Katagami in the Conference Room – I DIG it.

While working on a project in the Henry’s conference room, I  noticed a selection of textured floral prints I’d never really paid much attention to. After a closer look I found that they were not prints at all, but a series of intricately carved Japanese Katagami stencils made from mulberry paper and cured with persimmon juice. I thought I ‘d recognized them from the Henry’s online catalog and quickly ran up stairs to visit  the DIG Kiosk to find out more information. After noodling around for a while I realized that these stencils represented only a small portion of the 198 Katagami works in the Henry’s permanent collection – yikes.

After reading a little more about these 19^th century stencils I started thinking about how many items in our collection we don’t often see. Though its impossible to have all works out on view all the time, it is possible to make these collections available by other means. The Henry has made their collections available for research or general public interest by providing in-house and online public access  though the Reed Collection Study Center, new online catalog, and in-house Digital Information Gallery (DIG). These resources allow students and the general public to more fully explore collections for personal or professional research. Though resources online offer general information,  DIG provides access to images and data for over 24,000 objects in the collection and can help make better use of the Reed Collection Study Center. So have at it – research, explore, expand.

Happy Birthday, Scarecrow Video!

Henry Members receive some awesome benefits, including exclusive deals with Henry Art Gallery Merchant Partners. One of our very first merchant partners was Scarecrow Video, “the largest video store on the West Coast (and maybe even the world”, and one of the U-District’s most popular destinations. And this week Scarecrow Video turns 20!

On a rainy Friday night, December 9th, 1988, Scarecrow’s founder, George Latsios, rang through 18 rentals in seven transactions, from his inventory of just over 600 movies. “Not bad for the first day” he wrote.

Scarecrow is home to about 900,000 DVD, VHS, Laser Disc, HD-DVD and was at one time the only place in Seattle that I could rent John Waters’ Pink Flamingos. One of the great things about Scarecrow is the really awesome people there who genuinely love films.

Henry Members! At Scarecrow Video, Rent 1 film and receive a second of equal or lesser rental value FREE (when you present your current Henry Membership card) Limit 1 New Release. Not valid Wednesdays or in combination with any other offer. Not a Henry member? Join NOW!

Thank you to Scarecrow Video for being a Henry Art Gallery Merchant Partner! Looking forward to the next 20 years!

Adaptation YouTube Challenge!

Henry Open House last Friday drew over 1000 visitors – who were among the first to view the exhibition Adaptation – and the monumental work on view in this exhibition (by artists Guy Ben-Ner, Arturo Herrera, Catherine Sullivan, and Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation) are the stunning results from their own video adaptations from various source material- literature and film, ballet and music, email, and classical painting.

YouTube, the vast repository of online videos which focuses on the user-generated experience, is quickly becoming the place where anything, and everything, is up for interpretation. Founded in 2005, YouTube allows the viewer (You!) to make your own TV, to see what you want–when you want, and in many cases (for less than 10 minutes at a time) allows for you to be the star.

YouTube asks you to ‘Broadcast Yourself’ – which can be realized in many formats: Make a photo montage set to ‘Love Don’t Cost a Thing’ as an online vigil to Jennifer Lopez (Did you make this, Gabriel?), make a playlist with your favorite short films and animations, record your own music video, film yourself reviewing the book “Eat. Pray. Love”. Yes, it’s out there. I didn’t just make that one up. There are lots of reviews of “Eat. Pray. Love”. Lots.

Henry Associate Curator Sara Krajewski conceived and organized the Henry Art Gallery Adaptation YouTube Challenge, inviting Henry staff members to curate a short playlist of videos – with the theme of adaptation. Each playlist is featured on the Henry Website with a brief curator’s statement, and an opportunity for all visitors to select an Adaptation YouTube Challenge Viewer’s Choice playlist. It’s also featured on the Henry Art Gallery YouTube (with a link on this blog!)

Morning scramble…

I can’t get myself together for a cohesive post until I have another coffee, but I’ve been wanting to put a few things out here:

I never posted these images of Vancouver artist Khan Lee’s AMAZING paper performance in the Instant Coffee installation at Bumbershoot. Never before had a roll of newsprint combined with a Donna Summer song brought so much joy to so many people. People were making piles and diving into them, creating caves and hiding out, tossing armfuls, dancing, and laughing so hard it hurt.

Thinking about these Kienholz posts (Carolyn, at Dangerous Chunky and Regina at Art-to-go) put our Exhibitions Manager Paul Cabarga into the way-back machine. He dropped a catalog in my chair this morning to let me know that the Henry DID commission the creation of a HUGE work by Ed and Nancy Kienholz for the 1985-86 exhibition NO! Contemporary American Dada. The piece entered the artists’ collection – where it remains. It’s been included in many exhibitions since its making, allowing museum visitors all over the world to see it. The catalog is lovely: out-of-print, but available from the library.

On that note, one thing I’ve repeatedly witnessed since I’ve been at the HAG is how well the Henry does everything within its means to support artists in the creation of new work, regardless of whether those works then enter the Henry’s permanent collection. Most recently, and off the top of my head, the Henry supported the making of new works by Maya Lin, James Turrell, Steve Roden, Santiago Cucullu, Akio Takamori, Lead Pencil Studio, Axel Lieber, neuroTransmitter, and Roy McMakin. In the next few months we’ll be working with Dawn Cerny and Kader Attia on new pieces. Kim Jones will be making sculptures in the museum next week.

And in news from the unconscious world, I’ve had two very entertaining art dreams recently:
One, about an Olafur Eliasson Parade and Dance Party. In the dream, I read a press release from Tanya Bonakdar Gallery that said, “Finally Olafur Eliasson marries his break-dancing skills to his art-making practice!” The other, that Francis Alÿs is a fourteen-year-old albino girl, and we have an extensive conversation while riding in a moving camper van full of papier-mache sculptures, about Norse mythology and Fafnir, the dragon from Volsung.

Oh, yeah – and check this out: ArtsUW.org! I know it is completely bonkers that this hasn’t existed until now – but it didn’t, and now it does. One-stop-shopping for information and links about arts events that are open to the public on the UW campus. We’re there, so are the School of Music, the UW Dance Program, DX Arts, School of Art, UW World Series, Meany Hall, the Burke Museum, and the School of Drama. There’s a lot going on, too.

Trimpin Lecture on Friday at UW’s Suzzallo Library

In 2005, the Henry was one of the 11 venues that hosted one of the works in The Trimpin Project; the installation Pfft (and its nearly 200 wind instruments) was here from July 2-October 2  This Friday, Trimpin will be on campus to give a lecture on his work beginning at 7 PM at Suzzallo Library.  Reserved tickets are sold out, but a limited number of walk-ins will be allowed entrance at 6:30.  If you can’t make the lecture, be sure to read Jen Graves’s “Found Objects to Sound Objects” piece on Trimpin in Art in America this month for an insightful analysis of the Trimpin Project and the interdisciplinary interplay of media and concepts within Trimpin’s work.  Below is a brief video of Klompen, a coin-operated piece that was on view at the Frye from July 14, 2006-January 21, 2007.

Come Together and Harrell Fletcher last week

I’ve been meaning to post about last week’s Come Together, and Harrell Fletcher’s talk on his project The American War last week. Everytime I try to start it comes out so much less powerful and moving than the event itself actually was. Luckily, Carolyn Zick, who attended the event, made a fantastic post at Dangerous Chunky, which I’ll excerpt here, but I encourage you to go over and read the whole thing. Thank you so much, Carolyn, for your thoughtful and eloquent post. I’m really glad you were there!

The diverse group included those that had served in war, been impacted by siblings serving or dying in war, a female Marine who spoke publicly for the first time regarding the violent assault that ended her military career, and a Vietnam hospital pharmacist. The blocks of oral histories were broken by intermissions, undoubtedly meant to encourage small group discussions. The term that most keeps coming to the surface to describe the evening is consciousness-raising.

Architecture lecture tomorrow night: Tom Bosworth

Professor emeritus Tom Bosworth discusses his career and his book Building with Light in the Pacific Northwest: The Houses of Thomas L. Bosworth, Architect tomorrow night at the Henry.

October 4, 6:30-8:30pm FREE
Lecture & Book Signing
at Henry Art Gallery

About the book: 

According to the esteemed American architect, Peter Q. Bohlin, FAIA, “Thomas Bosworth’s architecture subscribes to an appreciation and philosophy of balance, light and site positioning. His houses are Modern in detail, yet classical in spirit. They are calm and assured. They are comfortable and have great dignity.” A teacher and scholar, as well as practicing architect, the Seattle architect Thomas Bosworth is a classicist, strongly influenced by Greek and Roman architecture and especially powerfully by the work and writings of Palladio. His work is equally motivated by land and landscape: architecture follows site, literally and aesthetically, and every house sits on and in its particular location with a perfect sense of rightness and inevitability. This big, bold, beautifully designed monograph, Building With Light in the Pacific Northwest, is a review of some of Bosworth’s most exceptional houses.

Team Gina at the Sweet Art Student Party!

Remember Team Gina from the Capitol Hill Block Party?  If you weren’t an early riser that afternoon, I can say from personal experience that they made the Seattle hipsters dance (or at least, move their heads slightly more aggressively than usual). 

If you are a student at the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, or in Seattle University or Seattle Pacific University’s Art departments, you can see Team Gina at the Henry for FREE on November 1 for the Sweet Art Student Party.  Not only will you get Team Gina, but you will also have free donuts from Mighty-O and cupcakes from Trophy at your disposal. 

If you aren’t familiar with Team Gina, check out their video, complete with matching outfits and synchronized dance moves:

The Sweet Art Student Party is sponsored by Trophy Cupcakes and Mighty-O Donuts.

Shaking it up Friday

We’re gearing up for Come Together and Harrell Fletcher’s visit tonight, and really looking forward to it!

Meanwhile, this post on Dangerous Chunky, an interesting post to the tune of “I love Ed and Nancy Kienholz, and I am so glad to see that Portland Art Museum is currently displaying Useful Art #5 – The Western Motel,” begat this post on Art To Go first showing some well-deserved love for Carolyn Zick and her wonderful blog, Dangerous Chunky, genuinely lamenting Seattle’s lack of Kienholz holdings (and I do mean Ed AND Nancy), then strangely attacking the Henry for hiding our collection holdings. “…the Henry won’t show what you donate.”

I encourage you to read the comments, too.I mostly refrain from pen fights with people who buy ink by the barrel, I like and respect Regina Hackett very, very much (and I know she knows it) but I do comment, as does my colleague, Sara. And I wouldn’t call this a fight. More like a conversation.

Questions about how museums use their collections, and the different strengths and weaknesses of our local institutions’ holdings, and the public faces of each collection are interesting ones. Thinking about the Henry’s “back bins ,” I’m delighted that the Henry is moving forward on a new project DIG (Digital Interactive Galleries). You’ll hear lots more about the project as it comes closer to fruition, but basically, the Henry is working to digitize all the works in our permanent collection and make images and information. Here’s some information from our press release about the recent grant:

The Henry Art Gallery was awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services$148,916 to embark on a new, two-year project, called DIG (Digital Interactive Galleries) to install and implement a permanent collection database with images of 23,154 works; use information technology, including interactive Web components, to expand public and student access to the collections; and increase the effectiveness of the Reed Collection Study Center. The DIG project will benefit from 30 years of cataloging and research on objects in the collection led by Curator of Collections Judy Sourakli with the assistance of myriad student research assistants and volunteers over the years.

“The timing is excellent for us,” said Ms. Sourakli. ”The database implementation will integrate the on-going documentation of our collections with our 34,000 plus digital images.  The three sub-collections will be launched in stages, so as we go on-line, watch our progress and learn more about our collections.  DIG will allow our significant 17, 000 piece costume and textile collection to be seen via the web, providing for increased access for the design community, scholars and researchers around the world.”

Belly dancing children in a Nan Goldin photo DO belong in a museum!

All this nutty hubub about “child pornography” owned by Elton John and loaned to a museum is ridiculous! That “child pornography” is a Nan Goldin photo that showed here at the Henry, as part of Akio Takamori: The Laughing Monks.

“The image was seized by police from the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead last Thursday,” says the London Times.

Lots of people visited the galleries, last fall, saw the photograph, Nan Goldin’s Claire and Edda Belly Dancing and loved the exhibition. Not one gallery visitor was struck down by a lightning bolts, blinded by evil images, or hauled off by the police. Not one.

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Our comments feature seems to be a little messed up, so I’ll post this one for the commenter:

May |  | maysmachete.blogspot.com |

I would still rather never see that picture ever again in my life. I wish I’d never seen it to begin with and I disagree about its museum-worthiness. That said, I also don’t think it’s porn.

Thanks for commenting, May – and I am glad you did like the ceramics.