Skip to content

Things to Do in Seattle: Sculptor Debra Baxter’s New Show ‘All I Ever Wanted’

Seattle sculptor Debra Baxter conveys the pull of gravity with a light touch

By Seattle Mag April 7, 2014

0414deborabaxter

This article originally appeared in the April 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.

!–paging_filter–pDebra Baxter is renowned for creating work that contrasts spiky crystals against smooth stone, stunning beauty against repulsive physical reality. Her new show,em All I Ever Wanted/em, features alabaster, crystal and mineral sculptures, as well as cast metal pieces, including a twisted human neck made of aluminum and a female pelvis in bronze. But the centerpiece is “Soft Landing (or crashing and burning),” five life-size alabaster pillows meticulously carved and arranged as a 3-D replica of Albrecht Dürer’s 1493 drawing “Six Studies of Pillows.” Baxter came upon the drawing while researching Dürer for an art history class she was teaching, and it brought to mind a pillow she had carved in 2009, and previous sculptural works, such as her textile clouds. “The pillows reach back to these earlier metaphorical explorations of lightness and weight,” she explains. “The pillows in Dürer’s drawing seem to wrestle with their own physicality. Contorting and stretching in impossible ways, they anthropomorphize a human struggle.” While Dürer’s drawing has six pillows, Baxter created five—but not because she grew tired of the punishing process. “So much of my work is about what is missing,” she says. “I wanted there to be an absence.” 3/27–4/22. emTimes vary. Free. Platform Gallery, 114 Third Ave. S; 206.323.2808; a href=”http://www.platformgallery.com” target=”_blank”platformgallery.com/anbsp; /em/p

 

Follow Us

Holiday Hunt in Pioneer Square

Holiday Hunt in Pioneer Square

A daily ornament drop turns December into a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt.

The holidays tend to bring out the kid in all of us. And if opening presents and eating too many treats weren’t enough, there’s also a scavenger hunt in Seattle’s oldest neighborhood. Pioneer Square’s Holiday Ornament Scavenger Hunt has returned for its third year. Twenty-five handblown glass ornaments—all made at Glasshouse Studio—are hidden across 25…

Chit-Chat Kids

Chit-Chat Kids

Phone a friend.

Twenty years ago, before everyone walked around with a device in their pocket, kids used to call each other on a landline—often tethered to the kitchen in their home. It was a simpler time, when parents didn’t have to worry (nearly as much) about a potential predator contacting their child. Nowadays, things are different, which…

A Plate for Pickleball

A Plate for Pickleball

The design celebrates the state’s official sport. Additional plates are on the way.

Washington served up a new license plate last week, honoring the state sport of pickleball. In the works for three years, it’s the second of seven specialty plates to hit the market since getting approved by lawmakers earlier this year. “We’re thrilled to see our efforts become reality,” says Kate Van Gent, vice president of…

Seattle-Based Agency Brings Real Voices to NBC’s New Campaign

Seattle-Based Agency Brings Real Voices to NBC’s New Campaign

DNA&STONE built the project around candid conversations to understand what audiences want from reporting.

“I turned off news altogether. I want to be able to form my own opinions. Just tell the truth.” These lines open NBC News’ new national campaign, a 60-second ad that drifts over forests, farms, neighborhoods, and cityscapes while Americans talk about how worn out they feel by the news. The landscape carries the conversation…