Send listings two weeks in advance to visualarts@seattleweekly.com.
Lectures and Events
ARTIST LECTURE: BO BARTLETT Andrew Wyeth protégé Bartlett talks about his large, realist paintings of quiet weirdness in the American heartland. 2 p.m. Sat. Feb. 21, Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., free, 206-622-9250.
WHY DOCUMENT? Timed with the arrival of the College Art Association’s national conference in Seattle, Elliott Bay Book Company hosts a panel discussion on the challenges of documenting the history and significance of visual art in the Northwest. Entitled “Why Document? The Art of Creative Documentation,” the conversation will include artist Barbara Earl Thomas, critic Deloris Tarzan Ament, curator Sheryl Conkelton, and longtime art scene fixture Wesley Wehr. 5:30 p.m. Thurs. Feb. 19. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S. Main St., free, (206) 624-6600.
Openings
COCA Inaugurating CoCA’s new space near South Lake Union, “Neoqueer” is a nationally touring exhibit of 43 prominent and emerging gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender artists. Curated by the Queer Caucus for Art, the exhibit is timed to coincide with the arrival of the national College Art Association annual conference in Seattle. Reception: 8 p.m.-midnight, Fri. Feb. 20. 410 Dexter Avenue N., 206-728-1980. 2 p.m.-8 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., noon-5 p.m. Fri.-Sun.
CONSOLIDATED WORKS A gala opening for two new offerings at ConWorks: “Suspension,” a multi-media art-theater-music thing that the folks in the ConWorks publicity machine are very vague about, and “Sonic Absorption,” an installation by Christian Marclay, the pop music-as-art wunderkind whose work is also on display at SAM. Reception: 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Fri. Feb. 20 ($7, members free). 500 Boren Ave. N., 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.-Fri., 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 206-860-5245.
JAMES HARRIS In “Land Escapes” Seattle artist Claire Cowie recycles old “rejected” prints and drawings and refashions them into a series of collages meant to evoke the collision of industry and nature alongside Seattle’s Duwamish River (a low-rent district where Cowie and lots of other artists have their studios). Reception: 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Wed. Feb. 18. 309A Third Ave., 206-903-6220. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM “Larger than Life Heroes” presents Ukiyo-e and woodblock prints on the subject of sumo wrestling. Yup, big sweaty fat guys grappling with each other in loincloths. This is supposed to be a definitive exhibit on Japan’s strange national pastime, with works ranging from 18th century artist Katsukawa Shunsho to contemporary video of the sport. Volunteer Park, 1400 E. Prospect Ave., 206-625-8900. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sun.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.
SOLOMON FINE ART “Obscured Elements” offers meditations on human physiology by two artists: Gerri Ondrizek’s ink-on-fabric tapestries based on her family’s chromosome patterns, and Ellen Garvens’ odd photographs of artificial limbs and prosthetic devices. Reception: 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Thurs. Feb. 19. 1215 First Ave., 206-297-1400. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat.
WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE “The Figure in Contemporary Art” looks at how the human form has taken a postmodern turn in contemporary art by showcasing work by 23 big-time international artists, including Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, and Eric Fischl. 407 Dexter Ave. N., 206-622-1896. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thurs-Fri.
Last Chance
BURKE MUSEUM “Reverent Remembrance,” is the Burke’s exploration of how five cultures deal with Mister Death, from an Egyptian mummy to the Celtic roots of Halloween. UW campus, N. E. 45th St. and 17th Ave. N.E., 206-543-5590. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily (until 8 p.m. Thurs.). Ends Sun. Feb. 22.
Galleries
AIA “Kumamoto Artpolis” collects 70 photos of architecture built under the innovative Artpolis movement, a design system that since 1988 favors adapting structures to local environmental and cultural contexts. 1911 First Ave., 206-448-4938. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
ART INSTITUTE OF SEATTLE GALLERY “Wee Works” refers not to bodily fluids, but the miniscule scale of some 200 works of art by college art students from the U.S. and Scotland. 2323 Elliott Avenue, 206-448-0900. 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.
ART/NOT TERMINAL Paintings on the theme of expressive movement by Janine Geater-Davis. 2045 Westlake, 206-233-0680, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., 12 p.m.-5 p.m. Sun.
ARTEMIS “Entre Chien et Loup,” (translation: somewhere between dog and wolf) is the title of freelance photojournalist Paul Souders’ solo show of photographs of the shifting, ghostly nature of twilight. 3107 S. Day St., 206-323-0562. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
ATELIER 31 AT 31’s new curator, Stefano Catalani, has invited ten artists (including Margo Quan Knight and Douglas Smithenry) to take an existing work and interpret each in the color red. Both the originals and the ruddy-hued versions will be on display. 2500 First Ave., 206-448-5250. 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Tues.; 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.
BENHAM “Eye to Eye” collects the black & white photographs of Graham Nash—yeah, that Graham Nash. 1216 First Ave., 206-622-2480. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun.
CAPITOL HILL ARTS CENTER Thom Heileson’s video installation “Scend” evokes the empty spaces of Death Valley. 1621 12th Ave., Mon.-Fri. 6 p.m.-2 a.m.
CAROLYN STALEY The nineteenth-century prints in “Japanese Literature and Legend” are teeming with princesses, magical foxes, Kabuki heroes, and baby-trampling demons. 314 Occidental Ave., 206-621-1888. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.
CDA GALLERY “Corduroy Symptom” finds drawings and paintings by Seattle artist Michael Ottersen. Thick layers of paint and playful studies in geometric and organic forms predominate. 506 Second Ave., Suite 200 (Smith Tower), 206-296-7580. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon-Fri.
DAVIDSON “Uncertain Journey” is Montana artist Stephanie Frostad’s accomplished but sentimental exploration of the plight of refugees in the wake of war (some of the paintings have the feeling and detail of Pre-Raphaelite idylls, but on the whole the series feels a little too naïve). 313 Occidental Ave. S., 206-624-7684. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
FOUNTAINHEAD Trompe l’oeil still lifes of oil cans and such by Sandra Power and pretty pictures of autumn landscapes by Seattleite Christopher Martin Hoff. 625 W. McGraw St., 206-285-4467. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.
FRANCINE SEDERS Ink on paper abstract works by local artist Robert McNown. Recycling old drawings from his graduate school years, McNown cuts, colors, and reshapes the old works into new grids and organic forms. 6701 Greenwood Ave. N., 206-782-0355. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.- Sat, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sun.
GALLERY 110 In “Puyallup to Paris,” Cynthia Bittenfields’ photos of everyday people in urban scenes are composed with an eye for the comical or quirky juxtaposition: a nearly-naked cowboy trotting around Times Square and such. Also on display are Robin Nelson Wicks’ mixed media works, which employ photographs, collage, and paint to create dreamlike, staged meditations on the transmission of women’s social roles from generation to generation. 110 S. Washington St., 206-624-9336. Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat.
G. GIBSON Beverly Rayner’s new work, “Specimens,” is the sequel to her previous mixed-media exploration, “Genetic Decoder and other Pseudoscientific Explorations.” Incorporating photographs, found objects, wax, wood, and plaster, Rayner transforms generic images into catalogs for the DNA Age. 514 E. Pike St., 206-587-4033. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.
GOODS Paintings of suburban wastelands by Portland artist and former skateboard designer Robert Mars. 1112 Pike St., 206-622-0459, 11 a.m.-7 p.m Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun.
GREG KUCERA Old-fashioned Japanese “shunga”—two centuries of erotica from the nation that invented the used-panty vending machine. Among the more than 50 elegant and explicit prints are images of hetero-, homo-, and gymnastic-sexual scenes. Also, SEE BOX P. 69. 212 Third Ave., 206-624-0770. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
JACK STRAW NEW MEDIA GALLERY Artist Jesse Paul Miller set out to find some peace and quiet in the nature preserves of North Central Florida, and brought audio equipment to document it. What he found wasn’t exactly solitude free of human noise, as this interactive installation demonstrates. 261 Roosevelt Way N.E., 206-634-0919. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
KIRKLAND ARTS CENTER Juried by local ceramic artist Patti Warashina, “Gigantic Ceramic Figurines” brings together figurative ceramic sculptures from Brian Baker, Daniela Rumpf, Michaelene Walsh, and others. 620 Market St. 425-822-7161. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
KURT LIDTKE Paintings and collage by mid-twentieth century Northwest artist Paul Horiuchi. 408 Occidental Ave. S. 206-623-5082. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat.
LISA HARRIS Emily Wood’s Northwest landscapes recall the work another Emily—B.C. artist Emily Carr, whose mystical paintings of rainforests helped solidify the iconography of the Pacific Northwest early in the 20th century. Wood’s “Recent Travels” traipses from Mowich Lake near Mount Rainier to the Palouse, and all the paintings are infused with an appealing warmth. 1922 Pike Pl., 206-443-3315. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sun.
MARTIN-ZAMBITO Realist paintings of Seattle landscapes and the human form by former Cornish instructor Michael Stasinos. 721 E. Pike St., 206-726-9509. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat.
NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION “Politics of Parks and Photography”—landscape photos of Yellowstone etc. by Seattle photographer Bruce Moore. 313-A First Ave., 206-903-1444, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 12 p.m.-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun.
PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER NORTHWEST Cornish alum Benjamin Wilkins has carved his niche taking elaborately staged black and white photographs of surreal tableaux. In the solo show “Think Vents,” human figures are entangled in a dance (or wrestling match) with various geometric forms. The result is a kind of symbolic, otherworldly kinetoscope. 900 12th Ave., 206-720-7222. Noon-9:30 p.m. Mon.; 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Tues.-Sun.
PRICELESS WORKS Five artists from the Bluebottle gallery on Capitol Hill pay a visit to Fremont: Kynan Antos, Tory Franklin, Joe Alterio, Chad Cook, and Matthew Porter. 619 N. 35th St., Suite 100, 206-349-9943. Noon-7 p.m. Fri.-Sun.
ROQ LA RUE Continuing to promote the creepycute genre of painting that has become the standby here, the Roq offers up “Jewelbox”—new work by three artists: Sapporo’s Yumiko Yakukawa, Seattle artist and curator Kipling West, and L.A.’s Andrew Brandou. 2316 Second Ave., 206-374-8977. 2 p.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun.
SECLUDED ALLEY WORKS Guest curator Robin Atlas assembles “Skirting the Edge,” figurative and abstract art by Janet Cameron, Erin Castellan, Caroline James, and others. 113 12th Ave. (at Yesler), 206-839-0880. Noon-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun.
SECOND AVENUE PIZZA “Drawing Resistance” is a touring exhibit of anti-globalization, anti-corporate, pro-anarchy, pro-Zapatista drawings, posters, and miscellaneous agit-prop by 31 artists. 2015 2nd Ave., 206-524-6624.
SOIL “Flashpoint” includes recent work by SOIL cooperative members Dan Dean, Jennifer Zwick, Margie Livingston, Randy Wood, Thom Heileson, and others. 1317 E. Pine St., 206-264-8061. Noon-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sun.
SUYAMA SPACE Lead Pencil Studio, the experimental architecture team of Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo examines this gallery’s inherent structure with “Linear Plenum,” a site-specific installation. 2324 Second Ave/, 206-256-0809. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
WASHINGTON STATE CONVENTION & TRADE CENTER “Seattle Perspective,” a grab bag of art from the city’s municipal art collection, includes work by Juan Alonso, Joe Max Emminger, John Feodorov, Claudia Fitch, Fay Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Sandvig, and Barbara Earl Thomas. 800 Convention Pl., 206-694-5000. 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
WILLIAM TRAVER If “Farbenfreude,”—the title of Tom Farbanish’s show of new glass at Traver—translates as “joy of color,” then I wonder how “Tupperware” translates into German. Because that’s what these plastic-looking glass doodads remind me of. 110 Union St., second floor, 206-587-6501. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.
WINSTON WÄCHTER Paintings and works on paper by Georgia’s Bo Bartlett, whose realist paintings (also now on display at the Frye) are a weird amalgam of Norman Rockwell Americana, Andrew Wyeth’s rural spookiness, and renaissance formalism. 403 Dexter Ave. N., 206-652-5855, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.
ZEITGEIST Oversized paintings of hummingbirds as metaphors for the frenetic pace of 21st-century life by local artist and designer Kynan Antos. 171 S. Jackson St., 206-583-0497. 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon.-Fri, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat.-Sun.
Museums
HENRY ART GALLERY “A Door Meant as Adornment” offers a twenty-year retrospective of Seattle furniture designer, architect, and artist Roy McMakin. Whether he’s using furniture as a way to recall memories of childhood, or to playfully overturn our perception of the banal details of life, McMakin transforms the ordinary dresser into a totemic sculpture. “Ellen Gallagher: Preserve/Murmur” collects mixed-media collages, cut-paper paintings, and 16 mm films by the 36-year-old New York artist. In a somewhat underwhelming show, some of the pieces co-opt stereotypical images of race, while “Watery Ecstatic” uses paper slashed by a blade to meditate on life in the deepest corners of the sea. Throughout Gallagher’s work is a strange sort of ambiguity somewhere between humor and rage. UW campus, 206-543-2280. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.
MUSEUM OF NORTHWEST ART Simon Schama once observed that landscapes are always culture before they’re nature. “The Grand View,” a new exhibit at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner confirms this. Ranging from the soaring visions of Albert Bierstadt to quirky investigations by contemporary painter Michael Brophy, this exhibit explores the importance of place in the region’s art. 121 South First St. (La Conner), 360-466-4446. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.
MUSEUM OF GLASS “Moving Through Nature” explores variations on landscape and nature through installations by sculptors Mayme Kratz and Stacey Neff as well as Michael Kenna’s dreamy, Zen-inspired black and white photographs of Japan. “Breathing Glass” and “Raining Popcorn” are two huge installations by artist Sandy Skoglund: the former employs massive quantities of miniature marshmallows and thousands of glass dragonflies, while the second fills a room with drifts of knee-deep popcorn. How the hell do they keep the ants out, I wonder? 1801 East Dock St. Tacoma, 253-396-1768. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. (third Thurs. of the month until 8 p.m.), noon-5 p.m. Sun.
MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND INDUSTRY For anyone who’s ever dreamed of inventing something, MOHAI’s touring Smithsonian Exhibit “Doodles, Drafts, and Designs” should offer inspiration if not comic relief. Seventy-four original sketches (sorry, none on cocktail napkins) capture the origins of all sorts of patented inventions. Some were successful (the Crayola crayon, for instance) while others were inspired failures (a man-sized hunting blind shaped like a large goose). 2700 24th Ave. E. (Montlake), 206-324-1126. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM Swiss-born artist and musical wunderkind Christian Marclay’s exhibit at SAM is fun, but not particularly deep. Impossible instruments (a twenty-foot drum kit, a tuba grafted onto a trumpet) are set alongside clever collages made from album covers The most compelling work in the whole music-as-art shtick is the 13-minute, four-screen film Video Quartet, a John Cage-like cacophony of musical samples from Hollywood movies. Meanwhile, “International Abstraction: Making Painting Real:” offers superb examples of the post-World War II abstract expressionist and minimalist movements while “The View From Here: The Pacific Northwest 1800-1930” serves up a potpourri of paintings, photographs, and Native American art from the region’s first boomtime. 100 University St., 206-654-3100. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.
SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM “Discovering Buddhist Art: Seeking the Sublime, ” recycles Buddhist pieces from the museum’s permanent collection to highlight the diversity of Buddhist sacred art, from simple, quiet Bodhisattva sculptures to colorful Tibetan thanka paintings. Also on display, two contemporary scrolls by Chinese ink painter Li Jin, including one 59-foot behemoth that pokes fun at the excesses of Chinese celebrations and cuisine. Volunteer Park, 1400 E. Prospect Ave., 206-625-8900. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sun.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.
TACOMA ART MUSEUM In “Lewis and Clark Territory,” contemporary artists Ann Appleby, Mark Brophy and others investigate themes of race and place in the West 200 years after the Corps of Discovery set out. Also on display, “A Transatlantic Avant-Garde: American Artists in Paris, 1918 – 1939” documents the American artistic exodus to Paris in the twenties and thirties. More than a hundred artworks, including samplings from Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, and Man Ray run the gamut from abstraction to Dada. 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253-272-4258. Every third Thursday free. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.; 12 p.m.-5 p.m. Sun.
WING LUKE ASIAN MUSEUM The exhibit “Through My Father’s Eyes” contains some 50 images of daily Filipino immigrant life in the 1940s and ’50s by photographer Ricardo Alvarado. 407 Seventh Ave. S., 206-623-5124. 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; noon-4 p.m. Sat.-Sun.
