(Photo from Penny in Upper Fauntleroy)

5:40 PM: That briefly beautiful sunset was the opening act for tonight’s West Seattle Art Walk! Now through 8 pm (or later at a few venues), artists are showing their work all over the peninsula. One of the artists showing tonight, Felipe Perez, is at Jet City Labs (4547 California SW):

(WSB photos from here by Jason Grotelueschen)

Next door, it’s a big night at Easy Street Records (4559 California SW):

Our preview explains why – a book talk and a showing of a miniature called “The Corner of California & Alaska” created by artist Rosetta Greek depicting ESR’s iconic corner.

Here’s a roundup of other places you can stop tonight, including the three Art of Music concert venues; more coverage later!

ADDED 7:15 PM: More sights – from the CAPERS Home group show, artists Gretchen Flickinger and Jimmy Ulvenes:

And back at Jet City, DJ Riz from KEXP:

From The Art of Music lineup, Carly Ann Calbero performed at Molly Moon’s Ice Cream:

ADDED 11:55 PM: More coverage from the festivities at Easy Street tonight, with two back-to-back events billed as a “living archive” celebrating the legacy and enduring power of the PNW music and art community.

First up was a double book-reading by two authors and friends, advertised as “Grief, Grits and the Gits,” in reference to the legendary local band The Gits and their iconic singer Mia Zapata, whose 1993 murder made national headlines. Melissa Meszaros, author of “Song Over the Bones” and Steve Moriarty, author of “Mia Zapata & The Gits” (and drummer for the band) shared memories and stories that offered two unique perspectives about the same topic and timeframe:

Moriarty was then joined onstage by Rachel Crick, founder of As Many Weirdos as Possible, described as a project created by a group of 7 photographers who took 300 photos with accompanying stories dedicated to the unique personalities and talents that made up the PNW music scene from 1985–1995. Moriarty (who himself is a proud “weirdo” group member) read aloud from a story he contributed to the project:

After a short break to reset the stage, the group debuted the short film “Easy, Weirdo” about the making of “The Corner of California & Alaska” miniature. The video captured a meeting between its artist Rosetta Greek and Easy Street’s Matt Vaughan, during which the artwork was unveiled to an emotional Vaughan for the first time:

After the film, the pair were joined by photographer and fellow “weirdo” Lance Mercer, who served as moderator for a nostalgic and lively discussion between the trio, featuring stories and memories from the PNW music scene:

Vaughan and Mercer talked about their longtime friendship, and Vaughan shared memories about the founding and history of Easy Street. Greek talked about the creative drive and process behind the diorama, which took more than 250 hours to meticulously craft. She embarked on the idea as part of a fundraising project, not knowing originally what she was going to make, and continually “talking herself out of” the Easy Street idea because of self-inflicted pressure to get everything exactly right. “I knew that I had to knock it out of the park” because everyone knows and loves Easy Street, she said. “It was all or nothing — but thankfully it ended up being ‘all’ when it was done.”