By Alec Clayton Olympia’s Chris Maynard is a marvel. He makes art of a kind seldom if ever seen anywhere else. He makes images of birds and places them in shadow boxes. Often the birds are in flight and in combination with totem-like formations and abstract or stylized scenes, and everything in the boxes is …
By Alec Clayton Imagine a billboard that is a work of art — not just a commercial that’s artistic, but an actual painting, and not a full-size billboard but large enough, and lighted for nighttime viewing. That’s what local artist Teri Bevelacqua created for Burning Man 2019. The title of the piece is “From Here …
By Editor OLY ARTS writer Alec Clayton was invited to do a talk on his art at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts’ Center Salon. He prepared a PowerPoint presentation but was unable to use it because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Center Salon was postponed to a date at which he can’t be …
By Alec Clayton Anyone who has stopped in at Hawley’s Gelato for an affogato to sip on while watching people come and go across the street at the Washington Center has likely noticed artistic photographs on the walls. Perhaps a group of high-contrast black and white photos of a ballerina in a white tutu that …
By Aigner Loren Wilson Now is a time of community. Of outreach and support. Thousands in Thurston County have lost hours, jobs, gigs and money due to COVID-19. In our bones is the feeling of wanting to connect with our larger community, to offer support — or receive some. We are all doing our past …
By Alec Clayton Nikki McClure’s artistic output is phenomenal. Her paper cuts have often been shown at Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia and in other venues. She has published many illustrated books, including How to Be a Cat, Mama, Is it Summer Yet?, To Market, To Market and Waiting for High Tide. Her books have …
By Alec Clayton Hart James is quickly becoming one of the Olympia area’s most beloved visual artists. People who have not seen her paintings should do so. “Life is a layering of existences. Each layer is imbued with intense energy,” James explains. “My work speaks of this energy and these layers; the current of the …
By ALEC CLAYTON Almost everyone familiar with the Olympia art scene knows – or should know – Susan Aurand’s work. For many years, beginning in 1974, she taught at The Evergreen State College, and over the years she’s shown her art in such local venues as Childhood’s End Gallery and South Puget Sound Community College …
By Tom Simpson Hal Schrieve is well known to Olympians as a local word nerd, ardent reader, University of Washington graduate and trans activist. Schrieve, 22, is about to be well-known for hir—Schrieve’s preferred pronoun—powerful, debut novel, a transformative murder mystery that features teen zombies and werewolves. “I tried to imagine a modern fantasy world …
By ADAM McKINNEY Though its four members now reside in Portland, Oregon, Old Time Relijun began life in Olympia. Indeed, few bands feel quite as much like Olympia: ambitiously odd, disarmingly immediate and unafraid of experimentation. The fiery noise-rock group got its start in the ’90s, eventually releasing eight knockout albums through 2007 before going …