Julia Freeman, Shrubs, 2011 (detail). Photo courtesy of the artist.

Monday, January 9, 2012, 5:00 p.m. is the deadline for submitting applications for exhibit opportunities in Gallery4Culture, our 1000 square foot gallery space.

Gallery4Culture’s application for the exhibition season from September 2012 through August 2013 is available online. Review the guidelines and online application here.

Individual artists, artist teams and independent curators residing in King County, WA are eligible to apply. Artists may not be represented by a commercial gallery at the time of application. Members of artist-run collectives and cooperative galleries are eligible to apply. Artists who have had solo exhibitions at Gallery4Culture are ineligible for four years from the time of their previous application. We look forward to your application.

For all of that do-goodness, they were awarded the 2011 Conductive Garboil Grant at a public celebration last week. Thanks to everybody who came out to show their support, especially our stalwart selection committee members!

Conductive Garboil Celebration © 2011 Catherine Trapani

Beth Fleenor: Mother May I
Opening Ensemble Performance: Friday, November 4, 2011 – 8pm
Daily performances: Monday-Friday, November 7-11, 2011 – 1-5pm
Jack Straw New Media Gallery, Seattle
Free

4Culture Individual Artist Project recipient, Beth Fleenor will present her first sound/performance installation, Mother May I, an ongoing project in continued develop­ment over the next year. For the work in progress Fleenor will lead a 7-piece improvising ensemble in the interpretation of new sound works based on the wave panels. The installation will also be activated daily with solo and duo interpretations of the waves. The ensemble also features, Michele Khazak (voice), Paris Hurley (violin/tape players), Samantha Boshnack (trumpet), Michael Owcharuk (keyboard), Paul Kemmish (bass), Tom Zgonc (drums). From November 7-11, Beth Fleenor will inhabit the space from 1-5pm each day doing solo interpretations of the work, in addition to collaborating on a host of duo interpretations (artists to be announced).

Short Run, Small Press Fest, Vera Project, Seattle
Saturday, November 12, 2011 – 10:30-4:30
Short Run Art Show, Fantagraphics, Seattle
Opening: Saturday, November 12, 2011 – 6:00-9:00 pm
Free

The Vera Project (supported through 4Culture’s Sustained Support) in Seattle Center will host Short Run, Seattle’s Small Press Fest for a full day of browsing, animation – featuring the work of Seattle Experimental Animation Team (SEAT) – and the opportunity to meet the artists and creators who make up the thriving local small press community.

The Short Run Art Show opens that evening from 6:00 – 9:00p.m. at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Georgetown and will feature work from Gallery4Culture and Individual Artist Project recipient, Eroyn Franklin Max Clotfelter, Jesse Reklaw, Sean Christensen, Tim Root, Chris Cilla, Erin Tanner, Jason T. Miles, and Andrice Arp. The show continues through December 6, Monday-Saturday 11:30-8:00, Sunday 11:30-5:00, 1201 S. Vale St in Georgetown.

Live in the Drum 3
Friday, January 6, 2012 8:00-10:00 pm
Carlson Theater, Bellevue
Tickets: $15.00

Live in the Drum 3 is a live performance event that celebrates life through the performing arts. Headed by choreographer and 4Culture Individual Artist Project recipient, Ron Smith, the show will highlight the work of many of the region’s most popular urban dance crews and is scheduled for January 6th, 2012, at Carlson Theater in Bellevue. Support from this event will be provided to Hopelink, a non-profit King County Organization, which provides resources for King County residents facing economic hardship.

Click here to view the embedded video.

© 2011, Short Run, Seattle’s Small Press Festival

COACHELLA

September 1 – 29, 2011

Opening: First Thursday, September 1, 6pm – 8pm

4Culture is pleased to open the 2011-2012 exhibition season with Maria Gamboa’s gallery installation of large scale drawings. Titled Coachella, a Spanish word meaning, “a sense of place”, the soul of this work harkens back to a valley in southern California where Maria Gamboa spent her childhood years. As a young girl Maria, along with her brothers, accompanied their parents as part of a farmworking collective moving through California harvesting grapes. This experience left an abiding impression on her life and work. Incorporating this experience into her studio practice is central to her focus. The linear pattern and box-like forms in her drawings simulate the system and structure of day labor. Gamboa’s elegant drawings also incorporate unexpected 3-D elements.

Maria Gamboa was born in Los Angeles; she grew up in Durango, Mexico, and throughout California, mostly in the Coachella Valley. First in her family to attend college, Maria graduated with honors from UC Berkeley (BA in Art Practice) and Rhode Island School of Design (MFA). This will be her first solo exhibition in Seattle since moving here a year ago.

Photo: © Maria Gamboa, To come to the surface again, 2010, Photo by the artist

PARALLELS

August 4 – 26, 2011

Opening: First Thursday, August 4, 6pm – 8pm

In August Gallery4Culture presents Parallels, a solo exhibition of four meticulously crafted portraits by Seattle-based artist Jason Larsen. Working from appropriated vintage photographs of strangers as well as several of his own shots of close friends, Larsen records and interprets the essence of his subjects with remarkable focus and care.

The artist carves on Shina, a subtly grained Japanese plywood that has been inked, presenting the carvings as the finished artwork rather than using them to create an edition of prints, as is traditional. Join us in welcoming Jason Larsen on First Thursday.

Visit galleries.4Culture.org for more information.

Photo: Jason Larsen, First Mate, 2011. Photo by the artist.

4Culture is pleased to finally announce the 2011 Individual Artist Project award recipients! In late June, our Board of Directors approved recommendations from the 4Culture Arts Advisory Committee to support 72 artist-generated projects to benefit of citizens of and visitors to our region.

The Individual Artist Projects peer review panel reviewed 314 applications. Project budgets totaled $4,676,895 with requests to 4Culture totaling $1,725,457. This year’s peer-panel recommended that 72 artists receive a total of $345,070 in award funds this year.  The criteria for this program includes: excellence as demonstrated in the work sample and project application, project feasibility, and the public benefit to the citizens and visitors of King County.

Eligible projects may be at any stage of development including initial planning, development and final production. The presentation of funded projects provides public access to creative experiences to residents and visitors across our County. 4Culture is the largest annual funder of projects by individual artists in Washington State.

A few projects recommended for funding include:

• Abdoulaye Sylla, a master dancer and drummer from Guinea, West Africa, will create an instructional video for students and audiences.
• Toby Campbell will compose, perform and release new music for string quartet in conjunction with film-scoring workshops for youth.
• Leah Warshawski will continue production on her documentary film about Rwandan filmmakers struggling to create and present film in their country.
• Sondra Simone Segundo will complete a Native American art and design book for educators.

This year’s selection panelists: Yadesa Bojia, Visual Artist, Shoreline; Jayme Yahr, Art Historian & Exhibitions Director, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland/Seattle; Vincent Orduña, Actor, Director & Theater Manager, CARCO, Renton; Laura Ciotti, Musician & Project Manager, Sweet Bird Classics, Seattle; Christine Juarez, Director of Dance, Vashon Allied Arts & Faculty, Cornish College of the Arts, Vashon/Seattle; Mary Longhurst, Documentary Filmmaker, Federal Way; Tish Lopez, Writer/Screenwriter & English Faculty, Bellevue Community College, Bellevue/Seattle. Please contact us if you’re interested in becoming involved with 4Culture as a panelist, advisory or board member.

We strive to reach out to artists working around the County. From January 20^th through March 1^st application workshops were conducted in communities throughout King County, including Auburn, Issaquah, Des Moines, Richmond Beach/Shoreline, Redmond and Seattle. Following the March 9, 2011 deadline, peer panels were held on May 16^th, 17^th and 18^th for applicants applying in the disciplines of visual arts, literature, music, media, dance and theater.

4Culture also encourages artists from across King County, working in all disciplines, to learn about our opportunities. Artists can access information about 4Culture’s funding programs by signing up to receive our on-line newsletter, which is emailed out monthly. It provides information about upcoming 4Culture opportunities for artists, such as: Gallery4Culture, e4c, Site Specific and our Touring Arts Roster, as well as, opportunities from other organizations and helpful tips from the field.

After working for seven years to secure funding for this and numerous other funding programs, 4Culture, with bipartisan support of the state legislature, was able to secure funds for this program through a portion of the King County Lodging Tax. We look forward to receiving many new applications next year!

© 2009, Toby Campbell, Anomie Belle, Image: Anthon Smith

Keeara Rhoades
UNDERCOVER HOLIDAYS

July 7 – 29, 2011
Opening:  First Thursday, July 7, 6-8pm

Gallery4Culture hosts Keeara Rhoades in July with Undercover Holidays,  a multi-media installation that incorporates video, altered photographs and sound. Through the artwork Rhoades peers inside the dugout to present baseball via four all-American girls, each played by herself and examined in the context of family.  The artworks are fundamentally a study of Rhoades’ own persona and ask the question: what in is inherited and what is the product of environment?

Pitcher, catcher, batter and umpire—each position, costume, and movement reflects a unique temperament. Playing baseball is a physical manifestation of each separate persona. Undercover Holidays presents the idea that each position functions as part of a unit. Each player reveals discrete parts of an individual; as the parts come together, they make a whole. Keeara Rhoades’ work conveys the idea that we are each our own team.

© Keeara Rhoades, Catcher Tryouts, Photograph

Have you ever run across a collection of old photographs that draw you into the landscape of another era?  A hundred years from now, people will be stunned to stumble upon the architectural photography of John Stamets.  Since the late 1980s, he has meticulously recorded the structures of the twentieth century in our region, just before they’re razed or reworked in the name of progress.

For national Preservation Month this May, Gallery 4Culture is pleased to feature the work of John Stamets in HABS/HAER Standards Photography of the Pacific Northwest.

Join us at Gallery 4Culture this Wednesday, May 18, at 6:30 p.m. to hear Stamets speak about his unusual career.  He has quite a story to tell about the timeless images he’s creating for the Historic American Building Survey and Historic American Engineering Record collections, permanently archived at the U.S. Library of Congress.

He’ll talk about those high HABS/HAER photographic standards, how he gets the impossible shots he needs, and how he always manages to be in the right place at the right time.

Image: South Park Bridge, Seattle 2010 © John Stamets

Historic Seattle Preservation Awards
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 5:30pm – 8pm
Talaris Conference Center, 4000 NE 41st Street, Seattle
Join Historic Seattle in celebrating outstanding achievements in preservation at their 3rd Annual Awards ceremony at Talaris Conference Center in the U District. This year, they acknowledge the stewardship that has preserved an elegant campus of Northwest Modern buildings–integrated pavilions by Naramore, Bain, Brady & Johanson (NBBJ) set into a harmonious landscaped park designed by Richard Haag Associates for the Battelle Memorial Institute during the years 1966 to 1970. Formal program begins at 6:45 pm and ticket prices start at $50 for members. Visit www.historicseattle.org for more information and to register.

RevitalizeWA Conference
Wednesday – Friday, May 11-13th, 2011
Marcus Whitman Hotel, 6 West Rose Street, Walla Walla
The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and the Washington State Main Street Program will host “RevitalizeWA, the Washington State Main Street and Preservation Conference,” at the Marcus Whitman Hotel and Conference Center in Walla Walla on May 11-13, 2011. This two-day conference will feature a variety of sessions relating to the revitalization of historic downtowns. Conference overview, schedule, and online registration is available through www.brownpapertickets.com/event/165934.

Stamets HABS/HAER Photography of the Pacific Northwest
May 2011 (Special talk May 18th!)
Gallery 4Culture, 101 Prefontaine Place S., Seattle
Gallery4Culture is celebrating National Preservation Month with an exhibition by photographer John Stamets. A select group of Stamets’ black and white photography, taken as part of his work with Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) programs of the National Parks Service, will be on exhibit through the month of May. Stamets will also give a special public presentation on his exhibit at 4Culture the evening of May 18th, so check back for updates.

Union Station 100th Anniversary Celebration
Friday, May 20, 2011, 2pm – 7pm
Join The Alliance for Pioneer Square and Sound Transit as they celebrate the 100th anniversary of Union Station and the launch of “Trail to Treasure,” a historic interpretive trail through Pioneer Square. The celebration will feature walking tours, information about planning efforts affecting the neighborhood, a live brass band and model train exhibit. For more information visit www.soundtransit.org/UnionStation100.

View from Below: Metro Tunnel Revisited
Sunday, May 22, 2011, 9am – 12pm
Klondike Gold Rush Historic Park Auditorium, 168 S. Jackson Street, Seattle
When the Metro bus tunnel opened in 1989, this progressive public works project represented the largest collaboration of engineers, architects, and artists in Seattle’s history–a marvel of design and construction. Join Phil Jacobson, Mark Spitzer, and Jack Mackie (leaders of the original design team), as they explain how each station was developed with a combination of materials, forms and artwork which relate to its location. To register or for more information visit www.historicseattle.org/events.

May 5 – 26, 2011
Opening: First Thursday, May 5, 6-8:30pm
Gallery Talk: Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm

Gallery4Culture is pleased to join forces with Preservation4Culture during the month of May to celebrate National Preservation Month, presenting an exhibition of remarkable photographs by photographer John Stamets that document historically significant bridges, factories, and dams from the Pacific Northwest. Stamets’ black and white images were photographed with a large format camera to the strict standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), programs of the National Parks Service designed to chronicle and archive (in the Library of Congress) a comprehensive record of endangered structures of historic importance throughout the United States. Since the mid ‘90s, John Stamets, trained in documentary photography, has earned his niche in architectural photography and HABS/HAER Standards documentation.

Stamets is highly regarded in the architecture and urban design community for the artistry and tireless passion he has brought to chronicling the built environment over the past 2 decades. It is an honor to have this opportunity to present this select group of 16” x 20” photographs and 40” x 50” murals from Stamets’ less exhibited work that focuses entirely on endangered historical structures in the Pacific Northwest.

For more information about Gallery 4Culture, e4c and the artists on exhibit please visit the 4Culture Galleries site.

Photos: © John Stamets, South Park Bridge, Seattle 2010

First Thursday opening in Gallery 4Culture of ‘tomb’, an installation by no touching ground , nko and Dan Hawkins. The people come, the people go. Visit the gallery and experience the exhibit for yourself through the end of the month.

no touching ground • nko • dan hawkins: ‘tomb’

April 7 – 29, 2011
Opening: First Thursday, April 7, 2011 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Gallery4Culture welcomes legendary Seattle-based street and installation artists no touching ground (ntg) and nko as they team with photographer Dan Hawkins to unleash their dynamic energy within the confines of our white-walled gallery. The exhibition, ‘tomb’, is the name sake of an anonymous, crumbling industrial site taken-over for an elaborate intervention by these artists in the recent past.  Hawkins’ audio and photographic documentation, methodically gleaned during this earlier project, provides the framework for this exhibition. Large-scale panels, running the full length of the gallery, display a lively and expressive dialogue between ntg and nko.  In addition, ‘tomb’ incorporates 3-Dimensional elements and a series of eerie lightboxes that revisit the original tomb.

no touching ground (ntg) is a street and installation artist. His life sized graphics of animals transported from the wilds of Alaska to the urban maze of Seattle and other national and international cities are haunting reminders of our distance from nature.  ntg’s installation work continues his non-traditional graffiti practice by creating monumental structures of found materials with hand colored printed graphics.

nko is a street/installation artist and curator. His artistic practice involves meditations on collective memory and urbanism, often manifest as memorials for dying buildings, or artistic interventions in unconventional spaces with events like the Bridge Motel, the Belmont, the Corner: 23rd & Union, and the FSF 2400 Battery project.

Dan Hawkins has spent the better part of 20 years exploring and photographing marginal spaces locally, nationally, and internationally. His practice as an urban explorer has led him to create haunting images of urban decay. His work comments on the life and death of cities, reflecting on the stories that these decaying buildings hold silently within them. Dan has published a book, “This Empty City”, of his photographs from Detroit.

Dan Hawkins, ‘tomb’ interior, archival inkjet print © 2010

March 3 – April 1

Exhibition opening: Thursday, March 3rd 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Gallery4Culture welcomes Seattle painter James Cicatko and his solo exhibit Conversations with Messerschmidt.  The gallery will host 6 large-scale graphite drawings from Cicatko’s ambitious series focused on the Character Heads of the obscure but fascinating 18th century sculptor Franz Messerschmidt.

Messerschmidt, a child prodigy, reached the zenith of his artistic career in 1769 in the Habsburg capitol of Vienna. His rise to fame was followed by a precipitous and tragic decline due to the onset of mental illness. Passed over for a prestigious academic position at the Vienna Royal Academy, he retired into seclusion on an invalid’s pension, whereupon he produced his remarkable Character Heads, a series of magnificently sculpted busts rife with human emotion. Franz Messerschmidt died in obscurity in 1783.

Cicatko states, “There is so much to Franz Messerschmidt of interest, some examples being the dramatic, if not tragic, trajectory of his life and career; his mental illness and ensuing paranoia, however diagnosed; his connection to the “spiritual healer” Franz Anton Mesmer; his obsession with “proportion”, manifesting itself in a fascination with the Egyptian god of proportion Thoth, or Thot, the moon god, and his struggle with this god, resulting in the hallucinatory “Beakheads”. And then there is his fanatical accomplishment of the Character Heads, a body of work over 200 years old, but, to me, nonetheless of this time.”

Masterfully rendered, James Cicatko’s drawings recontextualize Messerschmidt’s Character Heads by imposing them on separate bodies and situating them within narratives such as a World War I battlefield, an architectural environment taken from the Hall of Mirrors, and a back yard barbecue in present day/future Armageddon America. As a body of work Cicatko’s Conversations with Messerschmidt presents a world coming undone and, as in Messerschmidt’s Character Heads, suggests unhinging on a psychic level as well. Cicatko’s exhibition presents an extraordinary homage to Franz Messerschmidt’s tumultuous life and powerful work.

top image: © James Cicatko, Locked Inside, Graphite on paper, 73″ x 49″, 2011  Photo by Richard Nicol

Andrew Fallat: Echolalia
February 3 – 25, 2011

Gallery4Culture welcomes sculptor and performance artist Andrew Fallat in a solo exhibition titled Echolalia. The word echolalia typically refers to a psychiatric disorder consisting of the compulsive, meaningless repetition of words or phrases, akin to parroting. Fallat’s sculptures are sleek, kinetic machines, hand-operated to perform specific (but silly) tasks.

This exhibition features 2 new machines – one (a remake of an earlier design) spins plates; the second skips stones. The fabrication of Fallat’s stone skipping machine was supported with GAP funding from Artist Trust.

Fallat will demonstrate his machines during the First Thursday opening, February 3.
An additional Performance/Artist Talk is set for Thursday, February 17, at 7:00 P.M. These events are free and open to the public.

Read more

© 2010, Andrew Thomas Fallat, Stone Skipping Machine, Aluminum, powder coated mid steel, steel,  Rosewood, hardware, dimensions variable. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Erin Elyse Burns: Treading Water
Exhibition running: January 6 – 28, 2011
Opening: 1st Thursday, January 6, 2011, 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M.

Erin Elyse Burns’ exhibition of photographic and video works at Gallery4Culture this month examines the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with water. At the heart of her fascination lies deep reverence, awe and fear. With Treading Water, Burns has constructed vignettes evoking a sense of risk while illuminating the picturesque, the humorous, the vulnerable and the absurd.

Read more

© Erin Elyse Burns, Help/Hinder, Digital Video, 2010

King County artists who are without current gallery representation are encouraged to apply for the 2011-2012 Gallery4Culture exhibition season. The application is currently available online with a deadline of 5:00 p.m. Monday, January 10, 2011. Step on it!

2009 Evan Blackwell exhibit in Gallery 4Culture. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Attention King County artists: The application for the 2011-2012 Gallery4Culture exhibition season is currently available online. The deadline is 5:00 p.m. Monday, January 10, 2011.  Gallery4Culture has approximately 1,000 sq. ft. of street level exhibition space in the Tashiro Building in Pioneer Square, Seattle.  Chosen artists will exhibit for one month between September 2011 and August 2012 – exhibitions open on the 1st Thursday of each month to correspond with Pioneer Square’s Artwalk.  The gallery is open Monday through Friday (closed holidays and 4Culture furlough days).

Gallery4Culture exhibits contemporary art in all media and genres. This opportunity is open to individual artists, artist teams, and independent curators who reside in King County.  Artists represented by a commercial gallery at the time of application are not eligible to apply.

The application is an online process and requires a proposal statement; work samples (as digital images or audio/video files); and a professional resume.

The application deadline is 5pm on Monday, January 10, 2011.  A selection panel composed of arts professionals and artists will meet in February to select 11exhibitions.  Results will be announced in early March, 2011.

Please address all questions to:
Esther Luttikhuizen
esth...@4culture.org
206.296 .8674

© 2009, Peter Bonde Becker Nelson’s Former Best Friends Forever exhibition at Gallery4Culture. Photo by the artist.

Ryan Molenkamp: Flood

Exhibition running: December 2 – 30, 2010
Opening: 1st Thursday, December 2, 6 – 8 p.m.

We are delighted to welcome Seattle painter Ryan Molenkamp to the Gallery this December. In a series of paintings, executed in oils and graphite on panel, Ryan Molenkamp explores natural disasters exacerbated by development, self-interest, and climate change.  He transforms what we all have witnessed, first hand or on the local news, into art.  Molenkamp’s imagery aptly conveys the calamitous result of the built environment’s encroachment onto fragile ecosystems.  As we head into the rainy season, Flood is a must see.

The artist reception on this 1st Thursday, December 2nd from 6 – 8 p.m. and will be followed by an 8 – 9 p.m. Floating Bridge Press reading featuring poets Dennis Caswell and Sharon Cumberland.  Both events are free and the public is welcome.

Flood 2, 30 x 34, oil and graphite on panel © courtesy of the artist

Ryan Molenkamp: Flood

Exhibition running: December 2 – 30, 2010

Opening: 1st Thursday, December 2, 6 – 8 p.m.

We are delighted to welcome Seattle painter Ryan Molenkamp to the Gallery this December. In a series of paintings, executed in oils and graphite on panel, Ryan Molenkamp explores natural disasters exacerbated by development, self-interest, and climate change.  He transforms what we all have witnessed, first hand or on the local news, into art.  Molenkamp’s imagery aptly conveys the calamitous result of the built environment’s encroachment onto fragile ecosystems.  As we head into the rainy season, Flood is a must see.

The artist reception on this 1st Thursday, December 2nd from 6 – 8 p.m. and will be followed by an 8 – 9 p.m. Floating Bridge Press reading featuring poets Dennis Caswell and Sharon Cumberland.  Both events are free and the public is welcome.

Flood 2, 30 x 34, oil and graphite on panel © courtesy of the artist

Paul Komada: knit_art_history
Exhibition running: November 4 – 24, 2010
Opening:  Thursday, November 4, 6-8 p.m.

As a young man, Paul Komada became captivated with Modernist art while visiting New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Born in Seattle, Komada moved to Japan as a toddler, and then back here at the age of 12. His bi-cultural experience likely upped his fascination with the masterpieces of High Modernism. knit_art_history, pays homage to Komada’s favorite hard-edge abstractions with his newfound fiber medium. Come join us on First Thursday, or throughout the month of November to check out this new work.

Three years ago, Paul Komada became a father, and a stay-at-home dad for his son Enzo. As a result, the trained painter morphed his medium and method of working on art projects, to fit the confines of his living space along with the needs of his young child. Komada learned how to knit (and block), and once he mastered the craft, began creating Modernist compositions out of soft wool yarn.

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Paul Komada, Boogie Woogie Homage, Wool yarn, 48 x 48 inches, 2008