If you’re heading to Pioneer Square for the First Thursday art walk, keep an eye out for a towering woman wearing a green hat. Arms bent at the elbows in a gesture of receiving, she stands 21-feet tall and goes by the name of “Grandmother Frog.” And while it may seem like she’s new around here, her presence in Coast Salish lore has suffused this low-lying land since time immemorial.
The newly installed welcome figure was carved from old-growth cedar by Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, a member of the Squaxin Island tribe. (You may recognize her work from the 16-foot-tall welcome figures she carved for the Seattle Convention Center in 2022.) Standing at the corner of Second Avenue Extension South and Yesler Way, Grandmother Frog reminds us that the neighborhood once held a waterside longhouse village known as “little crossing over place” (Dzidzilalitch in Lushootseed).
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We reported on the progress of Grandmother Frog back in 2021, when the plan was for the carving to be installed a few months later. After a variety of delays, she is up on her feet as the cornerstone of a new park at Fortson Square (actually a triangle) in front of the Chief Seattle Club.
Better late than never! Even surrounded by construction fences, as she was when I stopped by earlier this week, Grandmother Frog is impressive — both in size and in Wilbur-Sigo’s artfully carved details, which bring texture and traditional patterning to her shawl and skirt. “She’s there to protect, look over,” Wilbur-Sigo told Crosscut (now Cascade PBS) in 2021, and to “make people realize that we are here as a people, and we’re not going anywhere.”
There’s a ton of new art to check out in Grandmother Frog’s neighborhood, what with everyone sprucing up for anticipated World Cup foot traffic. A couple recommendations:
Greg Kucera Gallery is opening two new shows tonight (running June 4-27): Northwest oil painter Drie Chapek’s Then is Now shows off her signature style, smeary and emotional — landscapes as if seen through teary eyes; and French artist Cyril Hatt’s Domestic Glitch, in which he takes multiple photos of everyday objects, then staples the photos back into a 3-D shape that resembles the original object, if that object were crafted by Frankenstein’s monster.
For another cool take on trompe l’oeil, check out Recognize Me in Everything, a show of clever multimedia cityscapes by Lars Bergquist (aka No Touching Ground) at Europa Gallery. I’ll also be seeking out Hidden Gems, the new show of prints by Seattle artist Robert Connell at newish Gallery No. 85 (in the former Davidson Galleries space); and Twisp artist Perri Lynch Howard’s Mapping the Invisible at ArtX Contemporary (June 4 - July 25), featuring her remarkable paintings of soundwaves found in nature. (Heads up: Lynch Howard will be featured in Season 3 of Art by Northwest… stay tuned!).
Plus there’s all the new World-Cup-inspired artwork at RailSpur Alley (which I wrote about last week), and several new shows at ARTS at King Street Station, including NYC-based Alex Proba’s temporary outdoor installation on the gravel plaza, called Clouds of Belonging (oversized, colorful, puffy and definitely Instagrammable). See also the group show This Room Is Ours: Centering the Black Figure (through July 18) and Seattle-based Puerto Rican artist Gabriel-Bello Díaz’s new multimedia show Ancestral Futures: Taino Archives.
Let’s take inspiration from Grandmother Frog to welcome more cultural news and newcomers across Seattle.
In May, the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA) welcomed Pioneer Square as the 25th Certified Washington State Creative District… which seems like a no-brainer given the neighborhood’s long history of fostering artists but which actually took a lot of work on the part of galleries, venues and studios. So, congrats!
Amid the many summer festivities happening in this exceedingly Creative District is a soft launch of sorts for immersive theater company Nebula, formerly known as Cafe Nordo. With its new home in Pioneer Square’s historic Buttnick Building still in progress, Nebula is welcoming visitors to the lobby for a gallery show called Cabinet of Dreams (June 4 - July 6). The lineup is impressive — including theatrical creators like light artist Ben Zamora, muralist Stevie Shao and world-builder Rick Araluce.
And the welcomes continue, including in the Chinatown International District, which is welcoming back the legendary Bush Gardens karaoke bar. Founded in 1953, the Japanese restaurant closed in 2020 and lost its original location. But as of this week, it’s back in a new spot — so warm up those vocal cords and pick your best belter.
Starting June 5, Pike Place Market is welcoming visitors to “Sip and Savor” among the craft, food and flower stalls, which means adults can purchase and consume alcoholic beverages on weekends through Labor Day. Meanwhile the Washington State Ferries will start welcoming pets — but not livestock! — onto the decks and into certain passenger areas, officially beginning July 1. (That yowling sound you hear is cats all over the Puget Sound saying, “Don’t even think about it.”)
There’s more welcoming to do in Madrona, where new gallery Dirkse/Prim held a soft launch last month. Housed in a tall townhome, the gallery is currently presenting new paintings by Jordan Clark (in layers of vivid color) and meticulous cut-paper sculptures by Joey Bates (June 4-27). At the other end of Madrona’s main drag is new home goods store Squarehead West, which in addition to artisanal dishware and enticing knick-knackery is showcasing abstract encaustic paintings by Seattle artist Savina Mason.
Lastly, get ready to welcome the return of 70mm projection at the Cinerama (er, SIFF Cinema Downtown)! Like most modern theaters, SIFF screens the vast majority of films digitally. But for the run of the new epic movie (based on Homer’s ancient story) The Odyssey, SIFF will crank up the revered vintage format (July 16-26). Despite the technical challenges of gold-standard 70mm film, the nonprofit hopes to put it to use with more screenings at the historic venue.
Passages
We’ll bookend this welcoming issue with a few fond farewells, as Seattle has recently lost several longstanding contributors to the arts and culture community.
Speight Jenkins > The beloved arts leader ran the Seattle Opera from 1983-2014 and in the process brought the organization international renown (not to mention instituted one of the first U.S. applications of surtitles, a democratizing technology). He died on May 30 at age 89.
Paul Dorpat > The Seattle historian helped all of us track the comings and goings of buildings, brands and institutions across our swiftly changing city through his weekly “Now & Then” column with before-and-after photos in The Seattle Times. He died on May 27 at age 87.
Jean Walkinshaw > The local television producer and documentary filmmaker was a trailblazer in her field, including by way of her KCTS 9 show Faces of the City, which focused on everyday people. I had the joy of speaking with Jean in 2022, when I was editing a profile of her long and impressive career, and even then she was working on a new video story. She died on April 13 at age 99. Check out a few of her many documentaries on artists and writers in the Jean Walkinshaw Collection at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.
One last reminder: I’ll be moderating the “Native Sounds, New Voices” conversation at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival this weekend (at Hidden Hall, June 6 at 4:50 p.m.) Join me in a discussion of contemporary Indigenous music with Kevin Sur (co-host of KEXP’s “Sounds of Survivance” radio show), Northwest storyteller Gene Tagaban (part of the Native funk band Khu'eex) and Hozoji Matheson-Margullis (member of the Puyallup tribe as well as the bands Helms Alee, Lozen, Tacos! And Uukwuuk). And stick around to experience the vast diversity of Indigenous sounds for yourself when Kevin Sur spins Native tunes in the follow-up DJ set.
Check out Season 2 of our tv show Art by Northwest, featuring in-depth interviews with the printmakers, painters, sculptors, wood carvers and photographers who are creating captivating work across Washington state. Nominated for two Northwest Regional Emmy Awards.
