Openings & Events
Event Yadda. Details
Event Yadda. Details
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Event Yadda. Details
Event Yadda. Details
Event Yadda. Details
Event Yadda. Details
Event Yadda. Details
Event Yadda. Details
Event Yadda. Details
Ongoing
The Art of Gaman The subtitle of this group show reveals its sad starting point: Arts & Crafts From the Japanese-American Internment Camps, 1942–1946. Over 120 objects are on view, many of them humble wood carvings, furniture, even toys made from scrap items at Minidoka or Manzanar. The more polished drawings come from professional artists like Ruth Asawa, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Chiura Obata, and Henry Sugimoto. Some of the more touching items—like a samurai figurine made from wood scraps, shells, and bottle caps—come from family collections, not museums; they’re precious keepsakes from a shameful historical era. As for the show’s title, gaman roughly translates as “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” BRIAN MILLER Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way N.E., 425-519-0770, bellevuearts.org, $8-$10, Tues.-Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Through Oct. 12.
At Your Service Ariel Brice, Gesine Hackenberg, Molly Hatch, Giselle Hicks, Garth Johnson, Niki Johnson, Sue Johnson, Emily Loehle, Caroline Slotte, and Amelia Toelke mess with crockery and other tokens of the domestic table. Bellevue Arts Museum. Through Sept. 21.
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John Buck Wow. A carousel of history comes to Pioneer Square in Buck’s two massive, moving wooden machines (plus woodblock prints and bas relief carvings). The two central installations are Burrowed Time and Cat’s Cradle, both of them enormous, intricate meditations on colonialism, cartography, myth, and the golden age of discovery. This opening was the hit of last week’s First Thursday Art Walk. Bring the kids, take videos, but don’t touch. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave. S., 624-0770, gregkucera.com. 10:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Aug. 23.
Romson Regarde Bustillo In his show Dugay na, the Filipino artist creates brightly colored works on paper, intricately cut and designed with patterns, some of them narrative. The title of the show translates as “no longer new” or “a long time now.” Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, 550 Winslow Way E., 842.4451, biartmuseum.org. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Daily through Sept. 24.
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Chen Shaoxiong The contemporary Chinese artist shows new video works and their source drawings in the exhibit Ink. History. Media, which is inspired by historical photos of major events from 1909-2009. Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 E. Prospect St. (Volunteer Park), 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org. $5-$7. Weds.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Through Oct. 19.
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Danish Modern: Design for Living A survey of modern style Danish furniture from 1950-60. Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 N.W. 67th St., 789-5707, nordicmuseum.org, $8, Tues.-Sun., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Through Aug. 31.
Barbara De Pirro & Katie Miller They show separate sculpture and video works harnassed by the German notion of Vorfreude, translating as “the joyful anticipation of future pleasures.” Method, 103 Third Ave. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), methodgallery.com. Through Aug. 23.
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Deco Japan This is a somewhat unusual traveling show in that it comes from a single private collection: that of Florida’s Robert and Mary Levenson. The specificity and period (1920–1945) are also unusual. Among the roughly 200 items on view—prints, furniture, jewelry, etc.—we won’t be seeing the usual quaint cherry-blossom references to Japan’s hermetic past. The country opened itself late, at gunpoint, to the West, and industrialized quite rapidly. By the ’20s, there was in the big cities a full awareness of Hollywood movies, European fashions, and streamlined design trends. Even if women didn’t vote, they knew about Louise Brooks and her fellow flappers. We may think that, particularly during the ’30s, the country was concerned with militarism and colonial expansion, but these objects reveal the leisure time and sometime frivolity of the period. For an urbane class of pleasure-seekers, necessarily moneyed, these were boom times. The luxe life meant imitating the West to a degree, yet there are also many traces of Japan’s ancient culture within these modern accessories. Think of the sybarites during the Edo period, for instance, and the women depicted here look more familiar—even if they wear cocktail dresses instead of kimonos. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Asian Art Museum, ends Oct. 19.
Curtis Erlinger Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, the local artists sometimes repaints the negative images of old photos—including his father’s wartime experiences in Vietnam. Punch Gallery, 119 Prefontaine Pl. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 621-1945, punchgallery.org. Ends Aug. 31.
Fantasy in the City Mike Oncley, Doaly, Vikram Madan, and Steve Thomas are among some two dozen gallery artists exploring sci-fi and fantasy themes. Ltd. Art Gallery, 307 E. Pike St., ltdartgallery.com. Ends Aug. 24.
Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami An exhibit that examines the evolution of origami as an art form around the globe from its origins all the way up to today. Bellevue Arts Museum, through Sept. 21.
Gretchen Gammell The Vancouver, BC artist shows new paintings in Muscle Memory. Hall Spassov Gallery, 319 Third Ave. S., 223-0816, hallspassov.com. Ends Aug. 31.
Group Show Artists will include Stacie Chappell, Ben Chickadel, Graham Fracha, and Eva Funderburgh. Gallery I|M|A, 123 S. Jackson St., 625-0055, galleryima.com. Ends Aug. 30.
James Lee Hansen & Irene Kubota Hansen shows sculptures in bronze; Kubota exhibits bright paintings that resemble cheerful quilts. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 521 S. Main St., 459-6857, bryanohno.com. Ends Aug. 23.
Healthcare: On the Edge of Change That’s the name of this small exhibit by painter Nancy Rothwell, who addresses the aging of baby boomers in her art. University Unitarian Church: 6556 35th Ave. N.E., 525-8400. Ends Sept. 5.
Femke Hiemstra & Casey Weldon Hiemstra paints on found objects in Warten am Waldrand. Weldon tweaks nature scenes with bright, artificial colors in Novel Relic. Roq La Rue Gallery, 532 First Ave. S., 374-8977, roqlarue.com. Ends Sept. 27.
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Etsuko Ichikawa and Yukiyo Kawano
One Thousand Questions—From Hiroshima to Hanford is a joint exhibition examining the nuclear history of Japan and Washington State. In conjunction with the show’s opening, the artists will release floating lanterns on Green Lake (6 p.m. Weds, on the northwest side of the lake) to memorialize the A-Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII. Columbia City Gallery, 4864 Rainier Ave. S., columbiacitygallery.com, 760-9843. Ends Sept. 21.
Introductions Meet artists new to the gallery, including Susanna Bluhm, Linda Davidson, Gail Grinnell, Blake Haygood, Mary Iverson, and Samantha Scherer. G. Gibson Gallery, 300 S. Washington Street (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 587-4033, ggibsongallery.com. Ends Aug. 16.
It is a door and a window that make a room useful Taoist works by Venetia Dale, Christalena Hughmanick, Tia Kramer, Jovencio de la Paz, and Barbara Smith are featured. In the back space: Margot Quan Knight photographs doilies in Synecdoche: a part for the whole. SOIL Gallery, 112 Third Ave. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 264-8061, soilart.org. Ends Aug. 31.
KAC Artists’ Exhibition Over two dozen locals will show their work in this annual juried exhibit, with many on hand for the reception. Kirkland Arts Center, 620 Market St., 425-822-7161, kirklandartscenter.org. Ends Sept. 13.
Curt Labitzke
Men and Women collects recent work from the Chair of the UW Printmaking program. The Island Gallery, 400 Winslow Way E. (Bainbridge), theislandgallery.com. Through Aug. 31.
Gustavo Martinez
Agua es Vida presents his new little clay figures bearing water or otherwise inspired by water. Gallery4Culture, 101 Prefontaine Pl. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 296-7580, 4culture.org. Ends Aug. 28.
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Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: The Mythic and the Mystical Summer is usually the season for tourist-friendly blockbuster shows at SAM, like Japanese fashion last year, traveling from other institutions. This one is entirely local, celebrating the native quartet of Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Guy Anderson. How did the Northwest become a school? Isolation, for one thing, since prewar Seattle was remote and provincial when the four got their start. Institutions also played a part: Cornish, the UW, and especially the brand-new SAM helped form a community of artists and collectors. (SAM founder Richard Fuller was particularly instrumental, employing and buying from the Big Four.) Seattle had a little bit of money then, but it was dowdy old money, two generations removed from the Denny party—derived mostly from the land, the port, and timber. What Tobey and company brought to national attention during the war years and after was a fresh regional awareness and reverence for place. This meant not simple landscapes, but a deeper appreciation for the spiritual aspect of nature, traces of Native American culture, and currents from across the Pacific—including Eastern religion and Asian art. Many of the paintings here, publicly exhibited for the first time, come from the 2009 bequest of Marshall and Helen Hatch. They, like Fuller and the Wrights, were important collectors and patrons of the Big Four during the postwar years. What they preserved can now be a fresh discovery to all new Seattle residents unfamiliar with the Northwest School. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., 654-3121, seattleartmuseum.org. $12–$19. Weds.-Sun. Ends. Sept. 7.
Mughal Painting: Power and Piety Some 300 years of Indian art, from the 16th century to English colonial rule of the subcontinent, goes on display. Seattle Asian Art Museum, opens Sat., July 19. Ends Oct. 19.
Mystic Modernism of the Pacific Northwest Coinciding with SAM’s show on the same topic, here’s a group show featuring other members and disciples of the movement, including Paul Horiuchi and George Tsutakawa. Seattle artREsource, 625 First Ave., Suite 200, 838-2695, seattleartresource.com. Ends August 30.
TOBIAS MØHL The Danish artist presents his blown glass platters, vessels, and bowls. Traver Gallery, 110 Union St., 587-6501, travergallery.com. Ends Aug. 31.
Northwest Marine Art Exhibition Local painters celebrate the sea. Kristen Gallery, 5320 Roosevelt Way N.E., 522-2011. Ends Aug. 31.
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Stephen O’Donnell He tweaks 18th-century painting conventions in Told and Untold Stories, often by rendering himself in female costumes from the period. Winston Wachter Fine Art, 203 Dexter Ave. N. 652-5855, seattle.winstonwachter.com. Tues., July 22. Ends Aug. 30.
Jeffrey Palladini The Bay Area artist paints crisp summer scenes of bodies lounging in the sun—a little bit comic book, a little bit David Hockney. Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Place, 443-3315, lisaharrisgallery.com. Ends Aug. 30.
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Ken Price The recently deceased L.A. artist created colorful cityscapes of his home town, often to accompany the poetry collections of his pal Charles Bukowski. The show is called Inside/Outside. Henry Art Gallery, 4100 15th Ave. N.E., 543-2280, henryart.org. $6-$10. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs. & Fri. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed., Sat. & Sun.
Through Sept 7.
Real Abstract A dozen artists are included in this group show, from Timea Tihanyi to Jaq Chartier. Linda Hodges Gallery, 316 First Ave. S., 624-3034, lindahodgesgallery.com. Ends Aug. 30.
William Robinson The local artist shows large organically-inspired sculptures rendered in stone. Foster/White Gallery, 220 Third Ave. S., 622-2833, fosterwhite.com. Ends Sept. 3.
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Skyspace James Turrell’ Skyspace stands on two concrete pillars in the Henry’s erstwhile sculpture courtyard. On the exterior, thousands of LED fixtures under the structure’s frosted glass skin create slowly shifting colors, making the pavilion a spectacular piece of public art every night. Inside, the ellipse of sky seen through the chamber’s ceiling suddenly appears to be very, very close, a thin membrane bulging into the room. Wispy bits of cirrus clouds passing by appear to be features on the slowly rotating surface of a luminous, egg-shaped blue planet suspended just overhead. Emerging from the Skyspace, I find the night wind and the light in the clouds come to me through freshly awakened senses. A dreamy, happy feeling follows me home like the moon outside my car window. DAVID STOESZ Henry Art Gallery
Carter Smith He offers new shibori banners and garments. Also on view, prints by Renee Jameson. Island Gallery, 400 Winslow Way E. (Bainbridge), 780-9500, theislandgallery.net. Through Aug. 31.
Heidi Steinman She shows new paintings in Observations of substance. Zeitgeist, 171 S. Jackson St., 583-0497, zeitgeistcoffee.com. Ends Aug. 30.
Things You May Have Missed This group show of gallery artists features Leonard Baskin, Francisco Goya, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and Suzanne Valadon, Frank Boyden, Eunice Kim, Carol Summers, and Artemio Rodriguez. Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave. S., 624-7684, davidsongalleries.com. Ends Aug. 30.
Under Pressure Traveling up from Portland and the collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and family, this big survey of postwar prints includes work by Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, and Warhol. Bellevue Arts Museum, through Sept. 12.
The Unicorn Incorporated/Your Feast Has Ended
The Unicorn Incorporated is a career retrospective for Seattle’s Curtis R. Barnes that reaches back over four decades. As a child during the ’50s, he took his first art classes at the Frye; and he later trained at Cornish. But, really, most of his work here was forged by the politics of the ’60s, rather than by some particular school. Racism, Vietnam, Muhammad Ali, MLK, Malcolm X, black power, and the civil-rights movement all figure in his caricatures and illustrations for the Afro American Journal during the early ‘70s. Many of Barnes’ drawings show somewhat grotesque characters who’ve been warped and twisted by society—made into monsters, in effect. The Green River killer, ’80s subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz, apartheid enforcers, used-car salesmen, D.C. politicians, child molesters… these are the oppressors, yes, yet Barnes presents them almost like taxonomic specimens. Alternatively, and this comes as something of a relief, Barnes also draws a pantheon of the jazz icons he reveres (Monk, Bird, etc.). These figures become one with their instruments, transmogrified like some of his other characters—only in a good way. Your Feast Has Ended represents a new generation of minority artists: Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes (son of Curtis R. Barnes), Nicholas Galanin, and Nep Sidhu. The most conceptually cooked works here are by the Tlingit artist Galanin, who’s based in Sitka, Alaska. The politics and history he evokes are the most specific, and he does far less borrowing and appropriation. The 2010 SPD murder of John T. Williams is commemorated both with a drum (to be beaten with a police nightstick) and a video of a Tlingit dancer wearing cedar body armor. Of course that cladding wouldn’t stop a bullet, no more than art can stop history or redress historical wrongs. BRIAN MILLER Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., 622-9250, fryemuseum.org. Free. 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun., 11 a.m–7 p.m. Thurs. Ends Sept. 21.
