By Anna Schlecht Olympia has become a “city of murals”, with an ever-growing number of large format artworks on walls across the urban hub and beyond. Some murals appear overnight, executed without payment or permission. Others are juried by experts and commissioned for thousands of dollars. Into this pantheon of public art enters a unique …
By Ellis Boran Shrek is an animated adventure movie packed with action, drama, and lots of comedy. The movie is about how an ogre falls in love with a princess. The movie has a clear moral, to never judge a book by its cover. An ogre is considered a big, dumb, ugly beast, but this …
By Jerica Pender It was 2007, just as our country took a deep dive into a recession, that the idea for a pop-up ice rink popped up on Jonathan Turlove’s radar. As the director of parks planning & maintenance for City of Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation, it’s his job to have great ideas. But …
By ALEC CLAYTON On a Wednesday morning in November, over 20 people gather around two long tables in downtown Olympia’s Hummingbird Studio. They’re students at The Evergreen State College, or they’re from the Transitions Program of Olympia School District, which provides opportunities to envision the potential for post-secondary education. As the Transitions website puts it, …
An exclusive photo gallery by MOLLY WALSH for OLY ARTS. WHAT Ballet Northwest’s The Nutcracker WHERE The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia WHEN 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Dec. 13 and 14, 20 and 21; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, Dec. 14, 15, 21 and 22 HOW MUCH $14-$35 …
By Karen Lunde When the calendar flips to December, it’s nigh impossible to walk into a store or turn on the TV without hearing endless refrains of Jingle Bell Rock and Frosty the Snowman. Love them or loathe them, holiday songs are ubiquitous this time of year. But The Olympia Peace Choir’s concert at Huntamer …
by Ned Hayes Carols often become the background mutter of the holidays – old tunes covered by bored pop stars. Yet the joy of hearing a professional group of singers deliver Christmas standards in the original intended choir format is a surprisingly fresh and enlivening experience. In the skyscape of sound, the sopranos hit the …
By MOLLY GILMORE There’s mystery and magic afoot at Harlequin Productions this season. The company’s Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol, opening November 29, is a mashup that finds Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective receiving a series of ghostly visitors, as Scrooge does in Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic. The combination of two …
By MOLLY WASH Out of the wings and onto center stage, Ballet Northwest will present its 35th-annual production of The Nutcracker at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts from December 13 to 22. Illustrating the time-honored holiday story will be choreography by Ballet Northwest’s co-artistic directors, Josie and Ken Johnson, who devised a show …
An exclusive photo gallery by MOLLY WALSH for OLY ARTS. WHAT Studio West Dance Theatre presents The Nutcracker WHEN 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Dec 14, 20 and 21; 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sundays, Dec 15 and 22 WHERE South Puget Sound Community College Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts, 2011 Mottman Rd. …