posts by Alec Clayton
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Now showing at Olympia Family Theater (OFT), Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” is a small play that packs a big wallop for kids. I was not familiar with Mo Willems’ series of Elephant & Piggy children’s books before reading about them in the program. …
VISUAL ARTS REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The exhibition of drawings and paintings by Kathy Gore Fuss at Salon Refu offers proof positive that practice makes perfect. When she started plein air painting in the dense forests in and around Olympia, then later at the gritty, industrial Port of Olympia, she found her …
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Quoting director Scot Whitney’s notes in the program for Harlequin Productions’ The Two Gentlemen of Verona, “Probably no one had argued that it is (Shakespeare’s) best work. It’s not…The jokes are often cheap, strained or downright corny. And though Shakespeare always played fast and loose with time …
Olympia’s fall Arts Walk 2016 takes place on these days: Friday, October 7 (5-10 p.m.) Saturday, October 8 (noon – 5 p.m.) Think of Arts Walk as a weekend-long street party, with live music, theatrical performances and the conversion of downtown Olympia into one big gallery. It’s a showcase for the best of local arts and culture, …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Two Olympia-area artists have been chosen to show work in the bicoastal exhibitions Coast to Coast West in Seattle and Coast to Coast East in New York beginning in October and sponsored by The National Association of Women Artists and Women Painters of Washington. These artists are Susan Flora …
VISUAL ARTS REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) gallery director Nathan Barnes noted that Margaret Noble’s exhibition “Resonating Objects” begs the question, “What is art?” Is it just painting and sculpture? What about sound, movement, light? What are the boundaries between visual art and the performing arts? There …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Brian Wayne Jansen is a self-taught artist who began his career shortly after he took an art history class in high school. He enjoyed his first show at the Capitol Theater for a Stonewall Youth event eight years ago and has been showing around Olympia and Seattle since. For …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Robyn Chance has lived in the Northwest for most of her life. She attended the University of Washington, the University of Puget Sound and Bastyr University. She’s a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and is the author and illustrator of two children’s picture books. …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Tom Anderson is a contemporary mixed-media artist. He’s the artist who created Olympia’s Park of the Seven Oars by the roundabout on Harrison. His large paintings fill the walls in the emergency room at Providence St. Peter Hospital, and his work is in more than 1,600 public and private …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Sally Penley is an aptly named calligrapher living in Olympia. In addition to her love of letters and mixed-media painting, she enjoys creating Asian-inspired images with Sumi ink and simple tools such as pieces of board, handmade Sumi brushes and pointed pen nibs on a variety of textures and …