West Seattle, Washington
23 Thursday
If you used the west end of the West Seattle Bridge – technically the Fauntleroy Expressway – before the bridge closed, you know about the “Walking on Logs” sculptures on the slope along the southwestbound lanes. The award-winning sculptor who created “Walking on Logs,” Phillip Levine, has died at 90. Mr. Levine’s obituary, published Friday by The Seattle Times, was called to our attention by West Seattle historian/journalist Clay Eals, who interviewed Mr. Levine by the installation in 2014:
Later that year, we featured that video in coverage of the theft of one of the four sculptures (which to date has never been recovered). “Walking on Logs,” installed in 1996, was one of more than 30 public-art pieces Mr. Levine created. He was a resident of Burien.
Thqt’s “A Little Prayer for Those Who Migrate,” by Jake Prendez of Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery in South Delridge, the official poster for this fall’s West Seattle Art Walks. With the first of those Art Walks this Thursday night (October 14th), the WSAW makes history – with a record number of participating businesses (more than 50) and a record number of sponsoring partners (eight, plus WSB as media partner). West Seattle Art Walk coordinator Reeve Washburn notes, “This is a remarkable come-back from the dark days of the pandemic, where we went virtual for three months, then had only a small handful of businesses reopen to bring Art Lovers back together in the community. And it’s wonderful growth since the Art Walk’s restart in 2016, with nine businesses.”
One factor in the WSAW’s growth is the development of neighborhood hubs. The Art Walk is not just a “Junction thing” any more – the other Junctions – Admiral and Morgan – have blossoming participation, and the support of neighborhood groups (Morgan Community Association and Admiral Neighborhood Association). If you haven’t been out on Art Walk night, know that it’s not just about art – some venues also offer food and beverage specials to support the fun night out. Here’s the map/list for this quarter:
Washburn says the Art Walk has “had great turnout all summer,” which also has encouraged more businesses to join in. Some have artist receptions on Art Walk night; some have ongoing displays not only that night but all month long. You can find out more about featured artists each month in a detailed preview on the WSAW website – here’s the info for this month (including events’ specific times – most start at 5 pm but not all). Back to this quarter’s artist – you can see Prendez’s work not only at his own gallery but also at three other Art Walk venues this quarter – The Good Society on Thursday, Flying Apron in November and Hotwire Coffee in December.
Not planning to spend the next few hours watching the Mariners, Storm, or Seahawks? Day 2 of the West Side Artists studio tour continues until 4 pm. We visited one stop Saturday; today, we have photos from another stop, sent by Kelly Lyles:
In addition to her work, she’s hosting artists Bill Gravengood and Rickie Wolfe. Even if you just drive by, there’s something to see.
She’s at 5029 26th SW. Here’s the full tour map – again, it’s free, self-guided, all stops have outdoor displays, and they’re open until 4 pm today.
Something else you can do today – visit Fogue Gallery (WSB sponsor)(on Sundays, it’s open noon-5 pm). Fogue just announced the addition of two more local artistd:
Fogue™ Gallery West Seattle announces the addition of West Seattle locals Steffanie Lorig and Kevin Ducoing as permanent members of the Gallery. “Connecting local artists and art to our community enriches our environment and feeds the soul,” said Patti Curtis, Owner and Founder of Fogue™.
Steffanie Lorig has explored many different aspects of the creative arts—from painting to writing children’s books to designing brands to illustrating. She is an award-winning designer and founded social enterprise, Art with Heart, an organization dedicated to helping children in crisis through the power of creativity, helping over 155,000 children worldwide. Lorig has eleven books to her credit and outside her design and consulting business, and leads workshops that help individuals tap into their lost creative confidence.
For Kevin Ducoing, painting has always been his primary form of communication, as a child and into his adult life. Ducoing moved to Seattle in 1991, attended the Art Institute of Seattle, and was profoundly influenced by the teachings of Bill Cumming. Kevin paints mostly in acrylics, but also employs mediums such as charcoal, sand, and latex paint. He stretches his own canvases and adds a textural component to them with the application of wrinkled paper adhered to the surface, conveying additional depth to the painting’s story.
Fogue™ Gallery provides a community of artists over age 50 and patrons, of any age, to share, support and honor creativity. Providing a venue that showcases art that is relevant, powerful, and vibrant, expressing an ageless life. Fogue Artists are not just turning the page on cultural perceptions of aging; they are rewriting the book.
Fogue is at 4130 California SW, on the north edge of The Junction.
(WSB photo)
Westwood Art Studio (9042 31st SW) is one of nine stops on this weekend’s West Side Artists studio tour. Each stop hosts multiple artists; at this studio, we found (above, L-R) Gary Georger, the studio’s owner Damian Grava, and Jacob Foran. Find the full list and map of studios on the self-guided tour here; until 5 pm today, and again 11 am-4 pm tomorrow, you can visit as many as you want to!
Get a close-up look at the local art scene this weekend by visiting stops on the West Side Artists studio tour! 10 am-5 pm Saturday and 11 am-4 pm Sunday, the tour features more than 30 artists, at nine stops:
From Admiral to Arbor Heights to White Center, the tour is free and self-guided. Also note: “In an effort to have a spacious environment as a COVID precaution, each stop has set up an outdoor display for viewing. The mapped destinations are working artists’ studios and each will have multiple people showcasing their artwork – From ceramics to weaving, encaustic painting to forged jewelry, and from colored pencil to tin collage – We have it all!”
The Kindie West family-music concert series is returning to the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, two Sundays a month, October through March. The artists are part of Kindiependent, “a collective of like-minded musicians who are passionate about cultivating a vibrant kids and family music scene in the Pacific Northwest.” Here’s the lineup:
October 24 and January 9 – Dani and the Bee
November 7 and January 23 – The Not-Its!
November 21 and February 6 – Harmonica Pocket
December 5 and March 6 – Johnny Bregar
December 19 and February 20 – Eli Rosenblatt
Doors open at 10 am, shows are at 10:30, lasting about an hour. These are ticketed shows, with an admission charge for everyone 6 months and up, but they’re offering discounted family passes too. Free parking behind the schoolhouse; COVID guidelines will be followed.
(Collage of photos featuring artists who participated in 2018)
It’s an art show open to everyone – no judging, just showing. The Southwest Artist Showcase returns to the Southwest Library (9010 35th SW) this year, and you have two weeks until it’s time to take your creations to the library for the monthlong show. Here’s the announcement:
Calling all West Seattle artists! It’s time for the Southwest Library‘s 29th annual Artist Showcase. Artists may submit up to two unique works of art for this non-juried exhibition to celebrate West Seattle’s creative talent. Entries may be submitted at the Southwest Library (9010 35th SW) from Thursday, September 30th through Saturday, October 2nd. Art will be on display at the library through the month of October starting on Sunday, October 3rd. Please call 206-684-7455 for more details.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
After 25 years in what was once “downtown Arbor Heights,” artist Loren Lukens is leaving.
But his Brace Point Pottery studio and gallery site at 4208 SW 100th will remain in an artist’s hands.
We found out about the transition plan from Deb Schwartzkopf, who announced this week that she will open Rain City Clay there next March.
We talked to Lukens last night while Brace Point Pottery was open for the September West Seattle Art Walk. He and wife Beth Kirchhoff are moving in February to central California, near where their daughter is a geology professor. He plans to set up a studio there once settled, but isn’t expecting to get back into the gallery business. He’s been in Seattle for 40 years – 25 of them in Arbor Heights.
He’s proud that the sale means the studio will remain just that, rather than be redeveloped like the former church next door (which was demolished for a stalled townhouse project).
Here’s where Deb Schwartzkopf and her Rain City Clay plan comes in. It’s meant as an addition to her current business, Rat City Studios, which she says is “a thriving community that supports ceramic artists of all levels” but after eight years has outgrown its capacity “and cannot accommodate the waitlist for independent study participants or classes in their current location.
“We would love to expand our reach to youth, golden-agers, and underserved communities in our immediate vicinity as we grow,” Schwartzkopf said in the announcement. And regarding taking over the Arbor Heights studio: “We couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to build on the legacy of this artist community.”
To expand into her full vision – to “offer classes for all levels, skill-building workshops, a firing service for local potters, artist studios, and a specialty shop featuring local and national artists” – Schwartzkopf is crowdfunding. As also explained on her website, the Arbor Heights facility will need some maintenance and upgrades, so that’s part of what the contributions will cover. The GoFundMe page is here; you can also support her plan, she says, via taking an online clay class or buying her pottery.
Though the official handoff isn’t until March 1st, an exhibition is planned in January to introduce Rain City Clay at the Brace Point Pottery location. (And you’ll have chances to say goodbye to Lukens before that – the gallery continues to host events including a sale tomorrow of Cathy Woo’s work, and the Westside Artists tour later this month. (That tour, in fact, began as a collaboration between artists including Schwartzkopf and Lukens.)
(Deb Schwartzkopf photo by Matisse LB Photography)
In the heart of The Junction tonight, bassist/vocalist Marina Christopher brought The Art of Music back to the West Seattle Art Walk. (In our clip, she’s performing Warren Zevon‘s “Carmelita” with Andy Short.) The pop-up performances coordinated by John Redenbaugh returned to the WS Art Walk starting tonight, also featuring harpist Alyvia Miller at Welcome Road Winery in South Admiral. Here’s who’s booked for next Art Walk:
October 14
Verity Credit Union — Award-Winning Singer-Songwriter Larry Murante
Sopranos Antico — Byron Street Swing: A Quartet Performing Hot Club Jazz and Early French Swing Music
And of course, there was art tonight, at venues around the peninsula. Our Art Walk wanderings were cut short by breaking news but we did see West Seattle mixed-media artist Linda McClamrock at Windermere:
We have one more story to tell from tonight’s Art Walk, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. The Art Walk happens on the second Thursday, every month year-round, so the next one will be October 14th.
Just announced: A limited-participation ride that’ll take you on a tour of local musical history:
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is delighted to announce the return of Cycle History in partnership with West Seattle Bike Connections for the fifth year in a row. Cycle History, Sound Spots is happening Saturday, September 18 2021! Please plan to arrive at 9:15 am and be ready to ride at 9:30. Registration is required to participate in this ride. This program is limited to 25 participants.
Join us for an in-person ride through West Seattle’s Admiral District starting and ending at Hiawatha Playfield and Community Center. This year, we’ll be exploring highlights of West Seattle’s musical history. From jazz to grunge, we’ll have stops to please music lovers, bike enthusiasts, and everyone in between!
Seattle is famous for its grunge scene, but our music history goes far and wide. Some of the best hits were created right in West Seattle! We’ll explore locations where music was made, where historic artists performed, and talk about the local and national impact of West Seattle on music history.
To register, please visit loghousemuseum.org/exhibits/cycle-history-sound-spots-bike-dont-run/. For more information, please contact Maggie Kase, Curator, at maggiek@loghousemuseum.org.
Tomorrow night, the last West Seattle Art Walk of summer offers live music as well as art displays. Above is this quarter’s list of participating venues, some with artists, some with food/drink specials for Art Walk visitors, some with both. Venues span the peninsula from Arbor Heights (Brace Point Pottery & Gallery, C.A. Pierce show and sale, 4208 SW 100th, 5-8 pm) to Admiral (West Seattle Grounds, Priyanka Parmanand painting live, 2141 California SW, 5-8 pm). Some venues are showing multiple artists’ work, like Fogue Gallery (WSB sponsor), 4130 California SW, open “until late” on Art Walk night, with a group show featuring guest artist Reeve Washburn (who also happens to be the WSAW’s coordinator). This month’s highlight is the return of live music to accompany your Art Walk wanderings. The Art of Music is happening in two locations – Welcome Road Winery, 3804 California SW, hosts harpist Alyvia Miller, and bassist/vocalist Marina Christopher is at KeyBank Plaza in The Junction, both performing 6-7:40 pm. Plan your Art Walk night with this month’s full preview – venue spotlights and hours – here.
4:05 PM: Created Commons continues through Sunday at Westcrest Park (9000 8th SW) and right now the performances are celebrating Pacific Islander culture – Hawaii, Samoa, and now Okinawa. It’s all free, outdoors, just north of the P-patch, until about 8 pm. (Here’s the schedule.) Video and photos later!
6:48 PM: We were there for two performances – first, Ala Talo from the Asia Pacific Cultural Center introduced a trio of dancers who she said had not performed onstage before today.
They were a late substitution for a Hawaiian dance group originally scheduled for this afternoon.
The dancers’ previous collaboration: Playing on the volleyball team Pakka Hittaz. Like some other performances we covered in the past week-plus at Created Commons, this one featured audience participation. Talo talked about the mood conferred by the music, particularly a song she attributed to a 12-year-old Marshallese boy, with the lyrics: “Smile and be happy/don’t let nobody take the smile away/Live life to the fullest/As if you’re dying every day.”
Following the dancers, the duo of Mako and Noriko performed Okinawan music, with vocals, the stringed instrument sanshin, and a traditional drum.
Some of the music was hypnotic and lulling; other songs, festive and upbeat. Mako explained her instrument between songs – covered in python skin, with a pick made from a water-buffalo horn.
The afternoon was hosted by R2ISE‘s Alexia Jones and curated by the Jack Straw Cultural Center, which also presented poets and writers; Jack Straw writers are also on the schedule for tomorrow, the final day of Created Commons, a grant-funded festival of art and science that began Friday, August 27th, spotlighting BIPOC artists and speakers, produced by Lelavision. Our coverage of night 1 is here; the second day, here; third day, here; fourth night, here.
P.S. Sunday begins, as did today, with a free 10 am wellness class – this time, K-Pop Zumba!
(Lelavision’s Interspecies Communication sculpture, hovering over the Created Commons stage)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
“I’m not going to die like this.”
That is what Alexia Jones told herself, at the moments when she couldn’t see her way out of the depths to which drug addiction took her.
And indeed, she did not die. She has been in longterm recovery for 26 years, Jones said as the continuing Created Commons art/science celebration at Westcrest Park commemorated International Overdose Awareness Day.
Jones, the host of Tuesday night’s event, leads R2ISE, a Georgia-based organization that explores recovery through art.
She opened by proclaiming the night “a space and a place to remember,” a night about “those who didn’t make it” as well as “those who are out there trying to make it back home.” Here’s our full video of what happened onstage for more than an hour:
Here’s why this is a matter of life and death:
Until 10 pm, James Stipes is hosting the first of two nights of LumenAwesome at his Alki home, as previewed here earlier this week. It”s part of Art Compass Northwest, a consortium of artists marking what would usually be the “Burning Man” week by bringing art experiences to their neighborhoods.
Among the participating artists, Ron Smith of OctoEyes:
LumenAwesome is open to all ages, masked, no admission charge. The address is in our calendar listing. Note that much of this incorporates flame/light, as the name LumenAwesome suggests, so it’s likely to look even more impressive than it did during our daylight visit in the early going!
ADDED THURSDAY: Thanks to Ron for sending this photo of how the tree looked after dark:
September’s West Seattle Art Walk is coming up a week from Thursday – on September 9th – and it marks the return of “Art of Music”:
Many of you may remember the delight of live music paired with Second Thursday Art Walk in the last half of 2019. Art of Music brought family-friendly instrumental and vocal music to outdoor and indoor venues in the Alaska Junction, thanks to the passion and drive of project originator and coordinator John Redenbaugh.
We are thrilled to announce that, after the hiatus of 2020, John is bringing Art of Music back – and now to Admiral as well as the Alaska Junction! Mark your calendars for these Second Thursday West Seattle Art Walks:
September 9 • October 14 • November 11 • December 9
The September 9 event will feature award-winning bassist and jazz vocalist Marina Christopher at the KeyBank Plaza in Alaska Junction and harpist Alyvia Miller at the Welcome Road Winery in Admiral Junction. Venues for October, November and December are being finalized as we write. Verity Credit Union will host in October. Each venue will have two sets of music from 6pm to 7:40pm, with a 10 minute break in-between.
You can read more about it on the WSAW website.
With no Burning Man this year, would-be participants are bringing the experience to their neighborhoods this week via Art Compass Northwest, and one is here in West Seattle. On (corrected) Wednesday and Thursday nights, you’re invited to walk through LumenAwesome at a home in Alki. James sent the announcement:
I’m an Alki resident wanting to inform the community about a free presentation of art at my home in connection with Art Compass Northwest – a local organization of art events occurring on what would be the week of Burning Man. Come walk through a socially-distant collection of light, flame, and interactive art. This event is all outdoors, and we ask everyone to wear a mask while wandering through the driveway and yard. Again, anyone and everyone is invited, and this event is very family friendly.
Featuring art by:
LumenAwesome is happening Wednesday and Thursday nights (September 1st-2nd), 7-10 pm; the address is mapped here. To see the other Seattle “experiences,” explore the night-by-night Art Compass NW guide here.
10:44 AM: Those yellow umbrellas are part of a one-day art installation at Alki Beach that Charlotte Starck hopes will send a message to the other side of the world. Here’s her explanation:
A pop-up environmental art installation, I call, The Umbrella Postcard: Seattle to Troops made of yellow umbrellas set in the sand in the shape of a yellow ribbon. The intent is to make it viewable from the sky for the world to see. Underneath: the words “Come home safe.”
The exhibit is also lined with 13 American flags in memory of the 13 service members who died Thursday in the Kabul airport attacks. Each flag has the name, hometown, and age of the servicemember – most in their early 20s.
For pedestrians, we will tie yellow ribbons and put signs on the lamp posts lining the exhibit on Alki at the volleyball courts. The exhibit will be taken down at twilight Monday.
Starck created this with daughter Sarah Hall and Brandon Rodriguez.
She says the airport bombing troubled her so much that, “I wanted to do something broad that would send a clear and direct message from Seattle to Kabul, and I believe ‘A picture paints a thousand words’.” The yellow ribbon is the original awareness ribbon, dating back to the Iran hostage crisis in the late ’70s.
12:18 PM: Added that photo from our return to Alki to check on the finished installation.
3:42 PM: Here’s the aerial view, by Howard Shack:
4:28 PM: The duo Dandy rapped as Created Commons got going for a third day at Westcrest Park, north of the P-Patch. Up next, a panel discussion about health-care access, moderated by co-emcee Dr. Sinead Younge, with panelists including today’s curator dani tirrell. Programming for this first-ever celebration of art and science, presented by Lelavision through September 5th, continues after the panel, until about 8.
(L-R, Dr. Sinead Younge, Candace Jackson, dani tirrell)
7:33 PM: Also on the panel, Candace Jackson from Seattle’s African American Health Board. The topic turned out to be not health-care access but the concept of caring for yourself and your community – through rest, through joy, through art. “Art transforms the way we think about life,” tirrell noted.
Art is vital to healing, Jackson agreed.
She also spoke of the importance of support. tirrell laid it out in personal terms – what could you, would you give up so that someone else could benefit? Here’s our video of the entire discussion:
That segued into the performance slate curated by tirrell. Dandy – David Rue and Randy Ford – returned with raps both sharp-edged and playful:
Inbetween, tirrell spoke of impending plans to move to Washington, D.C., and sadness at leaving the artist community here. Next up was poet J Mase III:
We recorded this on video too:
We had to leave before the rest of the slate, including Northwest Tap Connection. But all the while, Lelavision’s interactive sculpture Interspecies Connection was there for eventgoers to visit, pulling a cord to flap its wings:
The next Created Commons event at Westcrest (9000 8th SW) is Tuesday at 6 pm, in commemoration of International Overdose Awareness Day, promising “art, poetry, health science, remembrance, recovery.” Vaccinations will be offered, too. Lots going on Friday/Saturday/Sunday too – here’s the full schedule. (Our Friday coverage is here; our Saturday coverage is here.)
5:41 PM: You can make art, join dancers, and/or just watch as Created Commons continues at Westcrest Park (9000 8th SW). Performances continue until 8 tonight, with a DNDA-curated Arts-in-Nature showcase. We’ll add photos and video when we’re back at HQ; if you can’t get here this evening, you have tomorrow, next weekend, and multiple events inbetween!
ADDED 7:24 PM: When we arrived this evening, dancer Noelle Price (above) was performing with electric cellist Gretchen Yanover.
She invited audience members to join her in front of the stage.
Co-emcee Lash (above) observed that their work conveyed “so much love and peace and sisterhood.” She handed the mic to co-emcee Dr. Sinead Younge (see her in our Night 1 coverage), who encouraged everyone to “be part of the art” (including pulling the cord that flaps the wings of the kinetic sculpture Interspecies Communication, made by Created Commons coordinating team Lelavision). Dr. Younge also offered props for Erika Bell from DNDA, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center manager and curator of today’s showcase:
(Erika Bell with DNDA executive director David Bestock)
The performances are telling stories, observed Lash, stories “that are not fictional – they’re real.” She introduced a group whose music and movement told stories of West Africa, Boka Kouyate and the Djeliyah Band:
They explained that the Djeli people were for centuries the ones who communicated between the community and kings, so the latter could more wisely rule.
See the Created Commons schedule here; tomorrow includes not only performances curated by artist/activist dani tirrell but also a panel on health-care access, part of the Created Commons mission to elevate science as well as art. This is all free; a booth is set up if you want to donate to Real Rent Duwamish, in honor of the Indigenous people whose unceded land is where this is taking place.
(WSB photos/video)
With a spirited, arms-outstretched yell, Leah Okamoto Mann set the tone for the start of the multi-day Created Commons event she and Lelavision partner Ela Lamblin are presenting at Westcrest Park: Don’t hold back. Those in the opening-night spotlight certainly did not. Lamblin mesmerized attendees with music from the stamenphone:
The grant-funded event’s intent is to blend art and science – indeed, the emcee is a professor, not a performer. Dr. Sinead Younge‘s spirit, too, was boundless – as she periodically led everyone in a Ghanian call-and-response to be sure they were paying attention. She spoke about health as a human right.
She introduced Duwamish Tribe members including Ken Workman, who spoke of how this area’s First People are still here – “the hills, valleys, rocks retain the memory of the people … these people are all around you.”
He offered words of gratitude and welcome in other Northwest tribes’ languages. Then came the exuberance of dance, with the Pacific Islander Student Alliance from UW Tacoma:
They concluded by inviting attendees onto the stage for what they described as a Samoan tradition, dancing around a “princess,” Angelina, an 8th-grader who’s been dancing with them this summer. Every Indigenous culture celebrates with dance, observed Dr. Younge, before the mood turned somber. ” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>“Orca Annie” Stateler and Odin Lonning, from Vashon Island, spoke – and drummed – about the Southern Resident Killer Whales’ plight:
Annie told the tales both of individual whales that have been lost in recent years, and the overview of their troubles – too little food, and also how losses have affected their families.
With orcas, as with humans, she observed, losing an elder means you “lose an encyclopedia of knowledge.” What can you do to help? “Listen to Indigenous elders,” she said, not just white “experts.” And examine your daily life – recycling, food choices, energy use. They closed after Odin presented a spoken-word lament about “no longer knowing” the killer whales. Dr. Younge offered her hope that it would move people to action. The night concluded with a chance for everyone to “flap the wings” of Lelavision’s sculpture Interspecies Communication, which towers over the stage:
If you go to Westcrest Park (9000 8th SW) during Created Commons noon-8 pm this weekend or next, you too can “flap” the sculpture. Look for it and the canopies north of the P-Patch. See the full schedule here – in the Saturday spotlight, a mini-version of DNDA‘s Arts-in-Nature festival, 3-8 pm, with music, dance, spoken word, and other art. It’s all free and casual – wander in, wander out, bring a picnic.
(Photos courtesy Southwest Seattle Historical Society)
That bench is now gracing the grounds of the Log House Museum, after a donation announced today:
The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is thrilled to announce that West Seattle Art Club has generously donated a sculptural art bench for permanent use on the grounds of the Log House Museum. Formed in 1910, the West Seattle Art Club, which has enjoyed a long history of support and involvement with the arts community, especially the Seattle Art Museum, will close its doors this year. The bench generously donated to the Historical Society will memorialize the Club and its vibrant history for generations to come inviting visitors to sit, relax, and enjoy the Log House Museum’s garden.
The memorial bench, which was created and installed by Kris Myrseth-Barrea, was officially unveiled in a ceremony hosted by the Historical Society earlier today. The bench was designed and fabricated to reflect the artist’s vision of the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
Members of the West Seattle Art Club (above) and their families were joined on-site at the Log House Museum by Historical Society staff and Trustees to dedicate the bench and celebrate its placement. Of the generous contribution, Historical Society executive director Michael King remarked, “The Historical Society is incredibly grateful to the West Seattle Art Club for its donation of this beautiful bench, which will serve as a welcoming centerpiece to our native plant garden for generations to come. We are proud to be able to honor the memory of the West Seattle Art Club and deeply appreciative of the Club’s support of and commitment to the Historical Society and the community we call home.”
“While we are saddened to bring our long history to a close, we are delighted to place this wonderful creation at the LHM. We so appreciate the generosity of providing our Club such a perfect site. We feel the LHM perfectly matches our deep roots in the WS community and the placement of the bench in the native plant garden is so lovely and so fitting as a memorial location,” said CR Hendrick, president of the West Seattle Art Club.
The museum at 3003 61st SW is open noon-4 pm Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Last week, we previewed a first-ever event coming up at Westcrest Park (9000 8th SW) – actually a series of events spread over nine days, tomorrow (Friday, August 27th) through Sunday, September 5th – transforming part of the park into a “Created Commons,” hosted and curated by Lelavision. The Created Commons will feature what the overview describes as “BIPOC-centered performances, kinetic musical-sculpture, eco-art installations and workshops, wellness offerings, and science panels to cultivate our health as a community.” Now that it’s almost here, we have updates.
The first event is at 6 pm Friday (calendar listing here), honoring the Duwamish Tribe, with other participants sharing “stories, music, and tales of their activism on behalf of the resident Orcas in the Salish Sea.” On Friday night, families in need can get free groceries at the park, thanks to Free Food for All. A highlight this Saturday (August 28th) is the Arts in Nature Festival Showcase presented by Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, 3-8 pm, a mini-version of the annual festival, promising music, poetry, and dance.
As you can see in the full Created Commons schedule on Lelavision’s website, this isn’t just a spectator event – there are opportunities for participation. That includes the vaccination pop-ups we mentioned yesterday as well as free wellness classes:
Those are just some of the events – we’re adding listings to the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar too. And along with scheduled events, Lelavision will bring its kinetic sculpture Interspecies Communication (seen in South Park in 2017) to the park for community interaction, noon-8 pm all four weekend days (August 28-29, September 4-5). All events over the course of Created Commons are free, funded by grants and sponsorships.
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