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It’s been a bit of  a bummer summer for me here in the Pacific Northwest. The chilly, dismal weather throughout much of June and July definitely affected my overall mood, in addition to a couple failed job searches and house drama. Now that August has brought hot, sunny weather to Olympia, I’m busy finishing teaching my summer class and frantically preparing lesson plans for the fall quarter. Throughout the upcoming academic year, I will be teaching three classes each quarter on two different campuses while still acting as the technician for the printmaking studio half time. Yes, I am crazy. However for the next 10 months, I am planning on saving  approximately 50% of my income for Future Plans, come hell or high water.

I’m also planning monthly adventures to preserve my sanity during the school year. The first adventure is a road trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend Tamarind Institute’s Fabulous at Fifty Symposium and Conference. Long time readers and friends know how much I absolutely ADORE New Mexico. As excited as I am for the conference, I’m more excited to spend some time driving through the desert. I’ll be camping along the way which means stargazing galore! I hope to be on the road for a week and a half or so, and when I return to Olympia, it’ll already be advising week for the new campus gig. October, November and December’s adventures have yet to be determined, but a holiday in Buffalo with family is in the works as well as a relaxing long weekend at Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon. February brings the annual CAA conference in New York City, which will undoubtedly be amazing and re-energizing (couches, friends?). March is a friend’s wedding in Death Valley, California – another weekend of desert camping.

Ultimately all these mini-trips will lead up to a (hopefully) month long adventure in Peru next summer, the main destination being Machu Picchu. I have never traveled out of the country (with the exception of Canada and we all know that doesn’t count). Machu Picchu has always fascinated me; the images of the ancient Incan ruins located on an artificially terraced mountain side look like something I could only have imagined in dreams. I am currently looking for interested traveling buddies, so if you’re interested in spending time in Peru, you know where to reach me.

In the meantime, Little Wings at Northern. Man, I love Little Wings. Album recommendation of the day: Light Green Leaves.

April showers bring May flowers, or so they say.  The Black Dot Museum, curated by Jean Smith and David Lester of Mecca Normal, took over the walls of Northern for the month of May, bringing together political artists based out of Vancouver, BC. We also celebrated the one year anniversary of Northern in conjunction with the opening. From the press release:

For May, David Lester and Jean Smith of Mecca Normal co-curate a month-long, group exhibit at Northern. “The Black Dot Museum — Political Artists from Vancouver” includes paintings, prints, drawings and comics by David Lester, Jean Smith, Brian Roche and Gord Hill. The opening reception for the artists was Saturday May 1, from 5p – 8p with a Performance by Mecca Normal at 7. This special opening also celebrates Northern’s one year anniversary serving as an all ages art and music venue in beautiful downtown Olympia, Washington.

Biographies provided by the artists:

David Lester is the guitar player in the underground rock duo Mecca Normal (Kill Rock Stars), a painter and graphic designer whose artwork is featured weekly in Magnet Magazine online with text by Mecca Normal singer Jean Smith. In 2009, Mecca Normal celebrated twenty-five years in music, touring their lecture, art and performance event “How Art & Music Can Change the World” based on Lester’s Inspired Agitators poster series. The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism (Arbeiter Ring, 2006) — an astounding collection of comparative statistics compiled by Lester — has been included in university course material in the US and Canada. David Lester’s art appears in the recently published Paper Politics (Soft Skull Press, 2009) as well as Reproduce & Revolt (Soft Skull Press, 2008).

Jean Smith is the singer and lyricist in the literary rock duo Mecca Normal and a two-time recipient of Canada Council for the Arts awards as a professional writer of creative fiction. Jean has two published novels and has, since 1986, released fifteen CDs on Kill Rock Stars, K Records and Matador. Smith’s series of self-portraits from age 13 has been included in several Ladyfest art exhibits. Her paintings are featured in Mecca Normal’s touring lecture event “How Art & Music Can Change the World”. Smith grew up in Vancouver with two abstract parents for painters.

Gord Hill currently lives in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (occupied Coast Salish territory). From the Kwakwaka’wakw nation, with Tlingit and Scottish ancestry, his family lineage includes the Hunt and Scow families. He has lived on reserves and in cities, small towns, and isolated mountain camps, and has been involved in Indigenous and other social movements since 1988, participating in many protests, occupations, and blockades. He is an artist, writer, and carver. Above all, he considers himself a warrior—one who defends his people and territory. Gord is the author and illustrator of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010).

During the 80s and 90s Brian Roche regularly exhibited his large paintings of various historical figures rubbing elbows with icons of popular culture.  An ex-Catholic ranting about atheism and corporatization at dinner parties, he regularly answered the inevitable “but what does it mean?” question about his paintings with “you figure it out.‘ This was all fine, but there comes a time in an artist’s life when, in taking a tally of accomplishments, things don’t add up. At this time, Roche stopped painting. Several years ago, Roche decided to stop living the way he was — a painter not painting is a person not happy. He decided to be happy. His recent return to painting came after discovering that smaller canvases make it possible to complete work in the time after his day job.

Photos of the gallery show and the opening (with a special performance by Janet Pants!) below:

More on Northern’s march show, From, Johnson

Artists included in From, Johnson:

Daniel Arlein, Brooklyn, NY
Avantika Bawa, Portland, Oregon
Jenny Buffington, Shorewood, IL
Ingrid Burrington, Baltimore, MD
Scott Marvel Cassidy, Los Angeles, CA
Ariel Churnin, Johnson, VT
Thomas Cummins, San Antonio, TX
Janet Hassinger, Houston, TX
Harrison Haynes, Durham, NC
James Horgan, Cambridge, MA
Laura Kaufman, Hudson Valley, NY
Ji Eun Kim, Cheyenne, WY
Jong Sun Lee, Rockville, MD
Caitlin MacBride, Brooklyn, NY
Sharon Madanes, Chicago, IL
Rose Nestler, Brooklyn, NY
Ruben Quesada, Lubbock, TX, in collaboration with Jonathan Bohr Heinen
Nathan Rayman, Kentfield, CA
Alexis Semtner, Brooklyn, NY

More photos of pieces below:

Thomas Cummins‘ beautiful photo of bustling Johnson, Vermont on a snowy night.

Caitlin MacBride

Ingrid Burrington

Janet Hassinger

Ariel Churnin

Scott Marvel Cassidy

Avantika Bawa

Rose Nestler

Jong Sun Lee

Sharon Madanes

Ji Eun Kim

Ruben Quesada in collaboration with Jonathan Bohr Heinen

Since December, I’ve been hard at work organizing and curating this month’s group show at Northern. I met all the artists during my stay at The Vermont Studio Center this past November and December. From the Press Release:

For the month of March, Northern is pleased to present, From, Johnson, a group show exhibiting the works of 19 artists from across the country.

Each of the 19 artists included in From, Johnson met for the first time this past November at The Vermont Studio Center, a residency for visual artists and writers located in Johnson, Vermont. A play on words between the name of the small town where the artists lived and worked for a month and the influential Pop-Artist and ‘Father of Mail Art,’ Ray Edward Johnson, From, Johnson is about making connections — connections between artists, connections through the act of sending art via the United States Postal Service, and connections between the disparate works themselves.

Images of the show:

Nathan Rayman

Laura Kaufman

Harrison Haynes

Jenny Buffington

Daniel Arlein (This photo only shows the landscape painting partially extended)

Alexis Semtner

James Horgan

Sometimes it’s hard to hear the Universe talking to you above the din that is your day to day life. As someone who already has bad hearing from an ungodly amount of hardcore and emo shows attended as a teenager, sometimes it’s difficult to hear anything at all (I escaped the alterna-90s and all I got was partial hearing loss). However, when the same sentiment is repeated over and over from the mouths of unrelated people in my life, I can’t help but acknowledge larger forces at work and stop to listen.

I found out Thursday that I didn’t get a job I was actually (for once) holding out a fair amount of hope for – I had even been informally told to expect a phone interview, so I’m not placing all blame on my overactive imagination. As a direct result of this revelation, I have been listening to Kate Bush non-stop.

Recent insight via electronic correspondence with thoughtful Nora, brunch with the inimitable Brian Jones, and a phone call from always encouraging Kai, however, have left me with renewed faith (or at least a feeling of contentment) with my current lot in life.  Like Kai said, I live in a cool house, I teach at a rad liberal arts institution, and I have a cat and a blog. What more could I want?

While life is never as simple as a single catchy sentence, I recognize the truth in those words… even though I wish that sentence was somewhat longer. If it comes down to it, what’s another year in Olympia?

Where else could I have caught Calvin Johnson reading the entirety of the “O” section from Dan Nelson’s (somewhat problematic) book  All Known Metal Bands on Saturday night? AMAZING. Then, the following evening, where else could I have caught Wynne Greenwood and K8 Hardy personally screening their collaborative video projects via data projector beamed onto old sheets in a hip local thrift store? Jesus. I mean, how fucking awesome is my life?

(Right…?)

Photos via my shitty cell phone.

Northern hosted an amazing show of two young, local artists this past month. The opening was truly an event to behold with costumed creatures drumming in circles (think Show Biz comes alive) as well as a lot of attractive, hip kids. The information from the press release is pasted below along with some photos of the opening for your enjoyment.

For the month of January, Northern is pleased to exhibit the work of two Olympia based artists, Joel Allen Davenport and Ryan Converse. The opening reception for the artists was Sunday, January 10 from 4p -7pm. The show ran through January.

Statements provided by the artists:

Joel Allen Davenport

Warm Ghosts is a on-going project of former Denver, CO resident and more recently Olympia, WA space cadet, Joel Davenport. Mostly working in watercolor and ink mediums, he has been meditatively crafting psychedelic, visceral pieces that inhabit their own dimension with their own set of rules, unique characters, waveform patterns, and inspirations while still existing on the same plane.

Inspired by all things obsolete, living or dead, and especially cultural, occult, and religious transcending experiences, Warm Ghosts embraces all forms and spectrum of conversation with the artwork from intricate doodles, a trip that explores earth’s culture through flowing black lines and bursts of color or simply being cute. Warm Ghosts’ goal is to unconditionally love, converse, collaborate or, at the very least, interact with you.

Ryan Converse

I have begun to think of my work as an act of mythopoeia.  I think of each piece I create in relation to my body of work as a whole. With this show I present maps, photos, scaled models and artifacts from a place I call the Valley of the Leafling. Each piece is a viewing portal, which I use to look through to this world and understand it more completely. I choose to work in a variety of mediums to represent this place through as many viewpoints as possible. I have found many old mythologies that match with my subconscious creations, most notably the archetype of the green man, or the foliate head, a figure that represents rebirth, which has appeared in many cultures throughout the ages. I hope that for a time you can suspend your disbelief and gaze upon this valley with unclouded eyes.

Joel Allen Davenport:

Ryan Converse (creature costumes also by Ryan):

The night after I returned from Vermont, The ABC House hosted a show for Olympia All Ages in the basement featuring Broken Water, Sic Alps and Magik Markers. Holy shit, this was a good show. About 75 people turned out to sweat and dance away the night. It was great to have a rock show at the house again; it’s been too long. I implore you to check out all three of these bands.  Photos below are of Broken Water and Sic Alps. Sic Alps were recently invited by Pavement to play at this year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties.

For the month of September, Northern is hosting an amazing photography exhibit featuring hundreds of images by artists Aylin Güngör, Tara Jane ONeil and Themba Lewis. The opening was a couple weeks ago and was very well attended. We’re having a closing reception this Friday with musical guests Mt. Erie, Karl Blau, Tara Jane O’Neil (one of the featured artists) and No Kids. Should be an amazing event. Biographies of September’s artists are found below along with photos of the install!

Aylin Güngör (Istanbul)
Aylin Güngör lives on the Asian side of Istanbul, where she is editor-in-chief of BANT Magazine (http://bant.tv/) and a radio host. Her photography combines documentation of Istanbul’s punk arts and music scene (including photos of foreign musicians like Marnie Stern, Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, Gang Gang Dance, etc) with candid portraiture and blown-out landscapes. Forgoing digital cameras for the light play of film, Alyin’s photos appear almost as if shot in slow motion. This is her first exhibition in the USA.

Tara Jane ONeil (Portland)
Tara Jane ONeil is an accomplished visual artist whose paintings and drawings have exhibited worldwide, and appeared on several record covers and in numerous publications; two books of her artwork have been published, Who Takes A Feather (Map Press, Japan, 2003) and Wings. Strings. Meridians: A Blighted Bestiary (Yeti, 2007). She recently completed her 5th full-length album, A Ways Away, released on K Records. Over the course of the past many years and numerous continents TJO has photographically recorded scenes and absurdities with no real intention of exhibiting them. Now is the time.

Themba Lewis (Olympia)
Themba Lewis started taking pictures of his friends skateboarding in the late 1980’s in Indonesia. Since that time he has struggled to combine disparate interests, resulting in an incomprehensible life-plan. His photographs document the last few years, including scenes from post-communist Eastern Europe, Sudanese refugee gang life in Cairo, music festivals in England, recording sessions, arson and global industrial decline. This is Themba’s first photo show in Olympia since 2003.

On Sunday, Northern had its official grand opening. The work of PJ Sykes and Sarah Cass adorned the walls and the Olympia Free Choir sang a few songs for the occasion.  With the massive help of Mariella and Dirk, the walls were painted and the work was hung and secured just in time for the doors to open. The event was well attended and everyone responded positively to the work. I think everything came together rather well; it’s a fitting tribute to fandom and the perfect first show for the gallery.

From the press release:

“Photographers Sarah Cass and PJ Sykes shoot band portraits and rock shows. Sarah Cass, based simultaneously out of Olympia, Denver and New York City, photographs portraiture of underground and popular independent acts while Richmond, Virginia’s PJ Sykes prefers to capture candid shots of punk and guitar driven rock bands. Sykes’s gritty, black and white photographs contrast sharply against Cass’s poppy, saturated color palette. Both artists have had their work published extensively in magazines such as Spin, Paste and Skyscraper among many others. The show will run through the month of June.”

Check out their work!

Finally, after 3 1/2 months of renovating and working on The Olympia All Ages Project art gallery and music venue, Northern, we officially opened our doors. We passed our inspections on Friday, hung our first show in the gallery, cleaned up the space, and did our first real sound check mere hours before the first band laid down the first note on Saturday night.

The gallery features large digital prints of original photographs by Phil Elverum, the mastermind behind The Microphones, Mount Eerie, Anacortes’ The Department of Safety and the annual What The Heck Fest. Photos of the show to follow.

Northern’s first show included Immaculate Machine, The Curious Mystery, and Old Time Relijun. We had over 100 people in the space and the show went off with few problems. The sound in the room is very bright (the technical term the resident sound geeks use) so we have to dampen the space a bit with insulation. We also don’t have our raised stage constructed which will improve sight lines. Little details escaped our notice like having an volunteer email sign up list handy and proper signage for our no alcohol policy. We did have to ask a few kids to empty their flasks. With every event and opening, we’ll continue to form our identity.

It still doesn’t feel real. I’d like to congratulate all the people that have already worked so hard on this project, dedicating their time, energy, creative insight, problem solving skills, talent and straight up labor. Now the fun begins!

Before – January, 2009:

After - Saturday, May 16, 2009: