Christine Malek

Gallery Boom Explodes

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Gallery Boom, opening Oct. 1 in downtown Olympia, has come a long way. Geographically, it’s moved only four miles from its first home in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Tumwater, where it began two years ago as part of the city’s business incubator program. The big change: The …

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Margaret Noble, "Resonating Objects"

REVIEW: Margaret Noble’s “Resonating Objects” at SPSCC

VISUAL ARTS REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) gallery director Nathan Barnes noted that Margaret Noble’s exhibition “Resonating Objects” begs the question, “What is art?” Is it just painting and sculpture? What about sound, movement, light? What are the boundaries between visual art and the performing arts? There …

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222 Market; photo by Piper Hope Backholm

222 Market Opening Downtown

by Jennifer Crain for OLY ARTS This October, Olympia welcomes an indoor food market to the downtown corridor. A year-round destination, 222 Market features local vendors and restaurants that focus on sustainable, hand-produced goods. The project includes traditional walk-in businesses as well as a walk-through promenade, with open stalls and indoor public seating. The building’s …

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Brian Jansen

Painter Brian Jansen at Rush In Dumplings

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Brian Wayne Jansen is a self-taught artist who began his career shortly after he took an art history class in high school. He enjoyed his first show at the Capitol Theater for a Stonewall Youth event eight years ago and has been showing around Olympia and Seattle since. For …

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"A Tender Moment" (watercolor), by Robyn Chance

Painter Robyn Chance at Bamboo & You

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Robyn Chance has lived in the Northwest for most of her life. She attended the University of Washington, the University of Puget Sound and Bastyr University. She’s a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and is the author and illustrator of two children’s picture books. …

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Tom Anderson

Painter Tom Anderson at Childhood’s End Gallery

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Tom Anderson is a contemporary mixed-media artist. He’s the artist who created Olympia’s Park of the Seven Oars by the roundabout on Harrison. His large paintings fill the walls in the emergency room at Providence St. Peter Hospital, and his work is in more than 1,600 public and private …

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Sally Penley

Calligrapher Sally Penley at Buck’s Fifth Avenue

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Sally Penley is an aptly named calligrapher living in Olympia. In addition to her love of letters and mixed-media painting, she enjoys creating Asian-inspired images with Sumi ink and simple tools such as pieces of board, handmade Sumi brushes and pointed pen nibs on a variety of textures and …

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Pat Tassoni

Sculptor Pat Tassoni at Peacock Village

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Pat Tassoni is locally famous for lamps patterned after the Space Needle and made from recycled materials. On display at Peacock Village will be various Space Needle replicas ranging from one-foot to 12-feet-tall. The 12-foot Space Needle will be exhibited only on Friday evening. Other works by Tassoni can …

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Nikki McClure

Nikki McClure Nurtured by Olympia Art Scene

by Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS Once upon a time, Nikki McClure hung out with Olympia’s own “riot grrrls.” She danced on stage at Nirvana’s early performances and labored alongside K Records founder Calvin Johnson on a light table used for music newsletters. Over time, McClure also became a well-regarded papercut artist and began selling …

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Ben Folds

Ben Folds at Washington Center

Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation. He’s spent over a decade sharing the stage with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras–from Sydney, Australia to the Kennedy Center–performing his pop hits and his critically acclaimed concerto for piano and orchestra. For five seasons he was a …

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