ARTS COVERAGE TO END ALL ARTS COVERAGE >>>
At this point it goes without saying. If you're looking for coverage of local arts in Tacoma, Olympia, and all points in between, the Weekly Volcano is THE place to find it. Our goal is to consistently provide the best local arts coverage possible to our fantastic readers -- always be on the lookout for ways to shine a light on all the awesome creativity we see around us.
Here's a look at the Volcano arts coverage waiting for you this week in print and online.
FEATURE: ART AT WORK: TACOMA ARTS MONTH
(Amy Reeves demonstrates how it’s done at the Tacoma Metal Arts Center during last year’s Art at Work studio tours. Photo courtesy Tacoma Art Commission)
Art at Work - an annual celebration of all things artistic in Tacoma - takes place each November, with related events scheduled throughout the month. The Tacoma Arts Commission heads up the effort, gathering all the artsy happenings into one snazzy brochure - almost a magazine in size. Events range from theater, to spoken word, to workshops, to art exhibits, and even to unexpected events such as hip-hop dance classes and free zoo days.
The annual brochure and many of the events within are free. The requirements to be included are simple: the event must be arts related, must be in November and must be in Tacoma.
"It's really trying to show that artists are just part of our community," says Amy McBride, Tacoma Arts administrator. "Art isn't untouchable." ... -- Kristin Kendle
VISUAL EDGE: FOLK ART TREASURES OF MEXICO AT TAM
(“Ascension of Christ” by David Villaftsez. Courtesy Tacoma Art Museum)
What a fun show! Folk Art Treasures of Mexico at Tacoma Art Museum, I mean. Nelson A. Rockefeller, former Governor of New York and former Vice President of the United States, owned one of the world's largest collections of Mexican folk art, which was given to the San Antonio Museum of Art and The Mexican Museum in San Francisco after his death. The San Antonio museum has loaned TAM some 80 major pieces from its collection for this comprehensive survey of Mexican folk art.
There are paintings, tapestries, toys, miniatures, painted wooden chests, water bottles and much more featured in this show - including many pieces that were made for Day of the Dead celebrations. ... -- Alec Clayton
THEATER: WELFAREWELL AT OLYMPIA LITTLE THEATRE
I know it's gauche to rely on national stereotypes, but golly, those Canadians sure are nice. Nice is all over Welfarewell, currently making its Northwest premiere at Olympia Little Theatre. Not only is the play harder to resist than a Snuggie full of kittens, but its author, Cat Delaney, wrote OLT a program note from Nova Scotia: "Big hugs!"...Theatre makes the world smaller and far more civilized." Awwww.
Delaney calls Welfarewell a "social satire." I call it liberal propaganda, and it gets a bit preachy toward the end. They should run it on a video loop at Occupy Wall Street events. I step lightly into spoiler country by saying that Welfarewell has the saddest opening scene of any comedy since Up. (Oh, that mailbox ... Damn you, Pixar!) We find our heroine, 80-year-old British expat Esmerelda Quipp, in an icy kitchen as her lights go out for nonpayment. She struggles to feed her cat, Merlin, her hands shaking so violently she can barely open the tin. Her story gets darker from there. ... -- Christian Carvajal
MOVIE BIZ BUZZ: MAKING THE RESOLUTION
And you thought Halloween had crawled back into its coffin for another year.
Allow me to fill in some blanks. "Twisted" belongs to Twisted Tales of Madness and Murder, a feature-length anthology of horror shorts written by Federal Way's Rick Tobin. Tobin and director Rick Walters (co-producer on Fantastic Confabulations) need some dough (roughly $17,000) to finance the completion of their first short in the Twisted family, The Resolution. So, like any committed artists in desperate need of cash, they resort to murder. ... -- Christopher Wood
PLUS: Comprehensive Arts & Entertainment Calendar
PLUS: Even more local theater
