ArtSEA: How to get a head in the Seattle arts scene

Hailing from Mexico City, Meléndez studied graphic design at Cornish College. You may have seen his work on band posters or in the mail — last year he created a festive series of piñata stamps for the USPS. 

In a city that’s seeing ever more murals, I’m a big fan of this one: a woman’s head rising on a tall retaining wall just below the corner of First Avenue and Seneca Street. (Descend the public stairs to see it from above, or walk up Seneca from the waterfront.)

Woven within the woman’s hairdo is a mix of Mexican and Seattle icons: dahlias (Mexico’s national flower) and rhododendrons; a heron and an amphibious axolotl; a quetzal bird buddying up with an orca. The Space Needle serves as a decorative hairpin. 

In profile, with eyes closed, the woman looks serene amid concrete walls and industrial rubble — leftovers, I assume, from the removal of the Viaduct’s Seneca Street exit ramp. Rising above the Waterfront renovations, the Viaduct era, even the Denny Regrade (visible in the steep stairs required at the location), this figurehead seems focused on the future.

The new Seneca Street mural is one of several new artworks that’ll turn your head this month. I’ve noticed heads up in several current shows, including at AMcE Creative Arts on Capitol Hill where Figure. Heads. (through Nov. 3) celebrates the noggin in forms from funny to freaky.

See Bellingham-based artist Ryan W. Kelly’s collection of ceramic heads, including a bowtied hare, a “crazed captain,” Little Lord Fauntleroy and what might be a new twist on Mr. Potato Head, granting the tuber skinny arms and legs. Also among this heady mix: Seattle artist Robert Hardgrave’s abstract papier-mâché heads, several of which resemble lucha libre masks (blocks post knock-off?). 

Local artist Blake Blanco contributes darkly surreal acrylic portraits that look like heads made from raw bacon (with a whiff of Francis Bacon), while New York-based Johanna Goodman lightens the mood with her comically tall collaged portraits of women, in which their heads stand out for being the tiniest parts of their flamboyant bodies. 

At Traver Gallery, Northwest artist Tip Toland is showing her shockingly lifelike ceramic heads in Behind the Scenes (through Sept. 28; artist talk Sept. 28 at 12:30 p.m.). These busts of older women with white (synthetic) hair are so realistic I became a bit spooked while alone in the gallery. Toland’s large-scale pencil drawings of floating heads didn’t exactly calm my nerves, but are exquisitely rendered with knit brows and pursed lips.

And at Arte Noir in the Central District, local artist George Jennings shares a new show of portraits in The Women, The Paper and The Light (through Feb. 2, 2025). Starting with photographs of important women in his life, Jennings creates underdrawings, then makes  digital paintings of their faces, adding color, texture and emphasis. The result takes them head and shoulders above.

We’re also coming up on Banned Books Week (Sept. 22 - 28), during which Seattle Public Library celebrates the freedom to read whatever the hell you want. Events include a public letterpress printing event with Partners in Print at the Central Library (Sept. 22) and the Books Unbanned program, which gives readers aged 13 - 26 free digital access to books that have been banned at various schools and community centers across the country. 

Related: Visit Seattle recently produced a series called Seattle Bookmarked: Banned Edition, in which local artists recite passages from banned books written by Seattle authors. See actor Jeremy Rudd read from Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (with a cameo by painter Barry Johnson); muralist Angelina Villalobos read from Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison; and writer Dan Savage read from Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson. 

Also on the book front are three new titles by local authors — each of which captures different shades of the Northwest. (Thankfully none have been banned … so far.) 

The Sound of Seattle: 101 Songs that Shaped a City, by KEXP DJ and musician Eva Walker (of the Black Tones) and local writer Jacob Uitti (married to Walker), offers an enjoyably eclectic spin through Seattle music history.

Opening chronologically with the surprising choice of Bing Crosby’s 1942 hit “White Christmas” (the crooner was born in Tacoma), the book offers breezy blurbs on influential songs by Ray Charles, Ernestine Anderson, Dave Lewis, the Sonics, Heart and Dave Matthews plus all the grunge stars, with songs from “Purple Haze” to “Baby Got Back” to “Thrift Shop.” (Book release at Town Hall Seattle, Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m.)

River Songs: Moments of Wild Wonder in Fly Fishing, by outdoors writer and fisherman Steve Duda, is a decidedly more mellow set of music. Here, songs come in the form of personal (and sometimes very funny) anecdotes that reveal the rhythm of cast and catch, the quiet stillness and pure silliness that draws fisherpeople back to the riverside again and again.

Duda’s richly drawn stories from Northwest waterways are (mercifully) less about epic quests of rod and reel than about close friendships and the ceaseless miracles of the natural world. (Bonus: lovely woodblock illustrations by Matthew DeLorme.) 

This One We Call Ours is the new collection by Seattle poet Martha Silano, and it’s a beauty (thanks in part to cover artwork by local painter David Hytone). Here, the longtime writer, recently diagnosed with ALS, showcases her special gift: translating environmental overwhelm into crystalline vignettes.

From an active-shooter drill to a visit to the Burke Museum to “Leading a Nature Walk on 23rd & Yesler,” an earth-ache thrums through Silano’s poems. Always, she urges us to remember the bruised planet in simple ways: “Just stand in a field,/Let your shoes get wet in knee-deep grass.” (Poet friends will read at Silano’s book release at Third Place Books Seward Park on Sept. 23; A dozen poets of note will celebrate Silano with an online tribute via Terrain, Sept. 30 at 5 p.m. ET)

September continues its reign as the busiest month for arts events. (Save some for the January dead zone, why don’t we?) Behold, a few more things to do and see in the city.

The Local Sightings Film Festival returns for its 27th year (at Northwest Film Forum, Sept. 20 - 29), with its always-rich mix of shorts, animation, docs and feature films by regional artists. It all kicks off with opening-night film Punderneath It All, chronicling Seattle’s cutthroat pun-slam community. 

The Georgetown Steam Plant Science Fair (Sept. 21 - 22) promises a “reimagining” of science fairs we all remember from high school, set in an incredible science experiment of a building. Expect kooky gizmos, demonstrations, live music, art installations and someone channeling Nikola Tesla. (Mad-scientist outfit not required.)

Pacific Northwest Ballet opens its season with a contemporary triple bill called The Times Are Racing (Sept. 20 - 29), featuring the eponymous piece by Justin Peck; “The Veil Between Worlds,” a series of duets by Edwaard Liang; and “Black Wave,” a world premiere by PNB's new resident choreographer Jessica Lang.

Elsewhere in dance, Whim W’Him presents its Fall ’24 show (through Sept. 21), with lithe works by visiting choreographers Carlos Franquis, Noelle Kayser and Adam McGaw. 

Finally: The Punk Rock Flea Market (Sept. 20 - 22) takes over the defunct QFC on 15th Avenue East (christening it the “Quality Flea Center”), with 200 vendors hawking clothes, crafts and curious items, plus bartenders and DJs to ensure the rock keeps rolling.