Seattle Art Blog - News, Discussion, and Events

Art On the Ridge, 7601 Greenwood Avenue N., opens “Surround Yourself with Art, “ in a show with several gallery artists. On view through October 1, an artist reception is scheduled on September 11 from 6-9pm.

Whatcom County clay artist, Ed Kraft will be featured at Good Earth Pottery, 1000 Harris Avenue in the historic Fairhaven district of Bellingham, throughout the month of September. Kraft is known for his Lotus Blossom fountains and ceramic stupas.

First Thursday

Gallery Walks in Pioneer Square and the Seattle Art Museum area, 6-8pm. Downtown Museum and Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park are free all day on First Thursdays. For maps check out www.firstthursdayseattle.com/

First Friday

Anacortes Galleries are open from 6-8pm.  Visit www.anacortesart.com.

Bainbridge Island Galleries are open from 5-8 or 9pm.

Bellingham Downtown Art Walk from 6-10 pm. For more information go to http://www.downtownbellingham.com/gallerywalk/

Belltown Seattle monthly art walk from 6-8pm. Call Carol d'Amelio at 206.443.6003 for more information.

Bremerton Gallery Walk, 5-8pm, in Downtown Bremerton.

Ellensburg Art Walk, 5-7:30pm., in Historic Downtown Ellensburg.

Fremont Art Walk, 6-9pm.  Visit http://fremontfirstfriday.com/.

Issaquah Art Walk 6-9pm in downtown Issaquah. Gilman Village participates with downtown Issaquah and provides a free limo back and forth from Gilman Village to downtown Issaquah. Both 'venues' feature art, music and refreshments.

Sequim Art Walk, 5-8pm, downtown.

Vashon Island Gallery Cruise, 6-9pm.  Call Silverwood Gallery 206/463-1722.

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.

Coupeville Arts and Antiques Walk, 5-8pm.

September 3

Los Angeles–based artists Paul McCarthy and Richard Jackson discuss the expanded notion of painting as it relates to their work in the Seattle Art Museum exhibition Target Practice: Painting Under Attack 1949–78. Held at 7pm in the Plestcheef Auditorium at the downtown Seattle Art Museum.

September 4

Woodpalooza, the 6th. annual show of the Whidbey Island Woodworkers Guild at the Open Door Gallery at the Bayview Corner in Langley from September 4 through 13.

Kerfuffle (or The Uneasy Relationship Between Humanity and the Environment)  opens on September 4 at the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms. The Bumbershoot Visual Arts Exhibits will open with the Mayor's Arts Awards at noon and will be free for the public to view until 7pm.

September 5-6

Lopez Island Artists Studio Tour – 25 studios and 30 artists, 10am-5pm.  Visit www.lopezisland.com/studiotour.

September 5-7

Bumbershoot – Seattle’s Music & Art Festival – Seattle Center.  The annual 3 day sensory experience is the biggest of its kind in North America – a regular mecca for art fiends and pop culture gluttons. Visit www.bumbershoot.org

Gorden Edberg, E.L. Jorgensen and James Moore are the artists whose oils are featured from August 29 through September 25 at Insights Gallery, 516 Commercial Avenue in Anacortes. The opening reception is scheduled for August 29 from 5-8pm. Shown is a piece by Gorden Edberg.

In a press release issued today, the Seattle Art Museum announced the five finalists for the 2009 Betty Bowen Award.  The winner will be formally announced on October 23. The finalists are: Jovencio de la Paz and Josh Faught from Oregon; Jenny Heishman, Sean M. Johnson and Matthew Offenbacher from Seattle. The committee reviewed 494 applications from visual artists residing in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. One of this year’s finalists will receive a cash prize in the amount of $15,000 and will have their work displayed at SAM Downtown beginning on October 23rd. One finalist will also be awarded the Kayla Skinner Special Recognition award in the amount of $2,500 and one artist will receive the PONCHO Special Recognition award in the amount of $2,500.

ArtsWest Gallery, 4711 California Avenue SW, launches its 2009-10 season with “Altered Associations,” a show featuring surreal oils on canvas by Jeff Mihalyo, Lucy Carpenter working in reclaimed plastic bags and chicken wire, and Therese Buchmilller with minimalist re-creations utilizing various appropriated materials. The show was curated to complement the concurrent stage production at ArtsWest Playhouse, “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.” A wine and cheese artist reception is scheduled for September 10  from 6-7:30pm. Shown: Jeff Mihalyo’s Cargo.

Opening
Living Legacy
September 5, 2009 through January 10, 2010

Open Roads and Bedside Tables: American Modernism in the Frye Collection
September 26, 2009 through January 10, 2010

Closing
Bringing Munich Home: Selections from the Frye Founding Collection
on August 30

Over Julia’s Dead Body: Gabriel von Max’s Mystics and Martyrs
on September 13

The Puppet Show
on September 13

Continuing
Soft Glowing Light: Viewing Art in the Home of Charles and Emma Frye
Through November 15, 2009

August 21-30

Kenmore Annual Art Show, 2:30-8:30 pm, Northlake Lutheran Church, 6620 NE 185^th, Kenmore.  Call 425.486.6050.

August 27

“Art and Sustainable Cities: a Dialogue” is scheduled at the Olympic Sculpture Park from 11:30 – 1pm. It will be moderated by Washington Post columnist Michael Kinsley. Panelists are Randy Engstrom, Founding Director, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center D.K. Pan and NKO, Founders, Free Sheep Foundation Buster Simpson, Northwest artist Beth Takekawa, Executive Director, Wing Luke Asian Museum.  To reserve your space, please email boxoffice@seattleartmuseum.org or call the Seattle Art Museum Box Office at 206.654.3121.

“Michael Peterson:Evolution|Revolution,” is one of four exhibitions conceived and crated by the Bellevue Arts Museum that ended up traveling to other museums—a significant accomplishment for the museum as well as a tribute to the artists.

“There is nothing more rewarding than being able to introduce artists from our own region to new audiences across the nation,” says BAM’s Director of Curatorial Affairs, Michael Monroe, who in collaboration with BAM Curator Stefano Catalani organized Peterson’s first solo museum exhibition.

Peterson’s work has been featured in many exhibitions over the last 20 years, and can be found in public collections throughout North America, including: the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC and the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC among others.

After the exhibit closes on September 20, it will then continue on to San Francisco, Houston, Mobile, Philadelphia, Little Rock and Racine.

The works of Columbian artist, Gloria Ruiz, opened last night at the C Art Gallery, 855 Hiawatha Place South in Seattle. Returning to the art world after a battle with cancer, Ruiz’s works on canvas, wood and various other mediums are featured in the show which runs through September 30.

Two Vaults Gallery, 602 South Fawcett in Tacoma, is featuring a show called “Rabbitual,” an alternate world where rabbits rule. The group show, featuring the work of more than 40 artists, runs through September 12. Shown: Unconditional by Christopher Mathie.

If you’re in need of downtown office space, call the Seattle Art Museum. Regina Hackett has the story over on her blog, Another Bouncing Ball. Of course, anyone who follows the art news reads of museum cutbacks in cities all over the world almost daily, but SAM’s problems are unique.  Regina details the debacle the Seattle Art Museum finds itself in as a result of the demise of Washington Mutual.

“Terra Incognita,” a new show by emerging artist Briana Knight, opens on August 20th from 5-8:30 PM during the Edmonds gallery walk evening at Fabric of Life, 523 Main Street in Edmonds. Knight works with multi-faceted and layered fibers and uses the combined techniques of original drawings, digital photography, print making, screen- printing, paintings, stitching and book arts. The show runs through September 15.

The work of Mark Calderon is showcased in his eighth one-person exhibition at the Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 3rd. Avenue S., from August 20 through September 26. The exhibit, titled “Dominion,” will include sculpture made from a wide range of materials including cast bronze, lead and paraffin wax. The work explores the relationship between several species of flora and fauna that are now extinct and mankind’s use and abuse of that environment. Calderon’s work is included in several prominent public and private collections, including: Boise Art Museum, ID; Seattle Art Museum; Tacoma Art Museum, WA. Clark College, Vancouver, WA; Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; SAFECO Corporation, Seattle and Boeing Corporation, Chicago, IL. The opening schedule is scheduled for September 3 from 6-8pm and an artist’s talk on September 5 at noon. Also  on view is Anne Appleby’s “Recent Large Prints.”  Appleby was awarded the 1999 Biennial Award from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the 1996 Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (a SFMOMA auxiliary) award, the 1996 WESTAF award, and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in 1991. Shown is an untitled piece by Mark Calderon.

A juried show of new studio furniture designs from the region’s next generation of wood artists takes place at Northwest Fine Woodworking, 101 S. Jackson Street, from August 20 through September 30. A special opening reception takes place on Thursday, August 20 from 6-8pm. The jury panel reviewers (comprised of NWFW member artists Judith Ames, Aaron Levine and Grady Mathews) will reveal key aspects of each selected furniture design qualifying the piece a spot in this exhibit. Shown is a detail of Hugh Montgomery’s accent table.

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.

August 20 - 22

PONCHO  and Western Bridge , 3412 Fourth Avenue S., will host the first PONCHO Invitational Fine Art Exhibition. Nearly 300 works of art donated to this year's October 3 art auction will be showcased salon-style at Western Bridge  including painting, photography, sculpture and mixed-media works. The exhibit will be open to the public on select days during the month of August from noon – 6pm.

August 21 – 23

Sunny Side Up! Tieton Community Days and Artist Trust in Tieton, Central Washington. A small town summer festival with this year’s Artist Trust benefit. Art, film, video installation, Art Mart, Mexican dancing horses, Trimpin, a parade with classic AND art cars, craft booths, talent show, a dunk tank, release of Justin Gibbens’ Tieton River Canyon poster, a panel discussion on filmmaking in the Northwest, a brunch, a reception for artists featured in the Tieton Invitational Print Art Exhibition, Lions Club BBQ, and Grange Bingo! Ticket information: http://artisttrust.org/events/tieton.

August 21-30

Kenmore Annual Art Show, 2:30-8:30 pm, Northlake Lutheran Church, 6620 NE 185^th, Kenmore.  Call 425.486.6050.

August 22

Steinbrueck Native Gallery, 2030 Western Avenue, continues their lecture series with “Who We Are and Where We’re From,” A multimedia presentation with Kevin Cranmer will use clips from the 1914 Edward S. Curtis film, In the Land of the Head Hunters, to discuss change, continuity, and the importance of familial tradition in Northwest Coast artistic expression.

August 22 – 23

11th Annual Arts in Nature Festival at Camp Long in West Seattle. Exposing people from all walks of life and ages to eclectic, creative art in all forms in a beautiful natural setting. The event is also a fundraiser for Nature Consortium, which works to teach environmental lessons through the creative arts and hands-on conservation projects.

“Something Different,” a solo exhibition featuring new ceramic and stained-glass work by Dick Weiss, opens in a reception August 15 from 5-8pm at the Traver Gallery Tacoma, 1821 E Dock Street #100. Born and raised in Everett, WA, Weiss had his first exhibition with the Traver Gallery in 1979. He first taught at Pilchuck Glass School in 1982 and has been an active contributor to the Studio Glass Movement ever since. His work can be found in important collections throughout the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. The show runs through September 20.