Lost, and Now Found, Art From the Civil Rights Era

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Hilarie M. Sheets

Panel 1 of “Struggle: From the History of the American People.” The work, by Jacob Lawrence, was received with some ambivalence by the art world. The collection was eventually purchased by a private collector who later resold each panel separately. The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, via PEM

During the civil rights movement in the mid-1950s, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) — one of the leading black artists of his day — painted a series of 30 panels re-examining early American history. The series, “Struggle: From the History of the American People,” presented a radically integrated view of the nation’s founding, including unheralded contributions of African-Americans in the fight to build a new democracy. The majority of these little-seen paintings have been reunited for the first time in roughly 60 years in “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle,” on view at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., through April 26. [More]

Meet Daniel Mitsui, Modern Artist With a Medieval Gothic Heart

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER
By Jay Coop

Indiana artist Daniel Mitsui carefully crafts each work of art, including Our Lady of Seattle, the Sacred Heart and other saintly depictions, including St. John the Baptist and St. Francis. (Courtesy of Daniel Mitsui)

A captivating new drawing of Our Lady of Seattle, created for St. Luke Church in Washington, is rich in details and symbols. To wit: On the border of the illustration, pairs of animals approach Noah’s Ark. The artist, Daniel Mitsui, who is married with four young children, is no monk, and he prefers not to talk at length about his Catholic faith because he does not want to leverage his devotion as a way to attract clients. But his idiosyncratic yet traditional Gothic art, inspired by illustrated manuscripts, panel paintings and tapestries from more than 800 years ago, has drawn a devoted following. [More]

In Seattle, Creating Community by Collecting Art and Artists

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Show Us Your Walls
By Paulette Perhach

On Shaun Kardinal’s wall, left to right: “Royalties Wanted,” by Anthony White (2018); an untitled painting by Ken Kelly (2010); and “500/500,” by Mr. Kardinal (2011).

SEATTLE — Shaun Kardinal, 36, doesn’t know where he’d fit another piece of art in his one-bedroom apartment, which is bursting already with more than 100 works. “Art tends to find the nooks and crannies for things to happen,” he said. Mr. Kardinal’s collection was born of the artistic community he has tapped into since his early days working at a frame shop. The items he pointed out in a visit to his Seattle home chronicle his 18 years there: There’s a colored-pencil drawing of him and his cat by Troy Gua; a painting by a neighbor of her bathroom, which is identical to his; and several pieces acquired through trades with artists he has befriended over time. [More]

CEO for Museum of the Bible is leaving to return to retirement

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
By Tim Funk

Tony Zeiss, in front of the Nazareth exhibit at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. Zeiss was named executive director of the museum in Washington in January 2017. He’s leaving the museum next month and returning to Charlotte, where he was president of Central Piedmont Community College for 24 years. Nalisa L. Capers Courtesy of Museum of the Bible

Tony Zeiss, who led Central Piedmont Community College for 24 years, is leaving his top post at the new Museum of the Bible in Washington to return to Charlotte. Zeiss became executive director of the then-unfinished museum just after retiring from CPCC in December 2016. The 430,000-square foot museum, a short walk from the U.S. Capitol, opened to the public in November 2017. Zeiss has overseen a staff of 175 full-time staffers, 50 part-timers and 300 volunteers and docents. "My goal was to get the museum open and running smoothly," he told the Observer. "We did it and it's time to come home." [More]

The vulnerable oil paintings of Washington state's Aleah Chapin

HI-FRUCTOSE
By Andy Smith

"Between the tides" Oil on canvas, 38 x 66 inches

Aleah Chapin’s vulnerable figures exist within a spectrum of emotions: joy, contemplating, stoicism. Yet, in each, the painter has the ability to tie our natural states to nature itself, often crafting lush environments for her subjects. The artist is particularly influenced by the region she inhabited in her youth. “Intimate, revealing and personal, the latest paintings by [Chapin] explore the passage of time as seen through the body; depicting friends and relations, all of whom she has known throughout her life growing up in a unique island community on the US Pacific Northwest Coast,” a recent statement says. “ … Set within a wild Pacific landscape, Aleah Chapin portrays the physical journey of the body in poetic terms, imbuing the forms of the older women with natural, sensuous vitality.” [More]

'Small-town florist' warns: 'Gay' art mandate threatens 'everyone'

WND

By Bob Unruh

WASHINGTON---That’s the warning from Washington state entrepreneur Barronelle Stutzman as the state Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in her discrimination case on Tuesday. She was penalized by the state for declining to promote a homosexual wedding through her floral artistry. The state Supreme Court last winter agreed to hear the case in a terse note signed by Barbara Madsen, the chief justice. The Alliance Defending Freedom, which is defending Stutzman in court, explained a lower court ordered her to pay penalties and attorneys’ fees “for declining to use her artistic abilities to design custom floral arrangements for a longtime customer’s same-sex ceremony.” [link]]

Dürer and R. Crumb United in Seattle Exhibition Devoted to the Graphic Arts

ARTDAILY

"The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb" (2009) by R. Crumb.

WASHINGTON---In its first large-scale exhibition devoted exclusively to the graphic arts, the Seattle Art Museum presents Graphic Masters: Dürer, Rembrandt, Hogarth, Goya, Picasso, R. Crumb (June 9–August 28, 2016). Featuring over 400 works by some of history’s greatest printmakers, the exhibition offers an in-depth exploration of the more than 500-year history and process of printmaking. Requiring less costly materials than painting or sculpture, printmaking gave artists the freedom to experiment, push boundaries, and express their own views with a much larger audience. [link]

Chinese Artist Lu Yang, Makes Good Art for Bad Dreams in Seattle

THE STRANGER.COM
By Jen Graves

Lu Yang'd 3-D avatar is born, ready to be enlightened/tortured/killed/reborn as a triple-headed Hindu deity spinning in space.

WASHINGTON---Delusional Mandala is by the Shanghai artist Lu Yang, whose first Seattle show is up at the Interstitial gallery in Georgetown. We see icons from pre-Renaissance Christian art, from Hinduism (the studded golden halo is like Kali the Destroyer's headdress), from Shingon and Tibetan Buddhism, and also from science fiction, medieval torture, pop culture, Iroquois legend, and medical labs—cutting-edge technology that's minimally invasive but aspires to see all, map all, and manipulate consciousness, not just crude body mechanics. [link]

‘Disgraced’ is a Theatrical Bombshell That Doesn’t Let Anybody Off the Hook

THE SEATTLE TIMES
By Misha Berson

Bernard White (Amir) and Nisi Sturgis (Emily) in “Disgraced” at Seattle Repertory Theatre.

WASHINGTON---During the opening-night performance of “Disgraced” at Seattle Repertory Theatre, an audience member stood and shouted angrily at the actors. Then he grabbed his coat and exited, loudly. Though nobody else voiced it so publicly, he surely wasn’t the only patron distressed by a shocking turn of events in this play about the disintegrating career, marriage and identity of a Pakistani-American lawyer. Ayad Akhtar’s tumultuous drama (a 2013 Pulitzer Prize honoree) means to unsettle or disturb. But not gratuitously so. [link]

The Best Religious Architecture Of 2015

THE HUFFINGTON POST 
By Antonia Blumberg

Our Lady of Montserrat Chapel, Seattle

Every year for the past 30 years, Faith & Form magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture have honored outstanding religious architecture and design through their annual awards program. This year's winners were selected by a panel of five independent judges, and they demonstrate the diverse and creative ways in which human beings experience and depict the sacred. View the 16 winners of the 2015 Faith & Form/IFRAA Religious Art and Architecture Award: [link]

Tacoma Art Museum explores religion, sex, and politics in "Art AIDS America"

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS 

Shimon Attie: Untitled Memory (projection of Axel H.), 1998, Ektacolor photograph, Edition 1 of 3, 32 × 38 3/4 inches Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

WASHINGTON---Every 10.5 minutes someone becomes infected with HIV. HIV/AIDS has touched nearly every American in some way. This fall, Tacoma Art Museum will present "Art AIDS America," a groundbreaking exhibition that underscores the deep and unforgettable presence of HIV in American art. Ten years in the making, the exhibition of more than 115 works debuts at TAM on Saturday, October 3, 2015. Since its discovery, AIDS has shaped art, politics, and religious expression.

Tacoma Art Museum: "Art AIDS America" (October 3, 2015 – January 10, 2016); 1701 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA; (253) 272-4258; TacomaArtMuseum.org

Seattle's African art reveals how masks have evolved into the 21st century

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

Nandipha Mntambo's mask “Europa,” from the “Disguise” exhibit at Seattle Art

WASHINGTON---We all wear masks, whether literal or ​imaginary. The Seattle Art Museum's "Disguise: Masks and Global African Art" provides an updated look at 21st-century evolutions of the mask and explores contemporary forms of disguise. For this exhibition, curators sought out contemporary artists from Africa and of African descent to create new installations, visions, and sounds for the exhibition. These artists fill the galleries with inventive avatars and provocative new myths, taking us on mysterious journeys through city streets and futuristic landscapes.

"Calligraphic Abstraction" exhibition at Seattle Art Museum is about beauty

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

Waka poem, Hon'ami Koetsu, Japanese, 1558 – 1637, 54 7/16 × 17 5/8 in., Private collection.

WASHINGTON---"Calligraphic Abstraction" is about beauty. It’s a celebration of one of the oldest artistic traditions – and what can be seen just by looking. Opening on May 9 at SAM’s Asian Art Museum, the exhibition presents 36 outstanding works selected from collections of the Seattle Art Museum and private collectors to showcase this art form that has thrived for thousands of years. With representative works ranging from Islamic to archaic Chinese style, to contemporary artist Xu Bing’s invented writing system, and the Pacific Northwest artist Mark Tobey’s calligraphy-inspired work.

Religious cults of America's Northwest, a tradition that continues today

SEATTLE WEEKLY
By Seth Goodkind

Photo © Samvado Gunnar Kossatz for Get Religion

The decline and disintegration of Mars Hill Church last year may have surprised some, but to others it was predictable, and not without precedent. The Pacific Northwest has been home to numerous utopian communes and fanatical religious groups, from the radical to the deeply conservative. Since the arrival of European Christianity and its normative pall, outsider and fringe belief has been a staple of the local culture. From Eastern philosophies to the syncretic, the Pacific Northwest has been a site of religious demagoguery for ages, and the present is no exception. [link]

NAACP's Rachel Dolezal is also an artist

ARTNEWS
By Hannah Ghorashi

"Hell" by Rachel Dolezal

WASHINGTON---By now, you may have heard that the leader of Spokane, Washington’s branch of the NAACP, Rachel Dolezal, has allegedly misrepresented herself as black or biracial. Newsweek reports that Dolezal’s ancestry is in fact Czech, Swedish, German, and very slightly Native American. ARTnews came across her blog, where it appears that, in addition to the above, Dolezal is also an artist, with an MFA from Howard University in Washington, D.C. [link]

Fundraiser for Washington florist who rejects gay marriage raises $90000

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Kurtis Lee

WASHINGTON---A deluge of cash has flowed into an online crowd-funding account set up to support a Washington state florist who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding. Supporters of Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash., created a GoFundMe page in February, shortly after a judge ruled she had violated consumer protection laws. [link]

Once upon a time, God created Gays and Lesbians

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Holland Cotter

A detail from “Adam and Eve” (1989), by George Whitman, at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. Credit Courtesy of the artist and Rob Wheeler

NEW YORK---In 1989, when AIDS and the culture wars were slamming the art world, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York mounted a big morale-boosting group exhibition on the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Of the 50 pieces — half by men, half by women, gay and not — in that show, a few were site-specific murals and remain visible, even as the interior has changed. A current show, “Once Upon a Time and Now,” highlights and adds to them. A long-awaited survey of work from this era, “Art AIDS America,” organized by the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington, will start traveling the country in September. Until then, and for the foreseeable future, there’s this. [link]

Drawings by Makoto Fujimura at Kittredge Gallery in Tacoma, Washington

THE SUBURBAN TIMES

WASHINGTON– "Process Drawings: Recent Works by Makoto Fujimura" showcases recent works by the abstract expressionist painter that provide insight into his creative process and the evolution of an important group of his large-scale paintings created since 2007. Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and orator. He has exhibited his work exploring spiritual and metaphysical themes at galleries and museums around the world, including the Dillon Gallery in New York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, and Vienna’s Belvedere Museum. Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N Warner St (CMB 1072), Tacoma, Washington [link]

From Bollywood to Hindu Mythology: Exhibit on Indian Contemporary Art on Display at Seattle Art Museum

VANCOUVER DESI

Part of the City Dwellers: Contemporary Art from India exhibit on display at the Seattle Art Museum. The exhibition closes Feb. 16. Submitted photo.

WASHINGTON---There’s just about two weeks left to experience the Seattle Art Museum’s "City Dwellers: Contemporary Art from India" exhibit. The exhibition, which closes Feb. 16, offers an “insider’s perspective” to contemporary life in India from Hindu mythology, to Bollywood movies and Indian and Western art. [link]

St. John's Bible Artist Suzanne Moore Says it Was Her 'Most Challenging' Work

PIONEER PRESS
By Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times

"I Call Heaven And Earth," created by artist Suzanne Moore for the St. John's Bible, is from Deuteronomy 30:19-20, in which God says we can choose between life (here and in heaven) and death.

WASHINGTON---Vashon Island, Wash., bookmaker, artist and calligrapher Suzanne Moore has been swimming against this tide for most of her career. She makes manuscripts, lettering them by hand, illustrating them and then turning them over to her husband and an assistant to bind. Collectors buy them. Sometimes they commission them. When, in the late 1990s, Moore was one of two American artists chosen to participate in the creation of the St. John's Bible, a 1,150-page illuminated Bible made from vellum (calfskin), hand-ground paints, ancient inks and quills, she was thrilled, and a little awed. [link]