posts that will be on the front page
The art shared in the show “From Hwagae Market to Pike Place Market” at South Sound Community College through October 16 is from fourteen artists selected from the Korean American Artists Association of Washington, which makes for a very mixed response to the theme aesthetically, with styles ranging from surreal painterly studies, still life and folk art in style, to collage, wire work, and installations.
Many area residents and visitors have loved participating in the South Sound Studio Tour, seeing local artists’ creations up close and personal, talking with the artists about their art, and in many instances watching the magic of turning blank sheets of paper or canvas, hunks of clay or found materials into works of art. Now the Studio Tour is looking for volunteers to serve on the board, specifically, to fill the Outreach Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator roles.
Molly Gilmore “Arts Aficionado” #12 — September 16, 2026
Grand Stories, Van Tuinen Retrospective and Last Chance for ‘Kiss’
— StoryOly Grand Slam
— 57 years of art
— ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’
Audio artist Rob Patrick, long-time program director of the Olympia Film Society, has been awarded a fellowship by the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts). It has enabled Patrick to complete an experimental audio documentary. If Your Heart Hurts, Rub a Little Dirt On It: MGM and the Beginning of Everything is a free-form sound portrait of movie-making in the Hollywood studios during the 1930’s, and of some of the women who became stars during that decade.
Molly Gilmore “Arts Aficionado” #11 — September 9, 2026
Catch Blues by the Water and Laughs on Stage
— Blues benefit
— ‘Laughing’ ladies are back
— Last weekend to go ‘Barefoot’
Oly Arts is happy to publish part two of the introduction to the new column of culinary and artistic delight by the mysterious Phantom: “The Phantom of the Diner,” — “On Edible Art, an Introduction, Part the Second.”
“Keep on Laughing” by Paul Elliott is Olympia Little Theatre’s 87th season opener. This wacky and playful sequel to “Exit Laughing,” which was performed by Olympia Little Theatre in March, combines rapid-fire dialogue and plenty of entendre, presenting poignant undertones that explore an enduring question: are you ever too old to have fun? The main cast of “Exit Laughing” and director Dave Marsh have resumed their roles for this production.
Oly Arts is happy to announce the beginning — joyfully starting in September 2026 — of a new column of culinary and artistic delight, “The Phantom of the Diner,” by a mysterious and erudite writer who identifies only as The Phantom, and who asserts that “There simply must be some right perspective in the world, … a hierarchy of principle and right order to our existence, even in our world of postmodern relativity.” So welcome, dear reader, to the world of The Phantom.
Molly Gilmore “Arts Aficionado” #10 — September 2, 2026
Music on the Porch, Crowds at the Harbor, and ‘Kiss’ in Lakewood
— Porches become stages
— Crowds by the water
— ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’
https://olyarts.org/arts-aficionado-week-of-september-2-2026/
Because voters approved a one-tenth of one percent Olympia sales-tax increase (now in its third year) to fund the Inspire Olympia grant program, the city recently announced $3.3 million in grants for 2026-27, with $2.1 million awarded to 49 arts nonprofits. Thanks to this, Olympia has gained a theater and a gallery as well as other opportunities for the community to experience and participate in arts of all kinds.