Spew

5 Things To Do: Friday

MICHAEL SWAN: FRIDAY, NOV. 20, 2009 >>>

1. The Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular 

fires up at 7 p.m. inside the Tacoma Dome.

2. MOVE! — the ongoing modern dance series presented by MLKBallet — presents its 15th installment featuring works joined by Seattle’s Spectrum, Tacoma Dance Collective and others at 7 p.m. inside the SOTA Theater. Tacoma musician Vicci Martinez contributed several songs to MLKBallet’s pieces.

3. Weekly Volcano visual arts critic Alec Clayton delves into his latest novel, The Backside of Nowhere, at 6 p.m. inside Orca Books.

4. Northwest Snowboard presents its Annual Winter Video Premier at 7 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater.

5. The Uncle Bonsai trio will take a quirky look at modern life through harmony and humor performs at 8 p.m. inside the Pythian Temple, 926 1/2 Broadway in downtown Tacoma.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

Vital signs

ALEC CLAYTON: JOE FEDDERSEN RETROSPECTIVE AT TAM IS A MUST SEE >>>

I was knocked right out of my socks when I walked into the Joe Feddersen retrospective exhibition at Tacoma Art Museum. The first thing to catch my eye — and how could it not — was a monstrous wall-size print of multiple overlapping zig-zag patterns in brilliant colors and textures comprised of 500 square panels that seemed to frantically dance across the wall. And I’m talking a big, big wall. The piece is called Okanagan IV, and it goes ceiling to floor and stretches across 58 feet of wall space. And, as if that were not enough, there’s a similar but somewhat smaller piece on the opposite wall that’s merely 90 panels and only 20 feet long.

The beauty of these, beyond the sheer size, is due to the vibrancy of the patterns within patterns.

This is a must see show. Read my review on the Weekly Volcano Web site.

Matter matters

ALEC CLAYTON: NEW OLYMPIA GALLERY FEATURES RECYCLED ART >>>

An exciting new gallery opened in Olympia with an opening showing of 60 artists — most but not all from the South Sound area — “featuring artworks that incorporate recycled, reclaimed, and responsibly harvested materials,” according to a statement by gallery owner Jo Gallaugher.

The name is Matter. It’s on Fifth Avenue between Capital and Columbia. Read my review of it on the Weekly Volcano Web site.

Excellent Fulcrum Gallery show

ALEC CLAYTON: EXCITING MODERN PAINTINGS STEEPED IN HISTORY AND MYTH >>>

Painter Jethaniel Peterka shows a deft touch and a fertile mind in his paintings and assemblages at Fulcrum Gallery. The show is called Losses and Longings, and it presents a record of how Peterka’s work is evolving and how individual works come into being. Paintings over a period of time showing an evolution of style are paired with preliminary studies to give a snapshot of works in progress.

Read my review of the show on the Weekly Volcano Web site here. Then go see it tonight during Third Thursday ArtWalk.

Last days

ALEC CLAYTON: CATCH THESE SHOWS WHILE YOU CAN >>>

There are two art exhibits running in Tacoma that end this weekend, one very serious and high-minded and the other cute enough to make you want to puke. I’m talking kitsch cute that’s so bad it’s good. The shows are Flux at Gallery Madera and Rabbitual at Two Vaults. Both shows run through Saturday, Sept. 12.

Read why you should see these shows here.

Art: Lynn Di Nino at Two Vaults

Second Childhood

ALEC CLAYTON: BETTY JO FITZGERALD AT CHILDHOOD'S END >>>

Betty Jo Fitzgerald has been making art a long time. I’ve been familiar with her work since about 1990, but there’s something quite different about her latest work at the appropriately named Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia. It looks like she’s entered her second childhood.

This art is playful, joyful and decidedly childlike. There are six acrylic paintings that are each about two and one-half by three feet in size and a group of eight smaller acrylic and collage paintings. The images are primarily of animals — pigs and rubber duckies abound — in fanciful settings. The colors are bright and hot almost to the point of clashing, but tempered with the cool blues of water and sky. The drawing style in simple and almost clumsily childlike, but obviously intentionally so. There is nothing profound or more than mildly original and inventive about these works. They do not aspire to being great art, but they do aspire to creating a sense of joy and a kind of magic. In this respect they have a lot in common with the Alice in Wonderland illustrations by Ron Hinson that were recently shown in this gallery, but Hinson’s illustrations were much more carefully thought out, with every image having meaning and reference beyond itself; whereas I get the feeling Fitzgerald’s paintings are more spontaneous. She seems to toss in whatever comes to mind.

Lovely Alice

ALEC CLAYTON: RON HINSON IN WONDERLAND >>>

It’s been four years since I last reviewed Ron Hinson. At that time he was showing a series of paintings based on Aesop’s Fables — children’s book illustrations elevated to fine art with wit and a fine eye for color and design. What he did for Aesop then he’s now done for Alice in Wonderland, and you can see these delightful paintings at Childhood’s End in Olympia.

Read my full review here.

[Childhood’s End Gallery, Ron Hinson, through July 12, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 222 Fourth Ave. W, downtown Olympia, 360.943.3724]

Photo: Ron Hinson's Who Are You? Off With Their Heads, acrylic and oil crayon

Re-furniture Recovery

ALEC CLAYTON: THE MANY TALENTS OF STEVE LAWLER >>>

Woodworker Steve Lawler is a man of many talents. His handcrafted furniture — or as he calls it, “re-Furniture” — is both beautiful and functional, and it is made from reclaimed fir and scrap plywood collected from local cabinet and furniture shops.

But that’s just one small part of his many talents. As seen in his latest show, Recover, at Gallery Madera, he is also a painter, photographer, sculptor and collage artist. “My work represents my passion for two things: First, reusing what others have found to be useless and second, creating something in a way that nobody has thought of before,” Lawler says.

Particularly attractive in his current show at Madera are groupings of chairs, coffee tables and lamps made of recycled wood and featuring strips of variously patterned wood. Read my full review here.

[Gallery Madera, Steve Lawler’s Recovery, through June 6, 2210 Court A, Tacoma, 253.572.1218]

Biennial closes tomorrow

ALEC CLAYTON: LAST CHANCE TO SEE THE BETTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE BIENNIAL >>>

The 9th Northwest Biennial at Tacoma Art Museum is too heavy on the conceptual; there’s too much photography, and it would be nice if there were at least one South Sound artist in the show. But it’s one of the more impressive biennials they’ve had, with a wide range of very intriguing art. Read my full review here.

The show closes Monday, May 25. The museum is open today from noon to 5 p.m. and tomorrow, Memorial Day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for military, students and seniors. Children 5 and younger are free.   

The Tacoma Art Museum is at 1701 Pacific Ave. in downtown Tacoma. For more information, call 253.272.4258, or visit their Web site.

Photo: Ross Sawyers’ Untitled (Blue, Sky 2), 2007, inkjet print, 30 x 60. Courtesy of the artist and Platform Gallery, Seattle

Depression Art

ALEC CLAYTON: LOCAL ARTISTS AND THE ECONOMY: A MIXED BAG >>>

Are artists hard hit by the economic depression? Well, yeah. Maybe. But most artists have been so poor and out of the mainstream for so long that they hardly notice. Galleries too. They may have to make some creative adjustments to weather the hard times, but geez Louise, weathering the hard times has been their modus operandi since the first time an art dealer opened to the public. Let’s face it, it was not easy for Theo van Gogh to sell his brother’s paintings.

I talked with several local artists on how they are surviving during these tough economic times. Read what I discovered on the Weekly Volcano Web site.

Art: Mary K Johnson