Art Focus presents a look at two current exhibitions in Portland dealing with protest and social change, Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now at PNCA and Gestures of Resistance at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. The guests are Namita Wiggers, Curator at Museum of Contemporary Craft; Mack McFarland, Curator at PNCA; and Dara Greenwald, Signs of Change Co-Curator. Kathleen Stephenson guest-hosts.

Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, is showing at PNCA Main Campus Building, Feldman Gallery + Project Space, 1241 NW Johnson St through March 19th. The show features hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. It surveys the creative work of dozens of regional, national, and international social movements, such as civil rights and black power in the United States; democracy in China; anti-apartheid in Africa; squatting in Europe; environmental activism and women's rights internationally; and the global AIDS crisis, as well as uprisings and protests, such as those for indigenous control of lands; against airport construction in Japan; and for social change in France. The exhibition also explores the development of powerful counter-cultures that evolve beyond traditional politics and create distinct aesthetics, life-styles, and social organizations. www.pnca.edu/exposure/calendar.php

Gestures of Resistance shows at the Museum of Contemporary Craft at 724 NW Davis St until June 26, 2010. The exhibit focuses on craft actions in contemporary practice: works that use craft to agitate for change. Through a series of seven artist residencies, open conversations and a study center, the exhibition is a timely examination of what it means to create, to have personal agency, and to counter drives towards productivity and consumption through craft. Focusing on action, process and dialogue, the exhibition unfolds over its five-month tenure. For a complete list of visiting artists and open-residency dates please visit www.MuseumofContemporaryCraft.org.

My guest this week on Art Focus was Corey Smith. I've caught his shows here and there and now he's at Worksound, showing !Obsolete Dreams, all mixed media pieces. Smith is an Oregon artist who moved to Los Angeles - a lot of the work riffs on the deterioration of the California Dream (and our country in general). The flag here is made of remotes.

Linda Tesner, curator of Lewis and Clark's Hoffman Gallery, talks about "What is a Trade?" This is a show by Donald Fels who collaborated with Indian sign painters to address globalization in India. The xhibition has large scale paintings, intense with color and graphics.

Joe Sacco has a new book out called "Footnotes in Gaza." He talks about the research behind the book and how he draws his panels. Sacco gives a reading and book signing at Powell's the same evening.