Art x NW: A Seahawk’s architectural art takes flight in Seattle

This week President Trump’s effort to end federal support for public broadcasting hit home. After Congress voted in favor of rescinding funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on July 18, Cascade PBS faced an annual budget loss of $3.5 million. On Monday, organizational leadership announced layoffs that effectively shut down the newsroom, formerly known as Crosscut. 

I joined a thriving Crosscut newsroom in 2018, and I’m very sorry to see its demise — both in terms of the forced departure of friends and colleagues as well as losing an independent voice for regional reporting when we need it most. (Cascade PBS’s original video series, including Art By Northwest, will continue, as will this arts and culture newsletter.)

Art x NW (formerly ArtSEA) is a weekly arts and culture newsletter from Cascade PBS. Read past issues and subscribe for more.

In this era when each day’s news seems somehow more alarming than that of the day previous, I’m feeling drawn to artful spaces that offer pause and grounding amid the relentless tumult. 

This week that arrives in the form of Night Chapel, newly installed in the Northwest African American Museum’s front yard. This simple yet elegant wooden structure was designed by Michael Bennett — yes, that Michael Bennett, former defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks, whom you might remember jubilantly riding a bike around the field after winning the NFC championship in 2015.

After retiring from the NFL, Bennett earned an architecture degree, opened his own design studio (Studio Kër) and has been earning accolades for his sculptural furniture rooted in the Black diaspora.

Constructed of cross-laminated timber, Night Chapel envelops visitors in quiet the instant you step inside (it also smells wonderfully woodsy in there). The unusual angles and window-cuts offer the sensation of seeing things anew.

On his Instagram, Bennett writes: “Sacred spaces are so often imagined as permanent, heavy, immovable. Night Chapel resists that. It asks: what happens when sacred architecture can move, when it meets people where they are rather than waiting for them to come?”

NAAM is the first stop on Night Chapel’s tour as part of Bennett’s “Building Motions” initiative to explore “how architecture can move, heal and serve.” Stay tuned to NAAM’s website for programming that will take place inside this new seat of calm.

And now we move to Episode 7 of Art by Northwest, released today and featuring photographer Melinda Hurst Frye. 

When I first saw Hurst Frye’s intriguing ecological photos I wasn’t entirely sure if they were real: large-scale images that appeared to be a cross-section of the ground — roots and worms visible below, plant matter and moss above the surface. But the resolution was so high, set against an inky black background, I briefly wondered if they were exquisite still-lifes painted in oils.

Then I spotted a photo of her jamming a flatbed scanner into the dirt. 

A once-revolutionary tool of 1990s office equipment, the humble scanner is Hurst Frye’s camera of choice. She sources them on eBay — preferring models with easily removable flap lids — and orders multiples when possible, as her art form is hard on the machines. Some she keeps in her basement studio, lining up their humming and clicking forms like a mad scientist. On the glass plates, she carefully arranges forest finds: lichen, clumps of decaying leaves, little mushrooms and mycelium. 

“It feels almost like you’re painting, in the sense that you’re composing on the glass,” Hurst Frye says.

At other times, she packs up the scanners and takes them on a hike into the wilderness. These images are far less curated but no less compelling, as she strives to document regeneration in the forest ecology — and the network of natural wonders working to ensure its return and survival. 

It was a treat to go tromping in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Forest with Hurst Frye, and see the incredible amount of unusual gear she packs into her rucksack, including backup batteries and surge protectors. Her laptop has made many missions, evident in the permanent haze spattered across the screen. 

“The scanners don’t like this,” Hurst Frye said at one point, holding a machine aloft and sideways and pressing it firmly into the bark of a stump. The scanner wept softly as its carriage marched dutifully across the glass. 

I loved seeing how Hurst Frye fully immersed herself in the forest — slowing way down and looking, as if into a tidepool, to see which sprouts and fungi suggested a microcosm below our feet. 

After getting to know her during our film shoots last winter and spring, I found myself standing a few rows behind Hurst Frye in an outdoor crowd at Bumbershoot a few weeks ago.

The show was raucous — psych-punk L.A. rock band Frankie and the Witch Fingers — and before I could make my way up to say hello I overheard Hurst Frye shouting to her 11-year-old daughter. “Do you want to get closer? Let’s try to get up close!” she urged with enthusiasm, echoing the mantra of her art. Watch the video episode now and keep an eye out for my written profile tomorrow. 

Catching up on Season 2 of Art by Northwest? Check out our recent profiles of wildlife illustrator Justin Gibbens and oil painter/woodblock printer Keiko Hara.

Up next: a report from Cascade PBS’s outgoing copy chief Gavin Borchert, who shares his firsthand experience of seeing the Seattle Symphony’s new musical director Xian Zhang in action. Take it away, Gavin!

Among the responsibilities of an orchestral conductor in performance (alongside those off the podium, from emotional counseling to fundraising), three stand out. One is the mechanics of who plays when: starting and stopping the orchestra, cueing musicians’ entrances. One is to visually mark the beat, including changes, subtle or pronounced. And one is to indicate nuances of musical phrasing: guiding, shaping and carving into the air the curves and emphases of a passage. 

In simplistic terms, these responsibilities resemble a traffic cop, a metronome and interpretive dance.

Any competent conductor will have their mind on all three at all times. But what struck me about last Thursday’s Seattle Symphony concert — my first view of Xian Zhang at the helm — is how smoothly, easily and feelingly she prioritized these functions based on the moment-to-moment needs of the players. And also: how fun it was to watch, especially in two splashy, mercurial showpieces by Kodály and Mussorgsky, and a quasi-concerto by Michael Abels.

Another exciting aspect of Xian’s arrival: She plans to present, as her predecessors Ludovic Morlot and Gerard Schwarz did, lots of new music. That includes next week’s concert (Oct. 2, 4, 5), featuring “Awaken” by Melissa Douglas. The Melbourne composer came to Xian’s attention via a young-composer call for scores when Xian was leading that city’s orchestra. She says of her find: “The orchestra asked me to pick one to perform from a high pile of scores. I chose Melissa’s ‘Awaken’ without any hesitation because the lyricism and freshness of her melodic lines instantly caught my eye.” Also on the bill: Rachmaninoff favorites. 

It’s a very heartening start to Xian’s new partnership with the symphony, which makes it unfortunate that after next weekend’s performances we’ll have to wait until February for her return, due to her commitments to other orchestras, including — just announced last week — the Beijing-based China NCPA Orchestra. Catch Xian while you can. —G.B.

Thank you, Gavin! I’ll end with a few more recommendations as Seattle Art and Culture Week continues (through Sept. 27): 

< At Foster/White Gallery, Northwest neon artist Kelsey Fernkopf presents his entrancing geometric light portals, accompanied by live music from violinist Tekla Cunningham (Sept. 26, 3-5 p.m.)

< At Traver Gallery, don’t miss the last days of Seattle artist Cathy McClure’s fantastic show Wunderkammer — featuring mass-produced, battery-operated plush toys, which she de-plushes, reconfigures and casts in sterling silver and bronze. This cabinet of highly evocative curiosities will feel even more alive paired with a special dance performance, Muscle Memory, Discontinued by PNB soloist Leah Terada, in response to McClure’s work. (Sept. 27, 3-5 p.m.) 

< Wa Na Wari presents its annual Walk the Block event (Sept. 27, 1-7 p.m.), a joyous art walk through the Central District featuring installations, dance performance, live music and visual art — including by Saul Williams, Carletta Carrington Wilson, Perri Rhoden, Adra Boo, Edna Daigre and Nia Amina Minor — in celebration of the historically Black neighborhood’s cultural past and present.