Seattle Art Blog - News, Discussion, and Events

Oct 30, 2008 Ryan Molenkamp's graphite and oil  paintings combine the organic contours of the San Juan Islands' landscape with explorations of time, space and appropriation in a new exhibition opening October 30 from 6-11pm at Vermillion, 1508 11th. Avenue. 

Oct 30, 2008 After 16 years in downtown Kirkland, Patricia Rovzar recently announced that she intends to focus on the downtown gallery only and will close the Kirkland location effective October 31. According to Rozvar, "The thriving and energetic gallery community in Kirkland enabled us to open our second location next to the downtown Seattle Art Museum at 1225 Second Avenue, and while we are sad to leave Kirkland behind, we are excited about concentrating all our efforts on the Seattle gallery. We will, of course, continue to be fully available to all our friends on the eastside and look forward to continuing our relationships in our Seattle gallery." 

 

Oct 28, 2008 "Zhi Lin: Unheard, Forgotten and Disregarded Stories," the experience of 19th century Chinese laborers in the United States as they worked to build the transcontinental railways, opens in a reception from 4-6pm October 28 at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery at the University of Washington and will be on view until  November 15. Shown is Names of the Unremembered: Transcontinental.

Oct 27, 2008 First Saturday
Gig Harbor Art Walk, 1-5pm., along the waterfront
Langley on Whidbey Island Galleries extend their hours to 8pm.
Port Townsend Art Walk, 5:30-8:30.  Call Ancestral Spirits Gallery at
360/385-0078.
Quilcene Art Walk, 11am-6pm.  E-mail info@olympicartgallery.com.

October 28 - 31
The Traver Gallery will conduct special VIP Collector's Tour during the week of the Pilchuck Auction. Led by members of the Traver Gallery staff, the itinerary will include numerous artist studio visits, private tours of museum exhibitions, glassblowing demonstrations and a rare, off-season visit to Pilchuck Glass School. The cost of the tour is $700 which includes lunches and dinners, transportation to scheduled activities and tickets to the Pilchuck Auction. The tour is limited to 30 participants. To reserve call 206.587.6501 or e-mail vickie@travergallery.com.

October 29
Art at Work Opening Party, a free evening of entertainment that kicks off a month
long celebration of the stunning diversity of arts and cultural offerings in Tacoma.
Tacoma Art Museum, 6-9pm.  Visit www.tacomaculture.org/arts/home.asp.
 
October 29-30
Pilchuck Glass School 30th Annual Auction and Preview will feature over 250
original artworks created by today's premier international glass artists, along with
100 glass centerpieces.  The Westin Seattle at 5:00pm.  Tickets for this
formal dress gala begin at $225.  Call 206/621-8422, ext. 50 or visit
www.pilchuck.com.  Preview October 29 between 5:30-8:00pm.  This event is
free; no reservations required.

October 30
At 7pm, historian Juan Cole discusses his book "Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East," at the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry. For more information, call 206.622.9250, ext. 217.

October 31
Halloween Party at the Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way NE,  starts at 6:30 with a spooky gallery tour with Curator Stefano Catalini and a 7:30pm wine tasting and trick-or-tream doughnuts. Live tunes by Aanon Mannino and Hurricane Lanterns. Free with admission.
 
November 1-2
Jefferson County Arts & Crafts Holiday Fair in Port Townsend.  Sat. 10am-4pm, Sun. 11am-3pm. at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.  Call 360/385-1013 or jeffcofairgrounds@olypen.com.

Port Townsend Woodworker's Show 2008  takes place on November 1st & 2nd 2008. Hours are: 11:00 - 8:00pm on Saturday and 11:00 - 3:00pm on Sunday in the American Legion Hall at the junction of Water Street and Monroe Street, Port Townsend. For more information go to www.splintergroup.org or 360.440.7660.

Oct 24, 2008 "S'abadeb -- The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists," a celebration of the arts and culture of the Salish peoples, is on view at the Seattle Art Museum until January 11. Sheila Farr, writing for the Seattle Times, says, " "S'abadeb" (pronounced Sah-BAH-deb) is probably the most significant exhibition the Seattle Art Museum has organized and certainly the most relevant. And here is something I've never said before: It's an exhibition that every person who lives in the Puget Sound region should see. The Native people represented are our neighbors, the original stewards of this place in the world."

Regina Hackett, writing for the Seattle Post Intelligencer, says, "It is the first exhibit devoted exclusively to the art of the people who were living in Seattle when the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855 drove them to the outskirts of their territory and later failed to deliver a range of promised compensations."

Matthew Kangas, writing for Art Guide Northwest, begins his article about the exhibition by saying, "With the long-awaited survey of historical Native American art from Puget Sound tribes, "S'abadeb (The Gifts): Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists," at Seattle Art Museum until January 11, 2009, visitors can finally become more informed about the indigenous people of our area. Loans coming from museums as far away as the British Museum, Scotland, Quebec, New York City, Phoenix and Brooklyn, demonstrate once and for all the importance and depth of artistic achievement among the 13 major tribes comprising the Pacific Coast Salish peoples. The exhibition will tour internationally. "

 Shown is "Human figure," pre 1200 A.D., Bone, Coast Salish, Sucia Island, Image courtesy of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, photo by Eduardo Calderon.

Oct 24, 2008 Crackerjack Contemporary Crafts, 1815 N. 45th #212, opens a special trunk show of Kristin Ford's jewelry with a champagne reception from 12-4pm on October 25. Featured is her "Aliahlia Collection," which includes gems and one-of-a-kind pieces.

Oct 23, 2008 Lawrimore Project, 831 Airport Way South, opens Scott Bailey's "Oversight,"  with an artist lecture and opening reception October 23 from 6-9pm. The thirty pieces presented in the exhibition represent over five years of reflection on, expression about, and reaction to the geo-political events that are still affecting us today. Bailey is also a critic, curator and educator, currently the Seattle Corresponding Editor for Contemporary Magazine (London). He has taught around the globe and is now the Head of the Art Department at Wenatchee Valley College in Washington State where he now lives and works full-time. This is his first exhibition with Lawrimore Project and his first in Seattle. The show runs through November 29.

Oct 21, 2008

Through October
Art Port Townsend.  Port Townsend's 10th Annual Art Festival.  For exact times and venues visit www.artporttownsend.org. or call 360/379-1086
 
Edward Curtis Gold Tone Prints in "Visions of the Past.  The Clymer Museum,
Ellensburg

October 23-25
Seattle Weavers' Guild Annual Sale. Bloedel Hall at St. Mark's Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. East.  Visit www.seattleweaversguild.com or call 206/264-5496.

October 24
Gage Academy of Art , 1501 10th. Avenue E., fundraiser from 7-10pm. Wear costumes and compete for prizes. RSVP to Katie or call 206.323.4243 x16 .

October 25
International Artist Day. A day to remember the contributions artists have made to the world.

October 26

Cornish Celebrates An Evening of the Arts.  Festive attire is the rule at this annual gala that benefits Cornish's Scholarship Fund.  Sheraton Seattle Hotel, 5:30pm,

$250-$1,000  Call 206/726-5064 or visit www.cornish.edu/celebrates.

Oct 18, 2008 Tacoma Art Museum partners with Centro Latino for the fourth year to celebrate Día de los Muertos. Dia de los Muertos is a powerful, symbolic celebration in honor of relatives and friends who have died. The belief is that death is not the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life; therefore these celebrations are joyous, not mournful. Observed in Mexico on November 1 and 2, Día de los Muertos will be observed at Tacoma Art Museum beginning Saturday, October 18 with the installation of community altars and a large tapete and will conclude on Sunday, November 2 from 12-6pm with a free community festival. The origins of the Dia de los Muertos celebrations can be traced back to the Aztec, Maya, P'urhépecha, Nahua, and Totonac peoples as far as 3,000 years. After the Spanish conquest, the Catholic priests moved the celebration to coincide with All Hallows Eve, which has become modern-day Halloween. 

Oct 18, 2008 On view at the Museum of Northwest Art in LaConner is master glass artist Sonja Blomdahl, on the last stop of her traveling exhibition "Incalmo Glass," a major 25-year retrospective. This show features more than 30 blown glass vessels, luminous in color and graceful in form-hallmarks of Blomdahl's distinctive style. Alongside Blomdahl's exhibition, the Museum will introduce Shelley Muzylowski Allen in her first solo museum exhibition: "Modern Menagerie."  Both shows run through January 4. At the left: Blomdahl's piece is on top and Muzylowski's is on the bottom.

Oct 14, 2008 As the world  watches the historic presidential election in the United States, politiics and satire start off the month in timely fashion at Fine Impressions Gallery, 8300 5th. Avenue NE,   Amid many fine art prints dealing with politcal satire, is a group called "Harper's Weekly" Thomas Nast cartoons from the election of 1872, which include satiric symbols for Tammany Hall, war, chief justices, the god of commerce, a globe bearing the words "the world of trouble," and political scheming. Browse through the selection to see just how funny (and rough) politics has always been. Shown is Un Roi -Constitutionnel by
James Jacques Coide.

Oct 14, 2008 Showing at the Bellevue Arts Museum  through January 11, 2009 is "Crossing Boundaries," a mid-career survey of the work of artist Randy Shull. Comprised of approximately 30 pieces, Shull's distinct style is characterized by poly-chromed surfaces coupled with the use of traditional tools, woodworking techniques and modest materials such as rugged wood, plywood and paint. Shull's work, like the materials he uses, crosses boundaries. It confronts many issues stimulated by the blurring of craft, art and design, such as the relation of meaning to material, pure function to content and personal expression. His work addresses a wide range of topics  such as virtue, greed, death, love, family, community and our relationship to the natural and human made environments. Shown is Chest of Doors.

Oct 14, 2008 "Weaving Paths," Explorations of Human Spirituality in Artwork by Autumn Kegley is on display October 15th through November 18th at Autumn's Framing & Gallery 537 Main Street in Edmonds. Shown at the left is Inner Dance (detail).

Patricia Cameron Gallery, 234 Dexter Avenue in Seattle, opens "Anthony and the Angels,"
a mixed media installation by Seattle artist Helene Wilder, at a reception on October 15 from 5:30 to 8:30pm. Collectors of her work include the Benaroya Collection in Seattle, Honolulu Academy of Arts, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, State Foundation Museum, Hawaii, the Collection of Nieman-Marcus and numerous private collections. The show runs through November 29. Shown at the right is Anthony and the Angels #1 (detail).

Oct 13, 2008 Third Thursday
Edmonds Art Walk.  Galleries are open from 5-8pm.  E-mail scansons66@yahoo.com.
Tacoma Art Walk.  Tacoma's galleries, Museum of Glass, Tacoma Art Museum,
and the Washington State History Museum are open from 5-8pm.  All three museums are free.  Info: 253/272-4258.
Upper Queen Anne Art Walk, 6-8pm.  E-mail info@bouncingwall.com.
 
Third Saturday
Everett Art Walk, 4-7pm.  Visit www.everettartwalk.org.
LaConner Art Walk, 4-8pm.
 
Last Thursday
MIcrosoft Art Collection Tours.  Open to the public, free.  RSVP two weeks
in advance artevent@microsoft.com.  Maximum of 40 can register.
 
 Through October
Art Port Townsend.  Port Townsend's 10th Annual Art Festival.  For exact times and venues visit www.artporttownsend.org. or call 360/379-1086
 
The Clymer Museum, EllensburgEdward Curtis Gold Tone Prints in "Visions of the Past. 
 
October 18
The 18th Annual Poncho International Wine Auction "Viva el Arte! A Salute to
Spain" is THE auction for fabulous auction lots of unique and rare wines from
around the Northwest and around the world; gourmet experiences; and wine-related
travel.  All in support of our region's world-class arts community.  The Sheraton
Seattle, 5:00pm.  Tickets start at $350. and go up to $1,000. which includes
exclusive entrance into the sell-out vintner's dinner.  Visit www.poncho.org.

Oct 10, 2008 On view at the Henry Art Gallery through January 18, 2009, is renowned color photographer Robert Misrach in "Richard Misrach: On the Beach." Known for his desert photographs, Misrach has worked on a series of pictures of beaches, the ocean, sunbathers, and swimmers, shot from above. I Dramatically scaled, with some being as large as 6 x 10 feet, the photographs envelop the viewer with a strangely disorienting view. The viewer is confronted with details of the people in the pictures, but is also made to contemplate the inconsequential place of humankind on the vast landscape of the earth's beaches and waters. Stirred by the events of September 11, 2001, Misrach's title "On the Beach" references Nevil Shute's Cold War novel about nuclear holocaust.