A Schmear for Sean Penn

A Schmear for Sean

My bagel lady served Sean Penn last week. He was in Seattle with Vince Vaughn working on Into the Wild—a film version of Jon Krakauer's best seller. (Yes, that's the book about the young man who walked off the edge of the world into the Alaskan wilderness, and no, neither Penn nor Vaughn play the young man. That's twentysomething cutie Emile Hirsch.) The dudes and their crew were reportedly filming on First Avenue and Pike Place Bagels was crawling with "customers" trying to get a peek. She said they would move to Post Alley at some point, and as I walked through the alley to get to the office, I noticed a few intrepid paparazzi (the kind with fanny packs) lurking. RACHEL SHIMP

Sculpture, Sculpture Everywhere

I'll start with the caveat: A lot of the city's art-critical types dismiss the annual West Edge Sculpture Invitational on the Harbor Steps and at Benaroya Hall. Seattle Post-Intelligencer critic Regina Hackett last year called it "a labor of love I wish I could love back," saying the setting was too busy, the art too bland. But come on, who wouldn't want to sit in the sun and eat lunch next to a giant, multicolored Phoenix (created by Bruce and Shannon Andersen)? There are a few major names among the 29 sculptors in this year's show, too, including Phillip Levine (whose Dancer With a Flat Hat animates the UW campus) and Gerard Tsutakawa (maker of The Mitt at Safeco Field). And it's free, so you should go and make up your own mind. The pieces will be on display through Sunday, Oct. 29. For info: 206-334-5040 or www.westedgesculpture.com. LYNN JACOBSON

They Work Hard for Their Money

Artist Trust awarded grants totaling $70,033 to 52 local artists and writers this year through its Grants for Artist Projects Program. The astonishing thing is not the size of the grants (which topped out at $1,400) nor the number of them (though we applaud Artist Trust for distributing funds directly to such a wide range of individuals). What's amazing is that so many steadily working Northwest artists are hard up enough for cash that they would take the time to apply for a grant this size. $1,400 doesn't go a long way in the studio, but every little bit helps, apparently. Longtime Seattle choreographer Peggy Piacenza will use the money to develop a 30-minute solo performance destined for On the Boards; playwright Stephanie Timm will work on her full-length Break My Body; photographer Eduardo Calderon will pay for a trip to Colombia to take photos that will hang at Catherine Person Gallery; artist Sami Ben Larbi will apply his grant toward the production of a large-scale installation at the Lawrimore Project; while installation artists BeresCullerSutton (aka SuttonBeresCuller, SuttonCullerBeres, etc.) will buy materials to create something that sounds like a piece of a neighborhood (sidewalk, trees, house) floating in midair. These are five of the lucky 52. Another 638 artists applied but were not funded. LYNN JACOBSON

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