BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM
510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 425-454-3322
* DUANE HANSON
Hanson's sculptures are the original double-take experience: cast from human models and dressed in actual clothes, they are almost always mistaken for real people in a crowd until the rest of the crowd moves away. BAM is fortunate to have 15 of Hanson's works for mindfuck purposes. Through Sept 30.
* MARY HENRY
Quietly, gradually, Whidbey Island-artist Henry has gained a following in Seattle with her geometric abstract paintings. She's been working in the Northwest for 25 years without much fanfare, and this summer there will be three major exhibitions of her work--including the North Slope Series at BAM--which has never been shown in public before. Through Sept 9, with a related exhibition from Aug 15-Nov 25.
MEDIA ARTS HISTORIES NORTHWEST: THE BELLEVUE FILM FESTIVAL HISTORY
Timeline, artifacts, and film from the 15-year-old festival. Through Sept 23.
* TWIN
A set of six multimedia installations by Wendy Hanson, each exploring ideas about identity and shared experience. Hanson has based these works on the excellently flamboyant sisters Annette Cohn and Florine Falk, longtime volunteers at BAM and a lot of fun to have at art openings. Through Oct 14.
BURKE MUSEUM
University of Washington, 543-5590
THE ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON'S LEGENDARY ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION
The adventure story that should have ended adventure travel forever: Ernest Shackleton's ship was trapped in the ice of the Weddell Sea, and he and his crew survived two polar winters (freezing cold and night all the time) and a rescue mission in a tiny open boat. The miracle? No one died. Makes you feel kind of wimpy, eh? This is the exhibition that opened at the Museum of Natural History in New York--stark, amazing photographs, plus film footage and journal excerpts. Through Dec 31.
FRYE ART MUSEUM
704 Terry Ave, 622-9250
GARY FAIGIN: TRADITION & CONTRADICTION
Kinetic still lifes, billboards, and impossible space in 25 paintings from the co-founder of the Seattle Academy of Fine Art. Through Sept 2.
HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITY: EDWARD STEICHEN'S VANITY FAIR PORTRAITS
Before Annie Leibowitz, we had Steichen tracking fame's comet, with gorgeous portraits of Greta Garbo, Fred Astaire, and Shirley Temple. Through Sept 16.
TREASURES TO GO: SCENES OF AMERICAN LIFE
Selections from the Smithsonian's American art collection, on tour while the D.C. museum undergoes renovation. This is the only West Coast venue for the traveling show, which includes 500 works by artists such as Edward Hopper, Paul Cadmus, Reginald Marsh, and our own Jacob Lawrence. Through Sept 9.
HENRY ART GALLERY
15th Ave NE at NE 41st St, 543-2280
* SHORT STORIES
A series of rotating exhibitions that includes work from the permanent collection commissioned projects, and installations. Over the course of the next year, the North Galleries will feature art by Ernesto Neto, George Stoll, Chris Finley, and other recognized and lesser-known artists. Through May 12.
* SUMMER OF SOUND
The focus here is on sound art, and the centerpiece is Volume: Bed of Sound, an exhibition that comes to us from P.S. 1 in New York. It's a huge futon with 58 listening stations, each of which features audio work from artists all along the sound art continuum, from Vito Acconci to Laurie Anderson to Sonic Youth. In addition to the big lie-down, there's art from two of my personal favorite local artists, Susan Robb and Jesse Paul Miller, both of whom investigate, in different ways, the sounds that presumably inanimate objects make. AND Rodney Graham's Listening Lounge AND Bill Fontana's Spatial Concept/Sound. Through Sept 30.
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
100 University St, 654-3100
FIRST PERSON SINGULAR
Works that feature a lone figure, with contributions from Chuck Close, Catherine Opie, and Anselm Kiefer (from the museum's permanent collection) as well as John Currin and Francesco Clemente (on loan). Neat idea. Through Jan 2.
ANNA SKIBSKA
Insisting on the delicacy of glass (something I think we forget here in Studio Glass-world) Skibska stretches it into intricate webs. Polish-born, Seattle-residing, Pilchuck-teaching, she brings a needed sophistication to the medium. (See listing also at William Traver Gallery, below.) Through Feb 17.
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
PROJECT 18
See Stranger Suggests. Site-specific work by Leslie Clague, Paul Davis, Mark Johnson, Perry Wesley Johnson, Brad Miller, and Sheri Newbold. Sand Point Magnuson Park, Building 18, 522-9529. Through Sept 27.
CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS
AMERICANA
With work by Lisa Petrucci, Jim Blanchard, Cook & Walsh, Meghan Trainor, Stefan Knorr, Blair Wilson, and others. Roq La Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through Sept 8.
ASS 'N' TITTIES
Hooray for Houston! The gallery has lasted two whole years in our backwater scene. They're celebrating with big, glossy, sexy photos by Jamil GS; drawings and paintings by REAS. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through Sept 12.
LARRY BEMM
A rare pleasure: very good painting in a coffee shop. Bemm's canvases are lusciously colored and make a vivid, confident presence. Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse, 709 N 35th St, 547-9850. Through Sept 16.
MARSHALL BIALAS
Layered mixed-media paintings in which life blurs, turns to pixels, and generally turns into various intense patterns. Mary Vitold Gallery, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through Aug 31.
CAROL BOLT
In Summertime Pop-up, Bolt has created, in the gallery's window, an origami garden that will evolve over the course of the installation. SAM Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through Sept 9.
ROGER BOOK, JOSIE BOCKELMAN
New painting and sculpture. Li'l Red Shack Gallery, 1028 First Ave S, 621-7807. Through Sept 23.
DEBORAH BUTTERFIELD
A stable of Butterfield's famous and imposing horses, cast from found wood and metals, some cast in bronze. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through Sept 1.
BYTE-BI-BYTE
Gallery owner Billy Howard has put together a sampling of work by artists who make use of digital technology, none of whom are from Adobeville--I mean, Seattle. With work by Jon Haddock, Euan MacDonald, Susan Horbeak-Ortiz, Jason Salavon, Sloane McFarland, and (hooray!) Sean Duffy. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through Sept 8.
RAY CAROFANO, HAL GAGE, KEN SMITH
All bases covered this month: Gage photographs the human figure (specifically, his wife's), Carofano turns his attention to landscapes, and Smith's still lifes look like objects from the past. Benham Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-6383. Through Sept 15.
CELEBRATION AND VISION: THE HEWITT COLLECTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART
One of the most comprehensive collections of its kind in the country. Bank of America Gallery, 701 Fifth Ave, third floor, 585-3200. Through Oct 26.
ROSS CHAMBERS, RANDY McCOY
New work in Juiced & Bar Scene. Black Lab Gallery, 5208 Ballard Ave NW, 781-2392. Through Sept 5.
COLLAGE/ASSEMBLAGE
With work by Barbara Barnes Allen, Ross Palmer Beecher, Romson Bustillo, Eva Isaksen, Patrick LoCicero, Jean Mandeberg, Mary Molyneaux, and Gary Nisbet. Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through Sept 1.
ISA D'ARLEANS
New paintings, in a show titled Love, Play, and Enjoy Yourself. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through Sept 2.
DOG IS GOD SPELLED BACKWARDS
Dog photography! G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, Suite 200, 587-4033. Through Aug 31.
DRAWING: AN INTIMATE DIALOG
A look into the work that often doesn't see a gallery wall--the residue of artistic thought, the artist's conversation with himself. With work by artists all over the country. SOIL Art Gallery, 1205 E Pike, 264-8061. Through Aug 26.
WILLIAM DUBIN
Six kinetic "mechanamorphic" sculptures. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through Aug 29.
* MATT EBERLE
In Horolages, Eberle links recording time and recording images. His clocks may not actually keep time, but they remind us of it. Cracked Compass Productions, 2129 Third Ave, 770-5900. Through Sept 12.
ALBERT FISHER
Work from the last 10 years. i Capolavori, 2519 Fifth Ave, 448-2825. Through Sept 9.
DAI GIANG
Giang calls his painting method Upsidedownism, and he shows us how irrational and abstract the world really is with his bright, geometric work. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, Room 200, 296-7580. Through Aug 31.
BRIAN GOEDERT
Collages that use images culled from everywhere, with strong attention to how type is used. Victrola, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through Aug 30.
* MARY GROSS, MEGHAN TRAINOR
Trainor continues her investigation of the definition of humanness with a set of 23 children's blocks (representing the 23 human chromosomes). Gross graces her landscapes with abstract marks. Oseao Gallery, 1402 E Pike (above the Artificial Limb Co.), 568-0291. Through Aug 31.
GROUP SHOW AT NICO
See Bio: Art. With work by Demi Raven, Chris St. Pierre, Tavi Black, Barbara De Pirro, Dino Martini, Catherine Trapani, and Gary Wortzel. Nico Gallery, 619 Western Ave, second floor, 264-1710. Through Sept 2.
* PATRICK HOLDERFIELD
In his sculptures--some made of melted plastic toys, others piñatas recreated in archival paper--Holderfield complicates the idea of toys. What are they when degraded, subjected to architecture, to the gallery's white cube? Shown with his layered, sometimes chaotic drawings. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Aug 30.
Alan Hurley
New paintings of towers and power lines. Lipstick Traces, 500 E Pine St, 329-2813. Through Aug 31
SEAN MICHAEL HURLEY
In The Stations of the Cross, Hurley triangulates desire and sacrifice with that well-traveled tragedy. The Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through Sept 23.
MIK KASTNER
In the excellently titled Sets for Retinal Abnormalities Based in Real Time, Kastner assembles television screens and video cameras within mixed-media sculptures. The recording apparatus delivers a distorted image of the work--perhaps a nod to the varying experience each viewer has with a work?--and will be moved around during the span of the show. Ambitious work for a cafe. Cafe News, 8913 Roosevelt Way NE. Through Aug 31.
PAMELA KEELEY
Keeley, who can draw simultaneously with both hands, contrasts the difference between the controlled line and the wild one. Her figures float close to the surface of her drawings, gently but persuasively inhabiting the space. Eyre/Moore Gallery, 913 Western Ave, 624-5596. Through Sept 1.
SETH KUPCHICK, JONATHAN MacKINNON
In Election 2000, Kupchick and MacKinnon have collaborated on a series of paintings about media coverage and the media itself. Secluded Alley Works, 113 12th Ave, 839-0880. Through Aug 26.
CHONCEY LANGFORD
New paintings in Langford's third annual show. Crocodile Cafe, 2200 Second Ave, 448-2114. Through Aug 31.
BETH LO, ELIZABETH SANDVIG
It's all the rage these days to combine Western and Asian themes in contemporary art; Lo's vehicle of choice is ceramics--sexy-shaped vessels with images that are part cartoon, part traditional calligraphic imagery. With animal paintings by Sandvig. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through Sept 30.
ROBERT McCAULEY, JENNIFER BEEDON
To bridge the perceived gap between figurative and abstract painting, McCauley combines images of animals with mark-making more typical of Modernism. Beedon looks at suburban landscapes with an eye to its kitschy possibilities. Linda Hodges Gallery, 316 First Ave S, 624-3034. Through Sept 1.
BEN MEEKER
An installation called How to Read a Painting. Blue Heron Gallery, 19704 Vashon Hwy, Vashon Island, 463-5131. Through Aug 31.
PAPER
A group show on... guess what? With work by Gretchen Bennett, Jasmine Deatherage, Richard Hutter, Jeffry Mitchell, Sharon Sanborn, and Mariam Aziza Stephan. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 583-0497. Through Sept 5.
PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
Work by 11 artists. Phinney Center Gallery, 6532 Phinney Ave, 783-2244. Through Aug 31.
PRIMARY COLORS
Fifteen artists think visually about color--not as obvious a topic as you might think. With gallery regulars (including Toots Zynsky, Lanny Bergner, and the sublime Richard Marquis) and invited guests (including Dante Marioni, Randy McCoy, and Big-Gun Chihuly). Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave, 340-8000. Through Oct 6.
RICH RICHARDSON
Even more Eastern/Western ideology art. I think we have a bona-fide movement here. Artmosphere Gallery, 1213 Pine St, 356-3454. Through Sept 15.
NINA SEVEN
Everyday objects in fanciful composition. Glo's Diner, 1621 E Olive Way. Through Sept 1.
STEPHANIE SMITH
In 911's windows, Smith has constructed a collage of video images from a three-month, 14,000-mile road trip across the country. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-6552. Through Sept 23.
SOUTH SOUNDS 2001
Commencement's annual show of lower Puget Sound artists, curated this year by Neil Watson, Chief Curator for the Museum of Glass. Commencement Art Gallery, 902 Commerce St, Tacoma, 253-591-5341. Through Sept 20.
GRAHAM SYED
New gallery! Featuring Syed's photographs of the Oregon Coast. Kalo Gallery, 214 First Ave S, lower level, 781-7786. Through Aug 31.
* FRIESE UNDINE, ANNA SKIBSKA
Two of Traver's best artists at one blow. Undine returns with Thee, etc., monotypes that combine words and images in counterintuitive--but naggingly familiar--ways. Skibska's glass sculptures are delicate webs of needle-like forms, at once impossible and dreamy. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, second floor, 587-6501. Through Sept 2.
UNEARTHED
The range of possibilities in landscape painting, from the very precise to the very abstract. Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave S, 624-7684. Through Aug 31.
JASON WITTE
A show called Tiny Little Doorknobs. Art/Not Terminal Gallery, 2045 Westlake Ave, 233-0680. Through Sept 6.
JOY WORTHEN
An installation that covers all bases: sculpture, paint, and video. Artemis Gallery, 1400 31st Ave S, 323-0562. Through Sept 15.
EVENTS
GARDEN ART SALE
For those of you who have gardens to put art into. Opening night party and auction Thurs Aug 23, 6-10pm (tickets are $20); sale continues Aug 24-26, 10am-8pm. At Pratt Fine Arts Center, 1902 S Main St. For information call 328-2200.
THEY SHOOT PAINTERS, DON'T THEY?
See Stranger Suggests. CoCA's annual painting marathon and benefit auction.
