This Week's Events: Jan 14 - Jan 20, 2008

Wednesday, January 16

The Hideout – “Vital 5 Review” release party. The new edition of the Hideout’s zine. “Alcohol fueled editorial, drawings and other random thoughts, all made on location… And surprisingly, it is quite good.” Decide for yourself. Evening/nightish, free, 21+.

Thursday, January 17

Bellevue Arts Museum – Opening day of “Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place” a traveling exhibition that features contemporary works by eleven artists who employ diverse materials and techniques to address the uneasy balance between the natural and constructed environment. Twenty-three, large-scale, mixed-media works will be on indoor and outdoor display throughout the Museum. Exhibition continues through May 4, 2008.

Tacoma Art Museum – “Renoir as Printmaker: The Complete Works” exhibition opens. Tacoma Art Museum presents a comprehensive collection of French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s etchings and lithographs created during the last three decades of his life. Drawn from a local private collection, this body of work constitutes Renoir's entire known graphic works. Exhibition continues through June 29, 2008. The public opening happens tonight from 5-8 (during the Tacoma Artwalk) during which the museum is free.

The Hedreen Gallery – New videos from Matt McCormick’s “future so bright” series. Relentlessly blurring the line between documentary, installation and experimental film, McCormick has poetically captured the spirit of the American West in his latest body of work. McCormick gained critical attention for his film The Subconcious Art of Graffitti Removal, which was named one of the best films of 2002 by Artforum and The Village Voice. The “future so bright series” is “an ode to a falling empire, a swan song to what was, as well as a love song to what could still be.” Opening reception 5-8 pm. Exhibition continues through March 29, 2008.

Matt McCormick, detail from "future so bright: western edge"

Tacoma Artwalk - Participating galleries and business open 5-8 pm. In addition, admission to the Museum of Glass is free during the artwalk, and admission to the Tacoma Art Museum and Washington State History Museum is free all day.

Friday, January 18

Suyama Space – Opening reception for “Seeps of Winter: Installation by John Grade.” Seattle sculptor John Grade will create a site-specific installation inspired by an imagined view from the bottom of a bog stretched across the ceiling of Suyama Space, an installation gallery located at 2324 2nd Avenue in Seattle, Washington. Seeps of Winter is cast in interlocking sections of cast paper pulp, glassine and cellulose, a mixture that creates a thin, puckered and drooping skin spanning the exhibition space. The natural light emitted from the gallery skylights dimly filters through large pores in the membrane, releasing a subtle luminosity. Opening reception 5-7 pm. The exhibition will continue through April 18, 2008. Grade will present an artist talk at the gallery on Saturday, January 19 at 12 noon.

"Seeps of Winter," 2008, detail (in progress), cast paper pulp, glassine and cellulose, 10 x 50 x 30, photograph by Maria Grade

Seattle Art Museum – “World Maps: SAM's Think Tank and Beyond with Hirokazu Kosaka.” The Creatively Speaking lecture series presents SAM Think-Tank artist in residence Hirokazu Kosaka. How would you map the world you inhabit? This is the question printmaker Hirokazu Kosaka’s Mappa Mundi asks as he creates woodblock prints in response to maps made by Seattle residents. Discover how this project has unfolded over the last four months in the SAM Think Tank, as well as out and about in Seattle. 7-8 pm. Free with Museum Admission. To reserve your space, please call the SAM Box Office at 206.654.3121.

Saturday, January 19

Bellevue Arts Museum – “Textile Printing Demomstration.” Join Cameron Anne Mason, Textiles instructor at the Pratt Fine Arts Center, as she demonstrates ways of using thickened dye on fabric to create multi-layered and textured art cloth. Cameron will show how to stamp, stencil, and silkscreen fabric using low-tech tools. Learn simple techniques for silk-screening without the expense and effort of creating photo emulsion screens. 1-3 pm, Free to the public.

Henry Art Gallery – “Integrating Life and Art: Tea Ceremony Demonstration.” The Urasenke Foundation will present a Japanese Tea Ceremony demonstration in the Henry’s Turrell Skyspace (Light Reign); afterwards, participants can enjoy a tea service in the Henry’s Baci Café. Saturday January 19, 2008, 2 to 3:30 PM. (Seatings at 2, 2:30, and 3 PM). Space is limited, reservations required, call 206-616.9694. Suggested donation: $10 General / $5 Henry Members / $5 Students and Seniors

Seattle Art Museum – “Mappa Mundi Workshop with Hirokazu Kosaka.” Loosely translated, mappa mundi means charting worlds. Go back in time and create a map describing special places where you spent your childhood. Your hand-drawn maps will become part of the Mappa Mundi project on display in the Think Tank. No drawing experience needed. This is an intergenerational workshop. Noon – 2 pm. Free to the public, registration is recommended. Contact 206.654.3209 or CommunityAffairs@SeattleArtMuseum.org.

Sunday, January 20

Frye Art Museum – “West Germany’s Big Three: Herzog, Wenders, and Fassbinder.” Three names are inextricably linked with the flowering of West German cinema in the 1970s: Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God, 1972), Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, 1987), and the short-lived but astonishingly productive R. W. Fassbinder (The Marriage of Maria Braun, 1979). Robert Horton compares the journeys of these gifted filmmakers against the context of German film history. Audience discussion with film clips. 2 pm, free to the public.