Wynne Greenwood at the Frye

Thursday October 25, 11 am – 7 pm & Friday, October 26, 11 am – 5 pm
Mirrors and Dresser Live Video Recording with Wynne Greenwood
Frye Art Museum
Free Admission and Parking

As part of the programming for the Frye’s new exhibition, Mw [Moment Magnitude], Henry Art Gallery performance artist and Stranger Genius Award Winner Wynne Greenwood will be live video-recording a music video project called Mirrors and Dresser. In this performance, Wynne will be re-creating The Women’s Spa, an installation she originally made in 2011 to explore security, transformation and isolation. The set is intended to encourage the public performance of a private process.

The Frye is also offering anyone who identifies themselves as a Friend of the Henry a 15 percent discount on coffee/espresso drinks during Wynne’s live video recording.

If you haven’t seen Mw [Moment Magnitude] yet or even if you have, these events are not to be missed!

Here is Wynne’s Artist Statement:

About Mirrors and Dresser

 When I think of women’s spas (my own experience with women’s spas being limited to the Olympus Spa in Tacoma, WA), I think of a place to rest, and to witness rest. A space has been created whose function is to allow communal relaxation. Now, that being said, the spa costs a minimum of $35 to enter, and is limited to women who were born with female bodies. From my experience, the majority of customers are white. I mention these details and observations because I’m interested in, and concerned with, who has access to transformative processes, and why.

 

For Mirrors and Dresser, popular cartoon characters and mythic figures, like Pebbles Flintstone, Betty Boop and Medusa, will hang out in the women’s spa on spa maintenance day, watching each other have a body, holding space for becoming space, and praying for an end to isolation through nostalgia.

 

Pebbles has been a happy baby for 50 years. Medusa has been the monster for hundreds. How tiring. These are characters we insist upon, myths that we replay again and again. Why? Is it comfortable? Why do we seek comfort? Can we let our icons and our myths change? Can we let even the role or function of “icon” and “myth” change? Did you know Medusa was a mother? She gave birth out of her neck to twins, Pegasus and a giant, as she was beheaded.

 

I’m choosing these characters to talk about cultural exhaustion. I’m also choosing them to help me perform. To act out and then challenge my own cartoony definitions, to allow performance itself to expand by first exaggerating its boundaries and then letting them relax, stretch out, soak and rest. Not necessarily seeking comfort, but transformation and a more complicated existence.

                                                            –Wynne Greenwood

Exhibition Tour Guide Series: Guest blogger Chelsea Nagayama

Sadly, this past Sunday was the final day for the The Record and The B-Side, which exhibited art, influenced and created with records and record sleeves by local Pacific Northwest artists spanning from Portland to Anacortes, respectively. I personally enjoyed the juxtaposition between the B-Side and The Record because the B-Side showed a current perspective of the local music world’s intersection of audio and visual art, while the The Record showed the past and present influence of records on the art world.  It was super great to gain a deeper understanding of records and music culture by the programs set up during the duration of the exhibit. I got see the record cutting process and even got my own record cut by the amazing dude, Mike Dixon, who was doing a residency with his record company PIAPTK Records. Now, I have my own personal one song record cut into Plexiglas.

I led the Youth Advisory Board from the Experience Music Project (EMP), led by the program’s teacher Jonathan Cunningham, during the final week of the exhibit. The Youth Advisory Board is a program that high school aged youth are working together through their passion for music to drive the involvement of their peers at the EMP. This high school aged group was an ideal group because of their invested relationship with music and their youthful perspective of what records mean to a young viewer during the revival of records as a medium for musicians to produce their music.

The EMP student’s will be acting as tour guides for the EMP in the future and actually pulled inspiration for their video wall, which displays music videos of past and present artists. Students jotted down names of local musicians to research so they could create a local perspective for their music video wall display. A theme these bright students really understood was the aspect of time in the exhibit. Time is represented by the ephemeral quality of the record’s vinyl material, the way listeners interact with a record player and how a record must be played through, and the nostalgia and reference to the past records have.

An activity I did with this group, that I encourage you all to do, is to choose a record sleeve of an artist you have never heard before and describe what you think the artist sounds like based on the cover art. Then, play the record and compare your previous thoughts with what you hear. It’s a really interesting activity to understand and consider the dynamic relationship of audio and visual art. The EMP group chose Black Candy. The album cover is black with white messy cursive writing of Black Candy and a quintessential piece of sugary cellophane wrapped candy drawn expressively with squiggles.  The EMP group suggested it would sounds metal, maybe hardcore, and that there was definitely going to be an edge. The sound was less metal and more grunge than they imagined. Go have fun and explore the recently booming record world, or better yet find a gem from the 70’s or 80’s!

I hope you all had the chance to check out The Record and The B-Side because the Henry is sad to see it leave, but new exhibitions Now Here is also Nowhere and Like a Valentine: The Art of Jeffry Mitchell are opening on October 26th. The Henry will be having an Open House that night from 7-10 pm for the public, so come out, enjoy art, and party on!

Record Appreciation with Kathy Slade and Brady Cranfield

This Friday the Henry will be hosting visual artists Kathy Slade and Brady Cranfield to take part in Record Appreciation, a new program that involves a series of casual listening parties with respected artists who will then discuss how vinyl records have influenced their own work.

Feel free to bring your own vinyl or listen to any of the music selections currently available in the Henry’s test site.

Slade and Cranfield collaborate with each other on their ongoing project The Music Appreciation Society, and as Cranfield and Slade, whose concept album titled 12 Sun Songs was Released in 2009.

This program is held in conjunction with the Henry’s newest exhibition, The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl. Celebrate your record appreciation with us this Friday at the Henry’s test site from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

Hope to see you there!
Marian

Lathe cutting demos coming up this week

Ever wanted to see a record from one of your favorite artists get cut right in front of you?

In conjunction with the Henry’s exhibition, The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl,  visitors are invited to the Henry’s test site tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday to see Mike Dixon cut a series of limited edition high-quality, 10” lacquer recording blanks, in real time, on a 1940’s Presto 6N record lathe!

Each day will feature a different artist and visitors are allowed to purchase records on a first come first serve basis.

Wednesday 7/18: Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse & The Shins)
Thursday 7/19: Grand Archives
Friday 7/20: Fruit Bats

Records are $75, $70 for Henry members and will be cut during regular museum hours. Can’t make it on these dates? Call the Henry front desk to purchase your record (206-221-3850).

In addition, Dixon will be giving a talk entitled Live to Lathe on Saturday, 7/21, from 12:00-3:00pm, where he will explain the history of record production from early cylinder formats to Hip Pocket Records to 45s. Following the talk Dixon will give another live cutting demo. Bring in an MP3 player or your guitar and record your own record right in the gallery for only $5, first come first served.

Mike Dixon is the proprietor of People in a Position to Know (PIAPTK), a vinyl and digital only record label in Olympia, WA.

Come to the Henry this week to take advantage of this incredible opportunity!

-Marian

CHANGES.

Hi All,

 School is out (old news), campus is pretty quiet, and as of ten minutes ago, the rains are back.  Despite the generally slower pace of the University in the summer months, things here at the gallery are speeding up as we get ready to install our next big show, The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl opening on July 13^th.  The MFA show came down last week and once again, our gallery walls are white.  A few days ago 32 giant art crates arrived, and the anticipation of unscrewing those lids is nearly killing me!

Keep an eye out for some excellent public programming coming out of the Henry’s Test Site in conjunction with The Record, including performances by the likes of Slashed Tires and The Hive Dwellers, listening parties, workshops and diligent online coverage from our best and brightest guest blogger/coordinator/go-to-brainiac Olivia McCausland (see her work here).

As for now, take a peek at these naked walls…

Always an exciting sight…

YESYESYES!

Check back soon to see what’s inside!

buh-bye.

Talk soon,

Alexa.

ONCE IN A FUTURE

Fin Records and the Next 50 present “One in a Future,” four curated events featuring musical performances and panel discussions on the history, present and future of music in the Northwest and beyond.

Part ONE: Returning Music – Why Roots Music Can Stabilize the Turbulent World of Music
Intiman/Playhouse @ the Seattle Center
Monday, May 14th
Doors @ 6, Panel @ 7, Performances @ 8
Free

This event features Mike Dixon, owner of PIAPTK, who will be facilitating Live to Lathe workshops as part of the B-Side, a participatory experience lab held in conjunction with the Henry’s upcoming exhibition, The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl.

Panelists:
Charles R. Cross - Author and Journalist
Kelli Faryar - Programs Manager at Northwest Folklife
Mike Dixon - Owner, People In A Position To Know Records
Greg Vandy - Host of The Roadhouse on KEXP
Shelby Earl - Artist
Bryan John Appleby - Artist
Moderated by Christian Fulghum - Owner, Fin Records

Performers:
Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening, K Records)
Kendl Winter (K Records)
Gabriel Mintz (Fin Records)
Whiting Tennis (Fin Records)
Davidson Hart Kingsbery (Fin Records)
Honora

Reserve your tickets HERE or get them at the door.

5-Hour Comics Day

Saturday, April 14, 2012, 11:00 – 4:00 PM
Test Site
Free with Museum Admission

5-Hour Comics Day is almost upon us! We’ll be doodling and drawing every hour the Henry is open tomorrow, April 14^th, in the Morning Serial exhibition space. Based on the popular 24-Hour Comics Day, this event invites anyone to come and draw their hearts out—and their hand-cramps.* There’s lots of ways to participate: draw a 5 page comic in 5 hours; switch gears each hour and follow along with our suggested themes; pop in for a short sketch; or just work on whatever suits your interest.

We’re thrilled to offer a short comics-making crash course at noon by up-and-coming Seattle artist Max Badger Woodring. Max just posted the first ten pages of his in-progress comic, and they are doozies—check them out! (Just be careful, he bites.)

Paper and colored pencils will be up for grabs, but feel free to bring your own laptop or specialized materials.

 
 *why is it only 5 hours, and not 24? The idea of hyper-caffeinated comics folks bouncing around the museum at 4am is just too scary to contemplate. 

Intruder no. 1

I popped into my favorite neighborhood spot this morning and picked up a copy of Intruder! Packed with too many great local illustrators to name and a full color center spread, this FREE comics/art newspaper is mega lovely.

They just had an exhibition out at CoCA Ballard last week.

So if you’ve spent time upstairs in our lobby and still want more comics in your world, get your fix with Intruder.

BRAVO!

Cat Clifford: How to Make a One Minute Sculpture

Friday, February 10, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Test Site
FREE with Museum Admission

Cat Clifford’s current work examines everyday movements and gestures frequently repeated in a domestic setting. These investigations often find their way into other quasi-narrative work. Recent working methods include video, animation, drawing, sculpture and performance. Her work has been exhibited at Portland Art Museum, Boise Art Museum, Arthouse, Austin, Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, Seattle University’s Hedreen Gallery, among other venues. She lives in Houston, TX and Shoreline, WA with her husband and three children.

Clifford has also had her films exhibited at the Henry before, And Deer and Trees and Things: Videos by Cat Clifford. Hear Clifford’s conversation with Henry Curator, Sara Krajewski, here.

Read more about Wurm’s One Minute Sculptures HERE.

WORKSHOP with Karn Junkinsmith: How to make a One Minute Sculpture

Sunday, February 5, 2012, 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Test Site
FREE with Museum Admission
Please Register in Advance HERE and bring a book

Join Seattle choreographer and experimental dance filmmaker Karn Junkinsmith for an afternoon workshop to be held in conjunction with the Henry’s presentation of Erwin Wurm’s One Minute Sculptures. Throughout the duration of this presentation visitors will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of participatory experiences designed to explore the concepts introduced in Wurm’s Sculptures and question definitions of sculpture by encountering their own unexpected relationships with everyday objects.

Utilizing the four elements of dance, time, space, energy and the body we will play with a book to construct and witness our collective one minute sculptures. Relax into present moment, breathe, dream, imagine, remember, stretch, reach, spin, jump, ask, open heart, receive, give, move with feeling. This workshop will utilize everyday objects so be sure to bring your own book to work with.

Karn Junkinsmith is a Seattle choreographer and experimental dance filmmaker. Karn’s dance film work began in 1990, when she collaborated with Lena Sharpe on GIRLS FIND WAYS TOGET THERE, a dance of three female archetypes: Joan of Arc, witch and pregnant virgin. Her directorial debut, the whimsicalDAY OFF, produced in association with Northwest Film Forum and shot by Lynn Shelton screened at Lincoln Center, BUS STOPscreened at the Red Cat in Los Angeles, and ALCHEMY OF THEORACLES screened at Local Sightings. THE CHRONICLES OFCLEO & JACK shot on 16mm black & white is a story told with pictures, music, skateboarding and dancing screened at Northwest Film Forum’s Local Sightings and the Sans Souci Film Festival in Boulder Colorado in 2010. Her most recent film NIGHT FALLSON JACK AND CLEO shot by Ben Kasulke on super 16 screened at Local Sightings in October of 2011.

See her films HERE