglyphic Museum's Residency Program
Assemblage from the museum's archive
    Healers - Erinn Kathryn
    An Excavation - Chandra Glaeseman
Dioramas
    Moments in Time - Sam David (work in progress)
    The Fairy Forest - Alex G.
Stop-motion Animation
    Bestiary Unknown - Alice Langlois
More about the residency

Color Studies of the Zymoglyphic Region
Prints by Coleman Stevenson

At the opening: The Zymoglyphic Museum Press
Pop-up bookshop featuring the just-out second volume of the Zymoglyphic Anthology
Disembodied readings from Hotel Zymoglyphic by the author, Jason Squamata
Zymoglyphic Art of the Modern Age


Bimble Gallery, Aug. 19 - Sept. 12, 2021
900 block of NW Flanders St., PDX
First Thursday festivities begin at 5:30 PM, Sept 2
The Bimble Gallery is now Eye Spy Art Gallery

A traveling exhibition in a wandering gallery currently located in Portland's Pearl District. The museum attempts to shed its notoriety as a quirky tourist destination and sneak into the art world by the back door!
Quick video tour by Jennifer LaMastra Exhibition catalog (PDF)


Archive

Rose City Art-Song Project
Valentine's, Nov. 8, 2019
Two cantos from Hotel Zymoglyphic set to music by Christopher Corbell (Cult of Orpheus)
Airstream Poetry Festival
Souwester Historic Lodge and Vintage Travel Trailer Resort, Seaview, WA, Oct. 25, 2019 (sponsored by Mother Foucault's Bookshop)
Jason Squamata reads from his "Indestructible Object" in The Zymoglyphic Anthology
Zodiac
Splendorporium, Portland, June/July, 2019
Two collages shown in which the night sky consists of actual constellations instead of mere stars
Byte Me 8.0
AFRU Gallery, March 2019
Annual show of art and technology, including the "Microbiota" version of the Cybernetic Aquarium
Video of show
Zymophonic Music
In January of 2019, DJ Leo Daedalus devoted his two hour radio slot on Freeform Portland to a playlist inspired by the museum and its region. The music was interspersed with a live, in-studio interview with the curator.
The Zymoglyphic Society
March 13, 2017 to April 15, 2018
Occasional gatherings of like-minded folks
Byte Me 7.0
AFRU Gallery, March 2018
Public debut of the Cybernetic Aquarium

photo: Judith Hoffman
Zymoglyphic Mushroom Tasting March 3, 2018
"An exploration of artifacts and art from the Zymoglyphic region, paired with a five-course mushroom sampler." The dishes were themed around the historical eras of the Zymoglyphic region.
Sponsored by Atlas Obscura
Photos of the event by staff photographer
Food photos by diners here and here

Curious Gallery 2016/photo: Dillon Pilorget/Oregonian
Curious Gallery 2017
Portland's annual celebration of all things wunderkammer, with esoteric presentations, purveyors of curiosities, and an art show! This year featured Corviid's monumental WunderKreature and a preview of the work-in-progress Portland Insectarium!

Curious Gallery 2016
The curator was quoted in the Oregonian's coverage of the event. The diorama appears briefly in KOIN-TV's coverage

It's a good thing [the curator] was on the other side of the table, because this got me so excited that I probably would have humped his leg with glee otherwise. -- attendee Elizabeth Metz

Curious Gallery 2015
The curator made a presentation about the museum and was part of a panel discussion on "Morbid Curiosities"
Under the Hawthorne Bridge (2015-2016)
First Friday events with the Bathtub Art Museum and 3 gallery shows at the museum's first Portland location
"Mail/Art/Book" - February through April, 2014
San Francisco Center for the Book
Mail art show including a Zymoglyphic Museum postcard
San Mateo (2000-2014)
Annual open days, Obscura Days, and visits from esoteric societies

Maker Faire - May 18-19, 2013
San Mateo County Fairgrounds, San Mateo, CA
"The greatest show and tell on earth", this event showcases the modern do-it-yourself movement.
The museum presented a roadshow with emphasis on "Creating and curating your own museum".
Space was shared with Laura Mappin's Belly Button Museum

Book Arts Jam - October, 2010-2013
Foothill College, 2010/2011; Lucie Stern Center, Palo Alto, 2012/2013
This annual event is organized by the Bay Area Book Artists.
The museum presented prints and books from the Zymoglyphic Museum Press as well as a sample of exhibits.
Blog entries: 2011 - 2012
The Mushroom and Hot Dog Basement Show - May 17-June 28, 2012
Art show at Musee 16 in Los Angeles
Included a collage and a drawing from the museum's collections that had mushroom-like elements
Obsessions: Selected Personal Collections - Sept. 27-Dec 4, 2008
An exhibit at the Peninsula Museum of Art about local collectors and collections. It featured the museum's Xenophora collection as a collection of collectors.
Curiosity Cabinet of the Collective Unconscious - 2005
A repurposed library card catalog was refitted with miniature scenes in the drawers in place of the cards.
The museum contributed a "crustacean mini-diorama" The card catalog was on display at the Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, in August of 2005 and as part of the Funhouse at Burning Man 2005
Boxes - 1991
California Crafts Museum, San Francisco
Exhibit included an early diorama, "Bug Wars", and a Rust Age artifact