On the first Thursday of every month, hundreds of people head to Pioneer Square to view the latest art shows.
Seattle’s oldest neighborhood is home to dozens of galleries. This is the day to showcase new exhibitions and artists 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).
Arts reporter Lisa Edge’s shares the following suggestions for what to check out on March 7 during your self-guided tour:
“Observing Nature” at ArtXchange gallery
“Observing Nature” is a group exhibition featuring works from seven artists. Through paintings and sculpture, they showcase how they’ve been inspired by flora and fauna.
From the gallery: “Spokane-based artist Melissa Cole draws from her background in natural science to create vibrant reflections of the natural world using paint, glittering accents of glass and other mixed-media. Husband and wife team HiiH Lights bring together the function of light, the craft of paper, and the art of sculpture. The late Vietnamese artist Tu Duy creates paintings featuring figures with landscapes within the subjects, reflective of his childhood memories of growing up in a countryside village in Vietnam.
Le Duc Hai and Le Ngoc Thanh are twin brothers and artists based in Vietnam. Their richly vibrant lacquer work features contrasts of color and wild, naïve outlines. Hoang Thanh Vinh Phong incorporates many Buddhist and Taoist motifs in his bright, but meditative works. Bui Cong Khanh’s mixed media paintings feature objects that are perennial symbols of Vietnamese culture, nature and daily life.”
WHAT: “Observing Nature”
WHEN: First Thursday 5 – 8 p.m., artist talk March 9, runs until March 30
WHERE: ArtXchange gallery, 512 First Ave. S, Seattle
“Cameron Anne Mason: Fields” at Foster/White gallery
Fabric is fundamental to Cameron Anne Mason’s art. Her newest body of work centers the changing landscape of the Pacific Northwest. The textured works create a conversation between the natural and the cultivated. Mason has exhibited locally, at Burning Man and internationally. She’s the lead artist of Dusty Nation, a Seattle-based art collective.
Statement from the artist: “I use many processes of dyeing and sewing to make marks; printing, manipulating, and creating complex visual texture on silks, cottons, and other natural fibers. These layers reflect the complexity of our landscape, from microcosm to macrocosm, from the single blade of grass to the field containing millions.”
WHAT: “Cameron Anne Mason: Fields” at Foster/White gallery
WHEN: Opens First Thursday, 6 to 8 p.m. artist will be in attendance, runs until March 23
WHERE: Foster/White gallery, 220 Third Ave. S #100, Seattle
“Shay Bredimus and Sarah Elise Abramson: Dark Room” at Prographica/KDR gallery
“Dark Room” is a collaboration between figurative painter Shay Bredimus and photographer Sarah Elise Abramson.
From the gallery: “This latest body of work is a blend of the intuitive brush drawings for which Bredimus has become recognized, influenced by a deep interest in Japanese tattoo art, which the artist has studied in depth over the course of many visits to Japan, as well as Ukio-e prints and the refined, graphic style of his tattoo expertise. The Dark Room paintings shift between intense contrasts of light and shadow, thus existing in a space between abstraction and definition. The works, which reference the figurative photography of LA based artist and collaborator Sarah Elise Abramson, are intended to highlight a space between reality and perception.”
WHAT: “Shay Bredimus and Sarah Elise Abramson: Dark Room” at Prographica/KDR
WHEN: First Thursday 6 – 8 p.m., runs until March 30
WHERE: Prographica/KDR gallery, 313 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle
“Sweet, rotten, sweet” at BONFIRE gallery
“Sweet, rotten, sweet” is a video installation and a series of live performances from choreographer Peggy Piacenza. The Seattle-based artist has toured nationally and internationally. Her work examines what it means to see, be seen and bear witness to the passage of time.
From the gallery: “In this video installation, Peggy Piacenza has crafted a visual and sonic landscape that utilizes dance and performance to illuminate the human struggle to find meaning within an absurd world. Reimagining past choreographic works that deal with the nature of touch and the inevitability of mortality, ‘Sweet, rotten, sweet’ aims to strip away extraneous layers in order to discover moments of stillness within an overstimulated, disoriented psyche. The performance uses an up-close and personal setting to awaken audiences to the present moment." Tickets can be purchased online.
WHAT: “Sweet, rotten, sweet”
WHEN: Opens First Thursday 6 – 8 p.m., runs until March 30
WHERE: BONFIRE gallery, 603 S Main St., Seattle
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Artist Tom Gormally channels his frustration with division in the country through sculpture
Read the full Feb. 27 - March 5 issue.
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