Image via Wordle. Make your own Wordle, here.

Have questions or observations to share about Vortexhibition Polyphonica?
We’d love to hear from you.

yes, really.

Getty Images is giving its flickr  members a chance to submit a
10 image portfolio for consideration to become an contributor to their Flickr Collection.

Tanya Knannlein brought two Seattle Central textile technology and design classes to the Collections Study Center last week to look at and sketch examples of woven and hand-printed fabrics.

Henry Collections Curator Judy Sourakli discussed the various techniques used to produce the textiles and fragments on hand: ikat, batik, compound weave and block/hand printing, among others.

And I learned this: The British-seeming-as-tea-and-waving-queens paisley pattern in fact originated in Persia about 500 years ago. The contemporary, very common nomenclature is a nod to the foremost producers of the paisley shawls that were all the rage in Europe during the first half of the 18th century. (Judy explained that the advent of the bustle ended this trend – no good covering your bump with a strip of pretty fabric.) Production location: Paisley, Scotland. More on paisley here.

Lecture by Sylvia Wolf > Polaroids: Mapplethorpe
Friday, November 6, 2009, 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Henry Auditorium

FREE: Henry Art Gallery Members, PCNW Members, SPE Participants, Students, Staff, and Faculty with UW ID
$5 General Admission

Tickets available at the Henry Art Gallery admission desk Thursday, November 5 and Friday, November 6 during museum hours.

Polaroids: Mapplethorpe, on view at the Henry Art Gallery though Jan 31, 2010, traces Robert Mapplethorpe’s use of instant photography from 1970 to 1975. The exhibition brings together ninety objects, including self-portraits, figure studies, still lifes, and portraits of lovers and friends including Patti Smith, Sam Wagstaff, and Marianne Faithfull. Unlike the highly crafted images Mapplethorpe staged in the studio and became famous for, these disarming pictures are marked by spontaneity and invention. Together, they offer insight into the artist’s creative development and reveal his pure delight in seeing at a formative time in his career.

Polaroids: Mapplethorpe was organized by Sylvia Wolf for the Whitney Museum of American Art, in collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Sylvia Wolf is Director of the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington. She previously served as Adjunct Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Art Institute of Chicago, where she produced more than 25 photography exhibitions in over 12 years.

Do NOT miss Diana Szeinblum: ALASKA this weekend’s performance at On the Boards! Argentinean choreographer Diana Szeinblum has been at the top of their programming wish list for SIX YEARS!! I think she’s going to make it worth our while.  Added plus for YOU, Gentle Hankblog Reader….(drumroll)

Ticket contest!

Be the FIRST to send your answers to the following three questions to hankblog@henryart.org and you win two tickets to see ALASKA this weekend!
I have two tickets for tonight and two for Sunday, so there will be TWO winners!! Go, guessers, go!

1. Whose skeleton is on view in the Henry’s South Gallery as part of Vortexhibition Polyphonica?
2. What two lady rock stars’ portraits are on view in Polaroids: Mapplethorpe?
3. True or False: Admission to the Henry is FREE today?

More about the show:

Diana Szeinblum
Alaska
Thu – Sun | Nov 5 – 8 | 8pm
$24 general | $12 under 25

Former Pina Bausch dancer and student Diana Szeinblum makes her Seattle debut with Alaska, a sensual and fierce dance theater performance. The Buenos Aires choreographer uses the skills of her outstanding 4 member company and a style reminiscent of OtB alumni such as Crystal Pite to create a beautiful spectacle that undulates between uneasy stillness and
violent frenzy.

Also on the OTB site -

• Info about the master class with Diana Szeinblum | Sat, Nov 7 | noon @ OtB
• A podcast with Tonya Lockyer, MFA candidate, Dance Dept, UW
• An audio interview with Diana Szeinblum

Totally brightens my day. Really! Some are super random, some are just plain awesome.

From Jen Graves’  post on Slog today – about Allan Sekula: Waiting for Tear Gas: “We get a chance to see how heroically Sekula set out to be Zen about the protests. Meaning: he didn’t want to overlay anything on the scene. He wanted to see it.” Read the whole post here.

The group Flickr pool that she refers to in the post is here –  part of it is currently on view in the Henry’s lobby.  If you have WTO photographs you’d like to include, we’ll be re-pulling the slideshow next week.

more about “Sekula, DeLaurenti + Henry WTO + 10 o…“, posted with vodpod

Gentle diversions for your Wednesday lunch hour:

Are you a fan of the Henry on Facebook? Join here!
Following us on Twitter? We’re here.

This commercial made my head explode:

There’s a Weezer snuggie. And you can really order one. When you order it, you get their  CD, Raditude. Other RAD facts: Kenny G. plays on this album. Lil Wayne raps, and also I hear that the iTunes bonus tracks include a cover of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face.
Communications Assistant Whitney Ford-Terry reports:  “It is like listening to every song that played on the radio when I was in high school, all at the same time.”

This guy really wants to take you to the movies. He’ll buy you popcorn. The song could get stuck in your head all day.

Ever wanted to go to a stranger’s house, curl up on the couch and watch some awesome film festival shorts? This Saturday is your chance.

Couch Fest Films is an Annual Short Film festival that is hosted by a number of different houses all over Seattle. Each House has its own genre and shows an hourly program, you can show up on the hour in whatever order! Only 10 bucks for the whole day, and you can get your tickets at the door of any house! Well, any participating house. Its going to be great.

At the last Henry Open House an amazing event happened.

Coincidentally the event occurred just after we closed the open bar.