posts that contain mini-bios of our writers
The summer print edition of Oly Arts magazine is published! Copies of the printed version are available free of charge throughout the area – find out where you can pick up a copy and see a list of articles in this issue.
Revel in the weather or escape into air conditioning:
Party with legends at Harlequin – “Million Dollar Quartet”
Shakespeare in the trees – Animal Fire Theatre’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost”
Semiquincentennial celebrations – Lacey and Tumwater 4th of July
Molly Gilmore’s popular arts and entertainment column, is moving to “Oly Arts” beginning Wednesday, July 1st. She’ll keep readers in the know about much of what’s new and important in South Sound’s vibrant arts scene in her “Arts Aficionado.” Molly has been an excellent and consistent writer for Oly Arts since the very first edition of Oly Arts.
At summer’s height, when many theaters are dark, two South Sound companies go out to play in picnic-perfect parks. Both Animal Fire Theatre and String & Shadow Puppet Theater stage major shows when the days are long and the skies most likely blue. Animal Fire is producing the seldom-staged and seriously silly Love’s Labour’s Lost, opening July 3, and String & Shadow. is producing a return of 2025’s Night at the Grand Opera. These outdoor productions will be performed in Olympia’s Decatur Woods Park and Wonderwood Park.
Susan Christian has lived in Olympia for 54 years and she has been central to the arts community here. Irritated that there were few places for artists to show art, in 2011 she started Salon Refu Gallery downtown. There she showed many local artists, held poetry readings, book readings, and artist talks. It was a joyous hub of the local arts community. Speaking of her own work, Christian says she very intentionally doesn’t paint pictures of things, nor suggestions of things either. She describes her work as someone “touching the surface.” She points out that art needs to be visible and, not one for complacency, she was “not going to let people go to sleep.”
Slow Work is an excellent art exhibition featuring paintings on wooden lathe with a sea full of blue by Susan Christian and bonfire fired pottery by Steve Belz at Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia — thought provoking, deceptively simple and beautiful art. This is a must-see exhibition through July 26.
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts’ 2026-27 season, announced Tuesday, June 17, features the center’s traditional mix of Broadway shows, comedy, music, dance and family — plus two leading lights of literature.
“We’re very excited to have Amy Tan and Tim Egan coming in this season.” said Jill Barnes, the center’s executive director. Also among the season’s big names are satirical singing sensation Randy Rainbow (Oct. 15), comedy icon Tig Notaro (Nov. 13) and gospel giants The Blind Boys of Alabama (April 1).
Shoestring Circus performs “Dreamland” in Olympia from June 19 to 28. Only in its fourth year, Shoestring Circus was founded in Bellingham by four veteran circus performers: Osterloh, Matthew “Poki” McCorkle, Justin Therrien and Nicole Laumb. “We try to have a different show each year, so it feels to people who come every year that they’re coming into a whole new world,” Osterloh said. Only 15 performers were chosen from the 320 audition videos the circus received last fall.
The Puget Sound Book Artists are highlighting artists who have transformed the bare bones of books into fractals, dioramas, sculptures, and stunning blossoms of origami. The exhibition is running through June 30 at University of Puget Sound, appropriately in the Collins Memorial Library; surrounded by thousands of bog-standard books, the books being exhibited are wild and frequently abstract. One uniting factor among the works is the theme of “15,” which is interpreted in various ways.
Sarah Tavis and Jenn Berney want to give people permission to make their creativity playful. They encourage others (and themselves) to embrace making mistakes, taking risks, getting wild. They view the creative process as an end in itself, just as important as any finished product.
After years of experimenting, the two women will soon publish a book of their thoughts on creativity, “The Joyful Practice Handbook: Analog Play for Dark Times.”