On the second Saturday of each month, Georgetown Art Attack is a unique scene that allows crowds to explore one of Seattle’s most historic and eclectic districts. December’s Art Attack is one of the largest and most well attended each year, in part because of Equinox Studios’ Very Open House 10th Anniversary Celebration.
A complimentary shuttle offered by Equinox Studios owner Sam Farrazaino makes it easy to start and finish at Equinox, making a loop to the other attractions around the neighborhood. Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location, there will also be the underground party Golden Record II: Heliopause organized by TYPONEXUS. More on that at the end.
Equinox Studios
Equinox Studios celebrates 10 years with its biggest Very Open House yet.
Founded in 2006 as a scrappy enclave of artists, Equinox Studios is now the largest arts complex west of the Mississippi. The Very Open House (6pm to 10pm) is your opportunity to explore its countless art studios, hot shops and installation spaces. Over 125 resident artists and artisans will be participating, not including dozens more visiting artists and performers. There are craft activities near the entrance, and some artists often come up with creative activities and games of their own to get guests involved.
The best part of this experience is just wandering and seeing where the push of the crowd takes you: into a painter’s studio; past a poetry reading, along rows of children making their own pottery. I can’t tell you how many cool gifts I have been able to find at The Very Open House by just going with the flow.
However, because it can be overwhelming for a first-time guest, there are a couple special installations that I want to highlight.
Glass artist Julie Conway has recently moved her studio into Equinox (#126 in the factory). For those who missed her interactive light sculpture, LUMINARIUM, during Seattle Design Festival 2016, now is another chance to see it. Conway and collaborators Chris D’Annunzio and Alex Giorgio will be installing LUMINARIUM at her studio space.
Sideros Designs will be hosting a special installation by Meghan Trainor (who also has work at The Alice, mentioned below). Trainor’s Hedgewitch Portals anticipates an upcoming performative project and lies at the intersection of two of her main interests: digital witchcraft and bog ecology. Over 100 pounds of mosses and lichens will be integrated with string models of Einstein-Rosen bridges to induce meditation “on gravity, electromagnetism, bog ecosystems and sigil-making rituals.”
CoCA Lab hosts a new project in development each month at Art Attack. This month’s artists in residence, NKO and Fogland Studio, host a drawing jam as they develop material for their January 14 book release. Check it out in the CoCA Lab container along the main drag on 5th Ave S.
Food trucks and fire pits will keep the guests warm, as the festivities go quite late (even after the Open House ends). Dress warmly and celebrate the first decade of one of Seattle’s most cherished and vibrant art institutions.
studio e
studio e presents a year-end group show with one eye on the past, and the other on the future. KITSCH is curated by Kelsey Siegert and Emily Burns of Maake Magazine. It includes work from six artists in multiple mediums, arranged to be in conversation with one another. According to the gallery’s statement, “these works elevate and challenge notions of craft, kitsch and the politics of objecting making in the 21st century.”
The Old Rainier Bottling Plant
Krab Jab Studios hosts a special benefit art auction in support of the Indigenous Environmental Network, which is one organizing group working with water protectors at Standing Rock. There has been a detente, but drilling has continued and the fight is far from over.
With dozens of participating artists and room set aside for tarot readings and live musical performance within the gallery, there is more art than can fit. Hence, Krab Jab is also providing an online auction that will go live at 6pm. Check it out on its Facebook group page.
The aforementioned music comes from multi-instrumentalist Correo Aerero, accompanied by Amy Denio.
Local businesses have also donated prizes for a raffle, including acupuncture, massage, gift baskets, clothing and more. Refreshments will be served.
By Vale St.
Over at the Hamilton Studios building (6007 12th Ave South), there are three gallery shows to catch. Please note: This building is not ADA accessible and there are lots of stairs to climb.
The Alice hosts the closing reception for its show The Bubble, featuring work from Meghan Trainor, Micha Cárdenas and Ian Curry. The work is a response to questions regarding safety in the modern age:
Are the ritual actions of safety more important than the devices? How do organic bodies evolve for safety in comparison with designed objects? How are we shaped by what we are protecting ourselves against?
The outer wall of The Alice in the mezzanine of the building is a separate installation space,Project Diana, and you can contemplate a different kind of safety with the installation, CLICKBAIT. Rather than a physical threat, the sinister force here is the proliferation of fake news and propaganda. The creators Kevin Golden and Corinne Chin delve into how design distorts our sense of comfort and credibility.
At Bridge Productions, artist Kat Larson presents a series of photo and video, The Ghost From Vega. It tells the story of a being from another planet who becomes stranded on earth and eventually loses its material being, unable to return home. From Bridge Productions:
This intimate, tender story serves as a parable to the power of connection, perseverance, and strength of the spirit. Larson weaves this story into the viewer’s ability to empathize through her compelling and empathetic storytelling.
Kat Larson, “On the Tracks of South Dakota (the ghost prays for us),” 2016, archival ink jet print. Image courtesy of Bridge Productions.
At Interstitial, you’ll be immersed in a world of stifling pink and visions of excess. It’s one of your last chances to see the immersive Watch Yourself Rot by Jennifer Mehigan. Large scale prints and sticker arrangements on the walls mesh globular CGI models, mythological forms, cake and sex toys. The adjoining room is even more disorienting, as it envelopes audiences in a 3 channel installation of video that is vivid in terms of color and content.
Last but not least, at Oxbow, artist Mary Ann Peters presents the first in a series of works, Impossible Monument (Nothing But the Memory). Peters has been working around the idea of monumental forms made of ephemeral materials. She did a special exhibition using primarily ink and paper at Seattle University a few years ago, and her collaboration with artist MKNZ made a beautiful design in 500 pounds of pressed flour at King Street Station in 2015. These works open up a conversation about how we memorialize things as societies and individuals, and how effective, genuine and lasting the physical document/object can be when the context of that history (and even the memory itself) begins to change.
MYSTERY LOCATION
The location of the latest art extravaganza by TYPONEXUS is undisclosed, but we know it is a landmark building and there is: a ballroom with a pipe organ; a view of Puget Sound; excellent acoustics.
The last part is critical because the core of the show is the music. Live sets by dozens of producers and DJs pay homage the otherworldly and our desire to connect with it. GOLDEN RECORD II is a reference and a response to the original golden record, launched into space in 1977. While the music plays, there will be live performance (butoh, aerials, live painting), interactive art installation and a pop-up art gallery. Read more about the lineup and the philosophy behind the party on the Facebook Event Page.
The party starts at 8pm and goes until 2am. The location is revealed when you buy your tickets (and be sure to show up in clothes appropriate for a night themed around art and/or the interstellar reaches). $30 general admission. Buy tickets online.
Lead image: Installation view of Watch Yourself Rot by Jennifer Mehigan at Interstitial. Photo by Joe Freeman, courtesy of Interstitial.
