posts about art, art shows, galleries and other visual arts…
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS South Puget Sound Community College professor of art Joe Batt creates comically surrealistic ceramic figures of men and women, children and animals. Rabbits that look for all the world like they just stepped away from a Mad Hatter tea party appear to be his favorite creature creation &mash; and …
WEEKEND PREVIEW is your weekly guide to events in Thurston County. This week, we’re bringing you everything you need to know about debut author readings, hilarious plays and stunning art exhibits around Olympia. The only question is how you’ll pick from this week’s stellar lineup of events. Click here to listen to our podcast version …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Dip your paddle into the water, pulling the handle until the blade rises, and feel the spray of the Puget Sound’s cold, salty water. Move and breathe in time with teammates. It sounds relaxing, doesn’t it? But for dragon-boat racers across the Puget Sound, it’s not just relaxing. It …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Loralin Toney created Aquapia, the mixed-media sculpture on the cover of the Arts Walk map, in and around her tiny, off-the-grid home in Tenino. “I used to have a thousand-square-foot studio, and now I have a picnic table,” she said in a recent interview. “But I’m much happier here. …
by Kelli Samson for OLY ARTS Growing up in Bothell, Steve Bylsma loved drawing the natural world. The 2011 Evergreen State College graduate and freelance artist continually brings art and nature together. Bylsma enjoys creative problem solving, so his set-design work for Olympia Family Theater has been a perfect fit. “I generally enjoy designing sets …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Megan Bailey is an art student at The Evergreen State College. Allsorts is a private gallery operated out of the home of Lynette Charters Serembe and John Serembe. The painter and gallery match up for a short-run exhibition of Bailey’s most recent paintings. Lynette Serembe, an artist in her …
by Kelli Samson for OLY ARTS Most kids love to draw. The difference between artists like Corinna Luyken and many of us is she never stopped when she grew up. Luyken’s first book, The Book of Mistakes, was inspired by her young daughter crumpling her own artwork for the first time, declaring its imperfection. Luyken …
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS Led by Jerry Berebitsky, Olympia Waldorf School has accepted the challenge of portraying a flock—technically, an “ostentation”—of peacocks. That includes at least 30 kid-sized peacock characters and an alpha peacock some 24 feet high, puppeteered by 20 people. The original alpha puppet was created by the Spirit of the …
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS Since 1974, the Nisqually river delta has been set aside for public enjoyment as the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. This biologically diverse estuary covers over 760 acres, the largest delta refuge in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a birdwatcher’s delight, with over 200 species alighting there each …
VISUAL ARTS REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Lucy Gentry Meltzer’s Biophilia Collection at Salon Refu is a selection of small voodoo dolls and sculptural figures on dress mannequins, standing on the floor and floating from a natural wood frame just below the gallery ceiling. Figuratively, they’re wood sprites, fairies, medieval warriors and goddesses, …