By NED HAYES Sady Sparks, a current undergraduate at The Evergreen State College, has been named Olympia’s poet laureate for 2019-2020. Sparks is the second writer to serve in this position after inaugural poet laureate Amy Solomon-Minarchi. At 24 years old, Sparks is at the perfect age to rise as a poet. Audre Lorde started …
By Karen Lunde Olympia brings artists and thousands of art lovers together each spring and fall for its semi-annual celebration of the arts, Arts Walk. Angel Nava, arts-program specialist for City of Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation, has taken the helm for the fall event, shifting responsibility from arts-program manager Stephanie Johnson. Johnson pointed out …
by Bryan Willis for OLY ARTS If Einstein were a costume designer, his shop would look like the interior of Olympia’s own costume shop downtown: Costume Atelier Masque & Pettycote. Owner and costumer Mishka Navarre enjoys watching the expression on the face of a first-time customer: “If they haven’t been here before, I can always …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS For nearly four decades, the art of Olympia artist Kathy Gore-Fuss has moved through a fascinating metamorphosis from multi-media, surrealistic, abstract and symbolic to paintings that are as traditional as naturalism en plein air landscapes. Her gradual shift has not removed the indelible and unique signature look of her …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Whether as the lothario Vince in Brian Willis’s Seven Ways to Get There, the title character in Agamemnon, the purely evil Emperor Saturninus in Titus Andronicus or the insane Renfield in Tacoma Little Theatre’s Dracula, Brian Wayne Jansen is a larger-than-life presence on any stage. And he’s an exhibiting …
Thespian David Wright was born near Christmas in 1946. He died this week in Olympia at age 71. Wright was considered a master of the stage and worked regularly as an actor at many theaters along the West Coast. Wright began working with Harlequin Productions in 1992 in their second season, and performed on the Harlequin …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Marilyn Frasca is one of the South Sound’s most beloved artists, as evidenced by the crowds that flocked to her solo show at Childhood’s End Gallery in 2013. It was a rare honor for the artist, in that the gallery almost never does one-person shows. That show featured 71 …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Despite building a vast body of work including experimental music, painting, directing and collaborating in Olympia for the past 25 years, Arrington de Dionyso is still somewhat of a mystery to many Olympia residents. There’s something about the experimental musician and painter’s work that draws audiences in but, chances …
by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS “I don’t really remember a time when I didn’t play guitar.” — Vince Brown Olympians may well recognize Vince Brown as a guitarist who has thoroughly knitted himself into the fabric of the Pacific Northwest’s jazz scene. As a founding member of western-swing outfit Red Brown and the Tune …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS When not appearing on area stages, Dennis Rolly can be found serving customers at Pellegrino’s Italian Kitchen in Tumwater or riding scooters (a Taiwanese SYM 200 and an Italian Piaggio 500) with his wife, Gail, or traveling cross country. The latter is an every-other-year excursion, usually going to Kentucky, …