August Show - underGROUND

Now showing through August 27, 2009

by Beverly Naidus

Earlier this summer (June 2009) I had the privilege to work with dancers, composers, writers, performance and visual artists at Earthdance in western Massachusetts. While being introduced to the ways that these artists exposed ecological issues in their work, I was offered a deeper connection with the dance form, “contact improvisation.” One dancer described the form to me as a process of sharing weight. I participated in a Dance Jam that included a man in a wheel chair and people of different ages and sizes. Once I moved from sketching in my journal onto the dance floor, I was hooked. Excited by the liberating aspects of creating meaning through movement, something I had understood in an earlier chapter in my life, I was compelled to bring this energy back to my studio on Vashon.

Instead of approaching this new body of work with strategies that are well known to me, I decided instead to move through my tiny studio space, and the adjoining woods, trails and garden, like a dancer, scavenging weight, form and texture within my local environment. At times I was reaching in many directions, seemingly at once, drawing, sewing, gluing, sculpting, tearing, rummaging through drawers, picking things up and moving with them, tying things together, in very unfamiliar rhythms. At other times, I found habitual gestures provided a comfortable launching pad for deeper work. The tactility of found materials and a constant shifting of weight were necessary to deal with often challenging sources of inspiration: the things that are underground, under the radar, most easily avoided, but need attention. My process allowed me to be more fluid in my emotions and less self-censoring as I unearthed imagery and metaphors that would not have been discovered through a more intellectual approach.

The results of this improvisation are a series of wall hangings and sculptures, often inhabited by small, sculpted heads and figures, animating each piece. Mulberry bark and translucent paper became skin-like forms to be pierced and sewn with stories about nuclear weapons and toxic dumps. When the difficult material became too weighty, I shifted poses and perspectives, opening up to humor and a reconstructive vision of the world, where gardens transform the muck swept under the rug for so many years. Both soft and sharp, the work has an anthropological quality, like artifacts of this moment.

Some of my early work (from the late 1970’s and through the 1980’s) dealt with nuclear nightmares, and were audience-participatory, inviting the community to share their stories about nuclear war. During the Reagan presidency, when a “hot war” seemed very close to the surface, many audience members were eager to share their fears, anxieties and hopes. My site-specific installations, exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, London, and Minneapolis offered visitors the possibility of moving beyond our despair into communities empowered to dismantle the nuclear arsenal. Now, post-Bush, with a worsening plethora of social problems, from economic to environmental, I continue to use my art to confront what is sick in our society and to remind myself of what is whole and possible, just around the corner from our fears. Ultimately my art is a meditation on the paradox of living in this time with an open heart and a sense that the future has not yet been decided.

Biography:

Beverly Naidus has lived on Vashon since 2003, when she took a position teaching interdisciplinary arts (with a focus on art for social change) at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She has shown her work internationally and it has been written about in several significant books about contemporary art.

She is the author of the recently released, Arts for Change: Teaching Outside the Frame (New Village Press, 2009). Her website is www.artsforchange.org.

She is the mother of Sam Oak Naidus Spivey (age 14) and the life partner of Bob Spivey, founder of SEEDS (www.socialecologyvashon.org).

Johnny Depp Rumor

Johnny Depp is not headed to Vashon, officials say

By LESLIE BROWN

Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Editor

The rumor has been circling the Island like a gull at KVI Beach: Johnny Depp, word has it, just bought Tom Stewart’s spectacular 525-acre estate near Paradise Valley.

How great is the speculation? Great enough that someone has stated it as fact on Wikipedia: “Johnny Depp, world famous actor, now owns the former Misty Isle Farm property. Has been spotted driving on the Westside Highway,” according to an entry in the user-generated, online encyclopedia under the “people of note” section for Vashon Island.

But according to a spokesman for Stewart’s company, Services Group of America, there’s nothing to the rumor.

“We’ve not been in contact with Mr. Depp regarding this property or any other property,” said Brad Parker, from the company’s Scottsdale, Ariz., headquarters.
Told of the Wikipedia entry, he said he’d go online and make a change to it.
“I have no idea how it would have gotten onto Wikipedia,” he added.

Stewart’s Misty Isle Farm has been for sale for nearly two years, listed initially at $125 million. The sprawling, ranch-style home is small by multi-millionaire standards — a mere 6,500 square feet. But the expansive property boasts a number of other amenities that set it apart from other parcels in the luxury home market, including an airstrip, a helipad, 10 additional residences, botanical gardens, a putting green, bridle trails and a three-acre pond annually stocked with 500 pounds of rainbow trout.

The demand is soft for luxury homes, however, and the property, initially the subject of a focused marketing effort, is no longer being actively peddled, said Hans Youngman, who manages the ranch.

“There’s no marketing campaign currently under way,” he said. “There had been, but it got put on hold because of the economic conditions and lack of interest.”

Youngman said he, too, has heard the Johnny Depp rumor several times and, like Parker, said there’s nothing to it.

“Jack Sparrow,” he said, referring to Depp’s character in “The Pirates of the Caribbean,” “won’t be the next owner of Misty Isle Farms.”

Stewart, a stalwart Rep-ublican known for the conservative celebrities he used to bring to his estate, enjoyed the Depp rumor, Youngman said. In fact, he thinks that’s possibly how it began to spread.

“When a friend asked him about it, he sort of led him on for a moment,” Youngman said.
Johnny Depp’s publicist, Robin Baum, did not return repeated telephone calls or e-mails requesting comment.

The Johnny Depp rumor is not the first one about a Hollywood star snatching up the largest private parcel on Vashon. For a while, Tom Cruise was the purported buyer; then John Travolta; then Cruise and Travolta together, with an eye towards making it a Church of Scientology retreat.

Many have heard the rumors and have called or e-mailed The Beachcomber, asking if they’re true. Most were curious, some skeptical. A few said they thought it just might be true that Depp had indeed purchased the property or, at the very least, was poking around.

“I have some good sources who have confirmed that there has been interest from him,” said Melinda Songterath, owner of The Hardware Store Restaurant. “I don’t think it’s a completely fabricated rumor that he’s interested in the property.” She added, however, that she’s not seen “any concrete evidence. ... It’s really all rumors, as far as I’m concerned.”

Emma Amiad, a buyer’s broker on Vashon, also said she’d heard from “a reliable source” that Depp had bought Stewart’s place for $75 million, $50 million less than the asking price. “You might want to watch for it,” she said in an e-mail.

As for Youngman, who some say was the source of the Cruise/Travolta rumor, he said he doubts Depp would find Vashon Island particularly compelling.

Noting that the movie star recently bought his girlfriend a French estate, he added, “He likes France. I don’t think he’d spend much money on a cattle ranch here in Washington state.”

Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Editor Leslie Brown can be reached at editor@vashonbeachcomber.com or 206-463-9195.

Chamber Looks to Tourism to Lift Island Economy

Our goal is to tell Vashon's story, through visuals, graphics, audibles, and positioning. It'll be a call to action to come to Vashon, to shop on Vashon.

Amy Herbig, President

Blonde Ambition

Treasure Discovered?

Yep, it's true. Two young treasure hunters converged on the buried treasure, almost simultaneously. In the end, they agreed to split the fortune.

The winners may become Treasure Masters and are eligible to help develop next year's hunt. Thanks to everyone that participated!

Lost Luggage

Sunday's Clue

She knows where the red valise is kept.

Friday's Clue.

Also, don't forget to visit Gusto Girls tonight. Important clues will be revealed. Ask for the "Savoy Hotel Special No. 2."

If you are an underage drinker, ask them to substitute the absinthe for Yoo-Hoo. Let us know how this tastes. Maybe this will become Special No. 99.

You should be forewarned. Here's the recipe for Special No. 1:

Savoy Hotel Special Cocktail No. 1

2 oz dry gin

1 oz dry vermouth

2 dashes quality grenadine

1 dash absinthe

lemon peel

Who knows what might end up in Special No. 2?

Please visit the Valise and Two-Wall Galleries this Friday evening or Saturday afternoon for some great art, including the fine exhibit Land/Structure/Impact by soul-mates Heather Joy and Matthew Olds.

Today's Clue: Pinex

Used by the folks in Vermontville.

An Aficionado Discusses the Finer Points with the Artist

Best Done Under Cover of Darkness

By Nels A. Jr.

1954: Vashon Island, Washington

Startin’ on the Farm to Market Road from the 1951 Washington license plate stuck on an ol’ pole, near the Eyot farmstead, travel south (77/4) towards the Thorsen Place (78/5).

Dodge Old Man Thorsen’s dogs over to Bank (79/2), then east towards Center. Near the pond (79/9), look for the trapper’s trail going north and then west. Tie up your pony here because the trail gets too narrow.

From the trailhead, it’ll be 266 paces to our old camp site in the grove. Go about 400 paces to the corduroy bridge and 200 more paces downhill to a miraculous stand of tall firs. Count slowly from here and look for the salal trail north to the Chilcat village. No more counting. At each wye, always take the rightward trail to the old trappers shack.

You’ll need to sneak up quietly as not to arouse the tribe nearby. Watch out for Indian sentries.

Historian Rachel Bard might recall the right way.

Treasure Hunt: Rumors and Clues

Update: By our count, Team Jesse was leading the pack, having located four map sections. Team Jesse was followed closely by Team Thunder Cloud. A fifth map section will likely be discovered today. This piece can be reached by surveying the section from a high vantage point with a spyglass. Seekers who are tough enough to reach this map section from mud level, they will likely discover a bonus clue for their efforts.


For those of you catching up, there’s buried treasure on Vashon Island. Yep, that is the truth.

Treasure hunters amassed in Vashon’s town center last night, scouring for clues. They are looking for twelve fragments of an ancient map that will lead a lucky team to the prize, fabulous gems looted by Napoleon’s army.

Let us indulge in a bit of history: In 1812, Napoleon’s Grand Army entered Moscow. As winter approached, the Grand Army realized that they were running out of food. The army’s supply lines had been cut-off. The Russians had burned all the food in the city left the cupboards bare. They abandoned their city and hid in the countryside.

However, the sensible Russians left behind treasures and gold. After all, you can swallow a small sapphire but it doesn’t taste very good.

With the Russian winter coming, the Grand Army began to retreat. Some of the foolish soldiers thought they could carry looted gold bullion and other imperial treasures. It wasn’t long before Napoleon’s men discarded the heavy treasures as they tried to walk home to Paris.

In Napoleon’s Army was a group of Saxons. Fifty or so Saxons deserted Napoleon’s army during the retreat. With them, sewn into their clothes, were the Baranov gemstones.

HOLD Studios Conspires with Valise

In a multi-media exhibit entitled Land/Structure/Impact(LSI), artists Heather Joy and Matthew Olds (aka HOLD studios) explore the relationship between humans and the land from a micro and macro level.

Heather uses photography to document human-made ecotones (ecology + tension), representations of human attempts to control natural systems. Examples include the sharp lines between farmland and watershed, farm and city, port and wetland, among others. The images are from a series of Heather's aerial photographs, taken over the past five years. She shoots while traveling on commercial flights, and some of her images are obscured by jet fuel, smog, cloud cover, frosty or cracked airplane windows, uncontrolled lighting and weather conditions.

Matthew uses painting to document the rise and fall of structures in the landscape. He has long been fascinated with buildings and bridges in various states of deterioration, from use, neglect, or both. To better understand the dynamics of the built environment, Matthew has erected several structures of his own and installed them in the landscape. He uses these structures as source material for his paintings and will install a related structure in the gallery space.

An additional component of the show is an ongoing collaborative project titled Land-Grab, which was inspired by the recent economic collapse, as well as the historical U.S. land rush of the late 1800's. Heather and Matthew selected hundreds of Heather's aerial photographs and created an installation of them in a "parcel-like" grid. Each photograph will be available for "on-the-spot" purchase and will leave the gallery with the buyer. Throughout the show, Heather and Matthew will document the evolution of this interactive project, as each element of the installation is sold, leaving a void where there once was land/art. By the end of the Land-Grab project, they hope that only the abandoned infrastructure that was supporting the pieces will remain.

This July exhibition is the third iteration of the Land/Structure/Impact project. The first was installed in the fall of 2007 at the Tacoma Contemporary Woolworth Windows. The second was installed at Seattle's Fetherston Gallery May 15 - June 13, 2009, which included the addition of the Land-Grab project. At this third stop Heather and Matthew will install Land-Grabat the Valise Gallery as it was at the end of the Fetherston show. Future Land-Grab locations to be announced.

The gallery has extended its hours to Fridays 6 to 8 pm and Saturdays 12 to 5 pm.

Search for the Lost Baranov Diamonds

Presented by Two Wall Gallery and Valise

Curators’ Note: The following history was compiled after years of painstaking research by noted treasure hunter Cecil Benthos. Several of the clues are being exhibited during the month of July at both Two Wall Gallery and Valise, and others will be revealed during the month at various locales, clues to which will appear as you follow the trail. One lucky treasure hunter will hopefully find the legendary Lost Baranov Diamonds at the end of that trail. If anyone does find it, that person should contact either Two Wall or Valise as soon as possible! The finder will get to keep the treasure, but only if you contact one of the galleries for debriefing.

The Baranov Diamonds: History and Clues

By Cecil Benthos, PhD
Treasure Hunter and International Entrepreneur
Offices in Vienna, Krakow, and Bean Blossom, Indiana

“Read these words carefully! Each word means something!!”

Years ago, while my father was surviving the Battle of Stalingrad in an overlooked vodka cellar, he wrote several letters home that mentioned in passing some hidden jewels that he had heard about around that time, perhaps even as he was in the cellar. His letters were not clear, but as a child, I was interested in this. It was only later that I realized the importance of his words, and begin to piece together the history of the Legendary Lost Baranov Diamonds.

From what I could learn through extensive research in the Pacific Northwest and from my business associates in Russia, who almost refused being paid for their help, the Baranov Diamonds (my name for them) are a collection of brightly colored and rare heart-cut stones that came from a diamond mine in the Urals. They were originally a gift that Napoleon acquired for Josephine (“Stolen!” my Russian friends say), but were lost in the retreat of the French in the winter of 1812-13. Apparently, they were last seen then by a Russian woman who was paid to wash Napoleon’s uniform, and she set them on his dressing table. They disappeared as if by magic that very day, leading some people to think they were indeed magic stones. Both magic and terrifying, is my conclusion, for mere mention of these stones has the power to turn some people into violent skeptics and has led to at least one traffic accident in southern Poland between a car and a manure spreader.

Not long after their disappearance, a similar collection of heart-cut stones was mentioned in a letter from Alexandr Baranov, the first governor of Russian Alaska and manager of the Russian-American Fur Company, to his sister Irena. His translated letter contains the statement “And dear sister, amazing stones are finally out [or displaced] painfully cut like little hearts my own like crystal [part unreadable] and colors remarked [or remarkable].” So it is clear to me and beyond all doubt that Baranov acquired the diamonds and took them to Alaska.

Russian relations with natives along the coast during that time were strained at best, but following the Battle of Sitka, the Russians found themselves ill at ease in a country filled with violent and skeptical natives. Money and other things of value were sometimes kept hidden in case of attack. It is my belief based upon the clues I have found that Baranov buried the diamonds on Vashon 1815 or 1816 while returning from a trip into northern California. His diary from that time mentions an encounter with a native party that was prepared for war near what is now called Portage. The natives assaulted the Russians with beach rocks and sunk a small boat. Oddly, Baranov wrote in his diary that he thought his men were being mistaken for someone else, based upon insults of a personal nature yelled by the natives, but this mystery (or magic!) was never explained.

There is a least one artifact from that encounter, which you will see displayed in town here. After the battle, Baranov was fearful of a second attack and so he buried the stones for safekeeping. Baranov never returned to recover them. He died in 1819.

Baranov’s diary talks about burying the stones. Although the word “diamonds” is not used, he mentions hiding something of great value to be gathered when things settled down. He writes that the item was wrapped in a cloth, hidden within a tin coffee pot, and sealed with wax and mica (as was common for the time). Mica was also scattered near the hiding place, perhaps because it would remind Baranov of the sparkling diamonds, or perhaps only because they were careless with the precious mica (or ising glass). It is no coincidence to me that the words “ising” and “island” both start with “is.”

The clues I have amassed include several rock carvings that you will see displayed, some other artifacts, and most importantly a map. This map I found in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, which cost me a fortune in pre-inflationary rubles to borrow (when money really meant something!), and includes some of my notes, as well as other notes I presume are Baranov’s. The map in St. Petersburg had been cut into 12 pieces to insure that no one had all of it at once, but two pieces were missing. Years later, I found the last two pieces in an Orthodox Monastery in Alaska, near Baranov’s headquarters, stuffed inside a bible, one next to a passage in Exodus and the other in Revelations.

For reasons of security, I cannot finish the search I started years ago. So I ask for your help. My clues are arranged like knots on a string. Start at the end I give you and follow it to the finish. Each clue may be the one you need most….or perhaps some of the clues are pickled red herrings. All I ask is that you keep following the string…and if you find the treasure, you let the kind people at either Two Wall or Valise know about your discovery. You may keep the treasure if I can meet you to see it and hear how you found it. I just want vindication for my poor departed Father, who suffered so cruelly in that cold cellar in 1942, and was accused of such terrible things by the SS. Barely kept alive by the dregs in the vodka barrels, his memory lives on in this search. Help me show that his passion was not misplaced, and help me put his spirits to rest.

The Clues:

Look for these clues to begin with; others will be apparent as you search. Remember there are 12 pieces of the map to be discovered:

1) Beginning July 3, and for the rest of the month, the first clues will be visible at Two Wall Gallery, Valise, and Giraffe, with leads to other clues offered at that time. Be prepared to look for other places where clues might be visible. At Two Wall and Valise, two rock carvings and other clues will be on exhibit on July 3. At Giraffe, find Priscilla and tell her you want to “Pay for the Statue.”

2) Beginning Friday, July 10, another important clue will be revealed at Gusto Girls. Ask the bartender for a “Savoy Hotel Special No. 2 (nudge nudge, wink wink).”

Clues to the rest of the 12 pieces will become available as you go. We recommend you take some paper with you to trace or draw the map fragments so that you can play with them at home. They are all the same size, and they all fit together to comprise the original map. We’re pretty sure about that. Well, reasonably sure.

You may ask us if you need help. We may offer hints….or we may not, depending upon whether or not you are wearing brightly colored socks that day. One of us loves the color orange. We know nothing, but some of us can be bribed.

IF YOU FIND IT, LET US KNOW. Trust us, you’ll be famous, but only if you tell us how you found it.

Thank you, Amy.

Who is the comforting figure behind the child?

Hidden Treasure on Vashon Island

By Greg Wessel (Two Wall Gallery)

In addition to July’s exhibits, including works by Heather Joy and Matthew Olds, the Two Wall Gallery and Valise will display artifacts that are clues to a purportedly “fantastic hidden collection of gems.” Presented by mysterious fictional artist and entrepreneur Cecil Benthos, these clues and other signs, that will be revealed from July 3rd through August 6th, will lead one lucky and dogged Vashonite to the legendary “Lost Baranov Diamonds.”

The galleries could not verify all of the amazing claims made by the artist, but we researched it far enough to confirm that there is absolutely something valuable hidden somewhere on Vashon Island. It is worth finding and should be discoverable through correct interpretation of the clues. That much is fact.

According to his Facebook bio, the veracity of which could not be verified, Benthos rose to prominence among treasure hunters after his success in finding the Lost Scotchman Mine in the Sonoran Desert. Benthos has been looking for the Baranov treasure for “nearly 30 years,” after learning of its history from his father.

Clues to the treasure include an ancient map.

First Friday - June

Please join us for the opening reception of "Foresight."

[not to be confused with the show, Foreskin, showing at the Valium Gallery in Montreal]

Foresight will feature the incomparable works of Seattle artists Amy Huddleston and Jane Emens.


First Friday, June 5, 6-9pm

Valise Gallery

17633 Vashon Hwy SW

One door south of Gusto Girls

Coming in June

Drawing Sessions in May

Drawing sessions at the Valise Gallery, Isle of Vashon.

Hosted by the engimatic Adam and debonair Brian.

Scheduled:

May 21 (Thursday) - 6 to 9 pm

May 25 (Monday, Memorial Day) - 6 to 9 pm

May 31 (Sunday) - 12 to 3 pm

Valise Gallery, Group Show May 2009

by Terri Fletcher

Valise Gallery, May Group Show

Wayside by Carol Schwennesen