Author Events
T.V. Reed The author of the new biography Robert Cantwell and the Literary Left: A Northwest Writer Reworks American Fiction joins Spokane writer Jess Walter (The Zero) in a discussion of Cantwell’s life and newly reissued novel Land of Plenty. Seattle Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., 386-4636, spl.org. 7 p.m. Wed., Aug. 27.
Brent Weeks He reads from his new action-fantasy tome The Broken Eye (Lightbringer). University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., 634-3400, bookstore.washington.edu. 7 p.m. Wed., Aug. 27.
Ina Zajac Her new novel Please, Pretty Lights follows its heroine through the Seattle music scene. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., 366-3333, thirdplacebooks.com. 7 p.m. Wed., Aug. 27.
Daryl Brown Son of the late R&B legend (subject of the new biopic Get On Up), he’ll discuss his new My Father the Godfather. University Book Store (Bellevue), 990 102nd Ave. N.E., 425-462-4500, bookstore.washington.edu. 6 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 28.
Jack Straw Writers Anthology Contributors including Michelle Penaloza, Loreen Lilyn Lee, Susan V. Meyers, and Claudia Castro will share their work. University Book Store, 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 28.
Kirby Larson Her novel Dash concerns a young Japanese-American girl interned during WWII and the pet she’s forced to leave behind. Eagle Harbor Books, 157 Winslow Way E. (Bainbridge Island), 842-5332, eagleharborbooks.com. 7 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 28.
Susan Carr The local voice teacher and writer shares from The Ballad of Desiree and performs songs by Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, and Gordon Lightfoot. University Book Store, 7 p.m. Fri., Aug. 29.
Christian Winn
Naked Me collects new stories from the Boise writer. Elliott Bay, 7 p.m. Fri., Aug. 29.
Sara Benincasa In town for Bumbershoot, the comedienne reads from her new YA novel Great. University Book Store, 6 p.m. Sat., Aug. 30.
Louise Penny
The Long Way Home continues her popular Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery novels. Third Place, 3 p.m. Sun., Aug. 31.
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Rick Perlstein SEE THE PICK LIST, PAGE 34.
Michael Pitre A veteran of the Iraq War, his debut novel is Fives and Twenty Fives. Elliott Bay, 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 3.
John Scalzi A horrible virus lays waste to mankind in his sci-fi thriller Lock In. University Book Store, 7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 3.
Lois Brandt Her children’s book Maddi’s Fridge deals with hunger and sharing. University Book Store (Bellevue), 6 p.m. Thurs., Sept. 4.
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Jim Woodring In his new anthology JIM (Fantagraphics, $29.99), the local artist reaches back over 30 years into the phantasmagoric trove of his imagination, first manifested on paper with a 12-page zine in 1982. His is a world of everyday hallucination and unexpected transmogrification. Monsters are always at hand, woven into life’s ordinary texture (if anything can be called ordinary in Woodring’s art). Much of JIM riffs on the early reading matter of his youth, including comic books, ads, and Highlights magazine. Certain threads of autobiography are present, as we see a young artist taking classes and gathering material, gradually gaining confidence in his craft. Even so, disgust-at himself and the world in general-and self-doubt are pervasive. At one point in his misadventures, cartoon avatar Jim despairs, “I’m just a bloated bladder pulsing with appetites and shallow schemes.” Animals, including that famously quizzical, lopsided frog, are no help when they speak to cartoon Jim, who seems perpetually bedeviled, beleaguered, and forlorn. His creator, of course, is more in command of the ever-mutable situation. BRIAN MILLER University Book Store, 7 p.m. Thurs., Sept. 4.
Paul Roberts He’ll discuss his The Impulse Society: America in the Age of Instant Gratification. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., 652-4255, townhallseattle.org. $5. 7:30 p.m Thurs., Sept. 4.
Museums & Galleries
The Art of Gaman The subtitle of this group show reveals its sad starting point: Arts & Crafts From the Japanese-American Internment Camps, 1942–1946. Over 120 objects are on view, many of them humble wood carvings, furniture, even toys made from scrap items at Minidoka or Manzanar. The more polished drawings come from professional artists like Ruth Asawa and Henry Sugimoto. Some of the more touching items—like a samurai figurine made from wood scraps, shells, and bottle caps—come from family collections, not museums. As for the show’s title, gaman roughly translates as “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” BRIAN MILLER Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way N.E., 425-519-0770, bellevuearts.org, $8-$10, Tues.-Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Through Oct. 12.
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Chen Shaoxiong The contemporary Chinese artist shows new video works and their source drawings in the exhibit Ink. History. Media, which is inspired by historical photos of major events from 1909-2009. Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 E. Prospect St. (Volunteer Park), 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org. $5-$7. Weds.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Through Oct. 19.
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Deco Japan This is a somewhat unusual traveling show in that it comes from a single private collection: that of Florida’s Robert and Mary Levenson. The specificity and period (1920–1945) are also unusual. Among the roughly 200 items on view—prints, furniture, jewelry, etc.—we won’t be seeing the usual quaint cherry-blossom references to Japan’s hermetic past. The country opened itself late, at gunpoint, to the West, and industrialized quite rapidly. By the ’20s, there was in the big cities a full awareness of Hollywood movies, European fashions, and streamlined design trends. Even if women didn’t vote, they knew about Louise Brooks and her fellow flappers. We may think that, particularly during the ’30s, the country was concerned with militarism and colonial expansion, but these objects reveal the leisure time and sometime frivolity of the period. The luxe life meant imitating the West to a degree, yet there are also many traces of Japan’s ancient culture within these modern accessories. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Asian Art Museum, ends Oct. 19.
Femke Hiemstra & Casey Weldon Hiemstra paints on found objects in Warten am Waldrand. Weldon tweaks nature scenes with bright, artificial colors in Novel Relic. Roq La Rue Gallery, 532 First Ave. S., 374-8977, roqlarue.com. Ends Sept. 27.
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Etsuko Ichikawa and Yukiyo Kawano
One Thousand Questions—From Hiroshima to Hanford is a joint exhibition examining the nuclear history of Japan and Washington State. Columbia City Gallery, 4864 Rainier Ave. S., columbiacitygallery.com, 760-9843. Ends Sept. 21.
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Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: The Mythic and the Mystical Summer is usually the season for tourist-friendly blockbuster shows at SAM, like Japanese fashion last year, traveling from other institutions. This one is entirely local, celebrating the native quartet of Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Guy Anderson. How did the Northwest become a school? Isolation, for one thing, since prewar Seattle was remote and provincial when the four got their start. Institutions also played a part: Cornish, the UW, and especially the brand-new SAM helped form a community of artists and collectors. (SAM founder Richard Fuller was particularly instrumental, employing and buying from the Big Four.) Seattle had a little bit of money then, but it was dowdy old money, two generations removed from the Denny party. What Tobey and company brought to national attention during the war years and after was a fresh regional awareness and reverence for place. This meant not simple landscapes, but a deeper appreciation for the spiritual aspect of nature, traces of Native American culture, and currents from across the Pacific. Many of the paintings here, publicly exhibited for the first time, come from the 2009 bequest of Marshall and Helen Hatch. They, like Fuller and the Wrights, were important collectors and patrons of the Big Four during the postwar years. What they preserved can now be a fresh discovery to all new Seattle residents unfamiliar with the Northwest School. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., 654-3121, seattleartmuseum.org. $12–$19. Weds.-Sun. Ends. Sept. 7.
Mughal Painting: Power and Piety Some 300 years of Indian art, from the 16th century to English colonial rule of the subcontinent, goes on display. Seattle Asian Art Museum, Ends Oct. 19.
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Ken Price The recently deceased L.A. artist created colorful cityscapes of his home town, often to accompany the poetry collections of his pal Charles Bukowski. The show is called Inside/Outside. Henry Art Gallery, 4100 15th Ave. N.E., 543-2280, henryart.org. $6-$10. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs. & Fri. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed., Sat. & Sun.
Through Sept 7.
