Seattle Art Blog - News, Discussion, and Events

May 22, 2008 Pratt Fine Arts Center has been awarded a $60,000 grant from M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust’s Technology and Information Services Project. This grant, the first awarded to Pratt by the Trust, will support significant improvements to the art center’s registration system and website.

Pratt Fine Arts Center offers arts education to students of all levels as well as studio and equipment rental to artists. This grant will enable Pratt to offer real-time course registration to its students through a newly-designed and streamlined  website.

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust’s mission is to “enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants to organizations that seek to strengthen the region’s educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.”

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust’s mission is to “enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants to organizations that seek to strengthen the region’s educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.”

Thank God for the rich guys who care about their community. Read all about Melvin Mudoch, who died in 1971, and his reasons for leaving his money to the arts in the Pacific Northwest.

May 21, 2008 .On view through June 8 at Traver Gallery Tacoma is a solo exhibition featuring new work by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly, "Baskets, Cylinders and Drawings."  In 1999, Chihuly mounted his most ambitious installation to date, Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem; more than one million visitors attended the Tower of David Museum to view his installations. In 2001, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London curated the exhibition Chihuly at the V&A. The Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, was dedicated in 2002. Chihuly's lifelong affinity for glasshouses has grown into a series of exhibitions within botanical settings. His garden exhibition was first presented in 2001 at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. In 2005, Chihuly exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, near London, and at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida in both 2006 and 2007. An exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco will open in June of 2008, and will be his most ambitious exhibition to date. Traver's Tacoma gallery is located on the Thea Foss Waterway adjacent to the Museum of Glass. 

May 19, 2008 Artist Trust announced today that jewelry maker Mary Lee Hu, an active contributor to the civic and cultural life of Washington State for nearly four decades, is the eighth recipient of the Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. The Twining Humber Award is an unrestricted award of $10,000 given annually to a Washington State female visual artist, age 60 or over, who has dedicated a significant portion of her life to her art practice. The award recognizes creative excellence, professional accomplishment and dedication to the visual arts.

Represented by the Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle, Ms. Hu has developed a refined use of the basketry technique of twining in high carat gold. Her formal use of design is her interpretation of ethnic art and architecture, with a focus on the power of pattern and repetition. She has work in collections including the Renwick Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, and Victoria and Albert Museum.

May 18, 2008 Hear all about it from Steven Vroom on Art Radio Seattle as he fills us in on all the national and international art news fit to podcast from the lovely studios of 911 Media Arts Center.  As for his weekly weathercast, Steven says it's warm  and beautiful. Ciao!

May 16, 2008 Lowell Art Works, 5205 S. 2nd Ave. in Everett, introduces "Women of Mary's Place ," portraits by sixteen women artists and sixteen homeless and formerly homeless women of Seattle. The rreception is Saturday from 4-7pm. Mary's Place is a day center run by the Church of Mary Magdalene in Seattle. It is a refuge and sanctuary where countless numbers of homeless and formerly homeless women find support for their spirits, minds and bodies.

May 8, 2008 I just listened to  Jen Graves' fascinating podcast with Dario Robleto whose exhibition, "Heaven is Being a Memory to Others," is on view at the Frye Art Museum until August 10. In fact, I enjoyed listening to Robleto talk about his search for the little known Emma Frye, and the process of looking for her so much that I listened to the podcast twice. And that's a first! Do yourself  a favor and follow this link to the Stranger's web site and hear it for yourself. As soon as you can, hotfoot it down to the Frye to see this exhibit. Remember, the Frye, thanks to founders Charles and Emma Frye, is the only free museum in  town.

May 6, 2008 On view at the Bellevue Arts Museum until August 3 is "Dare alla Luce: by emerging Northwest artist Mandy Greer. Unveiled for the first time, Dare alla Luce will be Greer’s largest and most intricate artwork to date. The room-size installation is featured as part of a larger selection of works drawn from the artist’s last decade of activity. From Skin Tight (1999) to Small But Mighty Wandering Pearl (2006), this survey highlights the recurring themes of romantic love, eroticism, fetishism and motherhood in Greer’s sensual world of crocheted, beaded and stitched fairytales. Mandy Greer is a Seattle-based sculptor and mixed-media installation artist who has earned an MFA in ceramics from the University of Washington. Her work has been shown at the Tacoma Art Museum, Kirkland Arts Center, The Henry Art Gallery, 4Culture Gallery, Soil Gallery, and the Tampa Museum of Art, FL, among other locations. Photo detail by Richard Nicol.

May 2, 2008 Rob Schouten Gallery, located in building C at the historic Greenbank Farm on Whidbey Island, officially opens this weekend. Besides exhibiting Schouten¹s work,  the gallery will focus on showing the work of established artists working in painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, with a special emphasis on realism, magic realism, surrealism, and art of a spiritual and Earth loving nature. The inaugural exhibition will feature the work of artist/owner Rob Schouten and Pt. Angeles ceramic artist Gayle Lutchg. There will be a special opening reception from 6-9pm May 2.  For more information, call 3660.331.7099.