Congratulations to the Gage graduates for completing their programs and their final showcase as students at Gage Academy of Art! This Best Of showcase was Gage’s last show in their Capitol Hill location, as they’ll be moving to a new spot soon. Gage’s gallery hallway will expand with more space for art, students, and learning. Many of these recent graduates have had their pieces shown across Seattle, including a contemporary showcase held at AXIS a few months ago. The showcase grouped the different art pieces by categories: still life, nature, figures, sculpture, portrait, narrative, and abstract.

The Ethnic Heritage Gallery hosts several paintings across the third floor of SMT. One of the paintings, Wat’sa with a Pearl Earring (2014), by Allison Marks, puts a mask on a version of the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring piece. While the alluded painting gently remains unchanged, the mask brings a dark and violent feeling to the scene with red eyes and fire across the face.

ACT Theatre and the Seattle Shakespeare Company recently announced that its respective boards are exploring a merger between the two Seattle theater companies. The prospective forging of the two would produce a new entity in the Seattle theater community as well as create an arts center that focuses on both classic and contemporary works housed in the historic Eagles Auditorium Building at 700 Union Street.

The history of Blacks and other people of color playing service or menial roles in theater is deeply rooted in systemic racism and discriminatory practices. Throughout history, marginalized groups, including Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, and Latines, were often relegated to roles that reinforced negative stereotypes and limited their opportunities for meaningful representation.

One artistic choice that seems to occur more often in foreign films is an extended use of metaphor. I especially appreciate the filmmakers who move beyond using visual symbology to enhance their storytelling and deeply embed metaphor into their film’s narrative structure itself.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up.”~Picasso

To anyone not from the area, Greenwood seems like a neighborhood just like many others around the city: Easy to pass through, easy to ignore, easy to try once then never again. To locals, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

One of their best-kept not-so-secret secrets is nestled on the main strip, one of those joints where if you sneeze, you miss it. With its black façade and nearly hidden door, the Greenwood Art Collective consistently provides passersby with an otherworldly indoor art experience.

Tending bar is an art. We’ve all been to spots with awesome service, spots with wicked drinks, and spots with your favorite person making the job look easy. Here’s what it’s like behind the pine, straight from real bartender Justin “the Ron” Swanson: