Exhibits are inspired by a row of abandoned Island greenhouses and the ancient art of tattooing.
At Blue Heron: Artists explore a Vashon landmark on Beall Road
Island artists Matthew Olds and Heather Joy will join forces for a Blue Heron Gallery installation, “Abandoned Concentrations,” opening Friday March 4, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Olds was awarded a 4Culture Individual Artist Project grant to explore the abandoned Beall greenhouses and the 25 surrounding acres of overgrown land that the decaying structures still sit upon on Beall Road.
The result is an exhibition that includes paintings, drawings, photography and installation by both Olds and Joy.
The two artists, a married couple, are co-owners of HOLD Studios, an Island fine art company that works with artists and arts patrons on everything from project conception to installations of exhibits. (Olds also works for The Beachcomber.) Among the venues that have shown their work are VALISE Gallery, the Fetherston Gallery and Brotman Galleria at the University of Washington.
This show, Olds said, is “about the evolution of structures that are being reclaimed by nature.”
Joy, a photographer, creates work that reflects her concerns for the environment. “I’m interested in documenting humans’ manipulation of landscape and nature up-close,” she said.
The pair will expand the project for a June show at Seattle’s Vermillion Gallery and hope to publish a small book about their process.
At VALISE: Sea Change Tattoos celebrates an anniversary
Artists paint on all sorts of canvases. This month at VALISE, the human body is the canvas of choice.
The gallery will host an exhibit of work by the tattoo artists of Seattle’s Lucky Devil South Tattoo Parlor and Vashon’s Sea Change Tattoo Parlor.
Sea Change is now celebrating its second anniversary of being open on the Island.
Paco Rollins, who owns the shop, will have work in the show and will also fill the gallery with a display of relics and tools from his many years in the trade. In addition to being a tattoo artist, Rollins has a thriving business building and selling tattoo machines.
The show will include work by Ernie Gosnell, Michael Ray, Cameron Dammit, David Dean Wilcox, Leah O’Sullivan, Casey Buxton and Maggie Smith.
An eclectic variety of traditional tattoo themes will be represented, including oriental art, circus paraphernalia, Western, military, nautical and blood and guts imagery.
Works will include handpainted side show banners, paintings, furniture and assemblages.
According to a press release from the gallery, one of the reasons for the exhibit is to challenge perceptions about tattoo art.
“By showing art that usually graces traditional tattoo parlors in an art gallery setting, VALISE hopes to confront the stereotypes of tattoos and those who are tattooed,” the release read.
A reception will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 4.
For more information about the show, visit www.valisegallery.org or email info@valisegallery.org.
Also on display for First Friday
Photography by Andie Styner of Roobiblue Studios will be at Blooms & Things.
Tiles of ships, done in relief by students of Stephanie Detwiler’s art classes at Chautauqua, will adorn Books by the Way.
The Center for Sustainable Book Arts, located in the former VFW Hall, will continue its display of “Set the Walls on Fire: Returning to Rock’s Roots with Artist David Edward Byrd.” This comprehensive retrospective of the famous illustrator’s work includes his posters for Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, “Godspell” and hundreds of other bands and Broadway shows. Also on display is a large collection of Byrd’s concept drawings for Warner Brothers, which heavily influenced the development of characters and settings in the first three Harry Potter films. Byrd’s drawings of Loony Toon characters, which he also did for Warner Brothers, are also on display. Most of the works in the show are for sale, with prices starting at $25. For more information, visit www.thebookarts.org.
Café Luna will exhibit “Shiny Things: Works in Metal, Ink and Magic,” featuring art by L.A. Smith. The artist’s work blends printmaking, collage, and assemblage.
Frame of Mind will display watercolors by Island artist Jean Emmons. Emmons has worked for three years on a series of fungi watercolors from mushrooms mostly collected on Vashon with the help of Carole Elder, an expert forager. The paintings in this exhibit will compete in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Botanical Painting Exhibition in March in London. Emmons competed in the exhibit in 2005, where she won a gold medal. She has also shown paintings at Kew Gardens, The New York Botanical Garden, The Horticultural Society of New York, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Smithsonian.
The Hardware Store Restaurant will exhibit “Feathers in Frames,” fine art prints of Northwest and coastal birds by Marlin Greene.
Heron’s Nest will feature pastels by Jerry Balcom and pottery by Mary Hosick.
Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union will exhibit works by Island photographer John Anderson.
Raven’s Nest will be open. Visit with Tlingit master artist Israel Shotridge and see his latest carving in progress.
Vashon Bookshop will show Vashon Allied Arts’ 2011 Quilt and stoneware suns created by Blue Heron Clay Day participants in the shop’s hallway. Inside the shop, “Crab Tiles,” a colorful Liz Lewis pottery project by students of The Barbie School, will be on display. There will be music by Annie Roberts String Ensemble.
Vashon Community Care will present quilts made by members of the Vashon Quilt Guild.
Wings Gallery at Wings Birdseed Company will offer still lifes and landscape watercolor paintings by Islander Mary Macapia.
