West Seattle, Washington
07 Friday
What could be scarier than creating art in front of an audience? The Halloween Art Jam is happening right now at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) in Morgan Junction. When WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli stopped by about an hour ago, three artists were busily working – and a fourth was on the way, according to Feedback proprietor Jeff Gilbert. Above, that’s Eric Osborne; next, Steve Klinkel:
He told Christopher they’re expecting to keep going until at least 11 pm – so if you’d like to see the works in progress … which will eventually be available for sale, by the way – head on over to 6451 California SW – Vblast is part of the lineup too:
Jeff, ever the impresario, says he has another art event in the works — 10 artists, 10 easels, they all paint a portion of each one. But first – The Feedback has more Halloween fun to scare up – check out the calendar to see what’s up.
As the spooky season begins in a few days, one of the first festivities is the annual Halloween-time production by the West Seattle-based Cabiri, an 11-person troupe of acrobats, contortionists, aerialists, and dancers. This year, the show is “The Ghost Game: Winternacht,” described in the Cabiri’s announcement as “a dark, festive evening of dessert theater featuring aerial acrobatics, modern dance, and scary winter tales from folklore and mythology.” Suitable for 15 and up, they say (a little too scary for youth below that age). Not only does the setting at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center give you a close-up look at the flying, dancing performers “depicting ghosts, witches, and cold, wintry tales from ages long since past,” Winternacht also offers treats from dessert sponsors including Sugar Rush Baking Company and Dilettante Mocha Café. The show opens this Friday (October 21st); Sunday (October 23rd) is pay-what-you-can night, October 30th is “PG night” (OK for 10 and up), and Halloween is “audience storyteller night.” You can buy tickets online here.
You just can’t escape the Alaskan Way Viaduct this month. Not only because of the ubiquitous countdown to the 9-day, 10-night closure, but then, there’s art like Cheryl Robinson‘s paper/wax-on-wood creation, on display at Link (WSB sponsor), where Cheryl and her Twilight Artist Collective-mates made all the art happen. Cheryl’s “On the Viaduct” is featured on the fall-quarter West Seattle Art Walk posters/postcards:
… so we started tonight’s Art Walk coverage with her work. We also stopped by The Kenney (WSB sponsor), where quilter Doris McHenry was one of the resident artists showing work:
The Kenney also had a bazaar raising money for the Resident Life Care Fund, helping pay the rent for those whose resources run out too soon. Back in The Junction, ArtsWest opened a new exhibition a few days ago, “The Edge of Night,” and participating painter Jean Bradbury was at tonight’s reception:
Further south along California SW, Art Walk night also meant one of the periodic Open House events at longtime WSB sponsor M3 Bodyworks. They’re showing work by Sarah Barrick:
One of the great things about Art Walk night is that it’s even more an introduction, than a self-contained event – most if not all the artists/exhibitions can be enjoyed throughout the rest of the month. So whether you did or didn’t make it out tonight, take a look at the official Art Walk website at wsartwalk.com and think about visiting local businesses for art’s sake as well as for purchases and services.
West Seattle’s newest neon sign is at Freshy’s Coffee in the Admiral District. We got word from Western Neon that it was going up today, and caught it shortly after their crews finished. Freshy’s (2735 California SW) just celebrated its sixth anniversary last month, by the way. One thing you might not know if you’ve never been there, or haven’t been in lately – soup is on the menu, with the latest varieties often listed on their Facebook page.
(With the Chengdu students are educators, L-R, Liu Jing, Lisa Clayton, Jen Dowell)
West Seattle schools have been at the forefront of the increasing amount of Chinese-language learning offered to students – with the Confucius Institute based on the Denny-Sealth campus – but did you know that English-language learning is key for students in China, too? That’s a big reason why this group of 4th- and 5th-graders from Chengdu Longjiang Road Primary School in central China (map), is spending three weeks at Pathfinder K-8 on Pigeon Point. Their visit was arranged by Pathfinder assistant principal Lisa Clayton (who also happens to be the mom of two China-born daughters).
Since there’s no classes tomorrow, the students are wrapping up their first week today; we stopped by to meet them early Tuesday. In a quick chat before the school day revved up, the students told us they are enjoying all aspects of their visit – not just getting to practice their English, but also making new friends, playing with their host families’ pets, enjoying seasonal all-American traditions like a visit to a pumpkin patch.
The students are here in the U.S. with their school’s assistant principal Liu Jing; a frequent Pathfinder substitute teacher, Jen Dowell, has been hired to help out during their stay. None of this comes out of the school’s budget or any other public funds – Clayton worked it out with the Northwest International Student Exchange, based in Portland, which handles it all. This is part of a monthlong U.S. visit for the students, which started back East and continues after their West Seattle stay, with a trip to Disneyland!
Tomorrow is opening night for the 2011 Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (WSB sponsor), and once again this year, the festival includes screenings in West Seattle, at the historic Admiral Theater. This morning, SLGFF has sent a news release with details of the 11 films you’ll be able to see at The Admiral, starting one week from tonight – read on!Read More
Story and photo by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Walls are being painted bright red, orange, and purple inside the storefront at 4709 42nd Ave SW (vacated by SIMA Martial Arts, which moved to The Triangle), and some walls can be drawn on with multi-colored chalk. This space is becoming home to Young at Art, an art workshop that will be open to kids and adults to learn and play with arts and crafts.
Owner Theresa Anderson tells WSB that the space will be a combination workshop and artist’s studio, with art wor kstations positioned around the space and focusing on particular mediums.
(Photo courtesy Twelfth Night Productions)
“Life is a cabaret, old chums … come to the cabaret!” You can do exactly that this Saturday night, while enjoying not only exceptional entertainment, but also a dessert buffet, and the sweet knowledge you’re helping a local nonprofit performing-arts troupe. Here’s their invitation:
Please join Twelfth Night Productions for our annual Cabaret Fundraiser!
The investment in Twelfth Night Productions from our tremendous donors keeps this volunteer-driven organization alive, enriching the greater community with the gift of the performing arts. Each year we raise nearly a quarter of our annual budget at the Cabaret Fundraiser. We look forward to seeing you there!
The evening will feature light appetizers, a dessert buffet, raffle prizes (including getaways to Lake Chelan and Victoria, B.C.), and fabulous entertainment from Twelfth Night Productions’ seasoned players.
Saturday, October 15th, 2011
The doors open at 7 PMSeattle Lutheran High School Gym
4141 41st Ave SW (enter at Genesee and 41st)
Tickets are $50 per person, or $450 for a table of 10
Purchase your tickets at Brown Paper Tickets or RSVP to Cronin.Anna@gmail.comPlease join us and support your local theater troupe! For questions, please call Anna at 206.937.1394.
Just caught the word on this one in the Easy Street Records e-newsletter, though hardcore fans may have seen it on their website earlier: Five years after headlining West Seattle Summer Fest in The Junction, John Doe returns to West Seattle’s Easy Street for an in-store performance later this month. 4:30 pm October 23rd, free, all welcome.
West Seattle photographer Machel Spence, of mushroom-imagery fame, has a new book out, and will be showing her work at shows around the region the next two weekends: Snohomish County Mycological Society’s Fall Mushroom Show this Sunday, 10 am-5 pm at Floral Hall, Forest Park, in Everett, and the Puget Sound Mycology Society‘s Wild Mushroom Show, noon-7 pm Saturday, Oct. 15, and 10 am-5 pm Sunday, Oct. 16, Mountaineers Club at 7700 Sand Point Way NE in Seattle. She describes her book as follows:
80 pages of incredibly beautiful mushroom photographs taken by me in my local forests, I am giving 10% from every book sold to Fungi Magazine so the word about mushrooms can continue to get out in the world. I am a contributing writer and photographer for this non-profit magazine. There are 100 photographs of fungi from in and around West Seattle and Mt. Rainier. It’s a pocket book of pure loveliness for your eyes…
It’s available online here.
The list of who’s recorded at Robert Lang Studios in Richmond Beach is long, and star-studded (see it here).
Just as impressive – the studio itself (see it here), and its setting, on a bluffside overlooking the Sound.
And now, more than two dozen students from West Seattle’s Roxhill Elementary have stories to tell for quite some time, as does hip-hop artist Psalm One, with whom they have been working the past three days to create and record a song for an upcoming album. In our clip above, part of the student group recorded their part of the song’s chorus in a session this afternoon, while the rest of the group toured the studios (which impressed the artist too – she tweeted this tonight:)
The Roxhill residency – writing the song the past two afternoons at the school, then recording today – was the second stop of Psalm One’s 9-city national tour with the literacy program America SCORES. And the young songwriters are quite proud – two girls in the first group of singers showed off their handwritten lyric sheets:
We asked America SCORES how Roxhill was chosen – it’s the only Seattle stop on the tour – and the answer was, simply, “It was their turn.” The album will be available online after the tour ends in December.
Friends of the Southwest Branch Library are getting the word out that it’s signup time for the 20th annual Southwest Community Art Showcase. Artists of all ages, working in any medium, can sign up by Saturday, October 15th – just a week and a half away; work will be displayed at the SW Library (35th/Henderson) October 16-November 12, with a meet-the-artists reception at 2 pm November 6. To sign up, just stop by the branch, or call 206-684-7455.
You often hear about writers’ residencies at schools – but West Seattle’s Roxhill Elementary is about to get a singer/songwriter in residency, and students will be writing a song with her. The clip above is a song by Chicago-based hip-hop artist Psalm One, who is coming to Roxhill next Monday and Tuesday to write the song, which will then be recorded on Wednesday. Psalm One’s song in the clip above (PG-rated), “Woman at Work,” includes echoes of the fact that her resumé includes work as a chemist (explained in her bio)! This is part of the ASCAP Songwriter Residency @ America SCORES, a program whose organizers explain as combining literacy and athletics in an afterschool program for elementary-school students in underserved communities. The Roxhill song will be featured on an album that “includes Psalm One’s original songs with other SCORES teams throughout the nation,” according to one of three separate announcements we’ve received about this big event.
Some diners/drinkers in West 5 on Thursday afternoon might have wondered what was up – as they happened to be sharing the popular Junction establishment with a film crew. Local director Jamie Burton Chamberlin is wrapping up shooting on the rock-n-roll feature film “Duff McKagan’s Loaded.” We dropped by and talked briefly with a band member from Loaded, Jeff Rouse:
We first reported on the movie almost a year ago, when Chamberlin put out a casting call for some other local scenes – you can read the synopsis in that report. Here’s an all-music trailer from earlier this year:
The band’s about to tour the UK – and the tour has its own trailer.
West Seattle artist Stephen Rock‘s 13 1/2-foot-tall megapencil is now poised right outside the offices of Potter Construction (WSB sponsor). We previewed this last night. Check it out next time you’re in the 5600 block of California SW! (The folks at nearby Illusions Hair Design, also a WSB sponsor, tweeted this photo of Gary Potter with his new, artistic addition.)
(Photo courtesy Potter Construction)
The giant pencil on that truck is a West Seattle-based artist’s sculpture with the “write” stuff, and tomorrow, it’s scheduled to get a new home, in front of Potter Construction (WSB sponsor). Here’s the announcement:
At 9 AM on Tuesday, September 20, West Seattle business owner Gary Potter of Potter Construction will begin installation of a larger-than-life sculpture of a yellow pencil on California Ave. SW. The 13.5-foot sculpture is to be installed on the street-side facade of Potter Construction’s main office at 5606 California Ave. SW. Beyond a visible way to display Potter Construction’s inspired knowledge and experience in the art of home remodeling, Potter sees this as an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of community art projects that have a positive effect on West Seattle neighborhoods.
This playful facsimile of an everyday pencil with its bright pink eraser is the creative collaboration of Rock Brothers, under the direction of artist and West Seattle resident Stephen Rock. The sculpture is made from one solid log and was hand-tooled by the three brothers on a very large lathe in their workshop in Ellensburg, WA. The colorful, hand-painted pencil was first seen as part of a larger Rock Brothers’ sculpture titled “Brush Pile” in a juried outdoor exhibit at Cal Anderson Park in 2010. This installation of multiple large-scale paintbrushes, pens, and pencils was part of MadArt in the Park’s mission to “bring art into our lives in unexpected ways and to create community involvement in the arts.”
Beginning tomorrow, every visitor and passerby of Potter Construction’s office at 5606 California Ave SW will experience this blend of joyful art with Potter Construction’s inspired commitment to enlivening everyday lives.
You can scroll down this page to see how the giant pencil was used in the aforementioned “Brush Pile” installation.
Several proud members of the West Seattle Community Orchestras e-mailed to share the news that WSCO is featured in a current show on Seattle Channel – and we just got the code for the specific story, so you don’t have to watch the entire program to get to their spotlight. Check it out above (or, here’s a direct link to the entire show). As noted here a few days ago, WSCO’s new season starts next Tuesday – but we just received word of a few changes to the schedule/locations, so if you are a new or returning member, or planning on checking it out for prospective membership, PLEASE click ahead for the new information:Read More
Last year, what was originally Westside Symphonette metamorphosed into West Seattle Community Orchestras. This year, the community instrumental-music organization is on the brink of a new season, with word of more changes/additions. If you’re a musician (youth or adult), now is the time to join WSCO – registration is open, and rehearsals start one week from tomorrow. Read on for the full announcement with details:Read More
A few scenes from last night’s West Seattle Art Walk: At Twilight Artist Collective in The Junction, we found artist RobRoy Chalmers and proud daughter Izzy. His “Sporozoan Swarm” is now on display at Twilight, for the entire month. Across SW Alaska:
Phil Cline of Naches Heights Vineyard (southeastern Washington) was pouring at Bin 41 during Art Walk night. That means it’s a two-in-a-row week, since you’ll find the traditional Friday night tasting there too, with new wines tonight from the Willamette Valley (Oregon)’s Alexana Winery, 6-7:30 pm. More Art Walk people ahead:Read More
The forecast is for clear skies, as far as the eye – or at least the forecaster – can see. Including Thursday night, which will bring the next West Seattle Art Walk, 6-9 pm. Three dozen venues (from Shanti Salon and Spa in the north to The Kenney in the south [both WSB sponsors]) – all listed on the official map, which is here. If you want to plan your stops in advance, you can find some of the venues’ previews on the official WS Art Walk site. The Kenney, for example, spotlights artists Martha Hicks and Cyndy Jensen, along with local framer Fred Madrid bringing a collection of historic West Seattle photos (available for purchase), plus live music – details here. Shanti will show photography by Laurie Z. In The Junction, Nature Consortium e-mailed a special invite for you to stop by its office at 4210 SW Oregon – where Kathleen McHugh‘s art will be on display:
McHugh is a Seattle painter who, NC notes:
… has been featured in exhibits locally, nationally, and internationally in places as near as Youngstown Cultural Arts Center and as far as Slovakia and the Museum of Modern Art. Kathleen’s work explores humanistic themes and serve as ‘visual allegories about identity and relationship[s]’.” She also teaches eco-art classes with Nature Consortium and has been working as a teaching artist in the Pacific Northwest since 1994. On Thursday, she is offering prints from her Banff suite at the West Seattle Art Walk. Local Latin-folk band Ama Trio, featured at this year’s Arts in Nature Festival, will also perform at the office 7:30 – 8:30 pm.
See you tomorrow night along the Art Walk!
(Photo courtesy ArtsWest)
Despite some changes in the off-season, the show must go on at ArtsWest, and tonight it does exactly that, with the first production of the 2011-2012 season, “Amy’s View” by David Hare. One review from back east describes it as “about the lure and pitfalls of materialistic society, about whether love and faith and perseverance will prevail over hedonism and greed…” and more. During the run, through October 1st, showtimes are 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays, 3 pm Sundays; you can buy tickets online here.
As school revs up, so does the quest for after-school activities. Here’s one coming up this fall, called to your attention by Carol at Southwest Teen Life Center – creative and free: The ACT Theater playwriting class, October 11-December 8, 3-4:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the TLC, 2801 SW Thistle. It’s described this way:
The Young Playwrights Program is a professional playwright/teaching program that teaches the basics of playwriting. Each student playwright completes a 10- to 45-minute original play by the end of the session. Students will have the opportunity to learn the art and craft of theater and be introduced to the basic knowledge and elements of how to write dialogue, create characters, and use action to create an entertaining, theatrical piece. Following the class, selected plays may be showcased through staged readings at the ACT Theater. Earn Community Service Learning hours for school. Receive free tickets to plays at the Langston Hughes Performing Art Center and the ACT Theater by enrolling.
You can find out more, and/or register, by calling 206-684-4115.
This year’s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha lineup was more star-studded than ever, including the closing act for the sixth and final concert of the summer tonight: Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs. Star Anna and most of her band live in West Seattle now, so they’re hometown musical heroes:
Admiral Neighborhood Association president Katy Walum put the call out for concertgoers to donate diapers for WestSide Baby, and we checked in on the early response:
Katy says she’s thrilled with the response this year and expects the series will continue next year:
P.S. No Conan O’Brien sightings this week. But we did spot a couple familiar faces:
On the left, you probably recognize City Councilmember Bruce Harrell. On the right, someone we’ve known since shortly after we arrived in West Seattle 20 years ago, Dr. Shepherd Siegel, director of school-to-work for Seattle Public Schools. You just never know who you’re going to see at the outdoor concerts and movies in summertime; we’re glad to have been able to co-sponsor the series again this year (the full list of 20+ sponsors is on the right side of this webpage – if you enjoyed the free concerts, let ’em know!).
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