Ryohei Tanka Exhibit Online

It's up!  A selection of 36 of the nearly 70 amazing hand-folded and cut kirigami, featured in our current exhibit, Cuttin' It Up: Paper Cuts by Ryohei Tanaka continuing through August 14, 2010.  Stop by on the First Thursday in August, 8/5, for the monthly Gallery Walk, to also see our 3rd Annual Summer Ephemera Show, a short run from 8/5 - 8/14, so don't miss it!

Breath In Breath Out.

Praying Angry Man.

Bon Odori in Seattle this Weekend

Bon Odori is a centuries old Japanese Buddhist festival, which celebrates and honors the lives of deceased family members and friends. Loved ones are remembered through folk dances performed to traditional and contemporary Japanese music around a central platform (middle of South Main Street at 12th Ave S).  Bon Odori offers many cultural exhibits such as Ikebana (flower arranging), mizuhiki (paper cord art), and demonstrations of judo, aikido and taiko.  Traditional Japanese foods such as teriyaki chicken bento (lunch box), niku domburi (beef & rice bowl), somen (cold wheat noodles in broth), kori (shaved ice) and many other delicious selections can be purchased. Beer & sake garden with live music by Deems Tsutakawa on Saturday evening and Emerald City Jazz Ensemble on Sunday evening.  Location: South Main Street at 12th Ave S.

Saturday, July 17, 2010
4 PM   Food booths, exhibits, cultural demonstrations open
5:30 PM Obon Service in the Temple
6 PM Dancing begins, Deems in the Beer Garden
10: PM  Dancing ends

Sunday, July 18, 2010
3:00 PM Food booths, exhibits, cultural demonstrations open
4:30 PM Obon Service in the Temple
5:00 PM Dancing begins, Emerald City Jazz Ensemble in the Beer Garden
8:00 PM Dancing ends

Cullom Gallery at firstthursdayseattle.com

If you live in, or are passing through Seattle, and need a quick look at current and upcoming gallery shows in the downtown area, check out firstthursdayseattle.com. As many of you know, the first Thursday of every month marks the opening of new exhibits for many of Seattle's retail galleries and studios. I just updated the site with my lineup of summer exhibits, which includes new work by Ryohei Tanaka, Eva Pietzcker, and a slew of recently found Japanese paper ephemera. Stop by and see the new Gallery!

Jammin' in the ID

Nice start last Thursday night for the Seattle International District's new JamFest.  Called "happy hour with a sound track" by Seattle Times writer, Doug Knoop, JamFest offers a wide range of music (June lineup included Dirty Scientifx, The Killer Bees, and my favorite, The Toy Boats) every first Thursday of the month this summer in a variety of ID locations.  Runs through September.  Get more information including next month's bands at http://www.wingluke.org/jamfest/.

Annie Bissett at the Eric Carle Museum

If you live in and around Amherst, MA, make sure to stop by the Eric Carle Museum on Saturday, June 5th at 1 pm, to hear Annie Bissett and a panel of 4 other artists talk about sustainable printmaking methods. Following the discussion, Annie will be demonstrating woodblock printmaking techniques. Stop by and say hi and see the Museum's new exhibit of prints by Antonio Frasconi. Here is Annie's blog post on the same.

Woodblock Dreams: Join Me at the Eric Carle Museum?

Ryohei Tanaka - Awesome

For his fans, and who isn't one, here's Ryohei Tanaka rockin' it at Rowan Morrison in Oakland, CA during his recent residency there this spring.  Awesome.

Get ready for more Ryohei papercuts at Cullom Gallery this summer.  Details soon to come.

Open house for Kristina at Sidereal Press Tonight

If you are in Seattle tonight, come down to Sidereal Press, just south in nearby Tukwilla, to celebrate Kristina Hagman's recent completion of the woodcut suite, 36 Views of Rainier, and wish her well as she prepares to move with her family to Los Angeles next month.  This is a special opportunity to see all 36 prints hanging at once - a beautiful sight to see.  

We will sorely miss Kristina in Seattle, but can't wait to see what drives up and down the California coast line inspire by way of new print series.  Word is Kristina is considering a landscape series based on views from Highway 1. 

Saturday, May 15, 2010, 4 to 8 pm

Sidereal Fine Art Press
4261 South 144th Street Tukwila, Washington 98168
t: 206.298.9803

Refreshments provided.  Parking is available in the press parking lot or across the street in the Foster High School parking lot Sidereal Fine Art Press is located 10 blocks North of the Tukwila Link Light Rail Station and across the street from Foster High School.

(photos left to right, top to bottom: outside at Sidereal Press; inside Sidereal Press with Sheila Coppola; Kristina Hagman and Sheila Coppola)

And if you can't make it tonight, prints from Kristina's Rainier series are also currently on view at the venues below:

Lake Forest Park Towne CentreApril 14 – May 29, 2010
Artwork by Susan Brown, Kristina Hagman and Mary Bess Johnson

The Gallery at Towne Centre
17171 Ballinger Way NE, Lake Forest Park WA 98155.  Located on the inside, lower level of the Mall.

Kirkland Arts Center

May 14 – June 5, 2010
Ten: Seattle Print Arts 2010 Anniversary Exhibition
Juried by Seattle Art Museum's Michael Darling
620 Market Street, Kirkland WA 98033
(425) 822-7161