Dumb Eyes & Izzie Klingels / Ghost Gallery

Dumb Eyes for Ghost Gallery

Ghost Gallery has just launched their first in a series of limited edition tote bags. I'm loving these great designs by Dumb Eyes and Izzie Klingels. You can order them online or pick them up in person.

Izzie Klingels for Ghost Gallery

They are available now through  arrive approximately March 10th. There are only 35 of each and they're $28 each. (Printed by Cairo.)

Twilight Tote Bag by Mike Pham

And on a related note, these awesome customizable tote bags from Mike Pham are still available through Sea-Cat. $100 each, you choose the text.

John T. Williams Totem Pole

John T. Williams memorial by NTG (image via)

Yesterday, a 33 foot, 5,000 pound totem pole was erected in Seattle Center to honor 7th generation master carver, John T. William. You can read more about this project here and view photos from yesterday's procession/installation here.

John T. Williams totem pole

Included in the totem are an eagle, a master carver, and the mother raven. Here's what they represent. 

The Eagle

The Eagle represents the transformation from youth to a place of courage and understanding of the connection between spirit and humans. The Eagle as carved on the John T Williams Pole is unique to the Williams family and developed by John’s father Ray 'Hombre' Williams in the ‘70s. The forward wing position indicates the Eagle has just landed and is not quite settled, as many of us walking the earth today. The Eagles head and eyes look down examining what is taking place.

The Master Carver

The Carver originally represented an ivory carver but today symbolizes the master wood carver. On the John T Williams Totem Pole the master carver is John, holding a Kingfisher, one of his favorite creatures to carve and in a style unique to him. The Kingfisher is a creature who’s hunting ability and speed is much greater than its small size would indicate.

The Mother Raven

Consistent with their First Nations heritage and upbringing, the Williams family carvers learned to listen to the wisdom of the ancestors, find peace and respect their elders. The Mother Raven stands for these teachings and helps bring them to us all.

Harold Hollingsworth / Takt Residency

94mm x 94mm mixed media on wood and canvas panels by Harold Hollingsworth

If you happen to be in Berlin on Saturday (2/25), you'll be able to see what Harold Hollingsworth has been working on during his Takt Residency. If you won't be in Berlin, you can check out his Flickr set here.

Save the dates

Ahh Nuts! | Art Against Allergies

This Saturday, the Georgetown Arts & Cultural Center will be hosting the benefit Ahh Nuts! to help raise funds for Lincoln Caudie. The silent auction includes art by Amanda Michele Dellinger, Brian Lane, Gary Hill, Weston Jandacka, and more. $10 suggested donation. 

Next Friday (March 2), Rena Bussinger (of Portable Shrines) will transform the Youngstown Cultural Art Center into a forest. "The Forest" will house performances by several groups that night, including Kelli's Starlight Wishes, who will be kicking off their Spring 2012 tour. 

this week's Stranger!

photo by Klara Glosova

It's been a really great week! First, The Blanket Show was a Stranger Suggests last Sunday and then today, a piece of my art ended up on the cover for the very first time! Thank you! Also, I think this is the first time my art has been associated with Mormons, Black Power, White Power, and Santorum!

Lauren Klenow / Vignettes

by Lauren Klenow

Tonight from 6-9pm, Vignettes will present Embedded by Lauren Klenow.

What we now consider to be the most western part of Washington State, is actually the remaining eastern edge of the world’s smallest tectonic plate. The Olympic Peninsula was once part of the ocean floor on the plate of Juan de Fuca until it crashed into the larger continental plate of North America, shifting landmasses and creating the Olympic Mountain Range.

Grappling to understand these vast geological shifts and the scale of their movement, Lauren Klenow spent a month exploring the Olympic Peninsula between Port Townsend and Neah Bay. Responding to these mountain peaks and waterways. Embedded is a collection of works created amidst time spent traipsing among Sitka spruces and westward excursions along coastal bluffs, mountain ridges, and beaches.

Liz Markus / ZieherSmith

Leaving My Best Friend, 2012, by Liz Markus
acrylic on unprimed canvas, 22.4" x 30"
image via ZieherSmith

These paintings by Liz Markus at ZieherSmith are just lovely to look at, especially on a grey Seattle day.

"Inspired by Frederic Church's dramatic 19th century landscapes and the Florida Highwaymen, a self-taught group of African-American artists self-named “The Last Great American Art Movement of the 20th Century,” her renderings of classic ocean sunsets, arctic glaciers, rocky cliffs and dramatic waterfalls also serve as stand-ins for the drama of romantic relationships."

I Wouldn't Change One Thing About You, 2012, by Liz Markus
acrylic on unprimed canvas, 54" x 72"
image via ZieherSmith

(thanks for the heads up, Pacific Standard)

SEA / PDX Studio Group Meet-up

I'm part of a really great studio group here in Seattle. We meet monthly to give/get feedback on our work. It started a few years ago by local artist Susanna Bluhm as way to get to know other artists and revisit the artistic dialog/critique she had been missing since grad school. 

A while back, a studio group (organized by Matt Cosby) in Portland contacted us to and said they'd like to meet-up, so that's what we did this past Saturday. It was really fun and interesting. We talked about the differences between Portland and Seattle. I'm constantly surprised by how little the two communities interact. 

I went through the Portland artist sites and pulled these images.

Ring Pop, 2008, by Matt Cosby

Oil on panel, polyurethane & aluminum

19 7/8 x 18 1/2 inches

Weather Study 2, Sudan, 2010, by Sally Finch

Acrylic ink on paper, Image area 13.5" x 13.5"

laundry day, by GraceWeston

staged photograph

Mareket I, by Karen Silve

68" x 58", Acrylic on Canvas

Verdant Tumbledown, 2010, by Laurie Danial

oil on panel, 24x24 inches

Subduction 1, by KellyNiedig

30” x 36", oil on canvas

Trophy, 2010, by BrendaMallory

Cloth, wax, welded steel, 20" x 20" x 13"

We Live In The Night Ocean Wondering

What Are These Lights II, 2011, by Tamara English

Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches

Tesseract by Lawrence Morrell

Happy in her new life, 2010, by Gabriel Liston

Pigment, acrylic, book, 5.25" x 4.25" x .5"

Twitter Art (@tw1tt3rart) / Matthew Haggett

Bear Cub, 2011, by Rachel Denny

polyurethane foam, wool, thread, wood

19" x 15" x16"

Hayden Island Railroad Bridge, February, by Lli Wilburn

ink, dye and graphite on board, 4.25” x 6.5”

archival digital print, 2010 – 2011, by TJ Norris

from the series Past/Tense, unique edition 2 AP

Superfluity by EugeniaPardue

Acrylic on Panel, 48"x48

Doug Parry

Make Me Laugh, 2011, by Doug Parry
gouache on paper, 15" x 11"

I really love these recent works by Doug Parry. They have a lightheartedness but feel tinged with sorrow.

Big Pink Dumb Bang Gun, 2011, by Doug Perry
oil on canvas, 16" x 20"

He also has a trio of very large portraits from 2000 currently hanging at All City Coffee in Georgetown.

Incognito, 2011, by Doug Parry
gouache on paper, 15" x 11"

"We are your friends."

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft / "We are your friends."

"We are your friends", 2011 by Joey Veltkamp

Hey folks - you have 'til Saturday to see the NEPO House show. Contact Klara to make arrangements but most likely there won't be any Jell-o shots if you visit.

This exact moment!

DRIFT / Winter 2012

DUST TO DUST, 2010, archival inkjet print by Chris Engman 

The Winter 2012 issue of DRIFT is out now. In addition to stories by Sean Collins and Mimi Moncier, this year they've introduced 3 new columns, including my interview series, Best Of (first up, Chris Engman). I'm looking forward to Jeff Stevens' column Radical Seattle Remembers ("obscured radical histories of Seattle") and Lara Durback's On The Move: Reading Deep Oakland. You can buy DRIFT here (a one year subscription = $25) or read the online version here. 

Abigail Reynolds / Ambach & Rice

Universal Now: Piccadilly Circus, New Years Celebrations, 1951/1961, (2008) by Abigail Reynolds, image via Ambach & Rice

The last show I saw by Abigail Reynolds was full of these compelling cut-paper works that collapsed time. Ambach & Rice just sent out a show announcement for her upcoming show, A Common Treasury, and you can imagine that I'm pretty excited to see what things are looking like for her in 2012 ("2012: Year of the Rainbow")!

by Abigail Reynolds / image via Ambach & Rice

Last day for Deathcake Royale!

Deathcake Royale

Have you had a new and improved Deathcake Royale yet? If not, today's your last day to pick one up until next year! Don't miss out on the combination of "Theo Chocolate decadence fused with Stumptown Espresso Ganache and accessorized with a pinch of fleur de sel." Forget a box of chocolates - bring home a box of Deathcakes! I'll be at the Capitol Hill store tonight from 4-6pm peddling my blankets...swing by and say hello!

Now showing at Caffe Vita

Copsicle, 2011 by Roy Powell

Roy Powell / Queen Anne Caffe Vita

Baso Fibonacci

 Baso Fibonacci / Pioneer Square Caffe Vita

Chevron by Michael Harrison

Michael Harrison / Seward Park Caffe Vita

Decoys / Nicholas Nyland

from Decoys by Nicholas Nyland

The amazing Nicholas Nyland just posted an album of pictures from his recent opening at Backspace in Peoria, Illinois. Decoys looks really great and I wish I could see it in person. 

“I found an old duck decoy in a thrift shop that was made of canvas with an abstracted plumage design printed on it. It got me thinking about the way paintings or sculpture often operate in a similar manner, an act of dissembling through a surface treatment that stands in for another.”  - Nicholas Nyland

from Decoys by Nicholas Nyland

Blue.Hour / Yann Novak

Blue.Hour by Yann Novak
(image via Jack Straw New Media Gallery)

Yann Novak is back in Seattle this week installing new work at Jack Straw New Media Gallery. Blue.Hour will be a sound and video installation which, "...explores the high contrast colors created in the landscape during "l'heure bleue," the period of twilight each evening when there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. Directly preceding the 'Golden Hour,' known for its diffused yet powerful light, the Blue Hour retains the diffusion but lacks the strong light source, giving this period of the day an especially melancholic and meditative atmosphere." This piece is based on sound and images gathered from Joshua Tree National Park.

The opening is this Friday (Feb 10) from 7-9pm. Yann will also be back for an artist talk on March 9, plus a live performance at Chapel Performance Space on March 10.

My favorite things on the hill

Rainbow Gay-bies at Cupcake Royale

I've been more than a bit rainbow obsessed lately so of course I love to see Cupcake Royale's case lit up with these cute little rainbow babycakes. The Rainbow Gay-bies made their debut at my 40th bday party last month so you might have already had one. Right now, they're only in the case every once in a while but you can always special order them.

John Sundstrom, one of my favorite chefs, is starting work on a Lark cookbook! He's launched a Kickstarter campaign over here.The video is shot by Rodrigo Valenzuela. I had my very first art show at Lark and they'll always have a special place in my heart.

Ecologic cardboard vase by NUBE Green

For the past 2 years, I've gotten to play Santa Claus for the fine folks at NUBE Green. It's always a blast, especially with Sol Hashemi shooting the pics. For the rest of the week, they're having a half off sale on all Ecologic cardboard products which means this vase is only $15.

Salt at SugarPill

These aren't brand new but I'm kind of obsessed with them right now. I grew up on Morton's salt, so I thought I was fancy when I upgraded to Trader Joe's Pink Himalyan Sea Salt. Then I tried Karyn's salts at SugarPill... OMG! I had no idea there could be such variance. She has them all out to sample and I should probably get my blood pressure checked soon because I'm sure my salt intake has doubled since discovering the new flavors.

Linda on the cover of this month's City Arts
photo by Steve Korn

I don't think I have spent more of my dollars anywhere else than I have at establishments owned by Linda Derschang. (Well, maybe Utrecht.) It's really great to see her and Jack on the cover of this month's City Arts Magazine, along with a story by Rachel Gallagher inside.

12th Annual Scholarships for Scholars / 3D4M

Chrysanthemum, 2011, by Tony Sonnenberg

If you love ceramics/art/UW and don't have plans for tomorrow night, you should get your ticket for the 12th Annual Scholarships for Scholars. 

"Untitled", 2011, by Timea Tihanyi

At $30, the tickets are a great deal because they included beverages, dinner, music, a handmade cup (of your choosing), plus parking!

"Popeye and Olive", 2011, by Jacob Foran

There will also be a raffle ($25 per ticket) for a series of five heads -- one each from 3D4M faculty members Doug Jeck, Amie McNeel, Akio Takamori, Jamie Walker, and Mark Zirpel.

"Shoot from the Hip", 2012, by George Rodriguez

There is a ton of great art up for grabs in the silent auction which you can preview here. 

"Bear Picnic", 2011 by Ben Hirschkoff

There will also be studio tours and student exhibits, including a juried show of 1st year grad students work.

Tuesday (February 7) from 6-8:30pm. More info here.