Despite a new law that may temporarily stem the flow of wine at openings (see news story, page 1), Vashon’s art spaces are gearing up for a festive First Friday, with receptions planned to launch the openings of several new exhibits. The gallery cruise will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7. For complete listings, see page 13.
Spokane artist at Two Wall
Two Wall Gallery will present the work of nationally known Spokane artist Ildikó Kalapács during the month of August, with an opening reception planned during the gallery cruise.
The show, “Pushing Against the Wall,” will feature what gallery curator Greg Wessel called “a remarkable collection of paintings and sculptures” that examine the artist’s perspective as a product of two very different cultures.
Kalapács, a Hungarian-American, uses images that are culturally specific and personal, seeking a universal sense of the world in her artwork.
Sound Food goes to the dogs
Fans of Island photographer Rondi Lightmark’s playful and soulful portraits of Vashon dogs will have two venues to visit in the coming month.
One show, featuring her colorful posters of Vashon dogs in cars and trucks, is already on display at the Vashon Health Center until October.
The second show, opening for August at the Sound Food restaurant on Vashon Highway, will feature a collection called “Dogs of our Lives.”
Kara Jones shows at Luna
Islander Kara Jones, also known as “Mother Henna,” will exhibit “THE GRRRRLS: finding our way,” a show set to run during the month of August at Café Luna.
The show is a series of 30 new mixed media paintings and illustrations that are part of a larger series called “1,000 Faces of Mother Henna.”
Jones explained that the term “GRRRRLS” refers to a particular moment in America’s music scene.
“When I was coming up, it was the post-hippy-post-second-wave-feminist-era, and the feminine images were aesthetically ‘beautiful,’ but if you screwed with them the ‘GRRRRLS’ would kick your behind,” she wrote in an artist’s statement.
This series of pieces, said Jones, explores who she has been and who has walked with her on the path.
VALISE goes underground
VALISE’s August exhibit, “underGROUND,” will be a two-person exhibit of work by Carol Schwennesen and Beverly Naidus.
Schwennesen said her new paintings “are documents of integrating self and spirit with matter.” To preview her work, visit carolschwennesen.com.
Naidus will exhibit work that addresses the history of nuclear weapons on the Island, local toxins underground and a reconstructive vision of the world.
For more information about Naidus, visit www.artsforchange.org.
A quartet at the Blue Heron
Live music and complimentary appetizers will spice up Blue Heron’s opening reception for a group show featuring work by Gordon Barnett, John Luke, Esperanza Gomez Grundy and Kay Dewar.
Barnett is known on Vashon for creating silver, gold and bronze bells that hang on black silk cords around the necks of many Islanders. His career in bell-sculpting has spanned 30 years.
Luke, a furniture maker, began woodworking three decades ago. He starts with rough sawn lumber, to bring out the wood’s beauty and character as he makes attractive, functional pieces.
Grundy, a Seattle artist, creates colorful mixed-media collages and abstract acrylic paintings inspired by her Hispanic and Native American heritage.
Dewar will show pencil drawings from what she calls her “French gray series.”
The drawings are created through a process in which she lends color to anything that is alive, and almost everything else becomes French gray and black.
