On the first Thursday of every month hundreds head to Pioneer Square to check out the latest art shows. Seattle’s oldest neighborhood is home to dozens of galleries and first Thursday is when they often showcase new exhibitions and artists from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
First Thursday parking is free from 5 – 10 p.m. at Frye Garage (117 Third Ave. S.) and Butler Garage (114 James St.). To redeem, pick up a voucher at participating Pioneer Square stores, restaurants or galleries.
Here are a few shows you may want to check out.
Melissa Cole at ArtXchange Gallery
Melissa Cole’s creations hang in the North Gallery of ArtXchange. Her work is described as “elaborately adorned mixed media works featuring landscapes, animals and more.” The Spokane-based artist has also written more than 30 children’s natural history books and travels with her husband, Brandon, who is a wildlife photographer specializing in marine life. Her encounters inspire her “vividly colored, heavily textured and patterned paintings and mosaic sculptures.”
WHAT: Featured artist Melissa Cole
WHERE: ArtXchange Gallery, 512 First Ave S.
WHEN: Runs until Sept. 30
“BorderLands” at King Street Station
The inspiration for “BorderLands” begins with questions about nationalism, identity and whether symbols of our cultures liberate or imprison us. Because Americans are experiencing challenges to our democracy and threats to the fabric of an open, inclusive society, the Office of Arts & Culture collaborated with artists to creatively confront injustice, to resist boundaries and to build new frameworks to engender belonging. Nine installations are in the show as well as “And She Persisted: Voices of Women Artists,” an exhibition of artworks by women who explore the contradictions inherent in identity, nationalism, allegiance and cultural symbols.
Installation artists: Anida Yoeu Ali & Studio Revolt, Carina del Rosario, Ryan Feddersen, Satpreet Kahlon, Pedro Lasch, Henry Luke, Ries Niemi, Crystal Schenk and Inye Wokoma.
WHAT: “BorderLands”
WHERE: Top floor of King Street Station, 303 S. Jackson St.
WHEN: Runs until Oct. 29, open First Thursday 5 p.m. – 8 p.m., Fridays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturdays Noon – 6 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
“Marsha Burns: Look Again”
“Look Again” shows the depth of Marsha Burns’ photography over her decades-long career. Burns studied at the University of Washington in the mid-60s. She has received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and her photographs are in the collections of well-regarded museums including the Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Curator and Co-director of Prographica/KDR Norman Lundin: “In putting together this show, I wanted to highlight what I especially admire about Marsha’s work — its subjective expressive presence. With this in mind, I made my selection of silver gelatin, Polaroid, and digital prints from Marsha’s archives. They span her career, were shot in many cities and with many different people, and using a mix of technologies; to my eye, they all have the psychological expressive presence that distinguishes Marsha’s work. Take your time here, look, look again.”
WHAT: “Marsha Burns: Look Again”
WHERE: Prographica/KDR, 313 Occidental Avenue South
WHEN: Runs until Oct. 28
“Mark Rediske: Awakening”
“Awakening” at Foster White gallery “speaks to the sublime and its relationship to our human condition.” Rediske’s artist statement: “The Year is 1968 and I am sitting in my seventh-grade lecture hall class titled ‘Art Appreciation.’ If the demeanor of my Hazel Park, St.Paul, Minnesota, middle school compatriots could be used as any kind of barometer, the appreciation was decidedly subpar at best. And then it happened, the instructor began showing images of Joseph Mallard William Turner’s paintings. I had my young epiphany of aesthetic beauty: of art and nature as transcendent, majestic, cogent and awe-inspiring. So, there in a hideously overcrowded junior high, where many of the windows had been covered in plywood because of the handiwork of vandals, one painfully thin 14-year-old boy, desperately waiting to see who he might be, had a glimpse of the sublime. I have never forgotten that moment and that place.
This body of work is an amalgamation of my esteem for Turner, the influences of growing up in Minnesota (land of 10,000 lakes and panoramic vistas) and my current regards for the natural wonders and resplendent beauty of the Pacific Northwest.”
WHAT: “Mark Rediske: Awakening”
WHERE: Foster White Gallery, 220 Third Ave. S.
WHEN: Runs until Sept. 23
RELATED ARTICLES:
From Exile to Artist: Tatiana Garmendia’s city gallery installation centers the displaced
Deconstructing War: Wing Luke Museum show addresses conflict through absurdity
Mixed-media artist Lisa Myers Bulmash cuts and pastes each statement
Wait, there's more. Check out articles in the full August 30 issue.
Real Change is reader supported. Just $5 a month provides work for more than 300 active vendors and keeps community journalism strong.