MARCH Art Fix: Upcoming Events

If you need your art fix for the month of March (and I know I do!), here are some shows that you won't want to miss! The spring equinox is nearly upon us, and the transition brings new life, new adventures, and new art! Explore an art walk! Find your adventure!

Fun fact: March was the first month of the year until the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1752.


LAST CHANCE:

"Paradox of Place: Contemporary Korean Art" at the SAAM. This will be the first major exhibition of Korean contemporary art in Seattle. In collaboration with Ms. Choi Eunju, former chief curator of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, and the first in-residence visiting curator sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation at the Seattle Art Museum, SAM will present six leading-edge Korean contemporary artists’ representative works in this exhibition. These works range from mixed-media installation and video art, to photography, all of which are prominent forms in Korean contemporary art. Each work in its own way addresses an important, often poignant, issue, and yet, as a group, all the works address paradoxes in Korean art and society. Showing through 13 March 2016.


COMING UP: 

The Pioneer Square Art Walk ~ Thursday, 3 March from 5-9pm. Selected shows: 
4Culture - "To: Europa" by Alexander Keyes. In his installation, to: europa, Alexander Keyes imagines an array of escape mechanisms constructed from the minutiae of domesticity. Starscapes emerge from spilt house paint, cereal boxes are arranged into maps of the solar system, rocket ships are built from cardboard awaiting recycling. Keyes reclaims a sense of self through these hidden wonders, and gets lost in the flight from everyday life.
57 Biscayne - Please join the artists of '57 Biscayne for Pioneer Square Art Walk this Thursday, March 3 from 6-9 PM. We'll be showing new paintings, tintype photographs, monoprints, upcycled clothing, metal constructions, and more in the studios, the hall gallery and various nooks and crannies of the building. Enjoy the suave sounds of Victor Janusz on the piano in the New Improved Interior of our spacious lobby. Good Arts LLC, in their first act as new building owners, tore out the smelly carpet and spiffed up the old wood floors. You can sneak a peak at some sketches and plans for additional upcoming arty improvements to the building while you're there. 
Addison Gallery - "Technique ad Nauseum" by Ian Douglass Ferger. Come see a debut of Ian's last year worth of work and a presentation of the processes used to get there. Holy shit, AWESOME! Ask him questions, steal his ideas!
AXIS Pioneer Square - "Fused Space: Dimensions in Collage" by Kelda Martensen & Melanie Reed. Two mixed media artists come together to explore storytelling through paper art and mixed media.
CoCA - "35 Live: CoCA Members Show" Featuring the artwork of 185 emerging and career artists from around the world, 35 Live: CoCA Members' Show is part of our year-long 35th anniversary celebration. From 6-10pm, on Thursday March 3 the Grand Opening Artists’ Reception will kick-off six weeks of exhibits and events at CoCA’s three pop-up locations across town. Come meet the artists, see their work, enjoy a tasty beverage and explore CoCA’s new pop-up location in Pioneer Square. Most of the art is for sale and a beautiful, printed catalog featuring all 185 artists is also available (proceeds support CoCA and our artist members). Presenting a diverse group of emerging and career artists from as far as Pakistan, Ghana, Hong Kong and Oklahoma, this massive group show includes video, performance, site-specific installations, and digital galleries in Capitol Hill, Georgetown, and Pioneer Square. Exhibition highlights include a sewing machine made of fabric, a beard as a projection surface, conceptual explorations of marijuana, love and loss in a contemporary world, riveting images of revolutionaries, and discourse on alien space travel. Come celebrate 35 years of CoCA with us!
Eastern Cafe - "Enfood: Feast your Eyes" by ENFU. Come see my collection of food pieces at the Eastern Cafe! Last year I reset my whole print collection and started selling food prints, and it was met with hungry drooling patrons. Come see what this is all about. I'll have large wall installations, smaller wood blocks, prints, and much more! 
Flatcolor Gallery - "Sacred & Profane" by Bruce Bickford. An exploration of plasticine parables. Creation, destruction and transformation. Clay, line, cardboard and film innovations by animator Bruce Bickford.
King Street Station - "Giant Steps" A group exhibition and competition exploring the first artist residency on the Moon. $10,000.00 first prize based upon originality, conceptual strength and feasibility.
Occidental Square Park - Art in the Park! To coincide with First Thursday, Occidental Square Park is hosting Art in the Park! At this First Thursday Art in the Park, we're welcoming oil painter Ethan Harrington, indigo textile dyer Elizabeth Lind and live music from a Gigs 4 U busker.
Roq La Rue - "Animus Chrysalis Mortis" by Camille Rose Garcia. Please join us for the opening of painter Camille Rose Garcia's solo show, "Animus Chrysalis Mortis", a new series of gothic-psychedelic nature paintings exploring the ephemeral dance of creation and decay. "For this body of work I was inspired by the surrealist and deeply symbolic films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jungian archetypes, and Greek mythology. I created a personal language of symbols, then made a card set and selected at random a different set for each new painting. This method taps into the elements of subconscious influence and chance, as well as mirrors the cut-up method of writing created by one of my favorite authors William Burroughs. From these subconscious suggestions I created a lush and layered symbolic world that explores the realm of childhood, memory and longing. Ghosts and gardens, snakes and skulls frame fever-dream scenes of wounded goddesses slayed open, fecund gardens growing from their wounds. Vibrant strange gardens populated with insects and dream imagery portray a psychedelic dance between life and death." - CRG
Treason Gallery - "Common Ground" by Joe Nix. Working on an entirely new body of work, COMMON GROUND will be a mixture of large format free-hand spray paintings, oil paintings and abstract works. Nix started with photographs of subjects he shot locally, looking to capture the everyday faces of Seattle. Nix translates this into five large photo realist portraits on recreated fencing, imitating terrain, while simultaneously showcasing the beauty and individuality of each subject he photographed. Nix has also created micro-portraits in the same format as his larger pieces, never the less carrying equal weight only this time using oil paint as a medium. Lastly, Nix will also be using his drop cloths from over ten years as a career public artist. Stretching the drop cloths like canvas, he calls to question the beauty of the random splatter and the relationship of spontaneous interaction as art itself.
Also check out new work at Abmeyer + Wood, Angle Gallery, Artifact Gallery, Art Xchange, The Belfry Oddities, Bonfire Gallery, Cafe Vita, Core Gallery, Davidson Galleries, Delicatus, Foster/White Gallery, Gallery 110, Gallery IMA, goCstudio, Greg Kucera Gallery, Hall Spassov Gallery, Huntington Media Gallery, James Harris Gallery, Linda Hodges Gallery, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Method Gallery, Nord Alley & the Alley Network Project, OK Gallery, Pioneer Square Saloon, The Piranha Shop, Platform Gallery, Punch,  Room 104 Gallery, SAM Gallery, Seattle Artsource, Shift, SOIL, Stonington Gallery, Surface Theory, TK Artist Lofts, and  more! Pioneer Square is the oldest art walk in the United States, and features over 50 galleries, studios, and other art spaces!

The Bainbridge Island Art Walk ~ Friday, 4 March from 6-8pm. Selected shows:
Bainbridge Arts & Crafts - "Bend, Fold, Mutilate: Paper Takes Shape" group show. Who knew paper could be such a diverse medium? On display you’ll find kirie, 3D sculptures, jewelry, collage, and much more. Paper comes into its own this month at BAC. Caroline Cooley Browne, Masako Guidry, Keiko Hara, Nikki McClure, Lynnette Sandbloom, Carolyn Terry, Elizabeth VanDuine, Shu Ju Wang, Susan Wiersema, and Helga Winter.
See new and exciting work at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Blackbird Bakery, the BPA, Danger, Eleven Winery, Fork & Spoon, Ginger, Harbour Public House, Island Gallery, Pegasus Coffee, Pauli Dennis Gallery, PrettyStick, Roby King Gallery, Sally Robinson Gallery, and more!

The Fremont Art Walk ~ Friday, 4 March from 6-9pm. Selected shows:
Gasworks Gallery - Open Studio! Spring is nearly here, and it's time for an open studio! Once again, I'll be there with other participating artists as we open our work spaces to the public and share what we've been up to! I've been busy behind the scenes developing classes and workshops at my studio, and other creative projects besides! I will also be running a studio sale on select prints and originals, so stay tuned. Come show your support for the arts and local artists, have some free wine and munchies! Come early for the parking and stay late for the conversations!
Populuxe Brewing - Eli Wolff. Eli Wolff is a video game designer who enjoys spending free-time creating art work. He enjoys a wide variety of influences so each new painting is a fun surprise. He carries on the creative tradition of his grand mother who worked as a neon sign designer in Seattle in the 1950s. Her most famous was the Pink Elephant car wash.

Tiny Dodo Gallery - "Animal Kingdom" by Gloria Frietas. Gloria is orginally from Hawaii and now resides in Seattle. She is a painter that loves to create worlds where endangered species can exist and be admired. Her unique vision will be shown for the month of March @ Stone Way Cafe. Food/Beer/Wine will be served in the Cafe. Jazz Band will play at 8 PM. There will be an accompanying group show as well with a variety of artists and mediums!

Also check out new work at ArtFX Gallery, Asgard Tavern, Atlas Clothing, Bellefleur Lingerie, evo Timesinfinity Gallery, Frame Up Studios, Fremont Jewelry Design, Fremont Health Club, GiGi Retro Inspired Clothing, Hub and Bespoke, Johnson Architects, Makerhaus, Northwest Vision Studio, Pel'Meni Dumpling Tzar, Portgage Bay Goods, Sanachi Massage, Saturn, Space, Starbucks Coffee, The Sweet Spot, and more!

The Port Townsend Art Walk ~ Saturday, 5 March from 5-8pm. Selected shows: 
Red Raven Gallery - TBA
Also check out new work at Earthenworks Gallery, Forest Gems Gallery, Gallery 9, Max Grover Gallery, Port Townsend Gallery, Simon Mace Gallery, Williams Gallery, and more! Don't forget to stop in Cellar Door for a nightcap, local art, & live music!

"Fresh Look 1st Sundays" at Push/Pull Gallery in Ballard. Sunday, 6 March from 6-9pm. Bring your sketches, scripts, paintings and get feedback from your art peers. Pick the brains of other artists, designers, illustrators and cartoonists so that we can all create the best work possible. All critique will be given with love and support! Monthly event happening 6-9pm on the first Sunday at Push/Pull. BYOB always welcome.

"Flourishes" at SAM Gallery. Thursday, 10 March from 6-7.30pm. A three-person show inspired by Kahinde Wiley (currently on view at SAM). New works by myself, Harold Hollingsworth and Nichole DeMent will be on view. Not to be missed!

The Capitol Hill Art Walk ~ Thursday, 10 March from 5-9pm. Selected shows:

Calypte Gallery - "Observed Expression" by Amy Huddleston. The works in this show, are the product of a re examination of observational painting, though there are departures. Huddleston utilizes measured working methods, as well as the process of comparison based observation. The most current works in the show abandon strict measuring, in favor of treating form as individual, simplified shapes, in order to describe an image as opposed to copying it.
Chroma Clouds Gallery - "Saturday Mornings" group show. We are so excited to announce our next art show, "Saturday Mornings" at Chroma Clouds Gallery! "Saturday Mornings" is a group show centered around the theme of childhood cartoons!
Ghost Gallery - "Bell Jar II: A Group Exhibit" noun: bell jar; plural noun: bell jars. 1. a bell-shaped glass cover used for covering delicate objects or used in a laboratory, typically for enclosing samples. 2. an environment in which someone is protected or cut off from the outside world. "let him stay in his bell jar of perfectionist concentration"
In-Arts Collective - "The Body." This art and performance event is a focus on the human body. As smaller bodies make up larger bodies (like cells or organs make the greater whole) artists, performers, biology nuts, and those in the art of healing explore the connections however large or small. We're taking you on a journey in discovering the human body and it's appendages, ailments, effects, yearnings, frustrations, medical issues, alive and/or dead. Several bodies of work will be on display about bodies!
Mercury - "Transmission" Featured artist: Wendy Kramer! Featured bellydance: Betty Fish! This is also part in celebration of the life of community member (friend to Betty Fish and DJ Echo) James Assad. James was an incredible human, so kind and a photographer. Every month we bring you the best in Shoegaze, post-punk, post-rock and psych music with your host DJ Echo! You do not have to be a member for this night, and you do not need a member to sign you in. It is open to the  public. No dress code. Free for members before 9.30pm, $5 for non-members. Starts at 9pm and goes til 2am. 
Steve Gilbert Photo Studio - Annual group show featuring 9 artists
True Love Gallery - "Upcycled Art: Remake, Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine" Join us in March to see works from six Pacific Northwest artists, working with used, found, and discarded materials. Aaromi Willette, Michael Arndt, Pat Tassoni, Cheri Kopp, H. Lee Porter & George Long
Also check out new work at 12th Avenue Arts, Americana, Apocalypse Tattoo, Bauhaus, Broadcast Coffee Roasters, Caffe Vita, Cafe Pettirosso, Capitol Cider, Cloud Gallery, Cupcake Royale, Dendroica Gallery, The Factory, Front Seat Gallery, High 5 Pie, Joe Bar, Kismet Salon, Laughing Buddha, Online Cafe, Paris Eastside, PCNW, Poco Wine + Spirits, Retrofit Home, Rubix Apartments, SAAM, Saint John's Bar, Saints Gallery, STart Wall Project, SugarPill, The Pine Box, Vermillion, and more!
The West Seattle Art Walk ~ Thursday, 10 March from 6-9pm. Selected shows: 

Twilight Gallery - TBA

Also check out new work at Arts West, Click! Design That Fits, The Heartland Cafe, Hotwire Coffee, Shadowland, Skylark Cafe, Shoofly Pie, West 5, West Seattle Wine Cellars, Wild Rose's, Windermere, and more!

The Art Up Phinneywood Art Walk ~ Friday, 11 March from 6-10pm. Selected shows:

Echo Echo Gallery - "Sprun" featuring the Echo Echo crew!
HappyTime Apocalypse - The HappyTime crew!
Kolab Galery - The Kolab crew!
Urban Light Studios - TBA
Warlock Labs - "Ashes to Ashes: A Return to Bowie" group show. Our tribute to Mr. Jones was a smashing success so we're holding it over for one more month. If you weren't able to make it last time, now's your chance.
Check out new work at: Avanti Art & Design, Chocolatti, Gainsbourg, Home Suite Home, Naked City Brewery, Quadrapus, School of Rock, The Space is Ours, Two Bird Tattoo, and more!

The Belltown Art Walk ~ Friday, 11 March from 6-9pm. Selected shows:
A/NT Gallery, Bikes + Art, City Hostel Seattle, Crocodile Cafe, Essentia, Form/Space Atelier, Michelle Dirkse Interior Design, Patricia Cameron Gallery, Pintxo & The Upstairs, Rocco's, Rudy's Barber Shop, Sassafras, Seattle Ink & Oil, Stylus Salon, and more!

"2nd Saturdays at TK Hall Collective" ~ The 2nd Saturday of every month from noon-5pm at the TK Artist Loft building in Pioneer Square. With the revitalised success of the Pioneer Square 1st Thursday Art Walk, several of the working studios at the Tashiro/Kaplan Building have collectively decided to add a new tradition by also opening our doors to the public on the second Saturday of every month from noon to 5 pm. Participating studios:
306 S Washington St. (#101 - Ellen Hoch Berg, #103 - Studio 103, #104 - Juan Alonso, #105 - Joanna Morgan Designs)
312 S Washington St. (#2B - Barbara Noonin, #C - Jody Joldersma)

The Ballard Art Walk ~ Saturday, 12 March from 6-9pm. Selected shows:
Monster Art & Clothing - Mallory Milke. Spring is on the way and we are celebrating with a Ballard Artwalk full of bright and colorful animal paintings by Mallory Milke! Come enjoy our table of treats and feast your eyes on Mallory's cheerful and beautiful artwork. “I’m inspired by things I love, like mischievous creatures, Pretty Dark things and bright whimsy colors. I do a variety of styles but love bright colors and animals the most, adding a slight whimsical feeling to owls, Lions, Lemurs and any other creature that tickles my fancy.” - MM
Push/Pull - "March Madness" It's a mad-dash to finish art in time for the opening at 6pm! Artists will have from 10:45am until 5pm to create art based on our mad science prompt. Artists will be able to use any of the tools in our Work Room and can bring any of their own tools, they should bring their own canvas or paper. Pencils, brushes and pens down at 5pm! Then the Push/Pull crew will hang the creations which will be on display for the Ballard Art Walk 6-10pm.
Check out new work at Annie's Art &Frame, Art & Soul, Ballard Metal Arts, Ballard Works, The BalMar, Blowing Sands Glass Studio, Building C Studios, Cupcake Royal, Filthy Rich, Full Tilt, Habitude, Herb's House, Kiss Cafe, Liberte Skin Wellness, Miro Tea, Nightingale Gallery, Savour, Spark Studio, Sticks & Stones Gallery, the Sunset Tavern, Venue and more!

The Georgetown Art Attack ~ Saturday, 12 March from 6-9pm. IMPORTANT NOTE TO THOSE ATTENDING THE OPENING! Parking on site is pay only. Please be sure to either park on the street or in a pay lot on either end of the building. Building management will ticket cars improperly parked. Selected shows: 
Bridge Productions - "Tectonic: Inaugural Group Show" We're pleased to introduce TECTONIC, a group exhibition highlighting our 2016 lineup of guest and represented artists: Julie Alpert, Tim Cross, Sue Danielson, Emily Gherard, C. Davida Ingram, Dave Kennedy, Kat Larson, Ashleigh Robb, and Krista Svalbonas. Each of these artists are connected through overlapping aesthetics and rigorous, process-based practice. Their narratives address ideas about location, dislocation, identity, repetition, and time. As a result, they gather naturally to form a distinctive group with a broad spectrum of styles and perspectives.

Eight and Sand - "Petite Works Group Show" This month is a group show of petite art under 7 inches. Each artist will invite another artist to participate as a guest.
Georgetown Liquor Co - "WitchHeart: The Art of Laura Tempest Zakroff" Laura's work blends traditional and modern media with an aesthetic that spans numerous cultures and centuries, defying labels and boxes. The precise hand of intaglio application and chiaroscuro drawing mixes with digital layers and rich embellishment to create otherworldly art. She is inspired by myth and mystery, extreme detail and dreams, mixing the macabre with fantasy and wonder.
Krab Jab Studio - "Arborial Dreams" group show. Artists explore humanity's connection to trees.
Praxis Arts - Claudio Duran. Claudio Duran was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in Texas. A Seattle resident since 2000, Claudio’s artwork is inspired by unexpected color combinations, machinery, nature and wildlife, anime, rust and decay, surrealism, fantasy, junkyards, and many other Pacific Northwest artists. His medium of choice is acrylic on wood panel but also works in oils and occasionally with sumi ink.

Also check out new work at 9lb Hammer, Artcore Tattoo, Belle & Whissel, Equinox Studios, Fantagraphics Bookstore, Georgetown Atelier, Georgetown Arts & Cultural Centre, Georgetown Trailer Park Mall, Interstitial, Mainframe, Smarty Pants, The Alice, Totally Blown Glassworks, Two Tartes Cafe, Wax Expressions, and more!

"Pancakes & Booze" at El Corazon. Saturday, 12 March from 8pm-3am. Seattle's Largest Underground Art Show! OVER 60 EMERGING ARTISTS! $5 COVER, 21 & OVER. Not even IHOP serves Pancakes this CHEAP! LIVE BODY PAINTING, PAINTINGS, MIXED MEDIA, PHOTOGRAPHY, SCULPTURES, DRAWINGS, GRAFFITI, AUDIO & VISUAL performances.

"Protect Our Roots" at Naked City Brewery. Sunday, 13 March from 5-9pm. On the 13th day of the third month of the year two thousand +16. At Naked City Brewery and tap house in Greenwood Washington we will be gathering to drink beer and fundraise for our neighborhood's professional theater, Taproot Theatre. The event is from 5 to 9. Registration for the live Art auction and silent Art auction portion will begin at 5 p.m. the live auction will start around 6 o'clock. 100% of proceeds of art sold will go toward supporting and saving our local theater. Protect our roots Tshirts will be available at the event as well and $15 from each tee shirts sold will go to taproot. I have the best part for last our beloved Naked City Brewery & Tap House will be serving A specially crafted IPA dedicated to the taproot theatre. $1 from the sale of a pint of this beer will go to taproot as well. Monetary donations will also be accepted via cash, check and credit card. If you cannot make the event and want to donate directly to Taproot Theatre click on the link. 

The Queen Anne Uptown Art Walk ~ Thursday, 17 March from 5-7.30pm. Selected shows:
Check out new work at Bombsheller Art Labs, Caffe Ladro, Liberty Tattoo Parlour, Mercer Street Books, Mud Bay, Peridot Boutique, Solo Bar, Teatro Zinzanni, Tin Lizzie Lounge, Toulouse Petit, The Vera Project, and more!.

The Edmonds Art Walk ~ Thursday, 17 March from 5-8pm. Selected shows:
Otherworlds - "VIVID" by Shanna Duncan, new work featuring Dia de los Muertos inspired skulls on reclaimed wood!
Cheesemongers is right next door if you find yourself in need of something delicious, and you can check out new work at ARTspot, Arts Now, C'est La Vie, The Papery, Red Petal Cakes, Stunningly Strange Gallery, and more than 30 other Edmonds art spaces!
The Edmonds Thearte presents Free Movie Night! Every 3rd Thursday following the Art Walk! This Month: TBA

The University District Art Walk ~ Friday, 18 March from 6-9pm. Selected shows:
Gargoyles Statuary - "Mythical Aviary" by Braden Duncan (Clockwork Art) & Jeffrey Shaw. Brand new work by both artists featuring winged creatures of the clockwork & mythological persuasions!

Also see new work at 7 Market & Cafe, BC Surf + Sport, Cafe Allegro, Cafe Solstice, Chaco Canyon Cafe, Daisy Sky Studio, Lucid Gallery, Moksha, University Business Center, and more! 

"Turn (Part 4: Kimberly Trowbridge)" 4th Tuesdays at Joe Bar. Tuesday, 22 March at Joe Bar from 6.30-9.30pm. The collaborative series continues as Kimberly Trowbridge takes the evolving piece for the month of January. What will remain from the work received? What will go on to the next artist? TURN is a year-long collaborative exhibition, where twelve artists take turns transforming a single piece.

"Norwescon 39: Remembering the Future" at the Doubletree by Hilton, Thursday-Sunday, 24-27 March. Please join us for Norwescon 39, featuring Guests of Honor Tanya Huff (author), Janny Wurts (artist), William Hartmann (science), and DAW (spotlight publisher)! Norwescon is the Pacific Northwest’s premiere science fiction and fantasy convention and one of the largest regional science fiction and fantasy conventions in the United States. While maintaining a primarily literary focus, Norwescon is large enough to provide a venue for many of the other aspects of science fiction and fantasy and the interests of its fans such as anime, costuming, art, gaming, and much, much more!

"Sakura-Con" at Washington State Convention Centre, Friday-Sunday, 25-27 March. Presented by the Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association, Sakura-Con is the oldest and most well attended anime convention in the Pacific Northwest. Member attendance for Sakura-Con 2015 was over 23,000 individuals, with most members attending all three days! Please join us for Sakura-Con 2016 as we celebrate our 19th amazing year. All the excellent programming you’ve come to expect will be back in abundance. Anime theaters, gaming, cosplay, cultural panels, dances, concerts, art contests, AMV’s, industry guests, over 100,000 square feet of exhibits hall, guests of honor, and more! 

ONGOING: 

The SAAM is currently featuring:
"Paradox of Place: Contemporary Korean Art" (15 October 2015 - 13 March 2016) This will be the first major exhibition of Korean contemporary art in Seattle. In collaboration with Ms. Choi Eunju, former chief curator of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, and the first in-residence visiting curator sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation at the Seattle Art Museum, SAM will present six leading-edge Korean contemporary artists’ representative works in this exhibition. These works range from mixed-media installation and video art, to photography, all of which are prominent forms in Korean contemporary art. Each work in its own way addresses an important, often poignant, issue, and yet, as a group, all the works address paradoxes in Korean art and society.
"Journey to Dunhuang: Buddhist Art of the Silk Road Caves" (5 March - 12 June 2016) Located at China’s western frontier, the ancient city of Dunhuang lays at the convergence of the northern and southern routes of the Silk Road—at a crossroads of the civilizations of East Asia, Central Asia, and the Western world. From the late fourth century and until the decline of the Silk Road in the fourteenth century, Dunhuang was a bustling desert oasis—a center of trade and pilgrimage, and a gateway for new forms of art, culture, and religions. This exhibition brings us the wonders of Dunhuang’s caves seen through the eyes of James and Lucy Lo featuring a comprehensive selection of their photographs, manuscripts, and artist renditions.

The SAM is currently featuring:
"Kehinde Wiley: The New Republic" (11 February-8 May) Kehinde Wiley is one of the leading American artists to emerge in the last decade and he has been ingeniously reworking the grand portraiture traditions of Western culture. Since ancient times the portrait has been tied to the representation of power, and in European courts and churches, artists and their patrons developed a complex repository of postures and poses and refined a symbolic language. This language, woven into all aspects of a portrait, described the sitter’s influence and power, virtue and character, or profession. In his consideration of portrait traditions, Wiley has been especially drawn to the grand aristocratic portraits of the 18th century.
 

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art is currently featuring:
"Goings & Comings" by Caroline Cooley Browne. Caroline Cooley Browne is a Bainbridge Island artist who works in painting, mixed media, and fiber. In this unique exhibition, two series of work are featured: a set of new oil pastel paintings and Doodles/Sketches, a work-in-progress yet to be determined. Join the journey! "Painting seems to tap my subconscious more than any other medium. The images emerge from a place deep inside, a place I can often only go when I make art." - Caroline Cooley Browne

Wayne Bund @ Gage

Gage Academy of Art is currently featuring:
"Drink & Draw" every 1st Friday from 7-9pm. Each session is based on a theme – a costumed model, still life arrangements, music, videos and more. We’ll provide the drawing materials for free – or just have a cocktail or glass of wine and watch the artists work! No formal instruction is provided, no host bar. Ages 21+ only, please. $10 at the door.

"Sanctum" @ Henry

The Henry Art Gallery is currently featuring:  
"Maximum Fun: A New Sincerity Event" Maximum Fun is part picnic, part aerobics class, and part community-building event featuring works by Nat Evans, Mario Lemafa, and Elizabeth Spavento. Join us at the UW's Sylvan Theater to traverse mental obstacle courses, jump over things, and shout in unison. Playing off Jesse Thorn's Manifesto for the New Sincerity, Maximum Fun seeks to probe the relationship between sincerity and irony through a series of interactive activities inspired by the legendary Evel Knievel.

The Frye Art Museum is currently featuring:  
"Others Who Were Here" by Cris Bruch (30 January - 27 March). In the exhibition, Bruch extends his investigation of formal aesthetics and material properties with narratives both personal and historical. The sculptures are informed by the artist's observations of the Great Plains, both in the region’s present form and in its past state as recalled through the stories and letters of his parents, grandparents, and others. According to Bruch, "There is a wheel of adversity, scarcity, perseverance, humility, gratitude, and generosity." Others Who Were Here celebrates these qualities by transforming utilitarian objects and architecture to honor the lives shaped by the Plains.

"Frye Salon" (2 February - 4 September). Frye Salon features over one hundred forty paintings from the Frye Art Museum's Founding Collection, recreating the sumptuous viewing experience enjoyed by visitors to the art gallery in Charles and Emma Frye's Seattle home in the first decades of the twentieth century. Hung floor to ceiling, the paintings capture the atmosphere of the Fryes' salon-style exhibitions, which showcased the artists of the renowned Munich Secession and the “stars” of the preceding Artists' Association, the Munich Künstlergenossenschaft. Frye Salon combines paintings from both generations of artists. Works by Künstlergenossenschaft masters such as Franz von Lenbach, who enjoyed fame and recognition in nineteenth-century America, hang alongside paintings by prominent Secessionists, including Franz von Stuck and Gabriel von Max. In January 1909, the New York Times noted the close ties between Secessionist and Künstlergenossenschaft artists when a “magnificent” exhibition of German art opened in a new wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “It is easy to see how the truly great masters among the old had many of the virtues of the young, and how finely the best art of the different generations holds together when brought into close juxtaposition.” 

Agitation & Propaganda: The Soviet Political Poster 1918-1927" (6 February - 3 April). Agitation and Propaganda presents reproductions of early Soviet political posters issued in 1967 by the seminal, independent literary publishing house Grove Press. Photographed by Caio Garruba at the Lenin State Library in Moscow, their publication in the United States offered Western audiences a rare window into the postrevolutionary visual culture of the Soviet Union. In 1917, the Tsarist autocracy was overthrown, and the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized control of the government. Civil war and famine followed as they sought to consolidate and legitimize their power. Beginning in 1918, the Bolsheviks recruited artists to produce posters as a means of galvanizing public opinion and communicating their message to the largely illiterate peasantry. Uniting the twin strategies of agitation and propaganda, these posters reflect the aspirations of the Bolsheviks to create a mass culture of the proletariat. 
"Fechin, Gaspard, and Repin: Russian Painting 1889-1926" (6 February - 3 April). An exhibition of six paintings from the Frye collections. Over one hundred and fifty years ago, on November 9, 1863, students protested at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. The Academy had urged its protégés to uphold the Western European classical tradition and refrain from innovation. Fourteen artists left the school and in 1870, they organized the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions. As a result, the painters became known as the Peredvizhniki (the Itinerants or Wanderers). Their goal was to create a national and accessible art that reflected the everyday lives of the Russian people. The Peredvizhniki shared neither a common artistic style nor subject matter. Their paintings displayed restrained naturalism, social commentary, psychological rendering, and heightened emotional states, all imbued with a high degree of individuality. Their subjects included poverty and imprisonment, the beauty and grandeur of the national landscape, portraits of cultural luminaries and anonymous masses, as well as Russian history and folklore.

With this much going on, you couldn't possibly complain that there's nothing to do in Seattle! 

Support your local art scene! Cheers.

~ BCDuncan