Reviews Michael Baldovino Reviews Michael Baldovino

Upcycled and AAPI Fashion Converge with Acuña’s Orchid Motif

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, Heidi Grace Acuña presented their debut fashion show with Living Waling Waling, held early May 2025. Acuña partnered with Seattle Center and was selected to represent and uplift  emerging and established local AAPI artists. Acuña is a multidisciplinary artist who has appeared on TV, galleries across the West Coast, and was a finalist at Fruit Bowl. Born in Washington and raised in Hawai’i, Acuña moved from sculpture to fashion and brought a colorful bouquet of upcycled and sustainable clothing through their designs. 

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Reviews Michael Baldovino Reviews Michael Baldovino

Cascadia Int’l Women’s Film Fest Features Powerhouse Storytellers

The 2025 Cascadia Film Festival was a weekend full of inspiring women directors, producers, and their amazing films. From stories of scrappy heroines and documentaries rich in wisdom, the festival brought audiences from across Washington and farther. The weekend kicked off with a screening and talkback from honored guest Yvonne Russo. Russo is a director and producer known for her work in Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae (2024), The Heart Stays (2024), and Viva Verdi (2024) the film that opened the festival as a Pacific Northwest premiere. 

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Overviews Michael Baldovino Overviews Michael Baldovino

Living Waling Waling: Acuña’s Runway Nurtures Filipino Intersectionality

Heidi Grace Acuña presents Living Waling Waling, a fashion event celebrating the matriarchal power of the orchid. Amassing more than twenty artists across mediums in the total production of this show, expect upcycled fashion, eclectic dance performance, and a side of Filipino bites.  Heidi Grace Acuña is a multi-disciplinary artist who sublimes their sense of disconnect to explore topics of identity, culture, gender, and home. Acuña has a background in sculpture with a permanent piece at North Seattle College. Since the 2019 pandemic they have expanded their craft into other mediums like fashion.

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Reviews Michael Baldovino Reviews Michael Baldovino

Glimpsing Development Through a Bar’s POV: Marcie’s is a Local Treat

Director John Helde hosted the Marcie’s world premiere in a packed, sold out crowd at Northwest Film Forum. Marcie’s follows a scrappy bartender, played by Jenn Ruzumna, who is a few payments away from fully owning the good ol’ local Ed’s Tavern—a long-held dream reached by one struggling payment at a time. But a rich, ambitious man enters and tries to persuade Ed into selling the restaurant before Marcie can finish her payments.

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Reviews Michael Baldovino Reviews Michael Baldovino

Curry’s Black Icons Inspire Growth, Change, Conversation in NAAM’s Showcase

Curry painted iconic musicians from Jimi Hendrix to civil rights activists James Baldwin, Michelle and Barack Obama, John Lewis, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Curry titles his show Where Do We Go From Hereprodding conversation about how we continue to fight and move forward as agents of change.I asked Curry how the people in his portraits answer the question posed by his show. “We keep fighting. We keep supporting,’” Curry answered. 

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Points of View, Reviews Michael Baldovino Points of View, Reviews Michael Baldovino

Seattle Filmmaker In Focus: June Zandona

Every quarter, SFS hosts the In Focus series celebrating Seattle directors and cinematographers that features shorts, music videos, and more in a diverse range of content. SFS chooses a director who has a strong intention and vision to their stories with robust elements of “framing/staging/blocking, confidence in editing, making distinctive choices, and thematically cohesive style choices,” said the SFS Artistic Director, Marcus Baker.  

February 2025’s In Focus event showcased director and cinematographer June Zandona, known for her work on Penelope, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Special, and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. The screening featured three of Zandona’s shorts: Dancer, Wedding Video, and This is Concrete

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Overviews Michael Baldovino Overviews Michael Baldovino

Free Public Displays Make Art Accessible Around Seattle

Three art pieces came to the Seattle Center and are here until the cherry blossoms bloom this April. The Seattle Center, in collaboration with The Office of Arts and Culture, commissioned three public pieces for a short-term display on their campus: two sculptures and one hung banner. 

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Reviews Michael Baldovino Reviews Michael Baldovino

More Than Coffee Art: Art with Your Coffee

Past the coffee cup, a thriving coffee shop is filled with satisfied customers having the ability to sit at a table, lounge leisurely, and possibly work on a laptop with free wifi. Seattle shops routinely deliver these modest customer requests.

Here are four coffee shops around the Seattle area that can be ideal for finding your next open seat—and of course local art.   

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Points of View, Reviews Michael Baldovino Points of View, Reviews Michael Baldovino

Bruce Lee Tribute Murals Illuminate Legacy, Hope, Inspiration in International District

Seattle’s International District buzzed with energy on November 27, 2024, as the community honored the 83rd birthday of the late action star Bruce Lee. With newly unveiled murals, the celebration not only paid homage to Lee’s legacy but also reinforced the neighborhood's commitment to cultural preservation and artistic vitality.

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Points of View Michael Baldovino Points of View Michael Baldovino

Worldwide Badass Brings Intersectional Tattoo Community to Capitol Hill

After the tattoo expo at the Seattle Center, tattooers across Seattle received a notable amount of appointments to fulfill new client requests. Having entered the Seattle market recently, Worldwide Badass (WWBA), a tattoo company, has found their space in the Seattle market on the famous Pike Street in Capitol Hill. Calel Metcalf and Dario Rodgriguez, best friends and owners of WWBA, make statements on the state of the market and share some advice for new and upcoming tattooists, companies, and how they may see themselves moving into the Seattle community.

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Reviews Michael Baldovino Reviews Michael Baldovino

OUT: An Explicit, Honest, Queer Coming-of-Age Reality

OUT is a beautifully sandwiched film that brings the viewer through the coming-of-age story and the uneasy, relationship-driven plot. From beginning to end, the viewer is gifted with strategic pictures, impactful dialogue, and truth from the acting. While the subjects and explicit nature of the film may not be for everyone, it holds true to the story of what growing up queer can be like today: to jump into gay culture, make new queer friends, and grow distant in former relationships.

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Purviews Michael Baldovino Purviews Michael Baldovino

Gage Academy Welcomes New SLU Campus

Gage Academy of Arts closed their North Capitol Hill doors this year and moved into a new, improved, and larger space in South Lake Union. The move to South Lake Union (SLU) hopefully reduces the barrier that potential students may have from geographical isolation. The new campus provides a more central location relative to the rest of Seattle than its previous spot—new students will have easier access to art classes. While the move mostly benefits those from the North and West sides of Seattle, the Georgetown campus location has not changed and is a great option for those on the South end of the city.

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Reviews, Purviews Michael Baldovino Reviews, Purviews Michael Baldovino

Seattle Tattoo Expo Highlights Artistic Diversity

The Seattle Center hosted Seattle’s annual tattoo expo showcasing over 200 artists across the world, some local to the Puget Sound, our Eastern Washington neighbors, and our neighbors on the other coast. Attendees viewed portfolio after portfolio within the long rows of talented tattoo studios. The varieties of styles and inspirations were put on full display from the artists. Expansive geometric patterns stretched across bodies. Shadowed creatures from the occult appear to creep out of body parts. Flowers were stuck in the most perfect moment of bloom.

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Reviews Michael Baldovino Reviews Michael Baldovino

Fruit Bowl Fashionistas Flip for PhoeNyx!

Fruit Bowl is a recently developed art production series bringing local artists’ designs to life with a set of runway shows—and yes, you’re right: it’s fruit-themed. Fruit Bowl is very queer and closed the show on Pride weekend; this last show’s theme was “Chimera Fruit: The Mutant Fruit.”

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Reviews, Purviews Michael Baldovino Reviews, Purviews Michael Baldovino

Gage Academy Bids Farewell to Capitol Hill with Graduating Class

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.

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Reviews, Purviews Michael Baldovino Reviews, Purviews Michael Baldovino

New Thought-Provokers at Ethnic Heritage Gallery

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.

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