ICYMI Vivian Hua received the 2021 Mayor’s Film Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film: Last week, we highlighted the executive director of Northwest Film Forum's amazing win. Check out her speech here.
Everyday Music will officially close on May 16: Vanishing Seattle reported that the beloved record store on Capitol Hill will close its doors for good next month. Back in February, Everyday Music announced that they would shut down permanently by June due to "ongoing pandemic struggles and no rent relief." Everyday Music had been in its current location for nine years after hopping around several other locations on the Hill. CHS Blog has previously reported that though the property is slated for redevelopment, its owner doesn't plan on moving forward with it anytime soon. RIP Everyday Music—Seattle has about a month to pay its respects.
Dawn Cerny gets her show at Seattle Art Museum: Last year's Betty Bowen Award winner and 2015 Stranger Genius Award nominee's latest solo show, Les Choses, opened up last weekend at the downtown museum. The exhibition features "sculptures that embody mindscapes," featuring Cerny's delightful riff on domestic objects using materials like wood, wire, and cardboard. The museum will also host a free virtual event on Thursday, April 29 with Cerny if you'd like to tune in.
Seattle Black Film Festival is starting up this weekend: It's film festival season! While SIFF is still going strong, the all virtual Seattle Black Film Festival kicks off on Friday, April 16 and runs through Monday, April 26. The films are curated around four themes: A Diaspora in Displacement; Decolonizing the Narrative in Our #OwnVoices; The Future of Our Identity (youth-focused films); and Black Love, Self Love. The fest has over 70 films and shorts available on demand, with a quarter coming from other countries. All-access passes are $65 and will get you into all screenings plus special streaming events and filmmaker panels over the second weekend. You can buy individual tickets to each film block for $15. Get more info here.
Also, Shrek is coming back to theaters later this month: Yes, the gods above have answered your prayers. The iconic Dreamworks animation featuring the beloved swamp-dwelling ogre will grace silver screens across America once again in honor of the film's 20th (!!!!) anniversary. While only one theater will play Shrek within city limits (cheers, Regal Thornton Place), you can also drive out to Kirkland's Cinemark Village and Bellevue's Lincoln Square Cinemas if you're feeling the need to see Shrek and DUNKEYYYY kick some Farquad booty. Can I catch a ride with you?
CLOSING ALERT: It's the last week you can see Photographic Center Northwest's To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. The show is a collaboration between photographer Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre, a social worker and assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis. The two traveled the U.S. for five years, documenting the stories of elder trans and nonbinary adults who exist at different intersections of identity. Here's a virtual look at the show if you can't make it:
The Met Gala is back: After canceling last year's ball for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the celebrated night of decadence will go down on September 13 this year. The theme of the two-part exhibition that accompanies the gala? American fashion! The first part of the exhibition—called In America: A Lexicon of Fashion—will run from Sept 18 to September 5, 2022. Part two of the exhibition—called In America: An Anthology of Fashion—debuts on May 5, 2022. and also runs until September 5, 2022. Get ready to see a lot of stars and stripes!
If you're into immersive experiences: Imagine Van Gogh—the Original Immersive Exhibition sets up shop this winter in Tacoma, and tickets are on sale now. Yes, it's a different show than Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, which is coming to Seattle, and the Immersive Van Gogh, which isn't coming to the Puget Sound area at all. Still confused? I break down the differences between them all here.
There's a new presidential portrait in town: Late last week, the White House debuted photographer Adam Schultz's portrait of the 46th president, Joseph Robinette Biden. Our 49th vice president also got her photo snapped. Both images will be displayed in federal buildings across the country. Somehow Biden manages to look like a caricature of Biden with his squinty grin, long teeth, and blue tie. Otherwise, the image is pretty boring. But I bring this up only because former president Donald Trump's first official portrait looked smarmy as hell and was released nine months after he took office. I'm interested in how Biden's visual politics will differ from Trump's, and, so far, it's an emphatic "return to normal."
Proud to unveil the official portrait of @POTUS, taken on March 3, 2021, in the Library room of the @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com/8FXoJ4vYQ5
— Adam Schultz (@schultzinit) April 9, 2021