Arts
Spaceworks Tacoma's latest installations in the Woolworth windows are big, bold and impressive. In the northernmost windows on Broadway are wire animal sculptures by Eva Funderburgh, who says she uses her "simple, emotive animal forms to examine human motives and emotions." Her animals are hybrid forms, somewhere between realistic and ritualistic,
Stage
It is hard to imagine a more difficult play to produce on stage than Moby Dick. To my way of thinking it would have to be done either on a huge stage with a multi-million-dollar budget or in an intimate playhouse with nothing but a handful of props. The former
Arts
Kittredge Gallery at the University of Puget Sound kicked off the building's 75th anniversary year with a retrospective of works by printmaker and longtime UPS art professor Bill Colby, who taught there from 1956 to 1989. On display are 26 works, mostly prints and a few watercolors. The works chosen for
Stage
The Story of My Life by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill opens tonight at Olympia Little Theatre. This rarely produced musical follows a lifelong friendship of Alvin Kelby (Frank Kohel) and Thomas Weaver (Micheal O'Hara). It is directed by Maria Valenzuela. The two boys grow up together. One stays in their hometown
Arts
This critic's choice of the top visual arts events for the fall season is as follows:Artscapes installations, through Nov. 17 Five new Artscapes installations are on display in the old Woolworth storefront and on the adjacent landmark Tollbooth Gallery. Artists selected for this round include Lauren Boilini, Eva Funderburgh, Nola Avienne,
Arts
Viewing Selinda Sheridan's show at Matter is like walking into a group exhibition of Sumi painters. There are only six paintings in the show, and each of them is so different from all the others that they could easily be mistaken for the work of six different artists. And yet
Stage
The Last Five Years is a little musical with a big heart, and actors Aaron Lamb and Katherine Strohmaier, directed by Linda Whitney, make of it a mesmerizing evening's entertainment. Composer, lyricist and playwright Jason Robert Brown has created a story told in song that is heart-wrenching and real - no
Arts
Weekly Volcano scribe Christian Carvajal - voted Best Writer in the Weekly Volcano's Best of Olympia poll - has published a new novel under the pseudonym Lynn Savage. It is called Mr. Klein's Wild Ride (Mud Flat Press, 2016), and it is the story of the building and cataclysmic opening
Arts
Elise Richman's unique installation, "Spectral," may be difficult for many to grasp, but should be worth the effort to really look and contemplate deeply. Call it a wall hanging, a painting or assemblage with plastics, this piece explores properties of light and color and was inspired, according to a statement from
Stage
New Muses Theatre Company is among a handful of lesser-known companies that produces excellent theater for mostly sparse audiences. By my count, there were only 10 people in the audience opening night of Luigi Pirandello's absurdist play Six Characters in Search of an Author. The actors outnumbered the audience by
Arts
Kittredge Hall at the University of Puget Sound (UPS), home to the Art Department and Kittredge Art Gallery, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. From 1943 to 1944, long before it was home to the Art Department, Kittredge housed the Army Specialized Training Unit. Two hundred and thirty-eight young soldiers
Arts
One thing paintings by Susan Aurand and Liza Brenner have in common is that both artists build paintings that extend away from the wall, using what amounts to constructed boxes or compartments to hold their paintings. Aurand builds framing devices out of wood that are like finely crafted cabinets within which
Arts
"The Urban Sketchers" exhibition at Handforth Gallery in the downtown Tacoma Public Library is delightfully lightweight. The walls are filled with quick sketches in pencil, pen and ink, watercolor and other media of mostly local scenes familiar to many Tacomans - some by well-known local artists and some by artists
Stage
On the 16th of August, South Sound storytellers will entertain a sure-to-be packed house at Rhythm and Rye in Olympia for the last of this year's StoryOly story slams before the 12 top storytellers of the year meet in the Grand Slam, Sept. 17. Every month on the third Tuesday, approximately
Arts
As retrospective exhibitions go, this one is unusually small, filling only one of the smaller galleries in the Museum of Glass. What it lacks in scale, it more than makes up for in its dramatic presentation. The walls of the gallery are black and the room is dimly lit with
Stage
A balanced mixture of comedy, drama, musicals, old favorites, modern classics and cutting-edge new theater - truly everything a theater can possibly pack into a single season - makes Lakewood Playhouse's 2015-16 season a natural choice for our readers' pick for Best Local Theater Group. "We are so honored to have
Arts
The "Colored Pencil Society of America's 24 International Exhibition" at American Art Company is surprising on many levels. For starters, the 119 works of art that crowd the gallery walls are really paintings, not drawings, by almost any criteria, despite being done with pencils. Second, the detailed technical expertise and
Arts
Upon entering the "2016 Southwest Washington Juried Exhibition" at South Puget Sound Community College, my eyes were immediately drawn to Bernie Bleha's sculpture, "Minaret," acrylic on wood, a colorful tower topped by a playful spire that looks like a tinker toy construction. From there, my gaze went to Carla Louise
Stage
Created by Jackie Fender a little more than two years ago, Creative Colloquy has become the South Sound's preeminent literary event. Creative Colloquy is an online magazine featuring short stories, novel excerpts, poetry and other literary work by mostly Tacoma and Olympia writers. Starting in March 2014, CC started holding
Arts
Lynette Charters' paintings are unique, not just in her use of media - china marker over acrylic paint mixed with plaster - but in her way of painting. On wood panels, she creates fields of heavily textured globs of color that are almost if not completely non-objective, and then either