School’s out! Come hang with us at the Henry!

Wednesday, June 19th

Public Tour, 12:00 – 12:30 pm:  Seattle artist and newly-minted UW MFA Dave Kennedy will lead a tour through Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty. Dave’s work shares themes of passion, self-doubt, inner struggle, and introspection with the works exhibited in Out [o] Fashion. Recently awarded a solo show at 4Culture in April of 2014, Dave’s work has been shown at GGibson, Photo Center Northwest, and Seattle Art Museum’s Gallery.

Thursday, June 20th

ArtsDawgs Series: MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition and Reception, 6:00-8:00 pm: You are invited to the final ArtsDawgs event of the year! After a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception at 6 pm, take a walk-through of the UW MFA + MDes thesis exhibition. Buy your ticket here or at the door (only $8; unless you are a Henry member, then you are FREE)!

What’s an ArtsDawg? The UW Alumni Association and ArtsUW have partnered to offer UWAA members an exciting opportunity to experience the arts at UW as an insider. With just a click of your mouse and a flash of your member card, you can attend select performances and exhibitions, indulge in exclusive pre-show receptions, and hear from knowledgeable artists and faculty.

Closing this Sunday!

You have just a week left to see the 2013 UW MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition. Seventeen burgeoning artists all in one gallery: visit now so you can say you saw them when. Small Change by first year MFA candidate Rebecca Chernow also ends on Sunday. Have you checked out her wares? Traded or bartered anything? Everything must go!

MDes Candidate Mike Fretto (right) talks with visitors. Photo credit: Dan Bennett

Join us on the 28th for an evening of workshops and demos from Bicycle Alliance of Washington, Cascade Bicycle Club, Back Alley Bike Repair and The Bikery. Enjoy bike-friendly brews from Peddler Brewing Company and dance to live music from Seattle bands Punishment and Pitschouse. Class up your bike style with fashion forward activities brought to you by Iva Jean and Hub and Bespoke.

Cant wait to participate in bike-friendly summer fun? Then visit our friends over at the Bikery TONIGHT from 7-11pm for their Housewarming Party in the Artspace Hiawatha Lofts. Enjoy snacks, drinks, a raffle and Sponsor-A-Tool table, live music, faces old and new, updates on what’s new around the Bikery, and lots of good times.

Who: The Bikery, Bikery friends and neighbors, cyclists and cycling advocates, and community members and advocates
What: Bikery Housewarming Party
When: This Friday, June 14th, 7:00pm-11:00pm
Where: Artspace Hiawatha Lofts, 843 Hiawatha Pl S, Seattle

Industrial Effects: Photographs from the Henry Art Gallery Collection is open now through September 1.

Over the years, photographers have traced the rise and fall of industry’s popularity, from sweeping views of skyscrapers to critical looks at industry’s effect on workers and the environment. Through a selection of photographs from the Henry’s permanent collection, Industrial Effects traces evolving attitudes toward industry from the 19th century until now. This exhibition is organized by Sylvia Wolf, Director.

Edward Burtynsky. Shipbreaking #12, Chittagong, Bangladesh. 2000. Chromogenic color print. Henry Art Gallery, gift of Dale and Leslie Chihuly.

Thursday, June 13

Mindfulness Meditation, 12:30 – 1:00. Mindful Awareness is the moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one’s physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Thursday’s session will be held in the East Gallery which is currently showing Paul Laffoley: Premonitions of the Bauharoque. This event is free. Please check in at the front desk.

Saturday, June 15

Public Forum: Free Market, 1:00 – 3:00. Everything must go! Toward the close of Small Change, once all of the handmade currency has been dispersed, artist Rebecca Chernow will be hosting a “liquidation sale” during which time everything that has accumulated in the space through means of trade and barter will be made available to the public.

Visitors are encouraged to empty the gallery space of its contents in this final week, exchanging real U.S. dollars (on a strictly donation basis, at their discretion) for objects of their choosing. All donations support the Henry’s mission of advancing the art, artists, and ideas of our time.

Items ready for purchase in Small Change

2013 Brink Award Winner Anne Fenton at the Brink Bash in May

In early May, the Henry announced the six finalists for The Brink Award, an award for emerging artists age 35 and under in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia on the “brink” of a professional career. The 2013 finalists were Raymond Boisjoly, Vancouver, B.C.; Anne Fenton, Seattle, WA; Rob Halverson, Portland, OR; Sylvain Sailly, Vancouver, B.C.; Blair Saxon-Hill, Portland, OR; and Nell Warren, Washougal, WA.

Today, we are proud to announce that ANNE FENTON is the winner of the 2103 Brink Award. Fenton will receive a prize of $12,500 and be given a solo exhibition at the Henry, accompanied by a publication next spring. In addition, a work of art will be acquired for the museum’s permanent collection.

In her artist’s statement Fenton writes, “In my current practice, appropriation and collaboration allow for a re-authoring of images and ideas. Objects and images that pass into the work often pass between strangers or materialize through translation and memory.” Fenton received a BFA in Photography from the University of Washington and attended the Mountain School of Arts in Los Angeles.

For the 2013 award, 47 nominations were received from a group of art professionals across the Pacific Northwest. The 2013 Jury was comprised of Vancouver artist Althea Thauberger, Pacific Northwest College of Art MFA Program Chair Arnold Kemp, and Henry Deputy Director of Art and Education Luis Croquer. The jury completed the review of artist submissions in early May and conducted studio visits withe the six finalists in late May.

The Brink, established with the generous support of John and Shari Behnke, is in its third biennial cycle. The Award provides financial support, increased exposure, and critical validation from an internationally recognized arts institution, with the aim of fostering the artistic and professional development of emerging artists in the region. In 2009, the Brink was awarded to Isabelle Pauwels, Vancouver, B.C. and in 2011, to Andrew Dadson, also of Vancouver, B.C.

The Brink Award complements the Henry’s role as a catalyst for the creation of new work, while simultaneously demonstrating the museum’s commitment to artists working in our region.

Congratulations, Anne!

Thursday, June 6th
4:45-6 - The 2013 Annual Meeting of the Henry Gallery Association - Come hear about what we have accomplished in the past year and what we have to look forward to in 2013-14.

7-8 - Artist Talk: Rebecca Chernow - Join us for a discussion on and around issues of labor, trade, currency, and gift economies inspired by Rebecca Chernow’s concurrent study on the topic. Small Change is a four-week presentation of research into themes of reciprocity, barter, debt, and the emergence of markets and related value systems through the creation and distribution of an invented currency.

Rebecca Chernow works on installing “Small Change” (photo credit: Robert Wade)

Sunday, June 9th
2-3:30 – Family Sundays at the Henry! -  Family Sundays at the Henry are especially designed for adults and children to learn and create together. Join us as we explore Richard Elliott’s Cycle of the Sun and the influences that helped shape his work including geometry, quilting patterns and basket weaving designs.  Register at Stranger Tickets.

If you liked the Arty Party, you’ll love Family Sundays! (photo credit: Marilyn Montufar)

Molly’s Cafe at the Henry Art Gallery has quarterly shows of artwork from community organizations. For the Summer Quarter we will be showing Music is My Life, an Art Show of Drawings and Stories by Homeless Young People.

Music is My Life includes drawings and stories by 129 homeless young people, aged 15-25. The drawings and stories were created as part of Jill Woelfer’s PhD dissertation research. Homeless young people were asked to imagine a music device that could help someone experiencing homelessness and then draw a picture of the device and write a story about a situation where the device would be used. The goal of Music is My Life is to bring the voices of homeless young people to the community in order to increase understanding and spark further discussions.

The Music is My Life show will be on display at Molly’s Café at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington from May to August 2013. The show consists of 8 panels with reproductions of 18 drawings and stories and a website where all 129 drawings and stories can be viewed. The Music is My Life show was prepared by a community-based team. The team is led by Jill Palzkill Woelfer, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington Information School and includes: homeless young people, staff from agencies that provide services to homeless young people, University of Washington students, alumni, staff and faculty, business leaders in the University District, and other neighbors.

Come check it out!

Artist Rebecca Chernow (center) shares her work with Henry guests. Photo credit: Dan Bennett

This post is written by Rebecca Chernow, exhibiting artist in the Test Site and UW School of Art MFA candidate.

$mall Change is a result of my curiosity in home-spun economics and the fiscal and social systems of value, worth, cost, and price that govern our lives and dictate many of the choices that are made by individuals and nations alike.

I wanted to make my own money and cut out all the middlemen, from the bosses to the bankers to the dollar and coin-makers at the Federal Reserve. I want to know if value is something innate or if it is based solely on belief and debate, and if my time can be measured out in small hand-wrought increments by asking what price my energies fetch at open market. Can a new, cohesive economic order emerge from raw material, applied skill, and open engagement?

It has taken me three months of 40+ hour weeks of performing an extremely specific process, many kilowatts of electrical energy, 400 pounds of plaster and silica, many gallons of water, 25 pounds of wax, 25 pounds of glass, and a few ounces of copper powder to mint roughly four thousand coins at the University of Washington’s ceramic and metal arts studio. The coins—called works—are made out of glass in the likeness of the American penny. Now that that portion of the project is over, the goal is to trade every last one of these works away through bartering and exchange of commodities in the Test Site at the Henry.

This is an open call for all interested participants to trade anything handmade, ready-made, perishable, or pocket-size with me until I run out of works to traffic with. The project cannot be fully realized without the willing involvement of strangers with candy, hats, shirts, artworks, knick-knacks, etc., along with an interest to barter and bargain in the name of reciprocity and exchange. All items will be displayed with their ultimate price in the Henry Test Site for the first three weeks of the exhibition. During the final week all items will be available to the public in exchange for a suggested nominal donation to benefit the Henry.

My economy has emerged from disparate bits and volumes of resources, and so too will it disperse through the hands of every person who wishes to buy into this micro-market. There is not much time and very few limitations on this process, so please don’t be shy.

Wednesday, May 29th

12:-12:30 pm: Art Break! Join UW Exhibition Guide Corrie McQueen for a 30-minute tour through the galleries. All tours meet in the museum lobby.

Thursday, May 30th

7:00-8:30 pm: Join us for a screening of Cleopatra Jones, a Blaxploitation film staring Tamara Dobson which deals with the themes of feminism, sexuality, race, and pop culture during a transitional time in the 1970s, a social climate that saw the rise of both second-wave feminism and the Black Power movement. Show in conjunction with Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty, the screening will also feature an introduction and discussion with Sonnet Retman, Associate Professor of American Ethnic Studies at the UW.

Sunday, June 2nd

1:00-3:00 pm: In the Test Site, first year UW MFA candidate Rebecca Chernow presents Small Change, a four-week presentation of research into themes of reciprocity, barter, debt, and the emergence of markets and related value systems through the creation and distribution of an invented currency. In this first of three planned workshops for Small Change, we invite you to Gild the World. Workshop participants will learn how to gild small objects by hand using these traditional techniques. This process adds a veneer of worth to objects that might not otherwise appear valuable, making them shiny and precious in appearance. No previous experience is necessary and everyone is welcome.

Image courtesy the artist

Sean Scully: Passages/Impressions/Surfaces closes June 2nd. If you haven’t visited this exhibition, do it this week!

photo credit: R.J. Sanchez

Max Pethe, Henry prep crew, readies the Stroum Gallery for the MFA+MDes exhibition opening.

On Saturday, May 25th, the Henry’s Stroum Gallery will feature the work of 17 graduating UW School of Art Master of Fine Art and Master of Design students. The students have been in the galleries preparing their pieces for over a week, with the help of the Henry prep crew and in particular, Jim Rittimann, Henry Art Gallery head preparator and exhibition designer. Jim, a UW School of Art MFA himself, helped the students select which work to show in this culminating exhibition.

Presenting students are: Jared Bender, Phillip Carpenter, Carly Cummings, Lacy Draper, Mike Fretto, Kari Gaynor, Dakota Gearhart, Meg Hartwig, Margarita Iordache, Dave Kennedy, Stephanie Klausing, Josh Nelson, Adriel Rollins, Travis-David Smith, Melanie Wang, Marcus Watson, and Ryan Weatherly.

The School of Art will award diplomas in a private ceremony and reception on Friday evening, which will be followed by a public opening at 7 pm. Join us to celebrate the 2013 MFA+MDes thesis exhibition and to meet this new generation of artists!

Wednesday, May 22th
12-12:30 - Student-Led Tour: Join a Henry Student Exhibition Guide for a 30-minute tour. All tours meet in the museum lobby.

Thursday, May 23rd
7-8:30 – Collection in Focus: Off with the Corset. Join Kimberly Hereford, UW Art History PhD candidate, for a discussion about the key characteristics of Aesthetic attire while examining a selection of garments from the Henry’s extensive costume collection. Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 21 to contact-collections@henryart.org.

Friday, May 24th
7-9 pm - May Openings: Sanctum & the 2013 UW School of Art MFA + MDes Exhibiton. Join the artists, their friends, and families for a reception at the Henry to celebrate the opening of Sanctum and the 2013 UW School of Art Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design exhibition. Please note: The preview (5-7 pm) is limited to students, faculty, and their guests. At 7 pm, the reception opens to the public.

Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty is open through Sept 1 (Photo credit: R.J. Sanchez)