When I think of landscapes, I generally think of the luminous work of Albert Bierstadt or Frederick Church. Certainly Cézanne's hawk-faced mountains of Provence come to mind, as do pastoral scenes by Corot. The current set of four exhibits at the Frye Museum aims to expand that understanding of the genre.These are not landscapes as we traditionally think of them. The four contemporary artists who have created them are pulling us into new territory. Last month we addressed Robyn O'Neil's wonderful pencil depictions of tiny men in vast mountainous expanses and Amy Helfand's garden-inspired textiles and collages. Now it's time to look at the two artists, Robert Yoder and Sigrid Sandström, whose work more recently has been placed on display. Yoder, a local artist, is represented by "Sluice Gate," a carpet that lies in the Frye's rotunda. Composed of bits of hand-woven rug of various sizes, shapes and thicknesses, the piece is meant to represent - according to the Frye - an "explosive waterway [that] evokes the vortex created from the opening of a flood gate or unstopping drain." We're also told that "it offers an aerial survey of an invented topography." Now that certainly sounds nice and unmistakably erudite, and the rounded shape of the whole and the circular placement of the individual carpet strips could be interpreted that way. But they could also be interpreted as a depiction of a peony, a medallion or a medieval walled city. If vortex was what the artist had in mind, I didn't get it until I was told. The work seems an odd fit in a museum devoted to representational art.
When I think of landscapes, I generally think of the luminous work of Albert Bierstadt or Frederick Church. Certainly Cézanne's hawk-faced mountains of Provence come to mind, as do pastoral scenes by Corot. The current set of four exhibits at the Frye Museum aims to expand that understanding of the genre.These are not landscapes as we traditionally think of them. The four contemporary artists who have created them are pulling us into new territory. Last month we addressed Robyn O'Neil's wonderful pencil depictions of tiny men in vast mountainous expanses and Amy Helfand's garden-inspired textiles and collages. Now it's time to look at the two artists, Robert Yoder and Sigrid Sandström, whose work more recently has been placed on display. Yoder, a local artist, is represented by "Sluice Gate," a carpet that lies in the Frye's rotunda. Composed of bits of hand-woven rug of various sizes, shapes and thicknesses, the piece is meant to represent - according to the Frye - an "explosive waterway [that] evokes the vortex created from the opening of a flood gate or unstopping drain." We're also told that "it offers an aerial survey of an invented topography." Now that certainly sounds nice and unmistakably erudite, and the rounded shape of the whole and the circular placement of the individual carpet strips could be interpreted that way. But they could also be interpreted as a depiction of a peony, a medallion or a medieval walled city. If vortex was what the artist had in mind, I didn't get it until I was told. The work seems an odd fit in a museum devoted to representational art.
Watch out when a Black "dumb chick who had her ass kicked" comes into your life. It's not going to be the same ever again. The Black chick at the center of "Wine in the Wilderness" at ACT Theatre is named Tomorrow Marie, aka Tommy. Although she may have had her ass kicked, she's no dummy, and that's a key message in this production."Wine in the Wilderness," by Alice Childress, the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway, inaugurates The Hansberry Project at ACT. The Project, an autonomous entity in partnership with the theater, aims to promote appreciation and understanding of African-American life, history and culture by giving audiences access to the African-American artistic voice.The Project's artistic director, Valerie Curtis-Newton, took a chance selecting this as her first production. It's a minor, somewhat flawed work but an important piece of theater history. The ideas that Childress explored were taken up by later playwrights such as Lorraine Hansberry, for whom the project is named, and August Wilson, whose recent death robbed American theater of one of its most powerful contemporary dramatists.
Watch out when a Black "dumb chick who had her ass kicked" comes into your life. It's not going to be the same ever again. The Black chick at the center of "Wine in the Wilderness" at ACT Theatre is named Tomorrow Marie, aka Tommy. Although she may have had her ass kicked, she's no dummy, and that's a key message in this production."Wine in the Wilderness," by Alice Childress, the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway, inaugurates The Hansberry Project at ACT. The Project, an autonomous entity in partnership with the theater, aims to promote appreciation and understanding of African-American life, history and culture by giving audiences access to the African-American artistic voice.The Project's artistic director, Valerie Curtis-Newton, took a chance selecting this as her first production. It's a minor, somewhat flawed work but an important piece of theater history. The ideas that Childress explored were taken up by later playwrights such as Lorraine Hansberry, for whom the project is named, and August Wilson, whose recent death robbed American theater of one of its most powerful contemporary dramatists.
NAPSI -Americans everywhere are spending more time at home. Because of this, they are looking for creative ways to expand their current space by investing in "outdoor living rooms." Creating outdoor living areas can be a cost-effective way to enhance both the beauty and functionality of your yard and home, make more livable space and increase the value of your home. Try the following simple tips to revamp and grow your living space.Create different roomsWe are used to having our homes divided into rooms, but rarely take this approach to our outdoor spaces. But dividing up your yard can actually help to maximize your enjoyment of it. Look at the available space and designate one area for play, one for dining and socializing and another for relaxing. Then decorate accordingly!
Halloween is over, but give yourself a treat and catch "Sweeney Todd" at the 5th Avenue Theatre. This is one of those breakout 5th Avenue productions, like the homegrown "Hair" a few seasons ago, which are going to have people talking about it long after the show closes down.5th Avenue artistic director David Armstrong has trimmed a few minor moments out of Stephen Sondheim's musical melodrama, but Armstrong's own direction of the show hews closely to Hal Prince's original staging. Luckily, this is one case where the original is not so shopworn by road tours that the audience cannot be surprised. Blood spurts in this "Sweeney Todd" and the audience gasps and then laughs uneasily. And come the Grand Guignol ending, there were more than a few screams in the house on opening night.
Rosa Parks died last week at the age of 92.This small, slight woman didn't look like your typical hero.She didn't wear the armor of a warrior. She didn't make the impassioned speeches of a modern-day Joan of Arc. She wasn't a fiery social activist like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.She didn't preach changing American culture from the bottom up as Bobby Kennedy was beginning to do when he was murdered.But make no mistake, by refusing to stand up on a public bus in 1955 Montgomery, Ala., Rosa Parks fired one of the first salvos in the civil-rights revolution that changed the face of America more than anything else has done in the 50-some years I've stumbled around on American ground.Rosa Parks helped force America to extend its promise to chase the American Dream to the 12 percent of its citizens whose ancestors had been brought here in chains from Africa. Rosa Parks helped force America to learn to love and utilize its better self.
The recent news that American Apparel might open its second Seattle store on Broadway has brought out a small chorus of understated praise from community leaders, hoping this just might be the corner turning point that brings Capitol Hill's main shopping street "back."I'm old enough to remember when downtown's business leaders expressed much more open hopes about another out-of-state chain moving in and saving the day. Yes, the neglected Sixth Avenue, a low-foot-traffic, low-excitement street ever since Doces Furniture moved out in the '70s, would be rescued from blighthood. Commuters and suburbanites who'd avoided or shunned the city after dark would now linger. They'd spend their big bucks and make the whole place safer by the mere presence of their white-middle-class selves. And one big "destination" tenant would make it all start. One company, backed by an unprecedented reputation for "hip" marketing, would start the whole turnaround.As it turned out, downtown Seattle retail "came back" by itself - or rather, it had never really "gone away." Sixth Avenue remained a relatively low-foot-traffic spot, now anchored by one California apparel chain (Old Navy) at the former site of another (I. Magnin). And the Planet Hollywood restaurant, that would-be lynchpin of the brave new downtown, has been shuttered and vacant for four years now.
Most people would agree that Minor Avenue between Pike and Pine streets could use an upgrade. The small street, which feels almost like an alley, is hardly an inviting stretch of road. But a new development project being planned for the street, one that could benefit the neighborhood and has something of a community stamp of approval, has been thrown a curve by the city. A planner from the Department of Planning and Development has told the developer that he has to extend setbacks 5 feet inside the property line, drastically altering the project.. The project, being developed by Washington Holdings, is an eight-story mixed-use building, with open, loft-style residential units that would face west toward the newly named Plymouth Pillars Park. The setback, according to members of the Pike-Pine Urban Neighborhood Council (P/PUNC), limits the positive benefits the project could bring to the street and fails to take into account the Pike-Pine Neighborhood Plan.
A group of 16 Puget Sound residents is flying to the oil-rich but poverty-stricken Delta region of Nigeria this month, but the two-and-a-half-week trip won't be a vacation. Instead, the Global Citizen Journey group hopes to use grassroots diplomacy to do what local government officials have failed to do: bring a measure of stability and hope to a region beset by conflict, according to Leslye Wood, a Magnolia public-relations specialist in the group.
I had a call recently from the BABC - British American Business Council - a networking group promoting British-American trade in our area. They also take time out to celebrate British traditions with non-business social events, such as the Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night. So, what about this Guy? It all started early in the 17th century, after James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603 (incidentally beginning the Stuart dynasty). The Roman Catholics hoped for a restoration of their cause, since James was the son of the ill-fated Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots). They were unsuccessful, however, and England remained Protestant. This led eventually to the conspiracy known as the Gunpowder Plot. Led by Robert Catesby, a Warwickshire squire, and several other conspirators, they planned to blow up the House of Lords when the king went there to open Parliament early in November 1605. Guy Fawkes, a Catholic Yorkshireman with knowledge of gunpowder, was entrusted with placing barrels of explosives in the crypt below the Houses of Parliament.
On Friday, Oct. 21, John Hay Elementary School had the honor of welcoming Anne McLay, the oldest known living John Hay graduate, to a ceremony marking 100 years of serving elementary school students and the community. The ceremony took place during the 17th annual John Hay Elementary Move-A-Thon, our autumn fundraiser. Proceeds from the event will help secure the future of quality education in our community.During Move-A-Thon, more than 500 students, staff, teachers, alumni and family members - in colorful array - walked and ran laps around the school to redeem pledges and secure donations of support for critical academic programs at John Hay, such as: Reading Intervention (Sound Partner tutoring); Literacy Support with 14:1 Student/Teacher Ratio; Spanish Program' Arts Program; PE Program; Advanced Learning Instruction; Math Tutors; Integrating technology into the classroom; Supplies and Instructional materialsThese programs provide the resources necessary to ensure that John Hay can personalize education to the needs of every student. l.
As a Seattle woman, I thought I knew all there was to know about damp and drizzly skies. Then I got older. And, well, older still. Till I realized that in terms of my 40-something body there's nowhere to run to, babeee, nowhere to hide.Now the weather not only affects my mood when all I want to do is cozy in with a hot toddy - it also affects my bones. That's right, right down to the marrow of life. Knees. Hips. Even fingers. And not in a good way but in a "This is what my mother has been complaining about all these years" way. When Robert Louis Stevenson coined the phrase, "To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." I realize he was referring to middle age.
The other morning, conversation over coffee turned to a past event in Enumclaw. A dis-gruntled husband, rather than share a house in a divorce settlement, got a demolition permit and bulldozed the dwelling into splinters."I heard of some-thing real similar," said Vern as he put his coffee cup down. "A few years ago, down in Tacoma, there was this guy who drove a cement truck. Well, his girlfriend was goin' out on him, so one night he drove up to her house and just filled her new boyfriend's Cadillac with cement."Vern, I hate to burst your balloon, but the Enumclaw story was a verifiable fact. Your story about the Cadillac - well, it's one of those stories that always happened to "a friend of a friend" and can never be proved.The cement story is an urban legend. We've all heard some of them.Prof. Jan Harold Brunvard of the University of Utah English department has filled two books with urban legends - "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" and "The Choking Doberman" - and is working on a third. Some of the stories that we've heard and retold as truths turn out to be simply examples of modern folklore.
I am sadly amused by all the Initiative 330 ads bombarding my TV. From greedy lawyers throwing around money to stinging portrayals of injured patients, this initiative has invaded my life.That's why I decided to take a closer look beyond the media hype of this being a war between doctors and lawyers, and find out what I-330 really means for a college student like me. And for the record, no, I do not plan on being a doctor or a trial lawyer some-day.First is the issue of who actually benefits. Opponents have wrongly tagged this initiative as a ploy for insurance companies and greedy doctors to rake in more money at patients' expense. Meanwhile, supporters have poorly retaliated by using lawyers as the scapegoat.Let's debunk the propaganda on both sides of the debate.