The longtime theater-turned-Banana Republic-turned-pandemic casualty was briefly revived last summer with an arts endeavor known as XO Seattle. That attempt to return the edifice to artistic pursuits ended badly. But this fresh effort, called Actualize AiR, has filled the old building with new hope.
“AiR” stands for Artist in Residency — the primary purpose of the woman-run and -funded initiative. Co-founded by Kate Bailey (artist and industrial designer), Edie Adams (ergonomics expert and arts supporter) and philanthropist and quilter Shari Behnke (the last of whom funded arts coverage at Crosscut from 2018-2019), the intent is to provide no-cost studio space for artists in community.
Affordable studio space has become a rarity in Seattle, while at the same time the Downtown vacancy rate continues to tick upward.
Bailey told me the Coliseum space is leased through April, with the option to renew if a market-rate tenant doesn’t materialize. She added that the group is “actively looking” at additional places to replicate the Actualize AiR model, which includes a collaborative space, a gallery, a tools and materials library, plus classes and curator critiques — all designed to resemble a “DIY MFA program.”
The inaugural cohort of artists held its first open house last weekend — one of many satellite events during the bustling Seattle Art Fair. When I stopped by, the air was crackling with excitement among the 30 artists settling into their new spaces. Built like tall cubes, the individual studios (valued at around $700/month) are open at the top, allowing for airflow and views of the eye-popping architectural details in the neoclassical interior.
Art in the hallways at Actualize AiR, including “Chewed for Your Pleasure” (with clay gum) by Hannah Simmons. (Brangien Davis/Cascade PBS)
Many of the artists I spoke with at the event seemed visibly stunned by their good fortune. “I can’t believe I get to work here,” artist Nadia Ahmed told me as she stood among her delicate wax sculptures. “I have a key to the building.”
Other residents include mixed-media artists Mary Anne Carter and Storme Webber, sculptors Philippe Hyojung Kim and Shannon Hobbs and painters Grace Nakahara and Sanoe Stevenson-Egeland, plus fashion designers, performers, filmmakers and more. All the artists helped build out the space themselves.
With a lively community already buzzing with promise, it’s exciting to think about what this joint residency might birth. (And it’s a nice companion to the new Base Camp studios coming online in the old Bergman Luggage building in Belltown.) Artists are selected by application (see the sign-up link), and there’s already a waiting list for the next iteration. Watch for news of future open houses, exhibits and events.
The palpable optimism I experienced at Actualize AiR felt like something of a salve after the upsetting news of a fatal shooting at another satellite event during Seattle Art Fair. One man was killed and another injured during a rooftop art celebration at Pioneer Square’s RailSpur building. The investigation is ongoing.
Revered local potter and ceramics teacher Reid Ozaki died on July 25. (Still from Art by Northwest)
A mournful ripple ran through the Puget Sound arts community this past week with the news that longtime Tacoma studio potter Reid Ozaki died suddenly on July 25. He was 73.
Born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii, Ozaki moved to the Northwest and enrolled at the University of Puget Sound in 1969. While completing his degree in biology, he took a pottery class and was instantly hooked. There began a 50-year career in the art form, including many years as a teacher in the Tacoma Community College art department.
“Some of my earliest memories are of swimming around in the tide pools near Hilo, HI, and playing under the tree ferns near Hawaii Volcanoes National Park,” Ozaki wrote on his website. His love of nature was powerful and fully present in his ceramic vessels, as seen in the ginkgo leaves, pressed shell indentations, organic shapes and hues he incorporated.
While still making work and experimenting with firing techniques, in recent years Ozaki had emphasized educating the younger clay community about the long legacy of Northwest pottery. He and Tacoma ceramicist Kristina Batiste started the Tacoma Pottery Salon to help foster discussion among artists, and inspired a similar group on Whidbey Island.
When I saw Ozaki speak at the Whidbey Pottery Salon this past spring, he shared a playful game called “Potle,” which he said was a spin on Wordle. Showing slides of work by older and deceased Northwest potters, he asked the packed audience if they could identify the artists by their ceramic signature.
Over the years I had grown to recognize Ozaki by his wood-fired and soda-fired pieces, which look like treasures you might find hidden inside a rocky cove. (You can currently see some of his work at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts.)
It was these works — and Ozaki’s community-minded spirit — that drew me to seek him out as a featured artist for our television series Art by Northwest. His episode, filmed just two months before his passing, will debut on August 23.
Tininha Silva is the first artist featured in our series “Art by Northwest.” Here she shows a detail in one of her organic wall hangings featuring wool, raffia and encaustic. (Still from Art by Northwest)
Art by Northwest is a new Cascade PBS video series about how the Pacific Northwest landscape, from coastlines to farmlands, shows up in the art made here. Such evidence might be literal or subliminal, in concert with or in rebuttal to our surroundings. Starting this month, we’ll debut the first four episodes, broadcast on Friday nights (August 2, 9, 16 and 23) and streaming online each following Monday.
This is something entirely new for me. (Note: I’ll still be writing the weekly arts and culture newsletter!) I’ve been covering Northwest art for more than 20 years, seeing as much as I can in person, interviewing artists, going down research rabbit holes, then tippity-tapping about it on my computer — no video required.
Embarking on a new medium is nerve-wracking, for sure, but every time I started to freak out during filming I reminded myself that I love digging into the creative process with artists (so pay no attention to those big steadicams hovering around). And that’s what I’ll be doing in this show: talking with artists across the state about their work and asking specifically how place affects the art they make.
First up (Aug. 2) is Port Townsend sculptor Tininha Silva, whose organic, net-like wall hangings look like they might have washed up with the kelp on a Northwest beach.
In fact, Silva takes huge inspiration from shorelines closeby, often incorporating strands of dried kelp into her work, as well as small shells, silk, wool and raffia — the last sometimes hand-dyed with the beets leftover from the previous night’s dinner.
“The more organic, the more interesting it is to me,” she says. But Silva emphasizes that she’s not trying to replicate her beach finds; rather, she’s attempting to capture the feeling of them, the emotion she had upon that first glimpse. “It shouldn’t resemble anything specific, but maybe many things,” she says.
I hope you enjoy getting to know Silva — and all the other featured artists — as much as I did. Happy viewing!
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