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Bainbridge Island Museum of Art Displays New Solo Exhibition
Barbara Earl Thomas brings blood and fire to Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
This article originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of Seattle magazine.
Painter, author and essayist Barbara Earl Thomas is among Seattle’s most emotionally evocative and socially engaged artists. Over the years, she has run the Northwest African American Museum, steered the Seattle Arts Commission and given countless spirited talks and lectures. She has also been the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the 2016 Artists Trust Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award.
Her solo exhibition Heaven on Fire, now on display at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, features a new body of work that includes linocuts as well as cut-paper altarpieces and etched blown-glass vessels. Thomas’ dramatic narrative format, her dynamic, stylized figures, and bright but nuanced palette are all present in these varied mediums, but their focus is new. Here she explores the act of bloodletting as a metaphor for the epidemic of young men killed by guns in our cities.
As always, biblical overtones echo through Thomas’ tableaux, conferring grace upon her subjects and helping us make sense of the violence in our world. Through 10/2. Times and prices vary. Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Winslow, 550 Winslow Way E; 206.842.4451; biartmuseum.org
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SENSORIUM Takes on Our Screen Addiction
Dance, drag, and immersive art collide in an eight-week exploration of our phone-obsessed lives, with a few surprises along the way.
What do drag queens, smartphone addiction, art installations, and an old luggage shop have in common? According to longtime Seattle choreographer Alana O’Farrell Rogers, a lot. “There’s no dead time anymore,” says Rogers, explaining how the proliferation of smartphones fills the empty spaces that once served as time for rest or connection. Where we snuggled…
Salt-N-Pepa on Breaking Barriers and Staying Power
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The Museum of Pop Culture (MOPOP) will host its annual ICONS of Pop Culture Gala in Seattle on October 22, honoring five artists and institutions whose work has helped shape entertainment and culture. This year’s honorees are martial arts and film legend Bruce Lee, fashion designer Jeremy Scott, the video game franchise Halo, hip-hop pioneers…
Studio Sessions: Christopher Paul Jordan
Drawing on childhood memories, neighborhood history, and salvaged materials, Christopher Paul Jordan’s latest show at Cornish’s Behnke Family Gallery explores how the past stays with us.
Start in the middle. It’s good advice for telling a story, and a way into Christopher Paul Jordan’s paintings. By the time you encounter them, their materials have already been something else, and who knows what they might move on to become. The Tacoma interdisciplinary artist works with salvaged objects, including screens, picture frames, canvas,…
Rearview Mirror: Wedding Bells, A Furniture Launch, and the Symphony’s New Look
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
WEDDING BELLS I’ve been a bit absent from this column lately, but I think I have a pretty good excuse: I got married! It’s already been three weeks since my September 19 wedding, but I’m still reflecting on the magic of the day. My fiancé, well husband now (I can’t get used to saying it!),…