Washington Museum Association
Washington Women’s Suffrage Centennial Workshop
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 1:30pm – 4:30pm
Coach House, State Capital Museum, Olympia

As part of 2010 Museum Day on the Capital Campus, Western Museum Association is offering a workshop for individuals and local museum representatives to develop projects and/or programs for Washington Women’s Suffrage Centennial. The workshop will offer ways that can assist in writing “women back into history” through identification and interpretation of women’s history in all eras—Pioneer to the women’s movement of the 1970s. The workshop includes a hosted tour of the historic Bigelow House Museum, built by Oregon Trail pioneers and activists in the Suffrage and Temperance movements. To register please contact Mark Vessey, Washington State Historical Society, State Capital Museum at 360/586-0219 or mvessey@wshs.wa.gov.

Pacific Northwest Historians Guild
Pacific Northwest Borderlands Conference
Saturday, March 6, 2010 8:15am – 5:30pm
Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave, Seattle

2010 conference will explore Pacific Northwest Borderlands, and will featuring presentations on Shaping the Frontier; Women in the Northwest; Constructing Habitats; The Human-ANimal Interface; Workers, Unions and Labor; Native Settler Negotiations; Trans-{acific Connections and Traders, Smugglers, Commodities and Contraband. To view the conference program visit www.pnwhistorians.org/conferences. To register for this event visit www.brownpapertickets.com or call 1-800-838-3006.

Historic Seattle
“How To” Demonstrations at Washington Hall
Saturday, March 13, 2010 10am – 12pm
153 14th Avenue, Seattle

Historic Seattle’s 2010 Preserving Your Old House program uses its newly purchased building, Washington Hall, as a “get dirty” space to demonstrate how to repair plaster work, refinish wood work and paint, and repair windows. On March 13, Steve Irish of Lux Interiors, will be giving a “how to” demonstration on plaster repair and restoration. To register visit www.historicseattle.org or call (206) 622-6952.

Washington State History Museum
From Parlor to Podium: Territorial Suffragists of Olympia
Opening reception Saturday, March 13, 2010 1pm – 3pm
11911 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma

The exhibit will focus on the territorial suffrage campaigns centered in Olympia, and the women and men who worked to secure the vote for Washington women. Organized by the Washington State Historical Society and the Women’s History Consortium, the opening reception will feature games, suffragists in period costume, and the opportunity to meet the historians, curators, and designers behind the exhibit.

Seattle Architecture Foundation
Greatest Hits: Chart Toppers and Heart-Stoppers tour
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 10am
SAF Gallery, 3rd Floor, 1333 5th Ave, Seattle

SAF tour that focuses on the construction, context and culture which shaped Seattle’s skyline, from golden oldies like the Rainier Club to eye-catching contemporary, like the Rem Koolhaas’ asymmetric, cantilevered Central Library. Stops will also include the Fifth & Madison Condominium(901 Fifth Avenue Plaza) and Seattle City Hall.
This tour lasts approximately 2 hours and begins at the SAF Gallery, 3rd Floor, Rainier Square Atrium. For more information or to register visit www.seattlearchitecture.org/tour_greatest_hits.

Arts Events:

AJC Seatle Jewish Film Festival
Recommended by Tamar Benzikry-Stern, Public Art 4Culture
March 11 – 21, 2010

With a special focus on the complexity of Israeli life and cinema, the 15th annual Seattle Jewish Film Festival is sure to intrigue and entertain.  SJFF opens with Academy Award nominated Ajami, a gritty, urban crime drama that tells the interwoven stories of Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighbors living in Jaffa, and features the first Ethiopian Israeli feature film (Zruvabel), among 30 critically acclaimed films from 10 countries that explore “the world through a vibrant lens.” Festival-goers can look forward to a stellar lineup of international films, related educational programs, and illuminating guest artists, including the Academy Award nominated German filmmaker Michael Verhoeven, the recipient of SJFF’s 1st Reel Difference Award.  Tickets and Passes are available to film screenings and a slew of parties and special events.

SALT HORSE  -  Man on the Beach
Recommended by Doreen Mitchum, Arts 4Culture
Through March 6, 2010
Erickson Theater, 1524 Harvard Avenue between Pike and Pine, Capitol Hill
Tickets: $15, students/seniors/military: $12, brownpapertickets.com

Seattle performance company Salt Horse presents a new, lushly layered, evening-length production of their critically acclaimed dance/sound work.  Man on the Beach follows the strange paths of three men who have replaced reality with their desire to retain the past and become perpetually stuck in time.  Their stark, monochromatic lives are invaded by colorful, dream-like forces that disrupt and embody the men’s unfolding internal narratives. Colliding dance, sound, and visual-theater, Salt Horse gradually reflects the men’s looped and fragmented memories through morphed or duplicated bodies and surreal abstractions of nature and environment. “Magic” scenic effects and gorgeous, live sound amplify the precarious fragility of perception and cinematically frame what is both funny and terrifying in an inability to let go.

Alicia Basinger’s  installation of ceramic sculpture takes its inspiration from various objects (tschotskes, antiques, and the garden).  Her predilection ranges from everyday kitsch to the figurines and over-the-top curiosities of the Rococo and Art Nouveau movements.  Creating structures in clay and orchestrating material transformations with a range of processes, Basinger creates a personal, fantastical world of objects, lanterns, and symmetrical, wall-mounted reliefs.  Her work alludes to concepts of growth, metamorphosis, phenomenon, deterioration, and our universal relationship to nature.

More

Alicia Basinger, Fan (detail), Porcelain, 5″ x 5.5″ x 4″, 2010 ©  Photo courtesy of the artist

Coming soon! Dynamic new media works by Scott Groeniger and Kenny Schneider will be added to e4c’s rotation this March.

Scott Groeniger

e4c will feature Groeniger’s The Ping Yao Continuum, depicting a scene of daily life at a restaurant in the ancient city of Ping Yao. Played in slow reverse, the food comes out of their mouths and is placed back onto the plates. Tea flows from within the body and returns to the glasses. The simple ritual act of eating together at the same table is one of the most universal human experiences. This video, The Ping Yao Continuum, is meant to express this tension by exploring the domestic ritual of a simple family meal inside the transitioning city, capturing a brief moment in time; and then extending it in reverse in an effort to prolong the experience of the present tense and savor the moment as an isolated, universal, ritual experience.
http://elasticlimit.com/artwork/

Kenny Schneider

Originally produced in 1968, Schneider’s 1002 Rothko’s was created by hand drawing on 16mm optical negatives, using markers, ink, collage materials and 2D cell animation. In 2008, he digitally reprocessed the work as 1002 Rothko’s. Using the Watchout software of e4c, Schneider has choreographed these newly reprocessed cells into a dance across four monitors.
artistsregister.com/artists/CO201

Now that the weather is warming up – yes for Pacific Northwesterners, 50 degrees is warm – and sunny, GO OUTSIDE!

Channel your inner tourist, and go down to Seattle’s Central Waterfront. Why not?! How long has it been since you’ve been down there? Lots to see and do…

Founded in 1851, Elliott Bay has served as the city’s front door. South of downtown at the mouth of the Duwamish River is Harbor Island, the world’s largest artificial island when it was constructed in 1909. The island’s profile is defined by the massive gantry cranes used to load and unload containerized cargo – said to have inspired the AT-ATs of Star Wars fame. Heading north, Piers 54–59 are a distinctive group of historic wooden warehouses home to working fireboats, the Seattle Aquarium, and a variety of tasty seafood restaurants and quirky shops. These sheds are the most authentic remnants of the old waterfront still standing.

Continuing north, historic markers placed all along the seawall commemorate milestones in Seattle’s maritime history. Explore Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, and/or the walking and biking paths that connect with Smith Cove Park and the Elliott Bay Marina in the Magnolia neighborhood. For other things to see and do visit DestinationHeritage.org.

Seattle’s Central Waterfront © 4Culture 2010

Come join 4Culture in a collaborative effort in connecting communities.  This FREE event features artists working in culturally specific traditions to showcase their work both on stage and an art exhibit of emerging talent.  This is a great way to network with venues that present art and artists who create art.

March 10, 2010 10 am – 6 pm 
Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center

UPDATE– the registration deadline for presenters and artists has been extended to 5 pm, Friday, March 5. Download registration forms here.

The Ethnic Arts Connection is a collaborative project of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Seattle Center, 4Culture, Washington State Arts Commission, Ethnic Heritage Council, Fest and Arts Northwest.

The Washington State Jewish Historical Society is inviting all wine lovers to attend History Uncork’d: A Wine Tasting Fundraiser for the society at Howard House, 604 2nd Avenue on March 10. Enjoy some of Washington’s top wines while mingling and enjoying some light kosher hors d’oeuvres. Guest speakers are Richard Kinssies, former wine columnist for the PI, Director of the Seattle Wine School, and Owner of the Wine Outlet; and Eric LeVine, founder of Cellar Tracker. Kosher and non-Kosher wines will be served at separate stations. Click here for more information.

We need volunteers who are willing to help with clean up and painting prep!  Lots needs to be accomplished so get out your ‘dirty jeans’ and sign up to help us make this building shine.

Please RSVP with lucib@historicseattle.org if you are willing to help out with this project.

Thanks!!

Washington Hall © Dan Hawkins

Saturday, February 13, 2010
11 am – 1:30pm
Frye Art Museum
Free

“Look at the subject, think about it before photographing, look until it becomes alive and looks back into you.” —Edward Steichen

Poets Susan Rich and Lillias Bever lead a workshop on ekphrasis, poems written about visual art. Famous models of the form by such poets as W.H. Auden, Rilke, Mary Oliver, and Lisel Mueller will be examined as well as recent examples by local poets published in Looking Together: Writers on Art (Frye Art Museum/ University of Washington Press, 2009). Participants will sharpen their powers of observation and try their hand at writing poems on works of art in the Frye’s collection. All levels of writers are welcome.

Both poets received funding through 4Culture’s Individual Artist Projects program, which helped make this free workshop possible.

For more information and to register

Photo by Carrick

Sol Hashemi: Object History Awareness
Exhibition: February 5 – 26, 2010
Artist Reception: First Thursday, February 4, 2010, 6 – 8pm

Tonight, stop by Gallery4Culture during First Thursday artwalk to check out Object History Awareness, a solo exhibition of photographs and ready mades by recent UW graduate Sol Hashemi.    His photographs are an ambiguous mixture of straight documentation interspersed with altered elements, resulting in works that are playful, idiosyncratic and even  humorous.

Read more about Hashemi and Gallery4Culture

Sol Hashemi, Detail of Floods, Archival Inkjet Print © 2010

David Kwan
Kwan has adapted his work SOLARIS, a series of sound-generated video projections for e4c. Kwan composes soundscapes from live radio transmissions, related to the electromagnetic waves that form the basis for the ordering of matter in space and that continue to permeate the environment. These soundscapes are fed through a customized video imaging system to reveal their inherent patterning.
www.davidkwan.net

Ann-Marie Stillion

Ann-Marie Stillion will present Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity, a project that combines photographs, film and audio to examine and share the story of Eva Washington, a 76-year-old woman who lives alone on the streets of Seattle. Each monitor of e4c will portray different visual aspects of Washington’s life. Stillion writes, “Eva’s personal story is the story of millions of people around the world who find themselves living without shelter.”
www.arttrek.com

Learn more about both artists and e4c here.

SOLARIS, © David Kwan
Eva Washington: sweet are the uses of adversity © Ann-Marie Stillion, 2009

Eckstein Middle School has been working on the Fundred Dollar Bill Project, a hands-on art project to advocate for funding to clean up polluted soils in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina’s flooding left a legacy of contamination that is affecting the health of children and adults living in the city. The project invites citizens to create an image of a dollar bill. These “fundreds” will be collected and taken to Washington D.C. to be offered in exchange for actual funding for cleanup. Eckstein Middle School will host a pick up: the special armored car pictured here will make a call. To participate, print Fundred Bills from the web-link, work ‘em up, send ‘em in – templates and directions as well as places to send fundreds can be found on the website. Fundreds may also be hand-delivered to the vegetable oil powered bank truck on February 11, 1:30 p.m., Eckstein Middle School, 3003 NE 75th St., Seattle. And notice: the word fun is in the title of this project.

The month of March will bring immersive art opportunities at Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend for middle school students throughout the state. Working with gifted artists, middle school students will converse, draw, sculpt, paint, dance, perform, and write. It’s an intense, fun-filled time of learning how the different arts interconnect.

In May, Water World offers arts and science immersion for elementary students. Centrum has a long history of presenting meaningful arts experiences for all ages. Check out all their programming.

© Courtesy of Centrum Foundation

Take a look back at the swanky lifestyle of turn of the 20th century First Hill, by touring the Dearborn and Stimson-Green mansions. Tours conclude with coffee and pastries. Pre-Registration required – visit historicseattle.org or call (206) 622-6952.

My first foray into Georgetown was January last year for 4C’s 2009 launch event – and I <sheepishly> have to admit I’ve been in Seattle for 6 1/2 years. Many of you probably know this little gem of a neighborhood, although some of you, like me, may be a little late getting around to exploring it… but I highly recommend you do!

First platted in 1890, the community of Georgetown initially developed as a manufacturing and heavy industry center. By the turn-of-the-century, however, Georgetown had gained a pretty dodgy reputation due to its many breweries, saloons and various other <ahem> night-time activities.

Today, the neighborhood retains much of its unique historic character and distinctive flavor – sans the dodginess. One noteworthy industrial landmark is the Seattle Brewing & Malt Company (6000 – 6004 Airport Way S). One of the largest breweries in the West when completed in 1903, it now partially houses art studios. The former Georgetown City Hall (6200 – 13th Avenue S) is another interesting landmark, and saw a lot of action in a town with 26 all-night saloons. Although the brewery is closed, there are still some local brew-houses that are turning out area favorites. There are also plenty of local restaurants and watering holes to satisfy your appetite, and wet your thirst. For more information on the neighborhood’s history, visit www.georgetownhistory.com.

Image: Seattle Malt and Brewing Company, 2008, Courtesy of Holly Taylor

Carri wrote in to ask if there are any workshops available to help artists navigate these waters. I’m pleased to announce Washington Lawyers for the Arts has just confirmed they will be presenting a Tax Workshop for Artists on February 24, 2010 from 7-10 PM at the University of Washington School of Law (on 15th Ave NE between NE 43rd Street and NE 42nd Street – room 115).

Save the date and remind yourself to check Washington Lawyers for the Arts website soon to sign up. This is a sell-out event!

Virginia V
Chanty Sing-along
Recommended by Brandi Link, Heritage & Preservation 4Culture
Friday, January 8, 2010, 8 pm

Know any good sea chanteys? Local musician Chris Roe does! Join her on the Virginia V for a free and lively concert. You can come just to listen, or if you are confident in your singing voice, feel free to join in on the chorus. Admission is free and children of all ages are welcome.

Open Satellite
All-ages Harvest Day
Recommended by Tamar Benzikry-Stern, Public Art 4Culture
Saturday, January 9, 2010, noon – 5pm
989 112 Ave NE, Suite 102, Bellevue WA 98004

You and your family are invited to harvest a strawberry plant from The Corner of Sweet and Bitter.   Join others for this special closing event that connects the dots between art and the history of Bellevue’s landscape. Harvest a strawberry plant then create and decorate your own Tamatebako (origami gift box) to carry it home.  This event is free and open to the public.

Kent Historical Society
Vintage Movie Series – Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
Recommended by Sara Edwards, Communications 4Culture
Saturday, January 16, 2010, 3pm – 5pm
855 E Smith St, Kent, WA

Movies the old-fashioned way—see a movie “short”, intermission, then our January feature film—“Little Lord Fauntleroy” (1936). Seating limited to first 30 paid tickets – admission is only $3/$2(members). Freshly popped popcorn and other refreshments available.

MOHAI Nearby History Workshops 2010
How to Research Family and Care for Your Heirlooms
Recommended by Eric Taylor, Heritage4Culture
Saturday, January 16, 2010, 9:30 – 4:30 pm

The Museum of History & Industry has announced the Nearby History classes for 2010, beginning with “How to Research Family and Care for Your Heirlooms.” Now in its 11th year, Nearby History has trained thousands of local historians to research and write about a topic that has captured their interest. For both novices and long-time history lovers, Nearby History offers a wide variety of workshops.

Mostly Nordic Concert Series
Nordic Elegance
Recommended by Eric Taylor, Heritage 4Culture
January 24, 2010, 4 pm
Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 NW 67th Street, Seattle, WA 98117

The Nordic Heritage Museum has announced its 2010 lineup for Mostly Nordic, a chamber music series presented by artists representing all five Nordic countries. The season begins with “Nordic Elegance,” a performance featuring Knut Erik Jensen, a Norwegian virtuoso pianist. Other concerts follow every month through May, with each concert followed by a smorgasbord of gourmet Nordic delicacies from the featured country. Admission to all Nordic Heritage Museum exhibits is free to concert goers before the performance.

Duwamish Longhouse
First Anniversary
Recommended by Willow Fox, Public Art 4Culture
January 30, 2010, 11am – 5pm
4705 W Marginal Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106

Save the date for this celebration marking the 1 year anniversary of the Duwamish Longhouse!

Skykomish Historical Society
Wellington Disaster Centennial Commemoration Event
Recommended by Eric Taylor, Heritage 4Culture
Saturday, February 27, 2010, 1 pm
Skykomish School, 105 6th St N, Skykomish, WA 98288

In the predawn hours of March 1, 1910, 96 people perished when a mammoth snow slide swept two westbound passenger trains and their tracks down a canyon at Wellington in King County. In 2010, the Skykomish Historical Society will mark the centennial of the worst avalanche disaster, and nearly the worst train accident in US history, by presenting a commemorative event with speakers Gary Krist (author of the best seller The White Cascade), and Martin Burwash (author of the recently published Vis Major.) Other authors and local historians will also take part in this event, which will include informational exhibits. Also, save the date for August 14, as the Society plans a second commemoration at the site of the Wellington Disaster along the Iron Goat Trail.

Art Lending Library

The Art Lending Library collects works by local artists and makes them available for you to borrow and hang in your home for free! The work in the art library is distributed on a first come first serve basis, so the earlier you arrive the more choices you will have!  All artwork that is checked out will be delivered at a later date by the Librarians. You can park in the main north parking lot of Youngstown. Buses 120 and 125 stop right outside the building.  When you get here follow the signs to the 2nd floor of the building!

© 2009 Seth Damm

White Lines (don’t do it)
reception January 7, 2010, 6 to 8pm
exhibit January 8 – 29, 2010

In a series of stunning black and white digital prints, DeLira documents sweeping, graceful lines of chalk glyphs laid onto soulful urban surfaces.  In a process that begins as a sort of “conceptual graffiti”, DeLira selects asphalt and concrete sites that engage him for their texture, light, or residue; surfaces that serve as ideal receptors for ephemeral marks made from chalk. Read more here or come see it for yourself and join us for the opening this Thursday evening.

*Plus* Immediately following the opening this First Thursday, we’re thrilled to present a special reading by poets from Floating Bridge Review #2, at Gallery4Culture from 8 – 9 pm. Floating Bridge Press is a nonprofit literary arts organization founded in 1994 and run by an all-volunteer editorial board. Its mission is to recognize and promote the work of Washington State poets through an annual poetry chapbook award; the production of archival-quality books; and community poetry readings. Reading will be Larry Crist, Joannie Kervan Stangeland and other poets featured in the Floating Bridge Review #2.

Straight Line, Digital Photography,  20″ x  18″, 2009 © Jesse DeLira

Sabine Gruffat: Video Animations

Gruffat’s four channel experimental video includes live-rendered computer animation and analog signal processes of early video. She writes, “In Video Animations, shapes and signals overlay and intersect each other. Production processes are fore-grounded to become the subject of the work: the manner by which technology alters the way we look at, listen to, and feel the world.”

Noah Klersfeld:
vehicles traveling in two directions behind a chain-link fence (R 1mo A)
smoke drifting in front of a concrete building façade (LA 9fo M)
snow falling in front of a red brick building façade (R 4mo A)
water undulating within a ceramic tile fountain (CB 3foM)

Klersfeld will be presenting four video pieces on e4c that represent his on-going series portraying modified urban landscapes. He writes, “My digital video work attempts to materialize time by using time as a design element for the creation of new spatial forms…It is my intention to have people consider time on an inch-by-inch basis rather than day-by-day.” Selections for e4c will include a series that uses the patterns of architecture as the geometric framework for dissecting and reorganizing the timing of vehicles, smoke, snow and water.

These new works join the ongoing rotation of work on e4c, currently featuring pieces by: Laurel Beckman, Ann Oren, Tess Martin, Heather Dew Oaksen, Tina Aufiero, Stephen Hilyard, Perry Bard and Bennett Morris.

Video Animations (still/detail) © 2009 Sabine Gruffat
Water undulating within a ceramic tile fountain (CB 3fo M) © 2008 Noah Klersfeld

Thanks to Salise Hughes and Relja Penezic for sharing their amazing work on 4Culture’s e4c. Their pieces will be taken out of rotation as we make way for new videos by Sabine Gruffat and Noah Klersfeld.

Come by 4Culture this holiday weekend to see Hughes’ Shiny Things, Everyone I Have Ever Known, How to Draw Clouds, and There Were Houses Here. Soak up Relja Penezic’s Fragments of Unused Time. As one visiting artist said about Penezic’s painterly piece, “This is stunningly beautiful!”