Local arts writer Karla Esquivel once called SoDo’s Bemis Building “perhaps the best art secret in Seattle,” and when you talk to some of the artists who live and work there, you get the sense that it’s still a secret—much to their chagrin.
The handsome, four-level brick building, built by the Bemis Co. at the turn of the 20th century as a paper-bag factory, was abandoned in 1993, then bought by artists Richard Royal and David Huchthausen and several partners, who reopened it in 1996. Roughly 30 artists work—and, with few exceptions, live—in lofts on the third and fourth floors of the building, which is located a block from Safeco Field. It’s home to photographers, graphic designers, animators, glass artists, metalworkers, and painters—including one, Thom Ross, who makes larger-than-life cutout paintings of heroes and villains of the American West.
While the Bemis’ main purpose is to give artists plenty of room to do their work, it also has great potential as a place for the public to see art and interact with its creators—a potential that, in the opinion of some Bemis tenants, remains largely untapped. Fairly recently, the building began participating in First Thursday Art Walk, an event wherein galleries and studio spaces, mostly in Pioneer Square, open their doors to the public. Yet during August’s Art Walk, only a few of the Bemis’ studios were open. “The reason no one comes down here for First Thursdays [is] because no one has their door open,” says photographer Mike Chandler, one of three artists living in a third- floor studio that headquarters the art collective Ouch My Eye. “If it’s far away and there are four lofts open, it’s really not worth the effort. If there are 20 lofts open, then people might come here and not go to Pioneer Square.”
Abstract painter Don Rissler, who shares a loft with his wife, photographer Kara J. Higgins, agrees that getting the Art Walk crowd to the Bemis has been an uphill battle. “We’ve basically done lots of ads in Art Access, which is your basic guide for most people doing First Thursday, but it’s not within easy walking distance of Pioneer Square,” he says, adding that parking availability in the area depends largely on whether or not there’s a Seahawks or Mariners game. “[We’ve] put out quite a bit of money, personal money, trying to get people to notice us, and a lot of it’s been thrown away.”
There’s no easy solution to the problem. As Rissler, the Ouch My Eye artists, and other Bemis residents admit, every studio is ultimately responsible for its own PR, and word of mouth is still the building’s most effective promotional strategy. According to Ouch My Eye photographer and graphic designer Bob Brunner, since buildingwide shows are just biannual and First Thursdays aren’t “the biggest crowd drawer,” the collective decided a while back to throw bimonthly parties. These events bring in more than a dozen artists from outside the Bemis, Brunner says, and “getting all of them to bring friends down, we can end up with 200 people down here for a show.”
The next party, on Saturday, Sept. 17, will be a multistudio affair, but Ouch My Eye, which hosts DJs and serves wine and beer, will almost certainly be its beating heart. If you’ve never been to the Bemis, this is a chance to get acquainted. The event is free and open to the public. Some secrets, after all, aren’t meant to be kept.
The Bemis Building is located at 55 S. Atlantic St. For information about Ouch My Eye, call 206-381-8457 or go to www.ouchmyeye.com.