1st Thursday, January 2011

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, 2010 by Victoria Haven

Ink on paper, 60" x 70" (image via)

Everybody is super excited for Vic Haven's latest show, Hit the North (47° 60'N), at Greg Kucera Gallery. If you can't afford afford a painting, pick up the accompanying book put out by Publication Studios. These paintings look fantastic.

STACK, 2010 by Jeffrey Simmons (image via)

Jeffrey Simmons is also opening up a new show of his sublime paintings at Greg's. I'm going to let you in on a secret - I think Jeffrey is a cyborg because I don't understand how his paintings can look so computer-generated yet still feel so beautifully human.

Unicorn, 2009 by Gala Bent (image via)

Gala Bent will be presenting new work (along with some favorites) at G. Gibson Gallery. Her delicate watercolors read like contemporary fables. And for those of you in Portland, she'll also be in a group show opening up tonight at Laura Russo Gallery.

Untitled, 2010 by Adam Ekberg (image via)

I'm in love with these photos by Adam Ekberg who's opening a new show tonight called the arsonist's shadow at Platform Gallery.

Tether, 2010 by Alice Case (image via artist)

Shift Collaborative Studio will be featuring their 9 new members in a group show tonight. I'm especially fond of Alice Case's work ever since I saw it a couple years ago at the UW MFA show.

Previously by Bill Finger at PUNCH

Bill Finger will be opening up a show of new work at PUNCH tonight. The photos in Previously blur fiction and reality through a filter of crime and Hollywood chicanery. They feel both familiar and unsettling.

Song of Tent City by A K Mimi Allin

If you're not familiar with poet A K Mimi Allin's project Song of Tent City, you should really stop by Tether Design Gallery tonight.

"Beginning in December 2010, poet A K Mimi Allin embarks on a self-designed artist residency at Tent City 3 in Seattle, WA. While living in a tent, she'll work full-time at Seattle's migrating, outdoor, homeless encampment. Like Whitman, she believes in the democracy of poetry."

You can read more about the project in this month's issue of City Arts.

Western 13, 2009 by David Peacey (image via artist)

I haven't written a word about the imminent closure of 619 Western - mostly because it's too dang depressing. Since 1979, 619 Western has been the unofficial heart for Pioneer Square's art scene. If you've been there, you know what I mean. That place is PACKED to the gills on 1st Thursday, so much so that it can be a deterrent for a claustrophobic bear like myself. But I've always been so proud of the fact that Seattle preserved something so raw and genuine. This is a list of the artists who will be displaced. So if you still haven't been to 619 on a 1st Thursday, now is the time to go!

After all this heavy artwalking, you're going to be tired and thirsty. So why not pop into Vermillion on Capitol Hill to join Mike Pham who will be moonlighting as guest curator for FFOK tonight! Sadly, I'll be missing all the artwalk fun tomorrow but hope to make it FFOK so I can perform Kim Zolciac's Don't Be Tardy for the Party!