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Lectures and Events

Artist Lecture: James Luna The visual and performance artist talks about his photo triptych Half Indian/Half Mexican, one of 18 public works by nine artists of varied ethnic backgrounds recently installed at the University of Washington. 7 p.m. Thurs. April 7. UW Kane Hall (Room 220), free, 206-616-7116.

Artist Lecture: Sylvia Plachy The Hungarian photographer’s documentary images, which range from elegant to whimsical, have appeared everywhere in The New Yorker and SFMOMA. And hell, she’s Adrien Brody’s mom, so she must be cool. 6:30 p.m. Thurs., April 7. Seattle Asian Art Museum, Volunteer Park, 1400 E. Prospect Ave., $5, 206-625-8900.

Artist Talk: Janet Marcavage The University of Puget Sound arts instructor talks about her work, in particular the room-size installation Embody, which incorporates paper, hair, and thread. 4 p.m. Thurs. April 7. University of Puget Sound campus, 1500 N. Lawrence (Tacoma), free, 253- 879-2806.

Lecture: Eric Frederickson on Doug Aitken The director of Western Bridge leads an informal discussion of Doug Aitken’s video work (his magnificent Interiors is now on display at the Henry) and the L.A.–based artist’s satisfying fusion of pop culture, contemporary music, and fragmented narrative. 7 p.m. Thurs. April 7. Henry Art Gallery, UW campus, free with admission, 206-543-2280.

Photography Lecture: Brenda Tharp Professional photographer Brenda Tharp advises budding nature photographers on how to develop a personal vision in order to compose more compelling images. 7 p.m. Thurs. April 14. The Mountaineers, 300 Third Ave. W., $25, 206-284-8484.

First Thursday

All City Coffee The coffee shop, frequented by Georgetown artists, opens a new outpost near the Tashiro-Kaplan art complex in Pioneer Square—and brings with it a sampling of artists living and working in Georgetown. Reception: 6-10 p.m. 125 Prefontaine Pl. S., 206-652-8331. 6 a.m.-11 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Sat.; 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun.

Artists’ Gallery of Seattle Candy-colored abstract acrylics on canvas by local painter Shango Los. Reception: 6-10 p.m. 902 First Ave. S., 206-340-0830. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; noon- 5 p.m. Sun.

ArtsWorks “Cartoonists Take Up Smoking” is a group show of more than 300 editorial cartoons by 60 artists, all taking aim at Big Tobacco. Reception: 7-10 p.m. 1914 Fourth Ave., 206-292-4142. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; noon- 5 p.m. Sat.

Benham Compare two photo-reproduction techniques side by side—platinum palladium and modern digital pigment—and see how they affect the work of Craig J. Barber and Roger Ricco. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 1216 First Ave., 206-622-2480. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed.-Sat.

Billy King In “Lay Up Lay Over Move In Move Out,” artist Anjali Grant marks up photographs of Portland’s industrial district to create whimsical studies of structure and machinery. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 95 Union St., 206-264-6263. Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. (or by appointment).

D’Adamo/Woltz This gallery’s second annual showcase of work by students at Cornish College and Pratt Fine Arts Center features work by Chad Downward, Renee Cowan, and others. Most notable among them is Timea Tihanyi, whose disturbing hybrid sculptures allude to bodily functions and incorporate fleshy rubber and bone-dry porcelain. Reception: 5-8:30 p.m. 303/307 Occidental Ave. S., 206-652-4414. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; noon- 5 p.m. Sun.

Davidson Francesca Sundsten’s painstakingly rendered surrealism, which has a weird, freak-show quality to it, now extends to the natural world, where she envisions a peaceable kingdom that would never happen in nature: steam-breathing crocodiles, leaves heavy with hundreds of lady bugs. Also on display: oh-so-sunny houses and abstraction by Marlene Bauer, and impressionist sketches of horses and other scenes of nomad life by Mongolian artist Shagdarjavin Chimeddorj. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 313 Occidental Ave. S., 206-624-7684. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

G. Gibson In “Artificial Nature,” John Divola collects found movie stills from the 1930s to the 1960s to create faux landscapes, while Andria Modica shows a variety of photographs including “Hundreds of Skeletons Found at State Hospital,” images of skulls of mental patients from the previous century. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 300 S. Washington St., 206-587-4033. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wed.-Fri.; 11 a.m.- 5 p.m. Sat.

Gallery 4 Culture “Marine Layers” features Judy Blanco’s virtuoso drawings of water reflecting and refracting light. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 506 Second Ave., Suite 200 (Smith Tower), 206-296-7580. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Gallery 110 In “Fools, Jesters, and Clowns,” David Traylor’s urnlike sculptures—which have more than a hint of sadomasochism to them—incorporate ceramic, fur, and barbed wire. They’re said to be inspired by the fools of Shakespeare’s comedies. Also on display: Yvette Franz’s surreal paintings inspired by childhood memories of horses. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 110 S. Washington St., 206-624-9336. Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat.

Garde Rail Kevin Titzer’s figurines of down-and- out characters made from wood, metal, and other debris. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 110 Third Ave. S., 206-621-1055. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wed.-Fri.; 11 a.m.- 5 p.m. Sat.

Greg Kucera Margie Livingston’s gorgeous abstract canvases threaded with a delicate, architectural latticework of narrow stripes, plus Reuben Lorch-Miller’s text-based neon signs, digital prints, and collections of pixilated images pulled from the Internet. (See SW This Week, p. 33.) Artist lecture: Noon on Sat. April 9. Reception: 6-8 p.m. Sat. April 9. 212 Third Ave., 206-624-0770. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Grover/Thurston Promising new work by Michael Nakoneczny, who creates odd, mixed-up narrative collages in which cartoony figures act out ambiguous storylines against a backdrop of decaying paint and vaguely foreign settings. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 309 Occidental St., 206- 223-0816. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

James Harris New paintings inspired by ads for a summer boy’s camp by Marcelino Goncalves. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 309A Third Ave., 206-903-6220. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat.

Linda Hodges In Daphne Minkoff’s mixed- media collages, forgotten objects and dilapidated structures take on a new life, while Robert Calvo fuses digital technology with the pixilated nature of needlepoint. 6-8 p.m. 316 First Ave. S., 206- 624-3034. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Shift Garth Amundson’s rephotographed old prints are incorporated into mixed-media installations that offer “an investigation into the constantly changing political arena surrounding the domestic sphere.” Whatever that means. Reception: 5-8 p.m. 306 S. Washington #105 (Tashiro-Kaplan complex), 360-393-2650.

Solomon Fine Art Using the Renaissance technique of silverpoint, Susan Schwalb creates delicate abstract stripe paintings that glow, glower, or bleed. Also on display: unspecified work by Kazuo Kadonaga and cast-glass legs and tongues by Jeffrey Sarmiento. Reception: 5-8 p.m. 1215 First Ave., 206-297-1400. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat.

Vain New works in oil by local graffiti artist Jesse Edwards. Reception: 5-9 p.m. 2018 First Ave., 206-441-3441. Noon-7 p.m. Sun.-Tues.; 11 a.m.- 10 p.m. Wed.-Thurs.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

William Traver In “Ebb and Flow,” Seattle artist Kait Rhoads weaves hundreds of tiny glass beads (murrines) into surprisingly delicate compositions. Also on display: bubbly, cloudlike ceramics by Jamie Walker and Mark Zirpel’s slightly sinister, medical- looking assemblages of blown glass and found objects. 110 Union St., second floor, 206-587-6501. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.

Zeitgeist In “Sensational Domestic,” Seattle artist and Rivet magazine contributor Allison Manch juxtaposes large-scale photos of banal domestic spaces with a series of napkins hand-embroidered with quotes from her real-life subjects. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 171 S. Jackson St., 206-583-0497. 6 a.m.- 7 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat.; 8 a.m.- 7 p.m. Sun.

Other Openings

Empty Space Theatre In conjunction with Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s play Biro—which tells the story of a Ugandan man’s efforts to obtain health care for HIV/AIDS in America—is Mwine’s documentary photos of the difficulties of life in contemporary Uganda. Opens Wed. April 6. 3509 Fremont Ave. N. 206-547-7500. Noon-5 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; noon- 8 p.m. Sat.; noon-7:30 p.m. Sun.

Francine Seders “Connections” has a somewhat novel concept: comparing older and newer works in the careers of four longtime Northwest artists (Andreas Grunert, Diann Knezovich, Elizabeth Sandvig, and Marc Wenet). Reception: 2-4 p.m. Sun. April 10. 6701 Greenwood Ave. N., 206-782-0355. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat; 1-5 p.m. Sun.

Jack Straw New Media Gallery Kristin Tollefson’s multimedia installation “Organic Plan” is inspired by the landscape and folk art of Iceland. Central to the exhibit is a large, suspended, ringlike sculpture that pays homage to baldyring, a traditional Icelandic embroidery technique. Video and audio of Icelandic folk songs and native plants round out the extravaganza. Reception: 7 p.m. Fri. April 8. 4261 Roosevelt Way N.E., 206-634-0919. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Jeffrey Moose Expressionist woodcuts employing some innovative techniques (including mixing flour into ink to create a textured, crumbling effect), by German artist Klaus Suss. Reception: 5:30- 8:30 p.m. Fri. April 8. 1333 Fifth Ave., Rainier Square, second level, 206-467-6951. 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; noon-5 p.m. Sat.

Joe Bar Intricate figurines of children carved from crayons, plus paintings and other mixed-media works that recall artist Diem Chau’s odyssey of migration with her family from war-torn Vietnam to a Philippine refugee camp, and eventually to the U.S. Reception: 6-9 p.m. Wed. April 6. 810 E. Roy, 206-324-0407. 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 8:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sat.-Sun.

Martin-Zambito “Warriors and Wenches” is an unfortunately named collection of obscure paintings of women from the 1920s to the 1960s, plus an assortment of Italian fascist propaganda paintings. Perfect for the family room! Opens Thurs. April 7. 721 E. Pike St., 206-726-9509. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Roq La Rue Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos, H.P. Lovecraft, and ’60s pulp fiction all figure into a group show of lowbrow pop art by painters Michael “Pooch” Pucciarelli and Joe Chiodo. Reception: 6-10 p.m. Fri. April 8. 2316 Second Ave., 206-374-8977. 2-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; noon-4 p.m. Sun.

SOIL Gerbils! In Randy Wood’s performance piece And They Will be the Judge of That, two well-cared-for gerbils will be allowed to roam over one of the artist’s soy-based ink drawings for one month. It’s a stunt that’s been pulled before, but I’m curious to see how it turns out. Only they, in their little gerbil brains, know how they’ll critique Mr. Wood’s piece. Also on display: Wood’s new series of spare drawings, “Ghost Rocks,” and new small works by Jana Brevick. Reception: 7-10 p.m. Sat. April 9. 112 Third Ave. S., 206-264-8061. Noon-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sun.

Last Chance

Bryan Ohno Susan Rothenberg has her horses, Morris Graves had his birds, and Katina Huston has her bicycles. The Bay Area artist, philosophy professor, and former bike messenger takes bikes as her private talisman, an idée fixe that she repeats in large, near-abstract washes of ink on Mylar. Using 20 different types of ink in a painstaking process, Huston creates elegant and gorgeous compositions that emerge from greaselike stains and mud puddles. The tangle of gears and pedals and tires and derailleurs add up to a lush vision of a machine that’s a perfect and simple extension of the human body. Like a kind of holy relic, the works confer a saintliness upon her subject. And that’s completely appropriate, because it’s the bike riders who will save us all from global warming. 155 S. Main St., 206-667-9572. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Photographic Center Northwest “Fotografenbüro” features documentary work by five photographers from Lux, a Berlin-based photo bureau. 900 12th Ave., 206-720-7222. Noon-9:30 p.m. Mon.; 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Tues.-Sun.

Galleries

Azuma Richard Conover’s minimalist ink and graphite abstract works have a Zen-like clarity. 530 First Ave. S., 206-622-5599. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Ballard/Fetherston “Sense of Place” offers more of David Konigsberg’s cutesy paintings of people doing things like hopping for joy or driving old cars under happy little clouds. Guess that’s what they mean by “accessible style.” 818 E. Pike St., 206-322-9440. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Bluebottle Deth P. Sun’s paintings of down-and-out cartoon critters and robots. 415 E. Pine St., 206-325-1592. 1-7 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; noon-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun.

CoCA Seattle-based Born magazine, an online crucible where visual artists, writers, and computer programmers cross-pollinate their talents, is the inspiration behind “Help Wanted,” a smart and funny group show. Shawn Wolfe’s Ballard and Ballard project creates a faux 1990s talk show hosted by two very scary pseudo-intellectuals, complete with assorted relics: T-shirts, self-help tapes, and action figures. In the installation The Estate of Beverly Thomas, playwright Tim Sanders, architect Brian McWatters, and others re-create the household knickknacks of a real 90-year-old woman who lived in Everett. It’s all tagged for sale—even those insufferable hard candies grandmothers seem to prefer—and it all adds up to a sad elegy for women trapped in the role of perfect mother. But best of show has to go to Think Tank, the brainchild of kinetic artist Trimpin and computer programmer Cheb Sevrel. Plunk your quarter in, and in a few minutes the carousel of chicken-bobber toys and George W. Bush action figures generates a random assortment of snippets from Bush’s speeches, much more cogent that the original material. 410 Dexter Avenue N., 206-728-1980. Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sun.

Frank & Dunya Paintings of monkeys and other cute stuff by Bluebottle Gallery co-owner Matthew Porter. 3418 Fremont Ave. N., 206-547-6760. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.

Goods Illustration and type design by the Vancouver, B.C.–based team of Robin Cameron and Niall McClelland. 1112 Pike St., 206-622-0459. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.

Howard House “Red Thread,” named for the expression in German that refers to a train of thought, is a group show that samples new work from the contemporary avant-garde in Vienna. 604 Second Ave., 206-256-6399. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Kirkland Arts Center This smart group show is curated by Seattle writer and art-scene guy Fionn Meade. The pieces are spare and restrained: Mary Simpson’s little dramas of cutout men and Victorian row houses owe a lot of their mystery to the fact that the figures have been stolen from their context and plopped down on a blank page. Gretchen Bennett’s sly contact-paper compositions capture nature in extremes, while Claire Cowie’s paper mobiles and minimalist figurative paintings continue to confound me—her stuff just seems too cute to amount to much. More substantial are Saul Becker’s weird abstract landscapes crisscrossed with prismatic rainbows of color and Marc Dombrosky’s hand-embroidered notes found on the street. 620 Market St., 425-822-7161. 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Phinney Center “Paper Politics” showcases a variety of prints with radical, antiwar, and/or social-justice aims. 6532 Phinney Ave., 206-783-2244. 9 a.m.- 9 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.

Platform Saya Moriyasu’s “Lamplight Lavish Gathering” is an installation of this artist’s ceramic lamps and other rough-cut, minimalist figures. 114 Third Ave. S., 206-323-2808. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat.

Priceless Works “Small Salience” collects abstractions and figurative work by 14 artists who use minimal gestures and forms to make their points. Includes work by Patrick Holderfield, Peter Gross, and Linda Peschong. Meanwhile, Chauney Peck’s “Surface” transforms thousands of pipe cleaners and other commercial products into a roomful of sealike abundance. 619 N. 35th St., Suite 100, 206- 349-9943. Noon-6 p.m. Thurs.-Sun.

Richard Hugo House “Woman in Ill-Fitting Wig” is a collaboration in painting and text between Rebecca Brown and Nancy Kiefer: Kiefer paints mugs of difficult women, and Brown spins verbal riffs on the images. 1634 11th Ave., 206-322-7030. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Fri, noon-5 p.m. Sat.

Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery SAM’s Rental/Sales Gallery continues its showcase of local galleries, this time with artists from Bryan Ohno Gallery, including Francis Celentano, Anna Daedalus, and Patricia Hagan. Also on display: works by Gabriel Fernandez and Chauney Peck. 1220 Third Ave., 206-343-1101. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat.

Suyama Space Roger Feldman’s architectural sculptures are designed to be unsettling—literally. The three installations, each about the size of Thoreau’s cabin, are built simply from 2-by-4s and other framing materials and are meant to be experienced. So take off your shoes and enter. Each of the structures is made to rock and teeter. One is constructed with an Escher-like zigzag of parallelograms, and it takes random, disturbing lurches as you walk about the room. The most memorable of the three pieces is sealed off in sensory-deprivation blackness. 2324 Second Ave., 206-256-0809. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Viveza The seemingly abstract paintings of Melinda Hannigan are actually close-ups of rusty old container ships. 2604 Western Ave., 206-355-0070. Noon- 5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Western Bridge “19 Rainstorms” is a sampling of rain- and foul-weather-themed video, photography, and installation by Neil Goldberg, Trisha Donnelly, Olafur Eliasson, Anri Sala, Tania Kitchell, and others. (See visual arts pick, p. 84.) 3412 Fourth Ave. S. 206-838-7444. Noon-6 p.m. Thurs.-Sat.

Museums

Frye Art Museum In Robin Held’s first exhibition since taking over as curator at the Frye, Seattle artist Joseph Park gets a solo show, “Moon Beam Caress.” His precise paintings draw on Japanese animation and film to create an alternative noir world peopled with angst-ridden cartoon creatures. 704 Terry Ave., 206-622-9250. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.

Henry Art Gallery There’s such an embarrassment of riches at the Henry right now, it’s hard to list it all. Top billing goes to Doug Aitken’s three-screen video installation Interiors, a majestic meditation on the search for meaning amid the stress and alienation of 21st-century urban life. Sprawling throughout an entire gallery, four separate story lines play out on a vast box of screens, allowing you to view three of the videos simultaneously as a sculptural whole from many different angles. The nearly wordless stories arch from the contemplative (a young family with a new baby stands in a junkyard as a Brian Eno–like soundtrack throbs underneath) to the mysterious (a man sands a helicopter in a sterile factory cleanroom) and the frenetic (hip-hop artist André Benjamin gushes a verbal storm while a woman smashes a handball and an Asian businessman twitches in a sweaty convulsion of stress). The effect is sincerely moving. The collective vignettes pack a surprising emotional wallop, considering the stories are stripped to their most simple visual and sonic elements. Also on display: “Celebrity Skin” offers a jarring juxtaposition of photos of famous 19th-century French people with Alice Wheeler’s stark images of Kurt Cobain and company. “Playtime” collects whimsical art made from toys and Peter Fischli and David Wells’ amazing 30-minute video of a pyrotechnics installation. A collection of minimalist works by locals offer disturbing mixes of childhood simplicity and grown-up emotional turmoil, including Claire Cowie’s excellent Panorama Drawing.And that’s not all! There’s also Axel Lieber’s inside-out, Mondrian-like architectural models suspended in air. Whew. UW campus, 206-543-2280. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun.; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.