Irina Beffa & Bob Moricz

We work from our home a couple blocks south of Foster.

IRINA: I make fine art and do graphic design from home. I also have a line of greeting cards called Merci-Bleh-Bleh which I sell on etsy.

BOB: Bobbywood is the name of my makeshift underground movie and recording studio here in Felony Flats. I market and sell my films, music, and zines on etsy.

We are making our first collaborative comic book together and working on a kids book together as well.

Who are you?

We are Irina Beffa and Bob Moricz. We are both artists and have been together as a couple for thirteen years! We’re a Leo/Pisces combo, born in the year of the snake and the ox respectively. We’re both Eastern European (Irina Romanian, Bob Hungarian) so we fit in FoPo perfectly with all it’s Russian and Slavic influences.

What do you do?

Irina I make paintings (usually oil paintings, sometimes acrylics) and drawings (ink and markers). I’ve shown art in galleries including some local ones, but lately I’ve been making zines out of my art as I try to think of ways to get stuff out there to more people. I’m trained as a commercial graphic artist and did that professionally for years, now I still work on the occasional freelance gig. I also make greeting cards at home and sell them in a few local stores as well as online.

Bob I make underground movies and music. That means you have to work a little bit to find outlets for my work. But not too hard. You can buy them on etsy. The Clinton Street Theater shows my work fairly regularly. My shot in the hood new feature motion picture FELONY FLATS will be opening the Portland Underground Film Festival at the Clinton on June 9th at 9 pm.

What is your inspiration? (Why do you do what you do?)

Irina: Creating art is the only way I can get in touch with my personal mythology and unearth some of the mysteries of being a person on this planet. I realize it’s the only thing in life I have full autonomy over, the only thing I do that effects nobody but me, so I try to really live in the magic that comes with that process. I make my greeting cards as a way to make some money and to put a product out there that is handmade and has a unique point of view.

Bob Music inspires my movies and movies inspire my music. Also, haunted houses. I do what I do to make some tangible sense of the contradictory beauties, absurdities and horrors of this crazy world. It’s a way for me to process it all and hopefully entertain some people in the meantime. Making movies and music is a natural part of my existence, like breathing, drinking, eating and excreting. I do it because I have to. I don’t really have a choice in the matter. It’s my programming.

What brought you and/or your business to the Foster-Powell Community?

Bob Escaping from the horrors of California, where we both grew up! We kind of fell in love with the neighborhood when we breezed through town on a road trip about seven years ago. We needed a change. A big move really fires up the synapses. It’s good for you.
Irina FoPo is a really real Portland neighborhood. There’s fun creative people here but you don’t have to worry about keeping up appearances. Nobody cares if you don’t maintain your yard. We would know!

What is your favorite way to enjoy Foster?

Irina When I was a kid I was told I have a staring problem and I definitely do. I enjoy staring at our neighborhood on walks or on drives. Everything is so sharply in focus. We also enjoy heading to Guapo for coffee or walking to Bar Carlo for breakfast. On those morning when you really need a greasy spoon to undo the damage of the night before, Diane’s on Foster is like manna from heaven!

Bob Brentwood Park off Duke has a fantastic little dog park where we often take our 6 lb poodle. I just love walking around with the pooch and looking at the houses, phone lines, and street debris. I always feel inspired. I often have to stop and take a few pictures on these jaunts. I feel like a meaner and less talented Walt Whitman!

3 Ways to unite the Fine Folks of Foster

Irina
1. Shop in the hood.

2. BBQ with your neighbors.

3. Somebody awesome needs to buy the Bob White theater. We tried but don’t have 800 Gs.

Bob Agreed. When we get out for a bite or drink, we like giving our business to local joints. Cool hang out spots are the bread and butter of community unification and FoPo has lots of them. I’d love to see more of that art walk kind of thing. Maybe an underground version. Maybe even an outdoor flea market or record swap in the summer! A bad economy can be good for the community.

How do you envision the future of Foster?

Irina
Exactly the same but with some new businesses in some of the empty buildings. We love the Russian furniture store and all the ethnic grocery stores, so hopefully those all stay. I wouldn’t mind getting a thrift store on Foster. Maybe a few more trees and the Bob White operational again. One thing I would love to see is older buildings being reused rather than torn down, weather they are commercial or residential. I am curious to see what will happen with the recently closed Blockbuster on Foster. That completely transparent, “L” shaped building is a very special structure, I would love to see it re-habited as a creative business.
Bob
I wholeheartedly concur. A thrift store and the return of the Bob White would rock the block! Frankly, I don’t want the neighborhood to start looking like lower Hawthorne, or especially Mississippi. I love the diversity here and I never want that to go away. It kind of freaks me out to see a neighborhood with an interesting and varied history totally change overnight. That’s not progress to me. Progress is actually serving the people who live in the community, not begging for a new demographic. That doesn’t seem to be happening around here right now, which is way cool. I love it here.

Some top fives to appease the list lovers
Your Top 5 Songs to get you through a life?

IRINA

It’s Gonna Work Out Fine — Ike & Tina Turner

Dang Me — Buck Owens

The Empty — Le Tigre

Super Soul Sis — Warren G

Honky Tonkin’ — Rose Maddox

Your Top 5 Songs to get you through a life?

BOB

Lonely Woman, Ornette Coleman

Sister Ray, Velvet Underground

He Loves Me All The Way, Tammy Wynette

Do You Love Me Now, The Breeders

Stones In My Passway, Robert Johnson

Your Top 5 Haunts in Portland

1. The Bad Apple on Foster (best selection of horror/exploitation/cult DVD’s in town) and its sister store Guapo Comics (good people, comics, and coffee and they sell tons of zines!)

2. Diane’s on Foster (have their biscuits and gravy)

3. Country Bill’s on Woodstock (drinks are stiff and the atmosphere is frozen in time)

4. Clinton Street Theater (the coolest haunted beatnik theater)

5. Zach’s Shack on Hawthorne (hot dogs and cheap bear, what more could you ask for?)

* Also, the 72ndAve. Pub makes one mean french dip!