Enlivening
downtown Tacoma with temporary installations and performance-based
art.
908 -
912
Broadway
July 1 - September 24, 2010
Ben
Hirschkoff
Untitled
For
the last five years, Seattle-based artist Ben Hirschkoff has
focused on one archetype, the cloud motif. In this 3-D
installation, he conjures a skyscape out of translucent acrylic
sheet and familiar building materials that reflect “the
fragmented way in which we perceive nature, as both a resource and
a utility.” www.benhirschkoff.com
Michelle
Acuff
Surrogate
In
this work, Michelle Acuff explores our
tenuous liaison to the natural world by juxtaposing objects of
nature, such as forest animals, with materials that are grossly
synthetic and manmade. A surreal restaging of our relationship to
the planet and its habitants.
www.michelleacuff.com
Tory
Franklin
The
Firebird
Tory
Franklin creates works of operatic intensity and this
site-specific piece, based on a classic Russian fairytale, is no
exception. The
ornate, layered and colorful vignette illustrates a scene from The
Firebird, the story of a royal prince’s epic quest to
capture a magical bird. www.toryfranklin.com
October
10, 2010 - January 5, 2011
Barbara
DePirro
vortex
plastica
One
person's castoffs are another person's treasure in the world of
artist Barbara De Pirro. In vortex plastica she takes recycled and re-imagined materials to
create a multi-dimensional universe where
a web-like form, a whirling tornado, a spun nest and a solar
system fill the void. www.depirro.com
Sisy
Anderson & Scott Huette
Remembrances
Trees and slow-turning “leaf mobiles” become metaphorical
containers for human memory in the site-specific work, Remembrances.
This multi-layered piece suggests that by our ability to shade
memories and to shed those that do not serve us (”as a leaf
falls from a tree in autumn”), human beings create the
psychological space needed to generate life anew. www.studiocartouche.com,
www.studioyugen.com
Holly Senn
Untitled
Holly
Senn explores “the life cycle of ideas – the organic,
non-linear process in which thoughts have a genesis” and then
are disseminated into the world. Discarded library books provide
the medium for this installation of sculptures: “I cut, rip,
realign and glue, [reflecting] on each new generation’s
collective erasure of some element of the past and its casting of
new ideas into the future.” www.ryksenn.com
Broadway
& 11th (Woolworth Windows)
July 1 - September 24, 2010
Lisa
Kinoshita
Jack's
Epitaph
Jack,
“the
Tacoma
bear,” was a pet bruin owned by the Tacoma Hotel in the 1890s.
Jack was known to roam untethered about the city's streets and
enjoyed favored status with the citizenry - until the day he was
shot. Jack's Epitaph
is about loss and the shifting, provisional relationship of humans
to nature. www.lisakinoshita.com
Gretchen
Bennett
Window
#4:
Tacoma
Gretchen
Bennett's installation, Window
#4:
Tacoma
, was
inspired by “the
overcast, dreamy light” and “the varied histories and
architecture” of
Tacoma
. This enigmatic piece centers around a
Hudson
's Bay blanket and an arrangement of strange relics, and unfolds
in the moment when “the business day is done and the streets are
empty or transforming as the nightlife begins.” www.gretchenbennett.com
Joseph
Songco
Storefronts
“Storefronts
are in many ways a cultural commentary of a society's dreams....a
doorway to a society’s inner workings,” says
Seattle-based photographer Joseph Songco.
This series of photographs, shot in
New York City
, reveals the unexpected ways in which fashion advertising exposes
the economic and cultural divergences between communities. www.josephsongco.com
meadow
starts with p
Ackawacko
meeting
The
group of artists known as “meadow starts with p”
is composed of a dad and his two young kids. This unique
collaborative makes a spirited inquiry into the relationship
between play and art, establishing that the two are fundamentally linked. Ackawacko
meeting sets the stage for an encounter with a mysterious,
horned creature using Play-doh, finger puppets and riotous
decoration.
www.andrew-j-peterson.com
Eric Holdener, Bil Fleming, Scott McGee
Zeit-Bike
2010: Kinetic Interventions
Kinetic
Interventions
showcases the winners of the 4th Annual Zeit-Bike
Competition, sponsored by the
Tacoma
Art Museum
and the City of
Tacoma
. Functional art and eco-friendly transportation come together in
these kinetic bike sculptures that are operated by human power. www.bilfleming.com,
www.eric-holdener.com, scott.mcgee.art@gmail.com
October
10, 2010 - January 5, 2011
Kyle
Dillehay
Lines
of the Earth
A
sterile white cubicle is transformed into a mysteriously fecund
earthwork in Lines of the
Earth. Kyle Dillehay employs the root systems of heirloom
plants to illuminate the way natural systems echo one another, and
how similar designs support seemingly disparate systems - of the
body (lymphatic, circulatory, reproductive) and Earth (plant
vascular and root systems). www.sculpture.org/portfolio/sculptorPage.php?sculptor_id=1001643
Alice
DiCerto
My
America
In
this collection of gelatin silver prints, My
America, Italian-born photographer Alice Di Certo offers a
visual exploration of her adopted country that will fascinate
viewers who were born and raised here. Seen through Di Certo's
lens, familiar scenes of American life become open to new and
sometimes amusing interpretation. adicerto@tacomacc.edu
Jessica
Bender, Tania Kupczak, Craig Snyder and Ruth Marie Tomlinson
Collections
/ Obsessions
Inheriting
a collection of objects that is evidence of someone’s obsession
can be a gift, a burden, a responsibility. Ultimately, one might
ask if the obsession itself has become an inheritance. In this
three-staged installation, four artists come together, each with
an inherited collection and the desire to re-catalog. In the
process they address questions about their own obsessions. www.ruthmarietomlinson.com
Alexandra
Opie
Still
Life in Motion: The Street
Salem,
OR-based, artist Alexandra Opie is intrigued by both
the composed richness of still life imagery and the immediacy of
live, interactive video. In this site-specific work she combines
the two: Viewers will experience the aesthetic pleasure of
contemplating still life coupled with the urgency of watching live
video – meanwhile being monitored on a flatscreen t.v. www.alexandraopie.com,
aopie@willamette.edu
950
Pacific Avenue
June 16 - September 26, 2010
June
Sekiguchi, Mary
Coss and Pam Hom
Bloodlines
Bloodlines
addresses issues of cultural and
creative inheritance and how they manifest in art work.
Three sculptors worked independently to produce a cohesive
installation based on intersecting themes: the hidden world of the
unconscious, the grief following a parent's death, and the
oft times “fierce” maternal instinct.
www.junesekiguchi.com,
roadsidestudio@fidalgo.net,
www.marycoss.com
October
9, 2010 - January 5, 2011
Alyson
Piskorowski
Unititled
Alyson
Piskorowski investigates our daily environments – the marks we
leave, the history we unconsciously create – in an attempt to
draw out the stories embedded within. The results of her inquiry
appear in this installation, which evokes in symbolic language
“the tension between the everyday and the ecstatic.” alyson.piskorowski@gmail.com
Tollefson
Plaza (17th & Pacific)
July 15 - August 10
Alexander
Keyes
Wave
A
larger-than-life, blue erector set energizes an
urban gathering place in this outdoor work by Alexander Keyes. As
if arranged by a behemoth, Keyes' sculptural Wave climbs
the stairs of Tollefson
Plaza
creating arresting shapes for passersby to explore. www.alexanderkeyes.weebly.com
July 31 - August 31
James
Sinding
Letters
Inspiration
for this open-air installation at Tollefson Plaza comes from the
“letter” magnets people place on their refrigerators –
magnified to the 10th power. A pile of 5 sq. yards of
12-in. painted, wooden letters extends an open invitation for
passersby to write a poem, to read the thoughts of others, or to
add their own. www.jamesgraysonsinding.blogspot.com
July 29 - September 15
Janet
Marcavage
Untitled
An
outdoor installation of big,
bold Pop Art flowers activates
an overlooked city space. The artist's eye-popping, modernistic
blossoms, meticulously cut out from Tyvek, make
Tollefson
Plaza
come alive. A fresh draw for art lovers and the brown bag crowd. www.janetmarcavage.com
August 16 - 20
A
K
Mimi
Allin
Seaside
Opera
An
aging wooden lifeguard chair stands sentinel as Tollefson Plaza
turns into a beach for A K Mimi Allin's Seaside
Opera. The artist performs to a mesmerizing audio of
ocean-inspired operas and carnival sounds. Viewers may be enticed
to participate by the toy-strewn water pools. Performances daily;
schedule at www.spaceworkstacoma.com.
www.thepoetessatgreenlake.blogspot.com
September 16
Carla
Barragan
Thick
Thick
is
an original performance choreographed by Carla Barragán and
Bqdanza members, with musical soundscapes by Nelson García. This
site-specific work, a response to the oil spill on the
Gulf
Coast
, mourns the environmental disaster while celebrating the grace
and beauty of the region's birds, sea creatures and other
habitants. Performances at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. www.bqdance.com
November 15 - February 15
Monika
Proffit
Untitled
Especially
mesmerizing at night, this installation's soothing and serene
“braids of light” illuminate the water feature in
Tollefson
Plaza
.
The luminous light sculpture is designed from fiber optic cable to
create volumes of light that reflect and respond to the
environment. www.monikaproffitt.com
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