Yesterday I completed a Monorail marathon of sorts, riding the historic transport eight consecutive times — four round trips — without ever disembarking.
I’m a big fan of the Monorail, and took it regularly when my office was nearby. On previous journeys (.9 miles each way) I’d relished the retro World’s Fair vibes, as well as the tourists who often asked me how to know “which stop” they should get off at. (For non-Seattle readers: There is only Point A and Point B.)
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This time, I watched a sold-out dance performance take place amid the red bench seats as we made our way back and forth on the track. Psychogeographic Drifts was the brainchild of Seattle dance company Malacarne, whose founder Alice Gosti often stages dances in public places, from the Georgetown Steam Plant to the Volunteer Park Conservatory.
For the Monorail performance, Gosti brought in four heavy hitters of contemporary dance: Wade Madsen, Tonya Lockyer, Mark Haim and Bebe Miller. Dressed entirely in red, the dancers twisted, gestured, stood and sat as we all watched inside the elevated tube.
The Monorail was still open to passengers, so part of the fun was clocking bystander reactions when they realized a performance was taking place on board. Some took photos, some chose to look out the windows instead. (And yes, one tourist asked a volunteer which stop he should take for Pike Place Market.)
The choreography was simple, gestural and lovely; I always love watching the specific ease of longtime dancers. But beyond that was the surprise of the setting — of encountering art in an unexpected place. Like a sculpture park, where part of the allure is seeing large artworks plopped down in the middle of nature, witnessing dance on a train feels like you stumbled upon something slightly unreal. And that makes it feel all the more special.
The Monorail performance isn’t currently scheduled for a repeat, but you can get a similar sense of art interrupting the everyday in a series of public performances happening on Saturday, at WALK DONT RUN (Sept. 20), for which Gosti is also a collaborator. Featuring more than 100 artists whose work will pop up along a route from Pioneer Square to Belltown, this so-called “art marathon” is thankfully not marathon length. It’s a mere three kilometers (1.86 miles), with lots of rest stops to take in the art.
WALK DONT RUN is inspired by the NEPO 5K Don’t Run event, a similar Seattle art walk that happened annually between 2011 and 2015. (The original name was based in the fact that the city wouldn’t issue permits for a run.) I attended all of the NEPO walks, and loved the mix of art on telephone poles, dancers suddenly appearing on staircases and straight-up weird installations along the street (including a person embedded inside a wingback armchair, with only their face visible as they chatted with passersby).
The team of co-organizers of WALK DONT RUN — led by local arts-event producer Kira Burge — has planned an overflowing slate of artistic happenings from noon to 6 p.m. The list is long and exciting, including performers such as Kisha Vaughan’s Dope Girl Movement (featured in Black Arts Legacies), two different brass bands and art installations featuring glass, tapestries, ceramics and video.
“Art Concierges” Jeremy Buben and Sarah Miller will be there to answer your art questions and requests; Janet Galore’s “Motivation Station” offers messages of encouragement via video vending machine; Jesse Higman invites strangers to collaborate on a giant watercolor painting; and Margie Livingston will drag canvases behind her back to create immediate and literal landscapes.
Keep walking — there’s more live music, including by Chimurenga Renaissance, the Marshall Law Band, The Fabulous Downey Brothers, and Puerto Rican pop from Seattle’s Emi Pop. Plus, galleries, museums and creative spaces along the route will be open and inviting walkers in for more art experiences. Watch our video preview of the event on The Newsfeed.
WALK DONT RUN also marks the beginning of Art & Culture Week Seattle (Sept. 20 - 27). Now in its second year, this multigenre, multivenue smorgasbord of art is intended to showcase and celebrate Seattle’s vibrant arts scene. Here too, you’ll want to spend some time checking out the rich lineup of special events happening all week long, including gallery talks, live music, theater and dance performances.
And don’t take those sneakers off just yet, because Art & Culture Week ends with Wa Na Wari’s annual Walk the Block event (Sept. 27, 1 - 7 p.m.). This popular art walk through the streets (and porches and gardens and storefronts) of the Central District celebrates artistic excellence and the cultural legacy of the Black community with installations and live performances.
Season two of Art by Northwest continues this week, with Episode 6 featuring watercolor painter Justin Gibbens. Based in the tiny town of Thorp, just outside of Ellensburg (you’ve likely seen the big fruit-stand signs, just off I-90), Gibbens creates watercolor wildlife paintings as remarkable for their detailed accuracy as for their surreal departures.
I first experienced Gibbens’ work through G. Gibson Gallery in Pioneer Square (he’s still represented by the gallery, which has moved mostly online). I remember being drawn in by his strange scenes: exacting natural science illustrations in which something has gone terribly awry with the animals depicted.
A three-headed trumpeter swan, a flicker with delicate tentacles — bizarre images but beautiful nonetheless. Maybe even more so, as they open our eyes to something entirely new. “I find the creatures that inhabit this planet so surreal already,” Gibbens says, “I just push it a little further.”
Our filming crew first met with Gibbens in the biological collections room at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, where he went to school. He clearly loved being in this room full of long-dead animals — acknowledging the morbid scene (and smell of formaldehyde) but seeing it as “a chapel that celebrates biodiversity.” Gibbens often brings his sketchbook here, or checks out a piece of taxidermy or a “study skin” to take home — all the better to create detailed replications of the animals.
We next visited Gibbens in his home in Thorp, where he lives with his wife Renee Adams, a sculptural artist whose focus is regional flora. The walls of their cozy home are packed with art — both their own and pieces by other local artists. It feels like a gallery in and of itself, with his-and-hers studios on site.
But the real gallery in Thorp is just down the street, at Punch Projects. Gibbens and Adams are two of the six co-founders of Punch, a firehouse-turned-arts-space that includes a gallery, music venue, bar (currently sporting a sea-shanty vibe) and backyard stage. It’s a welcoming gathering place for the Central Washington creative community — as well as curious visitors from around the state. (Check the Punch calendar for upcoming Saturday events, including the show Material World, opening Sept. 20, featuring work based in natural materials by Adams, Michelle Elzinga and Lindsey Salmonson.)
A self-professed fan of both dinosaurs and “creepy crawlies” since childhood, Gibbens is still making careful drawings of the real-world creatures that wow him — he’s just adding a bit of evolutionary embellishment. Watch the episode now, and stay tuned for my full written profile tomorrow.
Catching up on Season 2 of Art by Northwest? Check out our recent profiles of printmaker/basket weaver/glass artist Joe Feddersen and oil painter/woodblock printer Keiko Hara.
Looking for more regional arts coverage? Watch Art by Northwest, the new television series on Cascade PBS featuring artists from all over Washington. Season 2 episodes are releasing weekly from August 7 through October 2.
