2014 Tacoma Studio Tour Preview: Part 3

This is part 3 in our series highlighting the artists participating in the Tacoma Studio Tour this October.

This year’s tour features 61 artists and collaborative studios and allows the general public the opportunity to see the spaces in and tools with which local artists create their work, ask questions, and purchase one-of-a-kind creations. All studios will feature demonstrations of the artistic process or will have hands-on activities for visitors. Check out TacomaArtsMonth.com for the full list of artists, schedule, and an interactive map where you can plot your own custom tour course.

What: Tacoma Studio Tour
Where: 37 studio locations around Tacoma
When: October 11 & 12, 11 am – 5 pm
Cost: FREE!

Here are this week’s highlights:

Retha Hayward
    
Retha owns and manages three of the studios at Manitou Art Center, operates the White Dove Gallery, teaches fused and stained glass and mosaics, is Artist in Residence for Empty Bowls, and serves on the Lakewood Arts Commission. She shares her passion for art with the community, promoting and showcasing local artists, and serving as adviser/instructor to many organizations. During your visit make glass holiday ornaments and small clay projects and select small gifts to purchase.

Susan Blais
    
Susan Blais is primarily a painter working in oil, acrylic, and pastel.

Fumiko Kimura
    
Fumiko Kimura earned a Masters in Art Education from the University of Puget Sound in 1977 and continues to volunteer-teach, paint, and exhibit. Her major medium is Asian sumi brush painting and calligraphy, traditional watercolors and mixed media collages, abstracts, and absolute art. Her innovative and experimental works in a series of subjects are inspired by nature motifs using various found materials.

Diane Hansen, Metropolitan Glass, Inc
    
Diane is a sculptor who has been working in glass for the past 24 years. She was part of the Tacoma Arts Commission’s training program entitled PA:ID, which trained studio artists to work in the Public Art field. Currently she is practicing as both a studio and public artist. She created a public art piece for Sound Transit in 2013 called “Lock-On Tacoma” which encourages visitors to attach padlocks and make a wish, mark an occasion, or profess a love.

Lois Yoshida
    
Lois is intrigued and challenged by the process and beauty of sumi art which seeks to capture the essence or spirit of a subject in as few spontaneous brush strokes as possible. She continues to work in watercolor and explore mixed media, incorporating sumi (ink), watercolor, and handmade papers. The juxtaposition of shapes and colors, discovering what combinations appeal to her visually and emotionally, has been a wonderful adventure – a grand journey.

Henry Haneda
    
Henry Haneda has, for decades, received international awards and invitationals for his photography and designs. Henry uses medium format or 4×5 films, which convey detailed impressions to large prints. He has been a world-renown rod and knife maker since 1980.

Mark Hoppmann
    
Mark Hoppmann’s studio, like his work, is an invitation to those (with apologies to Rudyard Kipling) with “satiable curtiosity”. In addition to his original work created with a variety of mediums including watercolor, India ink, and graphite, he often works in themes which are then digitally scanned from original renderings and assembled into handmade books created from a variety of materials including leather and wood.

 

Check out these other artists on the tour and watch for future previews:
Studio Tour Preview: Part 2
Studio Tour Preview: Part 1 

Tacoma Arts Month is sponsored by Click! Cable TV, The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Northwest Public Radio, KPLU, Weekly Volcano, Tacoma Weekly, Premier Media Group, and Exit133.

2014 Tacoma Studio Tour Preview: Part 2

This is part 2 in our series highlighting the artists participating in the Tacoma Studio Tour this October.

This year’s tour features 61 artists and collaborative studios and allows the general public the opportunity to see the spaces in and tools with which local artists create their work, ask questions, and purchase one-of-a-kind creations. All studios will feature demonstrations of the artistic process or will have hands-on activities for visitors.

What: Tacoma Studio Tour
Where: 37 studio locations around Tacoma
When: October 11 & 12, 11 am – 5 pm
Cost: FREE!

Here are this week’s highlights:

Jennifer Chin
    
Jennifer Chin was born in Seattle. Her primary focus is painting which is inspired by materials, prototypes, and directed play. She frequently uses gravity and controlled chaos as key influences in the final work. In 1995 Jennifer completed a BA in Art from the University of Washington and she graduated from Artist Trust’s EDGE program in 2014. Her paintings and prints are included in private collections in Arizona, California, Idaho, Texas, and Washington.

Amy Reeves, Tacoma Metal Arts Center
    
Amy Reeves has been designing and making jewelry for over 20 years. She holds a BFA in Metal Design from UW and divides her time between teaching jewelry making classes and working on her own designs. In December 2009 she opened Tacoma Metal Arts Center (TMAC), a fully equipped jewelry making and metal crafting studio. TMAC offers classes, private lessons, and studio rental opportunities to a community of jewelers.

Mark Larson, Larson Fine Art
    
Mark Larson’s current body of work revolves around the theme of disintegration. As a result of experiments submerging reference photos in water until the emulsion disintegrates, Mark has used these deconstructed images as a starting point for new work. The resulting fragmentation and abstraction speaks to temporality, positive transformation, and the process of disintegration and regeneration found in nature.

Roxann Murray, A Touch of Wanderlust
    
Roxann Murray is an award-winning artist. She uses her camera almost daily and also works with collage, colored pencils, ink, and paint. Her photographs are focused on nature as well as her travel adventures in the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, Costa Rica, and the Southwest part of the U.S. She grew up in Graham, WA and, as a result, developed a strong bond with the natural world. Roxann graduated from UW Tacoma in 2009 with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

Seabury Middle School
  
Seabury Middle School’s program is founded on the belief that students learn and grow most deeply when they are engaged in projects that are relevant, challenging, and meaningful. Working in collaboration, not only with other middle school students, but with community organizations and local experts, Seabury students have the opportunity to develop leadership skills, participate in community service, and engage in rigorous studies that truly make a difference in their own lives and in the community.

Karen Utter
    
Karen Utter is originally from Vancouver, B.C. and has always lived in the Pacific Northwest. The beauty of nature is strongly reflected in her paintings. Colorful and stylized birds, animals, and landscapes predominate. Her new series of pastels is an homage to Point Defiance Park, specifically some of the interesting and sometimes hidden rock formations.

Jenifer Davis, Jenifer Davis Pottery
    
Tacoma based potter Jenifer Davis’ passion is to create irreverently shaped functional sculptures and pots. Jenifer offers both custom works, which she throws by hand in her studio one at a time for private clients, and classes. The hand-thrown process leaves a good deal of the outcome to fate. She also loves the randomness of the transformation in the firing process. From adding glass to finding a new beautiful glaze combination, the best part is seeing what emerges after the kiln is opened.

 

Check out these other artists on the tour and watch for future previews:
Studio Tour Preview: Part 1 

Tacoma Arts Month is sponsored by Click! Cable TV, The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Northwest Public Radio, KPLU, Weekly Volcano, Tacoma Weekly, Premier Media Group, and Exit133.

An Evening of Russian Poetry

Last Friday, I spent a wonderful night listening to Russian Poetry translated by Jamie Olson, a literary Professor from Saint Martin’s University as part of Puget Sound Poetry Connection’s Distinguished Writer Series.

There were several other local literary artists reading old and new pieces and works of poetry from their books and some had journals or files or just a piece of paper but they were all there for the same reason, to listen contently to the language of poetics.

The Puget Sound Poetry Connection is a small grassroots group, spearheaded by Connie Walle, who has been organizing this cohort of dedicated supporters for 25 years. It is always a full house at King’s Books on the second Friday of each month.

The featured artist, Jamie Olson read several short works of translations of Timur Kibirov’s Greek and Roman Catholic Songs and Nursery Rhymes, which was fascinating because you could hear the rhymes, beats, and patterns in both languages, when he translated the readings from English to Russian and then back to English. To top it all off, he spent extra time to meet and greet with those of us who wished to stay and learn more about his work.

During the Open Mic, there was another standout reading in Chinese and English by a graduate student, Michael Gray, that was touching and one of my favorites.

I think the highlight of the evening for me was the personal homage Olson made to “Dog’ and “Spleen” in English that were so entertaining and unique, you had to marvel and laugh at the same time.

If you love to write poetry or just listen to it, I highly recommend this series. And it’s free to the public! You can check it out next month, on September 12th at King’s Books. I know you will truly enjoy this event — it is worth spending a Friday night in the company of good literary talent. Don’t be shy, bring a poem to read!

COMING UP

What: The Distinguished Writer Series and Open Mic
Where: King’s Books, 218 St. Helens
When: Second Friday of every month, 7 pm
Cost: Free
More information:  www.pugetsoundpoetryconnection.org, 253.471.8804

The Tacoma Arts Commission is proud to support the Puget Sound Poetry Connection through Arts Projects funding.

____________________________________________________________

This review was written by Tacoma Arts Commission member Wanda Thompson. Wanda’s involvement with the Tacoma Arts Commission goes back to 1976; in that time she has worked as both a commissioner and staff coordinator. She is a strong advocate for the arts in Tacoma with a desire to help create an active and informed community for artisans, supporters, and appreciators. Wanda’s desire is to help sustain arts education, programs, and projects for our future generations while preserving our history.

2014 Tacoma Studio Tour Preview: Part 1

A visitor tries her hand at a sample project during the Tacoma Studio Tour.

Today’s overcast weather is reminding us of fall and that gets our minds thinking about Tacoma Arts Month. What is Tacoma Arts Month? It’s the entire month of October chock-full of hundreds of arts and cultural activities for you to participate in including music, dance and theater performances; visual art exhibits; literary readings; lectures; workshops; film screenings and cultural events. Tacoma Arts Month is dedicated to showing off the very best about our community and we want you to be a part of it. Come see how the arts are at work in Tacoma!

One of the signature events that takes place in October is the Tacoma Studio Tour. This year’s tour features 61 artists and collaborative studios and allows the general public the opportunity to see the spaces in and tools with which local artists create their work, ask questions, and purchase one-of-a-kind creations. All studios will feature demonstrations of the artistic process or will have hands-on activities for visitors.

What: Tacoma Studio Tour
Where: 37 studio locations around Tacoma
When: October 11 & 12, 11 am – 5 pm
Cost: FREE!

Stay tuned as we’ll be bringing you a series of weekly posts featuring sneak peek samples of art from each of the participating artists. Here are this week’s highlights:

Tacoma City Ballet
    
Founded in 1955, Tacoma City Ballet School provides excellent comprehensive classical ballet instruction for dancers in the Puget Sound region. A Resident Arts Organization of the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, Tacoma City Ballet has presented an annual performance season since 1955 and is proud to preserve and perpetuate a legacy filled with a rich history that has touched thousands of lives with the beauty of a classical art.

Lucia Harrison
    
Lucia Harrison’s handmade paper, drawings, paintings, and artist books focus on appreciating the natural and human history of South Puget Sound. She hopes to inspire conservation of nature and an appreciation of the cultural history and contemporary conservation work of the peoples of South Puget Sound. Most recently she has been collaborating with Deborah Greenwood making paper from local plants.

Patty McPhee
    
Asking Patty McPhee why she creates is like asking her why she breathes. She sees art in every aspect of existence. It is transcendent and embracing, like glue holding our world together, holding us together. Patty finds in stone sculpture a way for her to explore “the interdependent web of existence,” the invisible threads connect us and she wants to explore that in whatever way that she can.

Lynne Farren
    
Lynne Farren’s studio is filled with art – paintings, collage, assemblage, fiber, paper, and totem dolls. Art is everywhere and art is made with everything.

LeeAnn Seaburg-Perry, Sculpting In Stone
    
Since LeeAnn Seaburg-Perry transformed a piece of rubble, pilfered from the Danby Marble quarry, into the amazing modern Buddha Of Pumpkin Hollow, tons of stone in various stages of metamorphosis have accompanied her in her travels, leaving a trail of stone dust from Massachusetts to Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Cleveland and finally home to Tacoma. Her work is the creative expression of her emotions in a moment of time, transformed into a permanence to be shared with generations to come.

Sharon Styer, Styer Arts Management
    
Sharon Styer is a street photographer. She speaks of getting a distinct awareness when she comes upon something she should photograph. She pays attention, turns around, and really looks at what’s before her. The scope of Styer’s work has changed through the years – from abandoned spaces and night shots of Tacoma; to burlesque, circus, and carnival folk worlds; to foggy landscapes; and most recently to a series of street portraits that include a short conversation about the subject’s life.

 

Tacoma Arts Month is sponsored by Click! Cable TV, The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Northwest Public Radio, KPLU, Weekly Volcano, Tacoma Weekly, Premier Media Group, and Exit133.

‘Children’s Bell’ Rings Again

“Children’s Bell” sculpture by Larry Anderson

What: “Children’s Bell” Rededication
Where: park area at 3825 Ruston Way
When: Thursday, August 28, 2 – 3 pm
Cost: Free!

The public is invited to celebrate the reinstallation of “Children’s Bell” by Larry Anderson on Aug. 28, from 2 – 3 p.m., in the park at 3825 Ruston Way. Anderson will be present at this event, along with Council Member David Boe, representatives from Washington Partnerships for Action Voices for Empowerment (PAVE), and members of the Tacoma Arts Commission.

The sculpture was commissioned as a gift to the citizens of Tacoma from PAVE and other private donors to celebrate the life, spirit and accomplishments of PAVE founder and director Marty Gentili (May 26, 1942 – Feb. 28, 1993).

“We are delighted the bell is home again for all to play,” said PAVE Executive Director Tracy Kahlo. “It reminds us of the importance to celebrate the gifts of all children while honoring the life of Marty. We greatly appreciate the combined efforts of the City of Tacoma and the Tacoma Arts Commission for restoring the bell for all to enjoy.”

The “Children’s Bell” was originally installed along Ruston Way and gifted to the City in 2000. The cast bronze sculpture measures over five feet tall and is decorated with a parade of children around the border. It was designed to be rung and accessible by people with disabilities.

The sculpture was removed from Ruston Way in 2011 to allow for structural and cosmetic repairs and work on the surrounding site. The City reinstalled the sculpture and completed restoration work in 2014.

PAVE provides support, advocacy, training and informational resources to empower families and individuals with disabilities. Since 1979, PAVE has provided information, training and support for over 1,000,000 individuals with disabilities, parents and professionals.

Anderson resides in Bonney Lake and is a prolific bronze sculptor whose sculptural work can be seen throughout Tacoma and across the United States.