It’s the first day of May, and a pack of wild dogs has appeared in Pioneer Square. Some have sharp teeth, some have flowered fur, others are mixed breeds of an unusual sort — one has goat horns and another a human head.
Thankfully these pups are the ceramic sort, sprung from the mind of artist George Rodriguez. His new exhibit CLAP CLAP Clap Clap Clap clap clap clap clap DOG SHOW! at Foster/White Gallery (May 1 - 24) is a celebration of hounds real and imagined.
“In this body of work, I take ‘man’s best friend’ for a walk,” Rodriguez writes in his artist statement. “I grew up with dogs in my family and was comforted by our unspoken bonds. For me they create a moment of respite. The cruelty and anxieties of the world can be drowned out if only for a moment by the soulful relationship we have with these special companions.”
The companions here are special indeed, adorned with Rodriguez’s intricate and repeated patterns that recall Mexican tile. The detail and texture draw you closer, as does Rodriguez’s signature sense of humor — evident in his “Balloon Dog” made of raku-crackled stoneware as well as a dog that is visibly excited about Mexican ceramics. (Also funny: If you’ve been wondering how to say the show’s title, revisit Saturday Night Live’s dog show sketch.)
Rodriguez earned his MFA in ceramics from the University of Washington, and has deep artistic roots in Seattle. But his influences are far further flung — including African sculpture, pre-Columbian statuary, the Chinese zodiac and his own Mexican heritage. In this sense even his non-dog works are mutts, incorporating cultural commonalities Rodriguez picked up in his extensive travels.
“As I continue to make art in times of doubt, exhaustion, and uncertainty, dogs bring humor, joy, and play into the act of creating,” he writes.
You can add to that joy this weekend, by attending the gallery’s free “Best in Show Dog Show” event (May 3 at 2 p.m.). Have your dog partake in various costume and trick competitions, or just watch the antics. Everybody wins, of course, but one lucky dog will earn a Rodriguez-made medallion.
Stephen Wall (third from left, tan costume with a brown overcoat) in Seattle Opera’s 1989 production of ‘Die Meistersinger.’ (Ron Scherl)
We now move to a musical interlude courtesy of Cascade PBS copy chief Gavin Borchert, who spoke with a Seattle man who has spent 43 seasons as a singer in the chorus of Seattle Opera productions. Capping four decades of stepping on stage, SO’s current production of Tosca will be his swan song. Take it away, Gavin!
In his 1900 opera Tosca, Giacomo Puccini pushed his audience’s melodrama buttons harder than a coked-up lab rat craving a pellet, including a fake-execution-or-is-it and an all-but-rape, set in Rome during a period of oppressive theocracy (cough, cough). The chorus plays a small part in this thriller, but it is featured in one of the repertory’s grandest set pieces: a huge religious procession during which the baritone vows to act on his lust for the soprano.
When Seattle Opera stages Tosca (May 3 - 17), one member of that chorus — tenor Stephen Wall — will be ending his 43-season tenure, the longest of any performer with the company.
You may recognize Wall’s name from his pandemic-era side gig as the “Ballard Opera Man,” so nicknamed in 2020 when he got the idea to sing opera hits on his lawn in the evenings for whomever wandered by. He raised lockdown-dampened spirits in this way for 100 outdoor performances.
Stephen Wall became known as Ballard Opera Man for his socially distanced solo concerts during the pandemic. (Sarah Hoffman/Cascade PBS)
Born in Connecticut, Wall studied voice there, in Missouri and at Indiana University (where he sidelined the jazz saxophone, his first interest, for singing). In 1982 he joined the Seattle Opera chorus, where his first show was an even bigger spectacle than Tosca: Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. In addition to being a choral stalwart, Wall has sung 12 supporting roles with Seattle Opera and performed several tenor solos in chorus/orchestra works with Seattle-based Harmonia.
And while solos are all well and good, Wall believes in the essential role of the chorus.
“Typically, the chorus reacts to the unfolding events much in the same manner audience members would react if they were onstage with us,” he says. “Without a group of ‘townspeople,’ the story has little impact.”
Retiring only from the stage, Wall plans to continue teaching voice lessons. “I have my home studio set up the way I really like now,” he says, “25 years in the making.”
But as for rebooting his lawn serenades, don’t go staking out his house: “The Ballard Opera Man lawn concerts belong to the era of the pandemic,” he says. “They served a purpose, showing us that it was possible to gather responsibly in an adverse time.” — G.B.
Seattle musician Ahamefule Oluo shares stories and sounds in ‘The Things Around Us.’ (Joe Moore/Intiman Theatre)
We’ll end with a few more musical ways to celebrate the onset of May.
At On the Boards, LA- and NYC-based choreographer Miguel Gutierrez asks, “How can a dance speak to the overwhelming and constant grief that undergirds our lives?” Members of his company move together toward an answer in Super Nothing (May 1 - 3).
At Meany Hall, Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion returns with Strum, Strike, Bend (May 3), another of the quartet’s surprising musical concoctions in which pots and pans are as likely to appear as drums. Joining the group is special guest Jessie Montgomery, the violinist/composer known for breaking classical music barriers.
At The Triple Door, local cabaret maestros Mark Siano and Opal Peachey present their latest music/dance/comedy extravaganza — this one inspired by Seattle’s seedy past. Seattle Vice ’76: The Saga of Sin (May 8 – 18) is inspired by journalist Rick Anderson’s famous chronicle of the city’s “Strippers, Prostitution, Dirty Money and Crooked Cops.”
And last but not least: A couple weeks ago I recommended Ahamefule Oluo’s new music show The Things Around Us (via Intiman Theatre at Broadway Performance Hall, through May 4). That suggestion was based on my being a big fan of Oluo’s previous shows. Now having seen the latest, I want to reiterate the rec! Oluo boasts entrancing storytelling and divine trumpet tone — the latter a mesmerizing mix of honey and velvet and butter.
