posts by Molly Gilmore
Among the 100 Arts Walk locations hosting visual art, music, dance, puppetry, aerial arts and much more, collaborative work among literary and visual artists is one of the themes that emerge. “We’ve had poetry in the past, but this year, there’s definitely a lot out there,” said Arts Walk coordinator Jessica Strauss Tomy. Like this Arts Walk itself, the poetic projects involve a lot of students and a certain amount of serendipity.
“It’s an eclectic mix,” said Sean Barnes, the director and coordinator of the college’s Leonor R. Fuller Gallery about the SPSCC Juror’s Invitational, open through April 26. “It’s fun to go into shows where you have this eclectic work — to appreciate how that much diversity can exist in a single space.”
“I remember the crisis one day.” Sculptor Don Freas, already a well-respected craftsman who’d shown his furniture in galleries, said. “I said, ‘No, I can’t make a chair. I want to do something new.’ And it became a sculpture.” This retrospective at Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia through April 21 is a meditation on Freas’ creative process.
Theater Artists Olympia’s production of “The Liar” by David Ives is at OlyTheater in Capital Mall, March 22 through April 7 with Aaron Gotzon as Dorante and Teresita Brimms as Clarice. The play is directed by Tom Sanders who said, “It’s not an absurdist play. It’s actually a straight farcical comedy.”
Olympia Family Theater’s executive director Mark Alford who plays Barney’s dad in “Barney Carey Gets His Wings” said, “The show is hilarious, but it doesn’t sacrifice any heart. At its core [it] is a discussion of self-identity and self-expression.”
The pictures in Unnatural Selections, animal portraits, by Erik Fremstad of Olympia on view beginning Feb. 16 at Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood, are each made up of thousands of words — and these words count. Selections are detailed, realistic depictions of iconic North American species done in pen and ink and watercolor.
In December, Olympia’s Arbutus Folk School moved across 4th Avenue to a larger and better laid-out location that will give the school — and its mission — room to grow.
Olympia’s new WineBox Theatre — the grownup wing of Juice Box Theatre — is paying homage to the three-hour tour with “Island Castaway Christmas” at OlyTheater in Capital Mall this Friday and Saturday as a fundraiser for Juice Box, which creates monthly snack-size shows for children 6 and younger.
Honoring the Legacy of Hazel Pete at SPSCC’s 2023 Native American Art Exhibition through Dec. 8th including baskets, mats, clothing and dolls from the 1800s through the present day.
Both the Studio West Dance Theatre production, opening Nov. 24, and the Ballet Northwest version, opening Dec. 8, are beloved traditions. Studio West first performed the ballet in 2009, and the venerable Ballet Northwest premiered its version in 1983. “There’s always a buzz around The Nutcracker,” said Stephanie Wood-Ennett, the co-director of Studio West. “So many people feel that their holiday is not complete without it.”