The City's Oldest Art Walk In Pioneer Square
by Stranger Things To Do Staff
Tonight is First Thursday in Pioneer Square, the city's oldest art walk. Below, find more than 30 openings and events, including Future Isms (about sci-fi fantasies, dystopian and utopian futures, and premonitions) at Glassbox Gallery, Marita Dingus' mixed-media sculptural work in The Gathering at Traver Gallery, new drawings about black escape by Robert Pruitt in Planetary Survey at Prographica / KDR, paintings by Susan Skilling and drawings by Dan Attoe at Greg Kucera Gallery, and Carolyn Gracz's Land Marks, a series of gorgeously simple collaged monoprints at Shift. Plus, find an interactive map of all of these here.
2017 Members' Show: Make America Create Again
In this perilous political moment, CoCA's three-day art festival will feature video, sound, and performance that celebrates artistic vision and talent. Elysian Brewing will provide the beverages. On March 2, celebrate the opening at First Thursday art walk. On March 3, spend the whole day focusing on video and film arts, and on March 4, enjoy video and performance. See the featured artists below:
LIVE PERFORMANCES:
Blu the Baqi
Joseph Blake
Melanie Voytovich
Rahikka (aka Carson Rennecamp)
Jennifer Wagner
VIDEO ARTISTS:
Amber Barney-Nivon
Peter Bill
Kamari Bright
Sarah Fetterman
Ellen Hochberg
Scott Kolbo
Robbie Land
Alysse Stepanian
Helen Thorson
Akio Takamori: Apology/Remorse
Akio Takamori died of cancer in January. As Jen Graves mentioned in a recent profile, in November Takamori's doctor told him that the chemo wasn't working and that his cancer was untreatable. The Japanese-born artist exhibited all over the world, but he kept his studio in Seattle. He'd been a professor of art at the University of Washington since 1993, and had received numerous national awards for his work. This final exhibit features drawings and sculptures of men apologizing, that are informed by both the Donald Trump era and Takamori's own battle with cancer. About the show, Jen Graves wrote: "The last time we spoke, the Seattle artist was feverishly making work about what it means to apologize while also facing the realization that the last American president of his lifetime would be a man who never apologizes for anything...The idea for Apology came when Takamori was reading a New York Times in his Seattle home and saw, on the front page, a photograph of a Japanese man apologizing. Captivated, he searched the web for more pictures of apologizing men, Western and Eastern. He found Japanese car-company CEOs, who often bowed, and whom photographers seemed to enjoy portraying at strange angles. He clipped those out, as well as pictures of the historic moment in 1970 when German chancellor Willy Brandt dropped to his knees and clasped his hands in silence before a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazis in Warsaw... The Apology series premieres at James Harris Gallery in February, and even as Takamori struggles to stay alive, he's poking at the biggest beehive in the modern world: What do men express when the acts of men, or masculinity itself, are questioned?"
Read the full profile
Amber Cowan, Jessica Jane Julius, Sharyn O'Mara and Megan Biddle
Pilchuck Glass School presents smooth yet edgy glass works by Amber Cowan, Jessica Jane Julius, Sharyn O'Mara, and Megan Biddle.
Art On The Rocks
Trinity will now serve the local art community every first Thursday with an early evening outing of art vendors, house music DJs, and custom craft cocktails of course. Featured rotating art vendors for this month's installment include Frankie Nicole, Elijah Evenson Sculpturism, live painting from Joey Masciotra, Shaun Heineken, and Juliette Olives, MEKA Clothing, Backpack Girl Bikinis, and To Catch A Ray Crystals, with a set from DJ Melton Wax.
Carolyn Gracz: Land Marks
Carolyn Gracz is known for her gorgeously simple collaged monoprints—this exhibit will still feature aspects of those works, but with additional adornments and etchings.
Crystal Morey: Entangled Wonders
This exhibit features porcelain sculptures by Crystal Morey that explore the small and large-scale impact humankind is having on the environment. She writes, "Intentionally or unintentionally, we are rapidly affecting changes to the environment that would have taken natural processes millennia. Through these actions we are leaving many vulnerable species and habitats frantic, facing disruptions and uncertain outcomes."
Dakota Gearhart, Adrienne Heloise, Ben Hirschkoff: Each Eats Its Own
In Les Blank's Burden of Dreams, Werner Herzog speaks about the jungle. He says, "Kinski always says it's full of erotic elements. I don't see it so much erotic. I see it more full of obscenity. It's just - Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn't see anything erotical here. I would see fornication and asphyxiation and choking and fighting for survival and... growing and... just rotting away. Of course, there's a lot of misery. But it is the same misery that is all around us. The trees here are in misery, and the birds are in misery. I don't think they - they sing. They just screech in pain....We have to become humble in front of this overwhelming misery and overwhelming fornication... overwhelming growth and overwhelming lack of order. Even the - the stars up here in the - in the sky look like a mess. There is no harmony in the universe."
Ben Hirschkoff, Adrienne Heloise, and Dakota Gearhart will respond to that assertion through multidisciplinary visual art. Related events include the audio performance Unfinished Country and Herzog Reading Night.
Dan Attoe: New Drawings
See new drawings by artist Dan Attoe, who Jen Graves admiringly called "a highly unsettling painter of unwholesome redneck life." In 2008, she wrote: "What distinguishes his jewel-like, classically painted scenes of contortionist strippers, red-faced ministers, religious fanatics, dangerous yokels, lost souls, and alien tourists from Twin Peaks is Attoe's continually shifting point of view, expressed in texts he scribbles on and around his paintings. The texts range from confessional to aggressive, poignant to clichéd. They ultimately beg and defer the question: Who is this guy and what is he telling us?"
Deanne Belinoff
Deanne Belinoff has spent years making visual artwork that depicts motion—spinning, whirling, methodical rotation. This exhibit of abstract drawings and paintings is no different, and will tackle the movements of solar systems and "the implicit connection of all things in the universe."
Deborah Kapoor
In the North Gallery, see sculptural encaustic works by multimedia artist Deborah Kapoor.
The Design of Dissent
Get some poster-design inspiration for the next protest from The Design of Dissent exhibit at new Pioneer Square gallery Non-Breaking Space. The gallery specializes in graphic design, and this exhibit digs deep into the past 50 years of visual rebellion against racism, sexism, the Vietnam War, the AIDS crisis, poverty, gun control, and more. Originally curated in 2005 by Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic for New York's School of Visual Arts, the exhibit got a refresh by Seattle design firm Civilization, featuring new work along with recognizable posters from Silence = Death, Guerrilla Girls, Ahmet Ogut, Ken Garland, and many others. AMBER CORTES
Distant Light
This exhibit will feature the work of Sangjun Yoo, a University of Washington PhD candidate in the DX Arts (Digital Arts and Experimental Media) Program. Sangjun will use light to construct an environment "in which the visible and invisible matters of subconscious interaction between people and their surroundings is explored."
Efrain Almeida: Trance
For his fifth solo exhibition at James Harris Gallery, Brazilian artist Efrain Almeida has deviated from the carved wooden pieces of his previous shows and instead created life-size, hyper-realistic bronze sculptures of birds, butterflies, and moths. As the title of the exhibit suggests, the sculptures also serve as psychological symbols of in-between states of mind, like trances, which are in between reality and unreality.
Fleshy Projectors & The Poltergeist Flavored Algorithm Soup
They say: "Devin Liston has worked over the last five months at Treason Galleries Residency studio in Seattle's own Pioneer Square on his newest series. Liston’s current series consists of an eclectic clash of abstract line work and choppy yet detailed portraiture. Describing his new works 'as an intuitive reaction to uncertainty towards the direction of where we are going as a species,' Liston’s works hold an eerie notion of the spontaneity of life as we know it. Using bold lines and frame work, he exemplifies the impact of technology’s influence on spirituality and the human sciences. Liston shares his exploration regarding the idea that technology appears to have shifted towards a position of control of humanity, forcing humans to assimilate or get out of the way of its rapid endless advancement.
Liston’s new works range from small works on wood panels to large canvas with mixture of oil paint, collage, and spray paint. Using repetitive framing lines, Liston forces his viewers to focus on the center of the works as the outward projectors. Focusing on the concept of technological singularity as his main motivation of this series, Liston’s paintings are clearly emotionally charged while simultaneously focused. At first glance, the works appear erratic, but after closer examination the viewer begins to translate the complex language that resonates with Liston’s work. Fleshy Projectors & The Poltergeist Flavored Algorithm Soup is surely Liston’s most exciting work to date."
Four From Portland
Seattleites mostly hate on Portland because it's similar; it's easy to sneer at people who remind you of yourself. So suck it up and celebrate Portland's local art scene at this show featuring work by Matt Cosby, Shawn Demarest, Tamara English, and Gabe Fernandez.
Future Isms
Future Isms, curated by Jon Feinstein, is a group show of photography and video that explores sci-fi fantasies, dystopian and utopian futures, and premonitions based on what's happening in the world at the moment.
George Rodriguez
George Rodriguez (an artist specializing in clay and prints) brings a new show to Foster/White, inspired by his 10-month trip across the world in 2010.
HUE NASTY: The Cannibal
They say: "A three artist exhibition featuring the work of Angelita Martinez, Curtis Ashby, and Margaret Sleutel. Beer and wine is available from the Saloon and light snacks will be served. 21 & over."
John Grade: North
See sculpture, etchings, and drawings by John Grade, the artist whose enormous reconstruction of an old-growth tree was installed in Seattle Art Museum's main lobby in February. At more than 80 feet long, it soars through the air; here, you'll see his smaller, more delicate works.
Joyce Gehl: Dondolare
They say: "Working in encaustic, oil & mixed media, Joyce Gehl begins her process with digital concepts she has carefully composed. Gehl bends the boundaries of photography and the resulting composition is then covered by many layers of pigment and wax. The work is complex, lyrical, and rhythmic and is informed not only by her Northwest environment, but by keen observation of the simple beauty she finds in common elements, whether they be plant, human or object. She delights in a most basic way to her subject and through her subject back to her environment. Just as the beauty of the flower is shaped by the environment as it grows, Gehl’s paintings emerge from a complex history. The layers of textured wax and pigment are testimony to both the finished product and the process of creating it. Her goal is to create work that is simultaneously sensual and contemplative."
Kate Harkins: New Work
This exhibition by Kate Harkins (a mixed media artist who works mostly in acrylic and collage) will explore ideas of "playfulness."
Kent Lovelace: Birds and Wanderings
Kent Lovelace's luminous, almost impressionistic oil paintings on copper depict local birds and landscapes, as well as some European scenery.
Larry Ahvakana and Drew Michael
See contemporary Alaskan sculpture at this exhibit featuring art in bronze, glass, stone, wood, and print by celebrated artist Larry Ahvakana (Inupiaq) alongside up-and-coming talent Drew Michael (Inupiaq/Yup’ik), whose work is loosely inspired by the traditional forms of Inupiaq and Yup'ik masks.
Lauren Iida
Lauren Iida's large papercut works are often dizzyingly intricate, with figures, scenes, trinkets, and patterns crammed side-by-side, sometimes overlapping. They're called "memory nets," and they wrap together aspects of her life, from time spent in Seattle to time spent in Cambodia. Other examples of her papercut works are more repetitive and/or focused, with the emphasis on a single scene or object.
Liz Tran: JaWbReAkEr
See colorful, sticky sweet, and surprisingly solid mixed media works by Liz Tran.
Marita Dingus: The Gathering
Marita Dingus's mixed-media sculptural work, using salvaged materials and incorporating elements of nkondi figures by the Kongo people, will evoke the spirit world and its role in soothing human conflict and anxiety. In their words: "The Gathering represents the duality of people seeking spiritual support outside themselves when in fact the spiritual strength comes from within."
Northwest Nature
See visual art that investigates our relationship with nature by artists including Linda Davidson, Elizabeth Gahan, Mary Lamery, Ryan Molenkamp, and Kimberly Trowbridge.
Patti Bowman & Ka'ila Farrell-Smith
See Patti Bowman's encaustic depictions of bodies of water and urban life (seen through a haze of rain) alongside colorful and perfectly provocative works by Ka'ila Farrell-Smith.
Rachel Holloway: Glittering City
See iconic Seattle buildings, deconstructed by Rachel Holloway.
Robert Pruitt: Planetary Survey
Planetary Survey features new drawings by Robert Pruitt: portraits on paper that explore science fiction, politics, pop culture, and the idea of "black escape": described as "a desire to be free from the literal and psychological constraints on the formation of black identity reaching back to slavery."
Sheri Bakes
See peaceful, colorful paintings of gently swaying landscapes and skies by Sheri Bakes.
Stay Happy: Handmade Seattle with INVICTVS, Kreea, The Brodcast, Porky $coop
Stay Happy Collective features a new group of artists every month at their Handmade Seattle event, which also includes a craft market to wander through. This month showcases music contributions from hiphop acts INVICTVS, The Brodcast, Kreea, and Porky $coop.
Susan Skilling: Paintings
This show will feature layered and earthy paintings, always delicate, often in gouache on Thai mulberry paper, by Susan Skilling.
Tony Dattilo: Hair Suit
Tony Dattilo has been playing with the idea of hair shirts for a while—in this show, he goes one step further to investigate "hair suits" through paintings and large-scale wood sculptures.
Trey Hill: The Artificial Horizon
They say: "The works in this current series began with Hills fascination by the idealized beauty found in certain iconic classical sculptures; where human forms emerge from foundations carved with tree forms. Eclipsed by the magnificence of the figure and narrative, the base, integral to the structural and support of the work, often goes unperceived by the viewer. This recognition, spurred Hills exploration into the human infallibility of sight - or that which is unseen.
In this work, the idealized tree acts as a basis to explore symbolic and metaphoric implications related to life, existence and that which is invisible. Surfaces of these archetypal, hand-built clay forms, are treated more spontaneously with fluid gestures of colored underglazes that break up the abstract, perfected form of the tree. Rods and cones, the photoreceptor cells found in the retinas are also referenced - some in clay, some in powder coated steel, and are likened to sextants, the specialized marine instruments of navigation used to chart unknown seas. The exhibition title, The Artificial Horizon, was inspired by the instrument used in aircraft to inform the pilot of the orientation of the aircraft relative to the Earth's horizon."
Vignettes: Eutopos / Utopos
The world is harsh and frightening—so let art take you somewhere else. This one-night-only exhibition by Andrew "Lamb" Schultz aims to cultivate a soft space through painting, drawing, printmaking, sewing, and looping .gifs...representing "both the good place and the place that cannot be."