By MELINDA MINTON This year’s Oly Old Time Festival brings food, music, workshops and new musical talents. Among its featured performers are Allison de Groot and Nic Gareiss. Making use of the South Bay Grange’s beautiful dance floor, they’ll hold a workshop called “Play a Tune/Dance a Tune.” It’s intended to, as Gareiss described it, “reveal …
By MELINDA MINTON This year brings Lacey Cultural Celebration, previously called Lacey Ethnic Celebration, offering foods, culture and entertainment from around the world. Lacey isn’t the relatively new suburb it might seem to be. Long before Europeans traveled there, the area was home to Native American Nisqually and Squaxin tribes. Non-indigenous settlement began in the 1840s. …
By JONAH BARRETT Visual-art shows needn’t just be entertaining, they can also engage audiences and create change in their communities. That’s what local artist Carter Wilson hopes to achieve with Live Installation at Le Voyeur. It’s a collaboration between Wilson, the homeless-youth nonprofit Stand Up For Kids and five local hip-hop artists: Blk Sknn, BrySone!, …
By Billy Thomas The City of Olympia Percival Plinth Sculpture Project kicked off in early February with a call for up to 16 sculptures to be displayed on outdoor pedestals, or plinths, at Olympia’s Percival Landing. The temporary art installations will be displayed for up to one year, during which time people may get up …
ART REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The defining thing about the annual postcard show at South Puget Sound Community College is humor, is variety, is lots and lots of little works of art — is most of all that nothing is rejected. Every work submitted is accepted into the show without judgment, which …
By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL The Yiddish-American word klatch, which can rhyme with either batch or botch, means an informal gathering, usually one that facilitates conversation. Pizza Klatch is an Olympia-based organization that empowers LGBTQ+ youth in Thurston County by providing safe, supportive spaces — and yes, free pizza — in 15 area schools. It’s the result …
By Christian Carvajal From Sunday, Nov. 25 to Christmas Eve, visitors to Hands On Children’s Museum are encouraged to write letters to the troops with art supplies provided by the museum. Other activities scheduled for the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas include “MakeSpace: Still-Life Watercolor on Easels,” “Nature Play: Cider Pressing” Thanksgiving weekend, “PlayWise: Sticky …
By Christian Carvajal Professional storyteller Elizabeth Lord has been the host of StoryOly since she and Amy Shepard launched that raconteurial showdown in Nov. 2015. It fills Rhythm & Rye the third Tuesday of almost every month. The annual exception arrives each September, when the previous 11 winners come together for a weekend finals round. …
By Lucia Volker Seasoned interior designer Nicole Durden and her husband Dan opened their store, Sound and Vision Living, in the beginning of October on Olympia’s east side. They specialize in mid-century modern and boho furniture, design goods, one-of-a kind gifts and the work of local artists. “Our concept is to have a store that …
By Christian Carvajal Olympia Film Society’s 16th-annual Duck the Malls fundraiser benefits independent artists and crafters in the South Sound while supporting visual-arts programming at Capitol Theater. It boasts items from over 50 vendors, including makers of board games, ceramics, dolls and other toys, ironwork, lighting and musical instruments. Homemade desserts are on sale at …