February 2021
2009 Spotlight Award: Bao Tran
Filmmaker Bao Tran busts stereotypes on screen.
NAME: Bao tranART FORM: FilmWEB SITE: bookiethemovie.comNEXT UP: See Black Coffee on the big screen at Bumbershoot’s One Reel film festival 9/5–9/7; Also this month, watch Bookie online at bookiethemovie.com “I’m an old person in a young person’s body,” asserts local filmmaker Bao Tran. It’s a little hard to believe at first glance, given Tran’s…
2008 Spotlight Award: Zoe Scofield
Choreographer Zoe Scofield isn't afraid to dig in the dirt, creating imagery that connects with some
In the beginning, she was just in it for the tutu. As a young girl, choreographer Zoe Scofield coveted the scratchy pink skirt her older sister earned as a reward for completing a ballet class. She made it her mission to earn her own, and in the process learned she loved living in fantasy—even if…
2008 Spotlight Award: Lucia Neare
Lucia Neare’s theatrical wonders invite audiences into a beautiful, whimsical world.
If you were one of the estimated 10,000 people who happened to be near the Harbor Steps last May Day, you have already experienced one of artist Lucia Neare’s self-described “theatrical wonders.” The two-hour spectacle, Ooo-La-La, was inspired by the question, “What if we put love in the air in downtown Seattle, just for a few…
2008 Spotlight Award: Lynn Shelton
Seattle independent filmmaker Lynn Shelton finds that making a movie “in an upside-down way” lands h
“Do you consider yourself mumblecore?” The question was lobbed from the back of the Egyptian Theatre, over the heads of a full-house crowd, during the Q&A session at the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival premiere of Lynn Shelton’s feature film My Effortless Brilliance. From the stage, hand over her eyes to block the lights, the…
2008 Spotlight Award: Diem Chau
Diem Chau uses ordinary objects to create extraordinary art.
When Diem Chau wanders through thrift stores, she hears a cacophony of voices: A ceramic rice bowl whispers of family dinners, a porcelain teacup betrays shared confidences, a sturdy mug evokes memories of staying home sick and sipping Campbell’s soup. “I love more traditional techniques and mediums, but at some point I just found that…
2007 Spotlight Award Winners
Our picks for theater and arts top five arts talents of the year.
When it comes to big local art news, we all know it’s been Seattle Art Museum’s year. This past January the Olympic Sculpture Park opened, ushering in a brave new era of public art in Seattle. May marked the spring of SAM, so to speak, with the unveiling of the museum’s thoughtful downtown expansion. While…
2007 Spotlight Award: Greg Lundgren
Greg Lundgren is not an influential artist.
On a sunny afternoon last May, a Seattle mother had a perplexing conversation with her 6-year-old daughter at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Standing in front of a bright white swing set, she tried to explain to the puzzled little girl that the structure–a standard piece of playground equipment–was, in fact, not a swing set. The…
2007 Spotlight Award: Marya Sea Kaminski
Local theater pro Marya Sea Kaminski can do it all.
Much of the buzz surrounding Seattle Repertory Theatre’s controversial spring 2007 production, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, centered around a singular question: How to define its real-life title character’s refusal to settle for the status quo? For the play’s one and only actor, however, the answer was simple. “She was a hero, but not for…
2007 Spotlight Award: KT Niehoff
Choreographer KT Niehoff brings contemporary dance to the people.
KT Niehoff isn’t normally the life of a party. Throw her into a roomful of strangers, she says, and she feels deeply uncomfortable. But turn said room into a raw, light-filled dance studio and said party into Inhabit—the charmingly disarming interactive piece she created and performed with her local contemporary dance company, Lingo, last May—and…
2007 Spotlight Award: Seattle Art Museum
Meet the behind-the-scenes heroes at SAM.
If the Seattle Art Museum had sat in psychotherapy five years ago, its diagnosis would have been simple: Patient suffered from severe identity crisis. With a collection that was neither encyclopedic nor specialized–and trapped in an outdated building–SAM was best defined by a sense of fragmentation. To quote Gertrude Stein out of context, there was…
Brangien’s Weekend Arts Round Up
I’ll be making my second appearance on New Day Northwest tomorrow (11 a.m. on King 5), filling in for ArtZone arts maven Nancy Guppy, and giving viewers a to-do list of arty events this weekend. It’s supposed to be sunny (yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it), so most of them are outdoors. Tune…
Must Watch: Tour de France at Cafe Presse
If you’re a Francophile or a bicyclist, you’ve probably spent at least some time this month watching men in spandex race their way through the French countryside. Lucky for Tour de France fans, Cafe Presse is offering up a much needed escape from bite-sized ESPN recaps. Starting at 7 a.m. tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, you can belly up to the bar…