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Regular readers of this column know I do my best to avoid Arts Walk. I can't stand the crowds, and you're subjected to a dozen bad works of art for every good work of art. Still, for those who are willing to put up with that, there is some great
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I hate it when people say "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like." Invariably that statement is followed by some really stupid put-down of art the speaker hasn't even attempted to understand.But when trying to evaluate Native American art, I find myself at least tempted
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Transitions in life and in art can be momentous. A historic building comes tumbling down and precious memories fall along with the rubble, yet in its place something grander may arise. There's an accident. Perhaps someone is disfigured, and his life is changed forever. For better or for worse? In
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If you missed Preston Singletary's big mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Glass last year, or if you saw the show and would like to see more of Singletary's works, this is your chance. The William Traver Gallery in Tacoma now has an exhibition of new works by Singletary called
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I feel like I have a stake in Holly Senn's art career. I don't; she's done it all on her own, but I still feel that way. Years ago I taught a class for Bellevue Community College where I took students on tours of Seattle art galleries and discussed the
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South Puget Sound Community College's exhibition of student art from area high schools surprised me. It was not a happy surprise. Maybe it's been too long since I taught high school art and maybe I no longer know what to expect from students, but I really expected the overall quality
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When my wife saw a photo of Richard Craig Meitner's Branch - blown glass with rust patina - she said, "That's creepy but interesting." She paused a moment and then said, "I like it."That reaction may be typical for Meitner's work. His glass sculpture can be witty and perhaps a
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Tacoma Art Museum is the only Northwest stop for American Chronicles, an exhibition of the works of American icon Norman Rockwell.For almost as long as I have been alive, Rockwell has been idolized by most of the American public while being ridiculed by most art critics. I can easily see
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Selinda Sheridan's exhibition at Mineral, Contour Intervals, is a nice little show with a nice big purpose. From 2004 to 2008, Sheridan was the art coordinator at Nativity House, a daytime shelter for the homeless in Tacoma that operates an art room where guests may come to make art with
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Ric Hall and Ron Schmitt are phenomenal. They do pastel paintings working in tandem - not taking turns working on the paintings but working side-by-side and simultaneously, and, from what I've heard, with hardly any planning or discussion but reacting to one another with what has been described as a
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Tacoma filmmaker Chad Ruin is on the verge of breaking into the big time. As I write these words, Ruin is finalizing a deal for international distribution of his latest film, A Perfect Life (release and distribution details not yet available). Set entirely in Tacoma with Tacoma cast and crew, A
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I had not visited American Art Company in a long time, but when I dropped in Thursday afternoon it was like coming home, because so many of the artists in their current show are artists I've seen in many other shows at American Art Company and in other galleries. There's
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The Gallery at Tacoma Community College is celebrating Pop Art, the movement that revitalized American art half a century ago and has never quite gone away. Elements of Pop keep joyfully popping up. Students from area schools and anyone else who wants to make a Pop Art piece to be displayed
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Words that come to mind while thinking about Sean Alexander's new drawings at Fulcrum Gallery include funny, sad, inventive and hopeful. Also precise, obsessional, illustrational, folksy and cartoonish. Alexander's drawings are many things. Boring is not one of them.Alexander is no stranger to Tacoma's art scene. He was co-founder of
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When I saw the announcement for the Mauricio Robalino and Betty Sapp Ragan exhibition at the Handforth Gallery I was initially blown away by the image of a Robalino collage included with the announcement, but I was slightly let down by the actual work. Although hotly colorful, playful and well
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I hardly know where to start reviewing the new show at South Puget Sound Community College, and I know I can't do each of the artists justice in the limited space of this column (in print). The show is called Contexts: Contemporary Image Makers, and it features works by Amy
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My choices for the best South Sound art exhibits of 2010 in chronological order are:Troy Gua's memorial to loss at Fulcrum Art Gallery in March. There were actually two Troy Gua shows in one. The title show, Monument: A Memorial to Loss filled the small room to the left upon
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Two Tacoma artists, Lynn Di Nino and Jim Robbins, will leave T-Town Monday on their way to Africa along with Seattle artist Marsha Conn and six other Seattle-based artists to bring smiles to the Batwa Pygmies of Uganda."Marsha has received grants and organized a group of nine artists to go
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The quest for art at the new Olympia City Hall is becoming a soap opera. A year ago a jury of arts professionals chose a proposal by Seattle artist Dan Webb for 10 bronze sculptures meant to represent speaking bubbles like those used in comic strips. Called Thought Bubbles, each piece
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I don't pretend to understand or even care about the science or math behind John Fisher's art at Mineral. There are nine digital prints on the wall and one interactive audio-visual presentation. The digital prints are beautiful and fascinating. In layman's terms they are time-lapse photographs. The other thing, which