TOO MANY TO REVIEW >>>
There's too much art. I can't possibly review everything. Following are a few blurbs on shows I may or may not get to see, starting with Tacoma's newest gallery. It's called Iota. Nice name for a gallery specializing in small art. It means a jot, a whit, something tiny. Their first show opened in March and will run through April. The featured artist is Susan Cowan, a Portland artist who also has a studio in Tacoma. Her paintings, all around 10-by-10 inches, are scenes from a recent trip to France, which is fitting because Iota specializes in "the unusual and decidedly French feeling items," according to gallery owner Sharika Roland.
"Susan has an exquisite style that is from years of teaching and traveling and working constantly. Her jewel-like paintings are so detailed that you have to stare at them a long time to fully see all she has painted. Even the smallest detail is flawless," Roland says.
In addition to small-format art, Iota sells accoutrements such as handmade designer pillows and curtains and tuffets "and a unique mixture of jewelry and honey products and sock monkeys and hand felted soaps."
The gallery at 1901 Jefferson Ave. Suite 101 is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.
Down in Olympia, the fourth annual Native American Heritage Exhibit just opened at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts Gallery at South Puget Sound Community College. The show runs through April 26 and features a wide variety of works by local and regional native artists including paintings, basketry, carved wood pieces and mixed media. The gallery is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, contact the gallery via e-mail artgallery@spscc.ctc.edu or call 360.596.5527.
Nola Tresslar (last seen in a show at Flow Gallery) has a new show with photographer Madison Vanchu, at the Greenspot Tea House & Gallery,3318 Bridgeport Way W., Suite B, University Place. The show is called "Starting Earth." It will run through May 30.
For something different, there seems to be a surge in ceramics shows around here. Tacoma Community College just had one and Fulcrum is having one, and there's another one at Childhood's End in Olympia. The show at Fulcrum Gallery is called "Creatures of Habit" and it features animal-themed ceramics by Heather Cornelius and Spencer Ebbinga. The gallery calls is contemporary ceramics on the edge. We shall see. I'll be reviewing it for my Visual Edge column. The Childhood's End show is called "The Art of Storage," and it features about a dozen ceramics artists.
Finally, Museum of Glass has a new show called "Scapes," a new collaborative exhibition by siblings Laura and Alessandro Diaz de Santillana.The exhibition comprises four installations, or rooms, based on the Hindu belief that the world is a series of disks made up of wind, water and earth upon which float four continents in a vast circular ocean. The Santillanas created all of the works for this installation while working as guest artists in the MOG Hot Shop. This show sounds fascinating. I plan to see it, but don't wait for my review. Check it out on your own.