New Artworks at Molly’s Cafe

A patron viewing Maggie Romano’s trying currently on view at Molly’s Cafe in the Henry Art Gallery

Hello Hank & Greetings Henry Blog Readers, it’s me, Ryan, the Intern, and I was wondering if you’ve been in Molly’s Café recently. Not only is the coffee great and the sandwiches amazing, now you can add see more art while you’re here.

New works by seven students enrolled in the Photomedia Program at the University of Washington School of Art, chosen by UW associate professor and artist Rebecca Cummins, are now on display as of last Friday. The space is host to a rotating series of works on view, with the current pieces following work that was a favorite with Molly’s regulars. In fact, a few of the baristas were sad to see the previous works go, but are happy with the new selections.

Standing in front of works by Leif Anderson (foreground) & Amelia Hooning (background)

I’m also noticing that there’s a lot of color introduced with this cycle. Lensless color studies by Diana Bolme and the whimsical works of Leif Anderson & Ryan Mortensen are add sparks of intense color while black & white photography by Emmaline McGraw & the meditative palette of Alfonso Pozo’s memoria f days (which uses the Facebook ‘f’ in its title screen) balance the pieces out as a whole.

A work that particularly caught my eye was trying by Maggie Romano, seen in the first picture in the post. The dozens of shots of individually french braided reminded me of my mom and how she would always braid my cousin’s hair, and each time getting something approximate to all the previous attempts, but always in its individual serendipities the braid is captivating, irreplicable.

What amazed me from a purely technical sense is also the way the work was mounted. A few people on the team here at the Henry spent Friday afternoon mounting the work and it taught me alot. For trying, the work used a ‘french cleat‘ system, (does it have anything to do with the French Braid? I dunno, mere speculation) which is a method of mounting I never knew before. It uses a wedge cut into a flat board to catch the painting in its hook. The diagram below will probably explain better. I’ll keep it in mind when mounting work myself.

Sayeth Rebecca during the mounting process, “Maybe we should call them Freedom Cleats.” Sounds like an excellent idea!

Anyway, do be sure to check out the work in the café and feel free to have a drink, too. Maybe I’ll see you around, blog reader. Have your hair in a French Braid and hold a rose, that way I’ll know it’s you.

Amelia Hooning’s Untitled (The Birds) is a crowd favorite

New works by Leif Anderson, Diane Bolme, Amelia Hooning, Emmaline McGraw, Ryan Mortensen, Alfonso Pozo, & Maggie Romano of the UW Photomedia Program are now on display at Molly’s Café in the Henry Art Gallery. Special thanks to Associate Professor Rebecca Cummins, who partnered with Henry and Molly’s Café staff to select the work on view.

Molly’s at the Henry is open Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm; Saturday & Sunday from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm.