The Resurrection
Mike Strom
We were on a mission. We were resurrecting the “Astoria Review,” our Astoria based four-color print magazine of Art and Leisure into an internet based Northwest art e-zine and quarterly print magazine. Seaside artist, Steve Bash and I zoomed out of the rain and clouds of Astoria , down Highway 30 to Longview with a half-dozen smoke stacks spewing steam into the gray afternoon sky over the gun-metal Columbia River. This was the big move.
On the Washington side we connected with Interstate-five and charged toward our target area, Portland ’s Pearl District, where the galleries were putting on their first art walk of the year. Parking on the edge of the district we quickly made our way to the Lawrence Gallery where we planned to meet our two new Portland arts reporters, Tabitha and Nate. Tabitha Mancini rang my cell phone just as I was starting to interview artist Bob Volke. She informed me she was trying to find a parking space, not an easy task with art lovers descending on the Pearl jockeying for vacant spots.