Ruth’s Garden Art Sale is this weekend

Saturday May 26 and Sunday May 27 – 10am-5pm both days

934 18th Ave

(corner of Spring St, near the radio towers on Capitol Hill)

Also, Emily Arfin will be there with her fair trade imports from Guatemala

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• More pics HERE •

The Atlas Obscura is the definitive guidebook and friendly tour-guide to the world’s most wondrous places. User-generated and editor curated, the Atlas is a collaborative compendium of amazing places that aren’t found in your average guidebook.

And this month, Saturday, April 28th is Obscura Day, an international celebration of unusual places, full of expeditions, back room tours & explorations of the hidden wonders around the world. And Atlas Obscura notes two places in the Seattle area that are weird and wonderful enough to be included in the official Atlas Obscura Day celebration, the Official Bad Art Museum of Art and a tour of the Inscape Building and the Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore.

Tour #1: Atlas Obscura Day at the Official Bad Art Museum of Art, sponsored by Hendricks Gin, a “Gin made Oddly”.

All day is Atlas Obscura Day at Cafe Racer and the Official Bad Art Museum of Art.

Doors open at 10AM Saturday, April 28th. Have breakfast, peruse the Bad Art in the OBAMA, enjoy some “Hendricks Obscure Punch”.

Schedule is as follows:

2:00pm View in amazement an incredible array of bugs, marine invertebrates, isopods and lepidoptera from “Bug Man” Don Ehlen.

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3:00pm Musical performance by Operadisiac, a surreal opera comedy duo that is sure to delight. Can I share a sample video of what you may expect?… How about Operadisiac performing their own version of the Prince classic, Little Red Corvette!

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4:30pm Performance by God’s Favorite Beefcake, featuring Shmootzi The Clod of Circus Contraption fame, with music and sword swallowing and God knows what else???  Eeeek!  Check out JoDavideo’s cool videos of them performing on the very same stage last year right here. I guarantee this music will warm your heart, and scramble your brain, or your money back.

Everyone loves Shmootzi The Clod, because Shmootzi The Clod is so perfectly odd!

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6:00pm (or thereabouts) the Nu Klezmer Army will entertain with their honkin’ versions of old time favorites.

… The hijinks continue until 1am.

Tour #2: Tour of Inscape building and Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore
Peek into Seattle’s past with a tour of the city’s 77,000-square-foot former Immigration and Naturalization Services building, plus a visit to the Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore for rare D.B. Cooper, UFO, and Bigfoot-related artifacts.

Sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, a most unusual and obscure beverage.

You may have read about the Gauguin show at the Seattle Art Museum that is open now. Consider this the anti- or counter-Gauguin show, the opening of an art show of paintings by Edgar Leeteg, known as the “American Gauguin”.

Just as Paul Gauguin went to live in French Polynesia in 1891 to paint and be inspired by native culture, so did Edgar Leeteg.

Both men have been the subject of much interest both then and in modern times due to alleged sexual exploits and both were suspected to have had trysts with several native girls, some of whom appear as subjects of their paintings.

Now, for 3 days only, Seattleites will be able to view both Polynesian Masters, within walking distance of each other.

The Edgar Leeteg show will be open for viewing April 27th-29th, coincidentally the last weekend of the Paul Gauguin show at Seattle Art Museum, and close enough to view both shows on the same day.

The Leeteg show is located at 1016 Alley Arts located at 1016 1st Avenue. Use the alley entrance behind Hotel 1000 (between 1st and 2nd, Spring and Madison), just two blocks South of the Seattle Art Museum.

The show opens Friday April 27th, from 6pm until 10pm. Music by the 9-piece band The Ukadelics.

Also open Saturday April 28th and Sunday April 29th, noon till 5pm. Stop by before or after you visit the Seattle Art Museum. This weekend will also be the last weekend of the Gauguin show. Say “good-bye” to Tahiti in style.

Leeteg left the United States and went to French Polynesia and stayed there and painted until his death in 1953. He lived in Cook’s Bay, Tahiti, using the dark skinned women of the island as his models. His main subject was beautiful Polynesian women, and he painted them amidst their background, their culture and their history. The eroticism, colour and detail of these paintings made him famous.

Leeteg’s popularity soared following a fortunate meeting with Honolulu art gallery owner Barney Davis, who became his patron. It was with Davis’ help that Leeteg built his great Villa Velour estate in Moorea. Davis worked as Leeteg’s agent and they had a fruitful and profitable relationship together. His paintings were popular in bars in America and Polynesia.

This collection of over 25 Edgar Leeteg original paintings is owned by local collector David Price, and this is the first time they’ve been seen publicly since 1999.

David Price is the owner of Green Room Decor, and specializes in props and furniture for concerts, shows, exhibits and events around the Seattle area.

Price will also be displaying a number of paintings by the black velvet painter Burke Tyree.

Art for sale in our new building and Jemil’s Big Easy food truck out in front.

Join us at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery this Saturday April 14 at 6:00 PM as we celebrate the publication of the important new book, Young Romance: The Best of Simon and Kirby’s Romance Comics. Editor Michel Gagné, curator of the companion exhibition, will discuss this largely overlooked body of work by one of America’s most influential and enduring artists: the incomparable Jack Kirby.

With soldiers returning from long deployments following World War II romance was in the air. The superhero comics that served to inspire patriotism leading up to the global conflict began to lose appeal. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby seized on these emerging sensibilities to create one of the most popular comic book series of all time. Unlike previous comic book genres, the work appealed primarily to women readers. Kirby’s work from this period was mimicked by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and others, and has become emblematic of mid-century American aesthetics.

Curator Michel Gagné will discuss his delicate restoration process at the opening reception on Saturday, April 14. The exhibition will feature enlarged panels from Simon and Kirby’s romance comics together with the original work that followed, as Kirby helped formulate the contemporary comic book genre. The book and exhibition carefully examine the creative process of these uniquely American masters.

Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.) just minutes from downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00. Phone 206.658.0110. This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic arts community. See you all soon.

Roq La Rue Gallery

presents

Lindsey Carr and Handiedan

Opening Night Friday, April 13
Show runs to May 05, 2012

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Sweet Jesus! It’s an Easter Miracle! He Has Risen, just in time for Easter. After and extended absence, Janet Galore’s beautifully crafted “Jesus of Peeps” has returned to our Official Bad Art Museum of Art, located at Cafe Racer. Come worship before the altar of 494 marshmallow Peeps in which the miraculous visage of Jesus appears. Thank you, Janet! And Thanks, Scott Randall for this photo you took of the resurrection. Marlow, Jo, and Kurt are lighting prayer candles in honor of this miracle!

You can view Jesus of Peeps at Cafe Racer at 5828 Roosevelt Way NE. OPEN FOR EASTER BRUNCH at 10AM!

More about Jesus of Peeps at the Official Bad Art Museum of Art

RED CURRENT (SWEET FRUIT)
curated by Sharon Arnold

Opens Friday March 23rd
runs through April 7th 2012
Please join us for an epic opening night party on March 23rd from 6-9pm!

2312 2nd Ave
Seattle 98121

http://roqlarue.com/index.html

Opening Night Friday, March 23
Show runs to April 07, 2012

Roq La Rue is pleased to present northwest artist and curator Sharon Arnold’s group exhibition, “Red Current”. This show will offer up a plethora of local talent by northwest artists. This exhibition will expand on the type of work usually shown at Roq La Rue and include conceptual pieces and installation work as well as traditional media.

Artist list:
Mandy Greer
Kimberly Trowbridge
Amanda Manitach
Izzie Klingels
Serrah Russell
Saskia Delores
Debra Baxter
Jess Rees
Anne Blackburn
Erin Frost
Lynda Sherman
Laura Ward
Jennifer McNeely
Susanna Bluhm
Counsel Langley
Erin Shafkind
Claire Johnson
Klara Glosova
Andrea Wicklund
Gala Bent
Rumi Koshino
Naomi Faith
Allyce Wood
Julie Alpert
Crystal Barbre
Deborah Scott
Kristen Ramirez
Allie Manch
Ellen Garvens
Cristin Ford
Gretchen Bennett
Francesca Lohmann
Emily Pothast
Bette Burgoyne
Jennifer Borges Foster
Jennifer Zwick
Stacey Rozich

Music at Opening show provided by DJ Vodka Twist

Swing by the after party below the Rendezvous at the Grotto!

CURRENT
cur·rent ( /?k?r?nt/ )

adj.
1.
a. Belonging to the present time: current events; current leaders.
b. Being in progress now: current negotiations.
2. Passing from one to another; circulating: current bills and coins.
3. Prevalent, especially at the present time: current fashions. See Synonyms at prevailing.
4. Running; flowing.
n.
1. A steady, smooth onward movement: a current of air from a fan; a current of spoken words. See Synonyms at flow.
2. The part of a body of liquid or gas that has a continuous onward movement: rowed out into the river’s swift current.
3. A general tendency, movement, or course. See Synonyms at tendency.
4. Symbol i, I Electricity
a. A flow of electric charge.
b. The amount of electric charge flowing past a specified circuit point per unit time.

The idiosyncratic work of Seattle cartoonist Lynda Barry is the subject on a new book by Portland author Susan E. Kirtley. Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass represents the first comprehensive critique of this influential American artist. Kirtley will present her book – from the University Press of Mississippi’s Great Comics Artists Series – in conversation with Real Comet Press publisher Cathy Hillenbrand on Saturday, March 24, at 6:00 PM at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery.

Kirtley examines the influence of Lynda Barry’s youthful experiences on her diverse creative output through personal interviews and rigorous analysis of published work. Kirtley’s thought-provoking conclusions invite readers to reassess Barry’s body of work though the lens of an often-tormented adolescent girl. Kirtley is associate professor of English at Portland State University. University Press of Mississippi’s Great Comics Artists Series includes critical assessments of the work of cartoonists such as Chris Ware, Alan Moore, Carl Barks, Jack Kirby, Garry Trudeau, and Walt Kelly.

The author will be joined in conversation by Cathy Hillenbrand of Real Comet Press, publisher of Lynda Barry’s first four books. “From Comix to Critiques” was the slogan of Real Comet Press, which is the subject of the current retrospective exhibition at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery featuring original art, graphics, and book works by Lynda Barry, Michael Dougan, Art Chantry, and Ruth Hayes. An informal reception and book signing will follow the discussion.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) Phone 206.658.0110. This event coincides with the inaugural Georgetown Music March featuring free performing arts presentations throughout the historic arts community.

John Breitweiser’s solo show at the Triple Door opens tonight!
Artist Reception First Thursday, March 1st 5PM – 7 PM www.johnbreitweiser.com

Triple Door
216 Union Street
Seattle, WA 9810
Triple Door Hours
4 PM – 2 AM Everyday

“From Comix to Critiques” was the focus of seminal Seattle publisher Real Comet Press. Founded in 1981 by arts activist Cathy Hillenbrand, then owner the Comet Tavern, this prescient enterprise published an amazing array of books that foreshadowed Seattle’s ascendance to the forefront of international pop culture. Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery celebrates the legacy of Cathy Hillenbrand with “Real Comet Press: A Retrospective” opening Saturday, March 10, continuing through April 10, 2012. This exhibition features art, graphics and book works by regional artists nurtured by Real Comet Press including Lynda Barry, Michael Dougan, Art Chantry, and Ruth Hayes, among others.

As owner of the Comet Tavern in the late 70s, Hillenbrand became an advocate for Seattle’s avant garde artists. In 1980, Lynda Barry won a contest to design the Comet’s matchbook cover, beginning a long association with the young Capitol Hill cartoonist. A year later, Hillenbrand published the text to “Propagandists Lament,” a performance work by Seattle artist Annie Grosshans. She soon sold the tavern to devote full time to publishing. Real Comet Press went on to publish four books by Lynda Barry – Girls + Boys, Big Ideas, The Good Times Are Killing Me, and Naked Ladies, Naked Ladies, Naked Ladies – as well as East Texas by Michael Dougan, Instant Litter by Art Chantry, and a series of animated flipbooks by Ruth Hayes. In addition, Real Comet Press published catalogues, criticism, and feminist theory by artists, curators and critics such as Lucy Lippard, Jo Spence, Douglas Kahn, Rini Templeton, Ernst Friedrich, James Turrell, and countless others. Many of Hillenbrand’s books and memorable marketing materials were designed the brilliant graphic artists associated with The Rocket magazine.

Join us on Saturday, March 10 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM to fete the former publisher. Real Comet alumni Hayes, Dougan and Chantry will host the celebration, which includes an exhibition of art, books and ephemera from the Real Comet archives. A limited number of out-of-print Real Comet Press titles will be available for sale (including the iconic Lynda Barry poster “Poodle with a Mohawk”). This reception coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring arts presentations throughout the historic neighborhood.

On Saturday, March 24 at 6:00 PM Fantagraphics Bookstore presents Susan Kirtley, author of Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass from University of Mississippi Press, in conversation with Cathy Hillenbrand. This enlightening discussion will be followed by an informal reception and book signing.

On Friday, March 30 at 6:00 PM, Hillenbrand joins cartoonists Ellen Forney and Jim Woodring, and Fantagraphics associate publisher Eric Reynolds on the panel discussion “Northwest Noir: Seattle’s Legacy of Counterculture Comix” moderated by Fantagraphics Bookstore curator Larry Reid at Emerald City Comicon at the Washington State Convention Center.

Next 50 Installation Highlights 15 Young People Creating Change and Making Impact!

An installation by Seattle photographer Davis Freeman, Looking Forward: the new heroes, celebrates the life and work of twelve young social entrepreneurs from around the world. The works, commissioned by Seattle Center Foundation as part of The Next Fifty, celebrating the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, runs for the duration of the celebration, Apr 21 to Oct 21, 2012, in the International Fountain Pavilion at Seattle Center.

Internationally recognized photographer Davis Freeman of Seattle created the exhibit featuring 15 life-size portraits of young social entrepreneurs ages 17 to 30 who are making a difference in the world. The exhibit tells the story of these young people, the true super heroes of our time. They came, they saw, and they conquered a problem and righted a wrong.

The exhibit features a triptych (Davis’ signature portrait style) of the whole group, along with 12 individual portraits and a video produced by Davis and created by filmmakers, Lindsay Martin and Noah Dassel. The video allows the young social entrepreneurs to tell their story in their own voices. They talk about their work and the reason they became involved in their cause. In a society where young people are all too often rewarded for their style quotient rather than their societal contribution, these young people stand out.

Davis began the project in July 2011, going through bios and images of dozens of young people who were recognized for the work they do. Davis said about the process, “I had to work with a limited exhibition space and had less than nine months to pull together the project. I was very interested in a balance of diversity and people who had the right kind of energy. A subject’s energy, personality, and spirit always show in a good portrait. These are interesting, well rounded young adults with great heart, individual style, and a strong sense of responsibility.”

Davis Freeman has wonnumerous awards and international recognition for his work as a portrait artist and fine art photographer. For this project, he is working with a new photographic media, brushed aluminum, to capture the images and the stories of these dynamic young social super stars. The final 36”x36” image imparts a feeling of monumentality to the viewer.

Davis said, “This was the surface I felt allowed me to adequately express what I was attempting with these subjects and their portraits. Aluminum is a bright, strong yet flexible material, and it fit the subject matter so well.” In March 2008, Davis was the official photographer of the Dalai Lama on his visit to Seattle. To capture the monumental spirituality of one of the world’s most revered spiritual leaders and also showcase the humaneness of the subject, he chose to work with the Polaroid 20”x24” camera. The result was a series of images of the Dalai Lama that captured his enigmatic personality, his dignity, and his strength of character.