The arts-forward publication with an investigative journalistic soul that amplified Portland's creative community in the 1980s
By Melissa Delzio
It has been said that Clinton St. Quarterly was formed after sifting through the ashes of the Portland Scribe, and declaring that, “no city should survive without an outlet for the radically creative and the creatively radical literary arts.”
But founding publisher Lenny Dee (aka Lenny Diener of the Clinton St. Theater collective which lent its name to the publication) said the project was born from an unlikely source. He recalls leaving a Bruce Springsteen concert and feeling deeply moved and inspired. He said, “I want to do something where I leave nothing behind.”
Lenny saw the limitations of what the theater could do to enact social change and thought a paper could be a better vehicle for counterculture connection. He was always interested in journalism and had worked on Rat, an early publication of the underground press in New York City in the late 1960s. He knew firsthand that underground newspapers had a direct relationship to community-building.
Lenny’s social values had formed as a direct result of his early days, living through the Vietnam War era in New York City. “I had friends I grew up with coming back in body bags.” One of the things you could do to avoid enlisting in the Vietnam War was teach in inner-city schools. So Lenny signed on to teach at a school in the borough of Queens. A key life experience was formed when the teachers went on strike for three months. During that time the parents and Lenny collectively organized a liberation school. He says, “Kids learned like they never had before. And so that was [an event that forged] my sense of community values. Everything I've done after that is tied to that experience.”
Spring 1979, Clinton St. Quarterly Issue 1.
Coming Together to Make a Paper
In the Spring of 1979, Lenny leaned on a friend (future cinematographer Eric Edwards) who had design chops along with Joe Uris and Beverly Walton to produce Issue 1 of what would become a legendary quarterly publication.
As Lenny established the founding team, he knew there was a vast amount of untapped talent in Portland that needed a broader outlet for exposure. “The purpose of the Quarterly was to give that talent a chance to show itself and show its wisdom.” The paper was designed to be political, but not to feel stuffy. They gave artists free rein to express themselves in ways that weren’t on offer at other publications.
With this ethos, Clinton St. Quarterly laid out its mission in the first issue of the paper:
“There are a number of views on what makes the world go round. We intend to articulate a few that aren’t getting heard enough in our fair city. … Now that we are no longer radical chic there is a trend to groove with the times “Stayin Alive” if you will — well, we believe in the traditions of the fabled press of yesteryear — of hootin’ and a’ hollerin’ and championing ideas whose times are more than overdue.”
The founders, like other members of the underground press, challenged objectivity in journalism. They wrote, “Objectivity is a sterilizing myth that maintains the status quo and offers little in the way of pointed analysis or exciting alternatives.”
A few key people who joined early, largely remained in some role for every issue: David Milholland, Jim Blashfield, Lenny, and Peggy Lindquist. Lenny remembers the team assembling very organically, “Peggy was working at the Clinton St. Theater and appreciated what we were doing. Jim was friends with Peggy and David and suddenly we had a team.”
For writing, design, and illustration, the group leaned into their connections who happened to be the A-listers of Portland’s creative community. With artists at the heart of the publication, these pages sing with beauty, humor, irony, and thoughtful journalism.
Some of Katherine Dunn's writing featured in Clinton St. Quarterly: "Invitations to a Fight", Winter 1980; "Near Flesh", Spring 1981; "The Education of Mrs. R", Fall 1980.
The Quarterly’s approach to editorial was from the community up and freeform by nature. Their writer friends passed along much of the content they were excited about. When Katherine Dunn wanted to write about boxing, The Quarterly gave her a platform, years before she hit it big with the best-selling novel, Geek Love!
Marjorie Sharp was writing letters to Walt Curtis (who was a later Associate Editor) about life in Nepal. The two decided, why not publish those in the paper? Lenny himself was interested in sports and wrote extensively about the Blazers. He also loved the band, Holy Modal Rounders, so they got a feature.
Some of Lenny's writing featured in Clinton St. Quarterly. Holy Modal Rounders article with illustration by David Celsi from Summer 1981. Blazer article from Spring 1980.
There was a wide, rotating cast of artists and writers who contributed. The masthead was a game of musical chairs with various staff members assuming various titles from issue to issue.
The Portland music scene was a common topic, especially with punk bands emerging. A Spring 1981 feature on punk rock in Portland featured an interview with the Neo Boys’ Kim Kincaid. The Neo Boys was an all-female punk/new wave band, one of Portland’s oldest. In the pages of The Quarterly, Kim said of Portland at the time, “…it’s a good place to get things done. Rent is cheap for a place to practice and work on songs.” Bandmate and sister K.T. Kincaid, adds, “...bands here work together, and in bigger cities or other cities there’s a lot of competition.”
Music collection: "Meanwhile in Portland", Spring 1981; "On the Radio", Summer 1981; "In Pursuit of Sun Ra", Winter 1981; "Bright Moments, the Mt Hood Festival of Jazz", Fall 1982; "Bluesman", Winter 1983; "Surf Punks Gone Wacko", Spring 1981 with illustration by Michael Curry.
The feature"On the Radio" about KBOO highlights the connection between community radio stations and the independent press, which has been long established since the Scribe days.
The Quarterly was unafraid to give comics equal space to more traditional writing. The underground comic movement was still in its stride, and they published comics by Bennet Norrbo, David Celsi, and Lynda Barry — who was living in Seattle at the time.
"I call on Lynda Barry" from Fall 1982 features comics of Lynda Barry with writing and design layout by Jim Blashfield.
The comics balanced out deeper topics (literally), like this article about the nuclear submarine still parked in Puget Sound today.
The editors rarely assigned a story. To round out the submitted content, Lenny would visit the library and scour all the magazines. When there was an article he liked that brought a thoughtful perspective, he would reach out to the author and get permission to reprint it. This broadened the paper’s authorship to include national and international figures such as Carlos Fuentes, Neil Postman, Allen Ginsberg, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Michael Ventura.
Movie listing various issues.
Due to the paper’s relationship with Clinton St. Theater, you can bet that every issue contained a page devoted to movie listings, with custom layouts to boot!
Blashfield and Design Improv
Clinton St. Quarterly got a glow-up in Issue Four when Jim Blashfield entered the scene. His cover was paired with a comic on the interior. The humor was deemed strange by his colleagues, but Jim wasn’t deterred. He was happy to do what amused him. The strength of his design skills was clear from the start, and kept him on the roster, first as a designer, then as an art director and editor.
Clinton St. Quarterly covers by Jim Blashfield. Top left to bottom right: Winter 1979; Spring 1980; Summer 1980; Fall 1980; Winter 1980; Summer 1981; Spring 1983.
Jim ushered in a larger format, bold color, a strict grid, contemporary design, (look at those Zip-A-Tone patterns!), and quirky humor. He called his design process rather improvisational and was not in the habit of making preparatory drawings.
Jim thought a designer had a lot of power as they were the last person to touch the paper before it went to print! He had some design experience from living in San Francisco in the 60s and working with Bill Graham on Filmore posters in the psychedelic style. (You can see his Filmore posters at the Portland Art Museum show through March 30, 2025). But, as for designing a full publication — like many others in independent media — he had no previous experience. Jim says he studied Rolling Stone magazine for page layout inspiration, including the four-column framework. It was natural for Jim to infuse color, coming from psychedelic San Francisco, but nerve-wracking to experiment with newsprint.
Under Jim’s leadership, he pre-printed all the rules (or borderlines) of the layout so that artists could focus on being creative and not be exhausted by all the measuring. He said the expressive nature of design was intuitive to him. Spreads that were more serious or political would be more conservatively designed, and others could be more dynamic with striking diagonals. The paper had a centerfold dedicated 100% to art. It was a wide canvas for creative exploration.
Hallmarks for Jim’s covers include photomontage with layers of texture, found objects like scissors, or clippings collaged from other magazines. Popular Mechanics was a favorite source. Jim was free to contribute his own writing as well. The Fall 1981 issue had a 3-page feature interview he conducted with Lynda Barry, whom he had wanted to meet.
Jim’s quirky sense of humor started filtering in with issues like Fall 1982 that contained a series of satirical infomercials promoting things like growing your own mold culture business in your home or moving into a fast food-inspired, carnivalesque “Golden Fries” home just beyond the McEntry Gate. Jim says, “I didn't tell [the editors] that I was working on this. I just did it. I submitted as if I had a right to do it.”
Tabloid spoof pages followed with headlines like “Mid-life Crisis Brings Grisly End.” According to Jim, the point of view in this writing was, “some jerk male giving his opinion on all kinds of things.” Looking back 40 years later he says, “You see why I liked working on Clinton St. Quarterly? I just got to do this.”
Satirical pieces written and design by Jim Blashfield. Top left to bottom right: Slides 1-3, Winter 1981; Slide 4, Winter 1980; Slide 5 -6, Summer 1980; Slide 7, Fall 1980; Spring 1980.
Jim Blashfield went on to great success as a filmmaker creating music videos for world-class talents including Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Talking Heads, and Michael Jackson. He wants to be primarily known as a filmmaker, but his decade's worth of literary and artistic contributions to The Quarterly are formidable.
Artist Highlights
The Quarterly sought a wide variety of artist contributors, a few became some of the top names in the Portland fine art world. There are way too many artists in The Quarterly to feature each, but here are a few highlights:
Henk Pander
Henk Pander was a Dutch artist who moved to Portland in 1965. Upon arrival, Henk found the avant-garde Storefront Theater collective and started designing posters and sets for them. He quickly became a go-to illustrator for underground papers like Willamette Bridge.
Henk Pander's illustrations in Clinton St. Quarterly. Top left to bottom right: Slide 1, Spring 1980; Slide 2-3, Spring 1983; Slide 4, Summer 1982; Slide 5, Fall 1980; Slides 6-7, Spring 1982; Slide 8, Spring 1980; Slide 9-10, Fall 1982; Slide 11, Summer 1979; Slide 12, Winter 1982; Slide 13, Fall 1979.
Years later friends connected to Clinton St. Quarterly were sure to bring him in. Henk contributed over 15 illustrations over seven years. He illustrated a newly-birthed baby, a satirical TriMet bus wrap complete with typography composed of rats, and an other-worldly composition that paired with a feature article about the artist.
Henk described feeling out of place with the mainstream Oregon art world. “People are stuffy. I think the kind of drawings I do are not really done around the Northwest, so they appear very unusual.” Despite this, Henk describes feeling he could freely experiment with all forms of creative expression. “[In Portland] I had to diversify my skills, develop a broad base that includes posters, stage sets, lettering, as well as drawing and painting. I would never have done that in Holland. I became more honest and less fearful, simply through the sensation of living in a foreign country. The social controls of your own country are gone, so you become freer, perhaps more direct.”
Having their work called unusual is where Jim and Henk might have found alignment. Jim remembers it was not necessary to offer Henk any art direction on a Quarterly illustration assignment. He said, “Henk would not be amused by any art direction, particularly. He would read the article and respond to it.” Both men were able to work independently their whole, long creative careers in Portland, later each occupying a floor for their creative endeavors in the same building in NW.
Isaka Shamsud-Din
Another artist whose illustrations are front and center from issue one is Isaka Shamsud-Din. Isaka is renowned for capturing the rich lives and histories of the African diaspora in his paintings, murals, and community projects. Isaka was already an accomplished artist in Portland as far back as 1976 as evidenced in this cover of the Scribe featuring him and his work. Isaka is lesser known for his commercial illustration work, designing posters for theater companies, event posters, and editorial illustrations. His 1979 Issue 2 cover of The Quarterly features a comic celebrating the outcome of a Portland School Board decision to change its desegregation plan and policies in the face of a threatened boycott by the Black United Front.
Isaka Shamsud-Din's illustrations in Clinton St. Quarterly. Top left to bottom right: Slide 1, Spring 1979; Slide 2, Summer 1979; Slide 3, Fall 1979, Isaka's only cover; Slide 4, Fall 1979; Slide 5, Winter 1979; Slide 6, Spring 1980 mini article; Slide 7, Summer 1980; Slide 8, Fall 1980 political cartoon about utility rate hikes; Slide 9, Winter 1980 political cartoon about the embattled Portland School Board; Slide 10-11, Fall 1981; Slide 12, Summer 1982 satirical bus wrap proposal for TriMet. Note: Isaka changed his name from Isaac.
Isaka’s output ranges from political cartoons like this one exposing power company greed fed by public officials, and his own satirical TriMet bus wrap proposal: a surreal composition of eyeballs. His dynamic portrayal of Charles Mingus shows more painterly illustration explorations.
Matt Wuerker's illustrations in Clinton St. Quarterly. Top left to bottom right: Slide 1, Spring 1985; Slide 2-3, Spring 1981; Slide 4, Summer 1981 satirical ad written by Jim Blashfield; Slide 5-7, Summer 1986 photos and writing by Matt Wuerker also about El Salvador. Slide 8, Summer 1986 political cartoon.
Matt Wuerker
Now a Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist and founding staff member of Politico, Matt Wuerker got his start doing political cartoons for Willamette Week. As an early artist at Will Vinton’s animation studio, he met Jim Blashfield and the The Quarterly crew. Matt contributed pieces like this complex satirical work “El Salvador the Game”.
Steve Sandstrom's illustrations in Clinton St. Quarterly. Top left to bottom right: Slide 1-2, Fall 1979; Slide 3, Winter 1979; Slide 4, Summer 1980; Slide 5, Winter 1980; Slide 6, Fall 1981.
Steve Sandstrom
Portland design bigwig, Steve Sandstrom tried his hand at editorial illustration for The Quarterly before he went on to lead his own design studio, Sandstrom Design. Steve says of the process, “I would get typed copies of articles and was given creative freedom to do the illustrations. I used pen and ink on illustration board. When finished, I would drop the drawings off at Lenny’s house where the dining room had been converted into a space to layout the paper. It was a grassroots operation, and clearly a work of passion and dedication. It was for the community and by a community of thoughtful, caring, and talented people.”
Richard Brown's photography in Clinton St. Quarterly, Summer 1985.
Richard Brown
Portland photographer and activist Richard Brown is only listed as a contributor for the Quarterly once, but that one time earned him an "Excellence in Journalism Award" in 1985 from the Society of Professional Journalists. His evocative photographic essay on Black life in Oregon accompanies an interview with Derrick Bell, the first Black Dean of the University of Oregon Law School, after his resignation. The article comes right after — and in stark contrast to — an investigative deep dive into the rise of Neo-Nazi communities in Idaho. Richard Brown’s journey to becoming a photographer and community activist trying to bridge the divide between the police and the Black community is explored in his memoir, “This is Not for You” published in 2021 (I highly recommend it!).
