Seattle’s oldest neighborhood is home to dozens of art galleries. The First Thursday art walk in Pioneer Square began in the early 1960s and is still going strong today.
On First Thursday galleries often showcase new exhibits from 6 to 8 p.m. Parking is free for artwalk visitors at Frye Garage (117 3rd Ave S) Butler Garage (114 James Street) 450 Alaskan (450 Alaskan Way - entrance on King Street).
Here are a few shows you may want to check out Nov. 1.
“rectangle, rectangle” by Jenny Heishman at Specialist
The act of looking down inspired Jenny Heishman’s newest works in “rectangle, rectangle.” She recently completed a residency at Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. The 2011 recipient of Seattle Art Museum’s Betty Bowen award has shown extensively in Seattle and in galleries across the country.
From the gallery: In her first solo show since 2015, Heishman showcases the process of “one fiber re-interpreted by another” in her labor-intensive procedure of recreating the intricacies of pulped paper into detailed rugs that mirror paint spatters, aerial landscapes and confetti.
Heishman developed her technique for translating compositions of handmade paper (consisting of an amalgamation of cardboard pulp, abaca pulp, clothing dye, bits of tape and burlap) into hand-hooked wool rugs.
WHAT: “rectangle, rectangle” by Jenny Heishman at Specialist
WHEN: Show runs until Nov. 17; First Thursday 6 – 9 p.m.
WHERE: 300 S. Washington St., Seattle
“Far and Near, Eva Isaksen” at Foster/White gallery
Eva Isaksen’s latest body of work is influenced by an artist residency at Kunstnarhuset Messen in Norway. There, she explored abstract drawings. Her next residency at Ballinglen Arts Foundation on the west coast of Ireland also served as a source of inspiration.
From the gallery: “Far and Near” represents a dramatic departure from the collages for which Isaksen has become known, though the forms and movement in her work remain in conversation with her earlier style. In changing her medium, Isaksen has introduced a new energy to the canvas, incorporating stark abstractions and brilliant experiments in color while retaining her characteristic focus on nature and space.
“The beautiful, ubiquitous stone walls, as well as abstracted forms drawn from the barren and intense landscape in Ireland, were the source of a series of new drawings,” she writes. “While the drawings are more subdued in tone, my paintings have taken on much color from my Northwest garden.”
Isaksen has exhibited at Foster/White gallery since 2002. She’ll be in attendance at First Thursday.
WHAT: “Far and Near, Eva Isaksen”
WHEN: Show runs until Nov. 24; First Thursday 6 – 8 p.m.
WHERE: 220 3rd Ave S. #100, Seattle
“The Erasing, by David Bailin” and “Radiator, by Tim Lowly” at Prographica/KDR gallery
“The Erasing” and “Radiator” are the first solo exhibitions in Seattle for David Bailin and Tim Lowly. Both have shown regularly at Koplin Del Rio’s former location in Los Angeles.
From the gallery: While varying stylistically, these separate bodies of work share the common thread of psychological narrative, attempting to explore human mental states, spirituality and existence itself, through the lenses of each artist’s intimate relationships with their subject — for Bailin, his father, and for Lowly, his daughter, Temma.
“The Erasing,” a series of large-scale works on paper, was begun in 2015 as an avenue for Bailin to express his father’s deteriorating memory as a result of Alzheimer’s Disease. This series is an attempt to convey the psychological devastation that the disease has on those suffering from it and the loved ones who bear witness to what is essentially the fading, or erasing, of a person. At first glance, the charcoal drawings appear as abstractions; recognizable figures, places and subjects slowly register in the viewer’s focus. Bailin illustrates memories from his childhood in layers and proceeds in drawing and erasing, erasing and drawing and erasing again, t hus reflecting his father’s fragmented memory.
Comprised of seven paintings completed over the course of the last year, including one monumental work, “Radiator,” which lends the exhibition its title, this body of work is a continuation of Lowly’s long-term project involving his daughter, Temma. Often referring to her as “profoundly other,” Lowly explores issues of meaning, identity, spirituality and politics in his paintings of Temma, which can be understood as reflections on subtle–perhaps mystical–kinds of agency that she manifests.
WHAT: “The Erasing, by David Bailin” and “Radiator, by Tim Lowly” at KDR/Prographica
WHEN: Runs until Dec. 1; First Thursday 6 – 8 p.m.; Artist talk with Tim Lowly Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.
WHERE: 313 Occidental Ave S., Seattle
Lisa Edge is a Staff Reporter covering arts, culture and equity. Have a story idea? She can be reached at lisae (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Follow Lisa on Twitter @NewsfromtheEdge
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