2012 Young Artist Recital Competition Award Winners

The Tacoma Philharmonic will honor the winners of the Beatrice Herrmann Young Artist Competition with a recital at Pacific Lutheran University’s Lagerquist Concert Hall at 7 pm on May 20. The winners represent three divisions: Junior Division (grades 7 through 9) Senior Division (grades 10 through 12) and Young Artist (up to age 24).

Now in its fifth year, the Beatrice Herrmann Young Artists Competition promotes excellence in musical performance, encourages young musicians in their pursuit of high artistic standards, and fosters a love for the performing arts in the community and throughout the Puget Sound region. Named to honor the memory of Beatrice Herrmann, a long-time supporter of the Tacoma Philharmonic, the Competition evaluates young musicians in three divisions:  Junior Division (grades 7-9), Senior Division (grades 10-12), and Young Artist Division (high school graduates up to age 24). The winning students were:

Junior Division:
First Place: Jenny Chung, Northshore Junior High, piano.
Second Place: Catherine Kok, The Bear Creek School, piano.

Senior Division:
First Place: Toni Liu McFall, Garfield High School, piano.
Second Place: Justin H. Kim, Auburn Riverside High School, cello.

Young Artist Division:
First Place: Chet Baughman, University of Puget Sound, saxophone.
Second Place: Grace Youn, University of Puget Sound, violin.

Downtown Block Party 2012 Volunteer Craft Party 4-8pm

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…Perfect for the first Downtown Tacoma Block Party 2012 Volunteer Craft Party organized by Local Life and Downtown Tacoma Neighbors!

As anyone who has attended previous Downtown Tacoma Block Parties (DBP) knows, it’s an event that can only happen with the involvement of many people. Everyone likes to volunteer in their own way, and there will be opportunities for you to get involved in this year’s Block Party!

The first Craft Party is today, May 19, 4-8 pm at 1120 Court “E” Tacoma, right downtown. For this party crafters will be putting something together named, “Boxton” – which is a little village made of big boxes. At the DBP, people will be able to paint and craft on/around it to make the little urban village come alive. Then they will get the structure together (we all get to lay out the streetscape!) and prep it for painting at the DBP.

Come get in the creative block party spirit! It’s going to be a great time. It’s a fun way to participate in downtown life and get to know your neighbors! Get more info here.

The STAR Center Grand Opening is Today!

The STAR Center designed by Miller Hull Architects in Seattle.

Come celebrate the grand opening of the South Tacoma Activity and Recreation (STAR) Center today! Enjoy live music, meet a two-time Olympic speed skating medalist, savor homegrown produce at the onsite farmers’ market, and see all the activities STAR has to offer. This regional recreational showcase is part of a 75-acre community complex shared by Metro Parks Tacoma in partnership with Gray Middle School and the Boys and Girls Club. The eco-designed complex offers a music/yoga/dance studio, a teaching kitchen, fitness rooms, a dynamic indoor/outdoor children’s playground and a special-events rental hall. The urban campus welcomes people of all ages and abilities to connect, explore, stay active and have fun!

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Tags: STAR Center grand opening

Smells Like Roses – Art Show Coming to Lakewold Gardens

Spring is in the air at Lakewold Gardens. Photo courtesy of Rainier League of Arts.

You can tiptoe through the tulips and view an art exhibition framed by manicured gardens at the Creative Expressions Art Show presented by Rainier League of Arts and Lakewold Gardens, June 1-3. Local artists will be showing their work and demonstrating art techniques in this beautiful garden setting at 12317 Gravelly Lake Dr. SW, in Lakewood. Art including paintings and blown glass will be available for purchase.

Lakewold Gardens is an exquisite work of art in itself with landscape architecture by Thomas Church surrounded by rare and native plants, State Champion trees, over 900 rhododendrons, 30 Japanese maples and stunning statuary. Lakewold’s 10 lush acres are completed by the architecture of a Georgian-style mansion, a Washington State historic landmark. Creative Expressions, June 1-3, 10 am-4 pm; artists’ reception June 3, 2-4 pm. There is an entrance fee to Lakewold Gardens. Information:  coordinator Glenda Wiffler, 253/926-0329; Lakewold Gardens, 253/584-4106.

Tags: Lakewold Gardens, Rainier League of Art

Tributes to Chihuly and LeMay Museum at MOG

Origins: Early Works by Dale Chihuly, May 19-Oct. 21, 2012

Classic Heat, May 23-Jan. 2013

“Persian Sea Forms” by Dale Chihuly. Photo courtesy of Museum of Glass.

In celebration of next week’s opening of Chihuly Garden & Glass in Seattle, the Museum of Glass presents “Origins: Early Works by Dale Chihuly” which showcases rarely-exhibited works made by Dale Chihuly.  The exhibition features 30 transitional pieces—including Cylinders, Sea Forms and Macchias from the 1960s through the 1980s—from prominent local collections and the museum’s permanent collection. Collectively, the works chronicle Chihuly’s influence as an artist, a visionary and a pioneer of the American Studio Glass movement.

The central piece of the exhibition in an historic 33-piece installation titled Persian Sea Forms (pictured) that was gifted to MOG in 2011.  The work was created in 1988 by a small team of artists—including lead gaffers Martin Blank and Richard Royal—and assembled by Chihuly as a design experiment.

Origins will remain on view through October 21, 2012.  Stop by and see the early works from a glass legend!

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One-of-a-kind hood ornament. Photo courtesy of Museum of Glass.

The second exhibition opening in May is “Classic Heat”, a collection of large-scale glass hood ornaments created in collaboration with LeMay – America’s Car Museum.  The Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team and artist John Miller created the sculptures that were inspired by classic designs from various American automakers, including the 1952 Buick 8 Special, 1957 Chevy 210 and the 1929 Ford Model A.  While the sculptures reference the original emblems, the finished pieces include elements from various makes and models.  The collection consists of eight sculptures, half of which will be displayed at each museum.

“America’s Car Museum hopes to partner with the other cultural organization in our community on an ongoing basis. This initial project is an opportunity for us and the Museum of Glass to work on a project that embodies what each celebrates,” said Scot Keller, ACM chief marketing and communications officer. “The Museum of Glass provided the artistry while ACM provided the inspiration.”

Tags: Dale Chihuly, LeMay Museum

The Sinister and the Surreal at Fulcrum Gallery

“Nightwatchman”, installation by Sharon Styer.
“Visions from the Other Side“, a group show.
Opening reception: Thursday, May 17^, 6-9 pm.

Photo by Sharon Styer.

Two new exhibits at the Fulcrum Gallery explore altered states of perception: the first is grounded in minutely observed reality, the other in the fork-prodded folds of the subconscious. “Nightwatchman” is an installation of photographs by Sharon Styer that almost voyeuristically illumines dark corners of Tacoma that are all but invisible by day. In this project funded by a Tacoma Artists Initiative Program grant, Styer’s lens isolates dimly lit alleyways, secluded shops and decrepit structures where senses are tightly stretched to catch a movement, a sound, a momentary hesitation. In this unsettling quiet one is never quite alone. It is the alternate world of security cameras and the nightwatchman.

“Night has a huge influence on every location,” says Styer. “Shadows and a feeling of isolation can creep upon me quickly [while shooting]. Suddenly I’ll need to know just how far I am from my car.” This feeling is transmitted directly to the viewer through her photographs. Styer is an award-winning photographer who was recently nominated for the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation’s “Foundation of Art Award”.

Art from “Visions from the Other Side”. Photo courtesy of Fulcrum Gallery.

The group show opening at Fulcrum, “Visions from the Other Side (Surrealistic Portraits)”, features two-dimensional and three-dimensional artworks sprung from the vat of the creative unconscious. This collection of anthropomorphic portraits done in the classical style blurs the lines of reason. These surrealistic visions evoke an imaginary world where animal, vegetable, mineral make friends and converse as if neighbors discussing the weather. Nothing is left unexplored and anything is to be expected. Artists Larkin Cypher, Kelsi Finney, Jeremy Gregory and Keith Carter conjure up their individual characters in this unique parade of imagery. “Nightwatchman” and “Visions from the Other Side” on view May 17-July 14, 2012. Fulcrum Gallery, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Tacoma. Hours: Fri. & Sat. 12-6 pm. www.fulcrumtacoma.com

Tags: Jeremy Gregory, Keith Carter, Kelsi Finney, Larkin Cypher, Sharon Styer

Mayor Strickland Rides Magic Bus May 17

Photo: John Farrell

May 17, Third Thursday Art Walk, is your opportunity to take the Tacoma Art Bus with special guest tour guide, Mayor Marilyn Strickland. Get on board for a meet-and-greet with the mayor and see art at some of T-town’s favorite galleries, boutiques and other intriguing venues including the Seymour Conservatory at Wright Park!

There will also be special giveaways including an overnight stay at Courtyard Marriott Tacoma, passes to the Museum of Glass and Tacoma Art Museum, and other great prizes!

Catch the bus at 6 pm at the curb outside Tacoma Art Museum. Tickets are $10 ($20 VIP) and may be purchased online up to 12 hours in advance at Brown Paper Tickets. Tickets may also be purchased at the bus stop from 5:30-6 pm on a first come, first served basis. Scheduled stops include:

•    Art Stop – Featuring the popular “Arfs & Craft” Dog Bowl Auction benefiting the Prison Pet Partnership Program in Purdy
•    W.W. Seymour Conservatory – “The Lost Tribes of Hilltop” blown glass installation by the Hilltop Artists
•    B2 Fine Art Gallery – “Sweet Freedom’s Jubilee” featuring the work of sculptor Mar’zil Davis of Seattle, and fiber artist Mary Johnson of Birmingham, Alabama
•    Chelsia Berry Designs – Original fashion by Chelsia Berry, plus art by Angela Wales Rockett, Copper Hawk and Juliette Ricci
•    253 Collective - “Catch It If You Can!” exhibit by Photographer Kathy Bauer
•    Laughing Lotus – Dia De Los Muertos, Lowbrow Art, and Pop art by Stephanie Snyder
•    Embellish – Art by Vic Wade
•    Jewell Day Spa – Blown glass by Michael Jewell and repurposed glass-and-metal art by Deidre Norris
•    Tacoma City Grocer - The downtown’s new urban grocer featuring art  by Kristin Johnson

The Art Bus is sponsored by the Tacoma Arts Commission and Weekly Volcano Newspaper.

For more information, visit http://www.TacomaARTBUS.com or find catch the bus on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tacoma-ART-BUS/151270941559625

102-Year-Old Tacoma Artist at Lakewood Historical Museum

Artist Ruth Ayers Hofto. Photo courtesy of Jacki Hofto.

If there were a lifetime achievement award for local artists, we’d be quick to nominate Ruth Ayers Hofto. The work of this 102-year-old University Place resident is now on view at the Lakewood Historical Museum through June 12. Hofto was born in 1910 and grew up in Issaquah where she began painting at age six. A local butcher, impressed with one of her paintings of pansies, encouraged her early on: “He said, ‘I’m gonna give you a wiener. I’m gonna give you a piece of paper. Now go home and draw,’” she laughs in a phone conversation. And make art she did, over decades, taking classes with printmaker Bill Colby and others. Though Hofto would eventually take a 40-year break from painting, with the encouragement of friends she began showing her work again in 2007, at age 97, with an exhibit at the Lakewood Library.

Though a recent health problem has stalled her studio practice, Hofto has a smile in her voice as she talks about her art: paintings and woodcuts of landscapes, often featuring animals, reflect an interesting life and travels abroad (for instance, she painted Pierre Auguste Renoir’s house in France). She apologizes for the limited number of paintings she has to show in the “Artist’s Corner” of the Lakewood Museum – because most of her work has been sold. The artist’s graciousness and encouragement to others are an ongoing inspiration to those who meet her. A reception for Ruth Ayers Hofto will be held at the Lakewood Historical Museum, 6211 Mt. Tacoma Drive SW in Lakewood, on May 19 at 2 pm. Regular museum hours: Wed.-Sat. 12-4 pm. www.lakewoodhistorical.org