Portland: On View

Talking Sidewalks, Dancing Fountains and the "Fish Garage" - Public art plays an important role in Portland's urban landscape, from the city's first piece of public art, Skidmore Fountain, to the inspired works displayed at the Westside MAX light rail stations. In fact, public art is so important that city and county ordinances require that 1.33 percent of all major capital building budgets be set aside for art that is free for the public to view. Among our favorites: the Talking Sidewalk, a city sidewalk engraved with whimsical quotes, proverbs and wisecracks; the Weather Machine, a 25-foot-tall kinetic sculpture that predicts each noon whether the day will bring rain, sun or storms; and the aptly nicknamed "Fish Garage," a downtown parking structure decorated with oversized, brightly painted fish cutouts. www.racc.org


Portland Art Museum - The Portland Art Museum, which completed a $45 million renovation and expansion of its Belluschi Building in 2000, recently unveiled a $40 million historical renovation of the adjacent Mark Building.  The renovated structure boasts 28,000 square feet of gallery space in the new Center for Modern and Contemporary Art; an underground passage/gallery linking the Belluschi and the Mark buildings; new space for the NW Film Center; a 33,000-volume Art Study Center and Library; and the renovated Sunken and Grand ballrooms.  Formerly a Masonic temple, the Mark Building's elegant ballrooms are used for special events. www.portlandartmuseum.org


Gorgeous Gardens - The International Rose Test Garden - the oldest rose test facility in the United States - is the place to glimpse new rose varieties under development. The nearby Japanese Garden is a labyrinth of twisting paths, sudden views, ponds and waterfalls. Downtown, the Portland Classical Chinese Garden sits on what was once a dusty city parking lot. More than 60 artisans from Portland's Chinese sister city of Suzhou spent months meticulously creating the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, using a centuries-old blueprint and traditional hand tools. www.japanesegarden.com; www.portlandchinesegarden.org; www.portlandparks.org


First Thursday, Last Thursday - The best time to explore Portland's gallery scene is on the first or last Thursday of each month. During the aptly named "First Thursday Gallery Walk," galleries in Portland's Old Town neighborhood, Cultural District and Pearl District stay open late, inviting the public to mingle with exhibiting artists. Complementing First Thursday is Northeast Alberta Street's "Last Thursday" event, which showcases galleries in the ethnically diverse Alberta neighborhood. www.firstthursday.org; www.artonalberta.org


From Quirky to Kitschy - Portland's quirky nature is reflected in some of its more unusual museums. Stark's Vacuum Cleaner Museum showcases the most complete collection of vacuums in the United States. Arranged in chronological order, the exhibit ranges from hand-pumped machines of the 1800s to glitzy, streamlined models of the 1990s. Not far from Stark's is The Velveteria, a museum devoted entirely to velvet paintings.  For a post-museum bite, be sure to visit Voodoo Doughnut, a decidedly quirky downtown doughnut shop with a voodoo theme. Surrounding Voodoo's pastry cases are pin-cushion dolls, skeletal hands and, oddly, snapshots of beaming wedding couples. This freewheeling motif makes sense when you learn that Voodoo's owners not only make the best doughnuts in town, they are also ordained Universal ministers who can marry you on the spot. www.velveteria.com; www.voodoodoughnut.com