Discover digital surprises as ArtWalk season concludes
August 30, 2011
QR code exhibition is designed to launch conversation
The latest exhibition from artEAST is a series of stark images — square and oblong patterns in a “Tetris”-esque arrangement against a colorless background.
The smartphone-equipped in-crowd recognizes the patterns as QR codes, barcodes designed for mobile devices to read.
Expect to see oversized QR codes along Front Street North as the spring- and summertime ArtWalk concludes Sept. 2. The nonprofit artEAST collective plans to deploy the codes to connect attendees to images and videos at the Art Center & Up Front Gallery and along the street during the event.
Seattle artists Stephen Rock and Nichole DeMent used QR codes to connect smartphone users to data and images during a spring exhibition in Seattle.
Now, the duo plans to offer a similar experience to ArtWalk attendees. Rock is creating a sculpture up to 12 feet tall designed to evoke building blocks — and covered in QR codes — for the event.
ArtEAST launches redesigned website
August 23, 2011
ArtEAST recently launched a redesigned website — www.arteast.org — with new features, including featured events on the home page, site-wide searche, a tag cloud, online forms, and easy access to its dynamic listings of workshops, exhibitions, the Up Front Gallery, volunteer opportunities, membership, artists and more.
Hospital artwork is designed to heal, nurture
July 5, 2011
‘Anahit’ by Julie Speidel. Contributed
Committee worked to find local artists of all ages for collection
Swedish/Issaquah will continue the medical center’s lauded promotion of healing through art. The new hospital features approximately 200 pieces by more than 60 Northwest artists — several of them from the Eastside — in the medical office building and emergency room.
“When patients become absorbed in a work of art, their bodies’ physiology actually changes, moving from sensations of stress and fear to feelings of relaxation and hope,” according to Swedish/Issaquah’s website.
“It’s pretty simple — art does heal,” volunteer chairwoman of the Art Committee Joyce Turner said. “It humanizes what could be a dehumanizing environment.”
A history and culture of art
Swedish Medical Center has embodied that philosophy since the 1960s, when then-Surgeon Medical Director and CEO Allan Lobb decided to incorporate art into the culture of the hospital.
Turner assumed Lobb’s artistic role when he retired in 1988. She has been adorning the walls and spaces of Swedish facilities ever since. The medical center’s art portfolio now numbers in the 2,000s.
Legislators salvage funding for Issaquah arts programs
June 7, 2011
Shakespeare on the Green is due to return to the Issaquah Community Center next month — and the “Macbeth” performance is safe, after state legislators approved a last-minute measure to shore up funding for the King County cultural services agency, 4Culture.
In addition to Shakespeare on the Green — from the Seattle Shakespeare Co. — dollars from 4Culture fund dozens of other programs in the community. Overall, 4Culture allocated more than $50,000 to arts, cultural and heritage organizations in the Issaquah area for 2011. Some organizations, such as the Seattle Shakespeare Co., could not offer Issaquah programs without the funding.
City Arts Coordinator Amy Dukes said funding from 4Culture is important because dollars allotted through the Arts Sustained Support Program can be used for operating costs.
“That’s really hard funding to replace,” she said. “Most funders want their funding to go toward specific programming, so the fact that 4Culture gives out this funding that’s unrestricted is a huge benefit.”
Lawmakers passed the 4Culture legislation as the last bill before the special legislative session adjourned May 25.
Artists explore the soulful and mysterious
June 7, 2011
While they were looking at colleges last spring, Sammamish artist Ken Kisch and his daughter stopped their car at a graveyard in the middle of Baltimore.
Sammamish artist Andrea Prudente created ‘Surrender,’ an image of a woman floating in a room, for the art exhibit ‘Mysteries of the Soul.’ By Andrea Prudente
He found a limestone headstone that caught his interest, and he took a photo. When he learned artEAST Art Center and UP Front gallery were having a show titled “Mysteries of the Soul,” he was one of 30 artists who submitted a piece, and one of 10 to be displayed.
He called his tombstone photograph, “Ascension.”
“It’s a photograph of a gravestone with a tree positioned behind it,” he said. “The tree’s branches are coming up from behind and reaching up toward the sky.”
ArtWalk returns Friday to downtown and Gilman Village
June 1, 2011
NEW — 10 a.m. June 1, 2011
ArtWalk returns to downtown Issaquah on Friday.
The event is 5-8 p.m. along downtown streets and in Gilman Village.
In rain or shine, regional artists set up temporary shows in downtown businesses and on street corners for the evening.
On Friday, Museo Art Academy opens a new studio, 111 Front St. N. The location offers more exposure for the organization.
“Now we are on the corner at street level in this amazing 100-year-old building that is a historic icon. We have wide sidewalks for demonstrations, we are in the middle of all the action,” Marci Knutsen, owner and director, said in a news release.
ArtEAST seeks photo exhibit submissions
May 24, 2011
ArtEAST is hosting its second juried photographic exhibition, Your Best Shot II, from Aug. 5-28. There are no subject restrictions, and photographers of all skill levels and techniques are invited to submit work.
Photographers do not have to be members of artEAST to participate; however, they must reside in the Puget Sound area. The submission guidelines are:
- Artists may submit up to three original completed works. Exhibited works must be a film or digital photograph processed using normal wet or digital darkroom techniques. Digital art loosely derived from photographs will not be juried or included in the show. All photographs should have been made in the past 24 months. Decisions of the jury and curator are final.
- 2-D work should not exceed 24-by-24 inches, including framing; special consideration will be given to larger pieces on a case-by-case basis
- All 2-D work must be framed or gallery-wrapped canvas, and wired ready to hang (claw teeth hangars on frames are not acceptable).
- Artists are welcome to provide high quality note cards (sleeved and individually inventoried) of their juried original works for sale in the gallery during the exhibition.
- For the photography show only, a duplicate of the juried artwork may replace a sold artwork on the wall, but to preserve the integrity of the exhibition, an artist may not remove artwork until the replacement is ready to hang.
The submission deadline is midnight, June 11. The art delivery date is Aug. 3, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. An opening reception is from 6-8 p.m. Aug. 13.
Call curator Jamie McKay at 392-3191 or email arteastcwgallery@gmail.com.
ArtWalk returns for 10th season
May 3, 2011
Pedestrians pause to admire art displayed at the former UP Front Gallery during ArtWalk last year. The gallery has since relocated down the street. File
The DownTown Issaquah Association’s 10th annual ArtWalk season kicks off May 6. The popular event, the first Friday of every month through September, invites visitors to meet local business owners, enjoy free music, watch artists in action, and shop and dine in downtown Issaquah after normal business hours.
ArtWalk draws hundreds of visitors to traditional art destinations such as artEAST’s Art Center and the newly expanded Museo Art and Design School on Front Street. In addition, nontraditional locations open their doors to the event throughout downtown Issaquah and Gilman Village.
Typically, the event ran from 5-9 p.m. in the past. But by popular request, that has changed.
“The event now runs from 5-8 p.m. with a soft close at 8,” said Annique Bennett, cultural events coordinator for the DownTown Issaquah Association. “Those with signs out front of their businesses can now pull them in and go home at 8, or they can choose to stay open as long as they want to.”
For May, artEAST opens a new exhibit, “150 Feet of Art,” at Up Front Art. More than 100 pieces of art on one-square-foot canvases will be displayed and available for purchase during the monthlong auction.
Issaquah’s artEAST urges artists to find ‘inner prankster’
May 2, 2011
NEW — 5:45 p.m. May 1, 2011
An Issaquah art studio is seeking submissions for a mid-summer event.
“High Jinks,” hosted by artEAST, asks for artists’ interpretations of mischief and tomfoolery for the July event.
“We are looking for work that shows the lighter side of life,” said Sue Danielson, co-curator for “High Jinks.”
ArtEAST asks artists to “Have fun, go wild, cut loose, sing a song of summer or find your inner prankster!”
The event is centered on art that demonstrates the fun, boisterous side of life. Artists must live in the Puget Sound area.
Danielson said artists can take any interpretation of what “High Jinks” means whether it is liberal, surreal or a play on color. “High Jinks” is a nonprofit event.
DownTown Issaquah Association charts new course
April 26, 2011
The decision to oust the longtime DownTown Issaquah Association executive director has not impeded the organization in the run-up to ArtWalk, a spring and summer staple for downtown merchants.
Organizers credited former Executive Director Greg Spranger and former Cultural Events Manager Michael Johnson with building solid support for the event.
The upcoming ArtWalk has focused renewed attention on a February staff shakeup at the downtown business organization. ArtWalk returns for a 10th season May 6 and runs one Friday each month until September.
DownTown Issaquah Association leaders decided to scrap the executive director position and hired another candidate as community relations manager rather than longtime executive director Spranger. Johnson then resigned in protest.
The decision prompted angry letters to the editor and hard feelings among some downtown merchants and supporters.
