On February 9, 2010, a selection panel of arts professionals met to review 140 online applications to Gallery4Culture from King County artists working in a wide range of media. With exhibition months to be determined in the near future, the selected artists will be exhibiting between September 2010 and August 2011.

Congrats to the selected artists!

Erin Elyse Burns – New media/video

James Cicatko – Painting/works on paper

Andrew Fallat – Sculpture/performance

Julia Freeman – Works on paper/installation

Paul Komada – Painting/fiber art

Jason Larsen – Woodcut

Ryan Molenkamp – Painting

NKO, NTG, and Dan Hawkins - Street art

Keeara Rhoades – New media/video/installation

Gregory Schaffer – Photography

Ben Waterman – Sculpture

And sincere thanks are owed to this year’s selection panelists: Zack Bent, Susie Lee, and Robert Yoder for their work; thanks also to 4Culture Board member Kevin Carl who served as an advisor in the process.

The next Gallery4Culture Call to Artists goes out in December 2010 with a January 10, 2011 deadline. This exhibition opportunity is open to King County artists not represented by a commercial gallery at the time of application.

Paul Komada, Boogie Woogie Homage, 2008, Wool yarn, 48 x 48 inches, image courtesy of the artist

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

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

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

Two artist opportunities have deadlines in January. Artist applications for Gallery 4Culture’s 2010 – 2011 season are due January 11. Artists living within the county and who currently do not have gallery representation are invited to apply. The gallery encourages both emerging and established artists to apply.

aLIVe – a Low Impact Vehicle exploration, invites artists to submit ideas that will inspire and engage the broader community in a conversation about transportation. Produced in collaboration with artist Cheryl dos Remedios and Great City, the project seeks artists’ thinking in solving energy, transportation and livability issues facing us all. The deadline for application is January 25th.

Download Call

Evan Blackwell, Lost in Space, Gallery4Culture, November 2009 © Evan Blackwell

Click here to view the embedded video.

video courtesy of the artist

The exhibit runs through December 31. Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm. (Closed on government holidays.)

Bigfoot is Probably Real.

Stop by 4Culture this First Thursday for the opening of a solo exhibit by Eugene Parnell, the West Coast’s foremost cryptozoological reconstruction artist. Parnell creates installations and interactive works that navigate the mental geographies of childhood and the politics of Natural History displays. The exhibition expands on Parnell’s foray into the Bigfoot/Sasquatch mystery begun in a recent Kirkland Arts Center group show, False Proof.

Bigfoot is Probably Real. is an interactive installation where visitors can: don large wooden strap-on feet to recreate hoax Bigfoot tracks; read a sampling from countless eyewitness accounts of Bigfoot sightings; and hear the audio from a genuine 911 emergency call made by an eyewitness. Parnell also offers visitors the memorable experience an actual Bigfoot encounter – his one-of-a-kind, 8 foot taxidermied specimen. Read more

Taxidermied Bigfoot (detail), Urethane foam, steel, epoxy resin, glass, bigfoot hide, pigment, 2009 © Eugene Parnell

Deadline January 11, 2010
Exhibition Season runs September 2010 – August 2011

Gallery4Culture is currently accepting exhibition proposals for the 2010-2011 season. Dedicated to presenting solo, small group, and curated exhibitions by studio artists living in King County, WA, Gallery4Culture offers exhibiting artists with curatorial direction and an exhibition space of approximately 1200 sq. ft. The gallery is located in the Tashiro Building in historic Pioneer Square (Seattle). Exhibitions open on the First Thursday of each month.

Artists working in all media and genres are encouraged to apply, including those whose media and method of work is under-represented in commercial galleries. Curators interested in applying may submit proposals for group exhibitions. This opportunity is only available to artists not currently represented by a commercial gallery.

This year’s application process is online. The deadline is 5:00 P.M. Monday, January 11. A panel comprised of prominent regional arts professionals and artists will review applications; selections will be announced in early March.

This is an annual Call occurring in December/January of each year, with panel composition changing each year. Contact: Esther Luttikhuizen at 206 296.8674.

From Sara Osebold’s performance Wool Glacier at Gallery4Culture, 2009. Photo by Joe Mabel

Recently, Nancy Guppy and the team from Seattle Channel’s Artzone spent a day at 4Culture filming a quick segment about what 4Culture is (and does). They’ve posted it on their website, take a look!

Lost In Space
reception November 5, 2009, 6 to 8pm
exhibit November 5 – 27, 2009

Itching to get your eyes on some emerging, local, contemporary art? Join us this coming “First Thursday” at Gallery4Culture to check out a new exhibit by Evan Blackwell.

Blackwell’s background in craft and his current studio practice meld together resulting in a show that utilizes such things as old doors, picture frames, mirrored balls, metal studs, coat hangers, shoes, vinyl and Plexi-glass, Blackwell’s artistic sensibility and search for meaning alter each into something entirely different. In the words of the artist, “I am in the process of constructing forms, compositions, structures, and spaces that serve as lens to see both the materials from which they were constructed and world we live in with fresh perspective.”

Central to the exhibit is a 6-foot icosahedron, a 20-sided polyhedron made of equilateral triangles constructed from metal studs. A structural system with endless metaphorical possibilities, Blackwell’s icosahedron contains an unexpected interior element, plastic drinking straws.

Read More

Evan Blackwell, Untitled, Picture frames, wood & plaster, 2009 © Evan Blackwell

Application Available: December
Deadline: Monday, January 11, 2010

THINK AHEAD, Gallery4Culture’s annual Call to Artists coming out in December. Solo, two-person, and curated group exhibitions in all media will be considered.

Who is Eligible?
– artists (and curators) must reside in King County
– artists may not be represented by a commercial gallery at the time of application

For past exhibitions, visit our website.
For questions, contact: Esther Luttikhuizen at 206 296.8674.

Chauney Peck, Makeshift Monuments, Gallery4Culture, 2008 © Chauney Peck

Former Best Friends Forever
reception October 1, 2009, 6 to 8pm
exhibit October 1 – 30, 2009

Join us this coming First Thursday at Gallery4Culture as we open an exhibition of intriguing new media works by Peter Bonde Becker Nelson. Former Best Friends Forever consists of five video and installation works, each with accompanying audio dialogue, from five different guys who were at one point the artist’s “best friend.” The video and installation elements create dynamic visual and experiential cues to help place the viewer in the world of the audio experience and, in doing so, evoke their own memories of similar friendships.

Read More

Photo by the artist

Read more about the exhibit and how to visit Gallery4Culture

Click here to view the embedded video.

© 2009 Video by Aaron Bourget

A new season of Gallery4Culture exhibitions launches September 3rd with Melt, a two-person show of environmentally conscious work. Sara Osebold and Vaughn Bell, both of Seattle, approach the common theme of nature from separate directions with very different media, inviting the viewer to contemplate the implications of a melting world.

A reception will be held on September 3, 2009, the first Thursday of the month, during the Downtown Artwalk, from 6 – 8 pm. The public is encouraged to attend.

UPDATE 9/2/09, 1pm:
During the First Thursday open house, artist Sara Osebold will perform Wool Glacier in the exhibit. The performance is planned for 7pm and will last approximately 15 minutes.)

Read more

Sara Osebold, Wool Glacier (detail), 134 x 72 x 17″, 2009 © Sara Osebold

Congrats to the 13 artists selected to present work in the 09/10 season on e4c, our storefront media gallery.

Laurel Beckman — Santa Barbara, CA — www.laurelbeckman.com
Scott Groeniger — Honolulu, HI — elasticlimit.com/artwork/
Sabine Gruffat — Madison, WI — www.sabinegruffat.com
Tomiko Jones — Renton, WA — www.tomikojonesphoto.com
Noah Klersfeld — New York, NY — www.noahklersfeld.com
Margot Quan Knight — Bellevue, WA — margotknight.com
David Kwan — Oakland, CA — www.davidkwan.net
Tess Martin — Seattle, WA — www.filmandscissors.com
Ann Oren — Brooklyn, NY — www.annoren.com
Tyler Potts — Seattle, WA — www.tylerpotts.com
Kamran Sadeghi — Brooklyn, NY — www.kamransadeghi.com
Kenny Schneider — La Veta, CO — artistsregister.com/artists/CO201
Ann-Marie Stillion — Seattle, WA — www.arttrek.com

A peer-selection panel chose 13 artists from a competitive pool of applicants from across the country. From experimental animation to digital video recordings of everyday life, the artists’ work represents a diverse sampling of electronic media. New projects will be presented as soon they have been adapted to meet technical requirements of the site, as early as October 15, 2009.

Learn more

Image: © Tess Martin, A Moment’s Reverie (still), a 10 min. back-lit paper cut-out stop frame animation, 2007

Time Sensitive Installations

Time Sensitive Installations, at Gallery4Culture consists of 6 wall-mounted sculptures that offer viewers the opportunity to challenge their preconceptions of time. Seattle artist Kirk Lang’s studio practice revolves around the relationship between measured and perceived time. Although inextricably linked, measured and perceived time exist in two separate worlds, the external and the internal. Internal perceptions of time are subjective and can differ dramatically from factual, measured time. Lang’s mixed media constructions search for truth and meaning in the dichotomy that exists between the two; this inquiry is central to his work.
This exhibition was made possible in part through an Individual Artist Projects award from 4Culture.

A reception will be held on August 6, 2009, the first Thursday of the month, during the Downtown Artwalk, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. The public is encouraged to attend.

Read more

Kirk Lang, Passage, 2009, Installation, 60 digital clocks, door, metal, wood and plastic, photo courtesy of the artist

has been:becoming

exhibit through July 31, 2009
www.4culture.org/publicart/gallery

Gallery4Culture is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Seattle-based installation artist Jennifer Towner. Towner’s mixed media works are narratives that traverse her personal history and explore what it’s like to be an “almost” middle-aged, single (childless) woman in contemporary society. Memory, body image, relationship, and the reproductive time-clock are central themes in Towner’s art.

Her work demonstrates a bent toward obsessive production. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, Towner’s unyielding introspection and penchant to produce are integral to her studio practice. Multiples play a significant role in her creative process and aesthetic. In the artist’s words, “I take objects and incidents from my personal history and transform them through obsessive ritual into installations and events for everyone to see. I tell stories of my obsession through my work.”

Learn more about Towner and Gallery4Culture

image: © Jennifer Towner, 2009, The Pinnacle (The Curse of the Hamilton Family Feet), plaster, shoe, Courtesy of 4Culture

100 years; for better or worse

public reception: June 4, 2009, 6 to 8pm
exhibit: June 4 to 26, 2009
www.4culture.org/publicart/gallery

In recognition the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P) Centennial, Gallery4Culture is pleased to present, 100 years; for better or worse, a collection of contemporary visual art responses to the legacy of our region’s first world fair. In 100 years; for better or worse, lead artists Dawn Cerny and Patrick Holderfield present a cohesive exhibit examining cultural shifts in attitudes toward indigenous peoples since 1909. Many of the artworks are a reaction to the A-Y-P’s premier attraction, the “Igorrote Village”, where approximately fifty Filipinos (men, women and children) were relocated from a remote village of the Philippine Islands to be on display at the fair from June through mid-October 1909. A sensationalized environment was constructed where they were able to be seen at work and at play, depicting a skewed and stereotyped view of Filipino life and culture. Such exploitive exhibits of indigenous peoples were common at world exhibitions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Read More.

Listen to Dawn Cerny talk about 100 years; for better or worse

image: © Dawn Cerny, 2009, We hate you, silk, felt, fringe

Home and family are the epicenter of Zack Bent’s artwork – photographs and video derived from make-shift historic scenarios which he stages and directs, casting his two sons Ezra and Solomon and his wife Gala as stand-ins. The scenes reference the behaviors of other tribes and communities; for example in Buffalo Trace, Bent focuses on the Boy Scouts, an iconic American institution. Bent’s father was a Boy Scout within the Buffalo Trace Council in southern Indiana. “The tradition of scouting was handed down to me by him. And like the true Buffalo Trace, which was a migratory buffalo path through Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois that acted as road west for early Americans, scouting bears its trace in my life.

image: © Zack Bent, Contusion, 20″x20″, archival inkjet print, 2009

reception April 2, 2009, 6 to 8pm
exhibit April 2 to May 1, 2009

In a dozen or so works on paper, Bent has produced an enchanting primer on the role of imagination in our understanding of reality. With graphite and gouache, she transports the viewer into an imaginary world populated by benevolent creatures amidst swirling air, water and hair. In these works, visible and invisible meet one another and react. Bent’s work strives to address human’s yearning to know the natural world and to understand that which is invisible.

image: © Gala Bent, 2008, Party Pooper, graphite and gouache on Arches paper 22″ x 30″, photo by the artist