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

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.

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.

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, May Group Show

Wayside by Carol Schwennesen

May Valise Gallery Group Show

Girl Talk by Jiji Saunders

May Valise Gallery Group Show

The Calling of Saint Matthew by Brian Van Buren

December, July, February

by Heather Joy

Ink prints framed in birth control pill boxes.

Road Show

by Victor B. Monchego, Jr.

Collage: Valise with maps, miscellaneous travel detritus, clean underwear, tiny whiskey bottle, Paxil tablets, hotel card keys, AIG visitor passes, business card towers, and family polaroid.

Women in their Underwear

What comes to mind are three women on frank display. These are not Maxim playthings, not cover girls. Think of your aunt. The eccentric one with the high IQ.

What some people may fail to appreciate, without a deeper examination, is what remarkable lives these grand women had.

The women are Bella Abzug (orange), Clara Fraser (blue) and the still vivacious, Greta Gaard (green), as depicted by Jiji Saunders in Valise Gallery’s April installation titled, “Carry On.”
What hangs on the wall is not lingerie. In fact, they are the aged linings of womanly valises. The faded, silky fabrics have been dissected carefully from three suitcases pre-dating the Nixon administration.

Years before 9/11, the items in a woman’s suitcase were especially intimate. What’s inside? Contraceptive foam? A new pants suit? That strange scissor-handled contraption used to shape eyelashes? But the metaphor runs much deeper.

What is inside a grown woman’s life? Where has she been and what has she endured on her journey?

The faded nylon fabrics are lovely. Look closely; there are stains from all the voyages. One subtle spot hints of lipstick? menstruation? plum preserves? Who knows.

The subjects of Saunders work are activists. Clara Fraser and Bella Abzug had rich lives. Born three years apart in the Roaring 20’s, both died in 1998. Greta Gaard carrys on as a writer and educator.

Clara Fraser was a feminist and socialist political organizer, who co-founded and led the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women. In being fired in 1975 for speaking out against sex-and-ideology discrimination at Seattle City Light, then being rehired seven years later, Clara Goodman Fraser improved life for many of the Seattle's working women, poor people and minorities.

Her headline-grabbing actions of the mid-1970s and early 1980s made Clara Fraser a familiar name. From then on her work in Seattle's Radical Women and Freedom Socialist Party, both of which she helped found, became high-profile.

So did Ms. Fraser herself, a dramatic, husky-voiced former laborer who loved chocolates, cigarettes and mystery novels. But for more than a quarter-century before, she had agitated for women, people of color, union workers, gays and prisoners. Divorced herself, she helped write the state's first divorce-reform bill and organized Washington's first abortion-rights rally. She also campaigned for university-funded child care at the University of Washington and worked to get women into electrical and engineering careers.

Bella Savitsky Abzug was an American lawyer, Congresswoman, social activist and a leader of the Women's Movement. In 1971 Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus. She famously declared "This woman’s place is in the House—the House of Representatives" in her successful 1970 campaign to join that body. She was later appointed to chair the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year and plan the 1977 National Women's Conference and led Jimmy Carter's commission on women.

Greta Claire Gaard (born 1960, Hollywood, CA) is an ecofeminist writer, scholar, activist, and documentary filmmaker. Gaard's academic work in the realms of ecocriticism and ecocomposition is widely cited by scholars in the disciplines of composition and literary criticism. Her theoretical work extending ecofeminist thought into queer theory, vegetarianism, and animal liberation has been influential within women's studies. A cofounder of the Minnesota Green Party, Gaard documented the transition of the U.S. Green movement into the Green Party of the United States in her book, Ecological Politics. She is currently a professor of English at University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a community faculty member in Women's Studies at Metropolitan State University, Twin Cities.

I see three dames, posing proudly in their underwear.

The Challenges of an Installation

What makes good art? Or the converse, what makes art bad?

I never had an art class and I don’t consider myself an artist, so as Kurt Vonnegut once said to me (true story), “If I don’t like what you’ve written, it is perfectly fine to tell me to go to hell.” The same goes here. I am not trying to be high-minded.

Five qualities to consider:

Craft – does the artist have control over the medium?

Unity – does the work hang together with a coherent meaning, rather than having divergent styles, distractions, and inconsistent meanings?

Composition – does it lay out well? Is it interesting in its organization and spacing?

Color and Shade – does the work take advantage of color elements, or is it muddled?

Theme – as a hack writer, I get themes. Does the art tell a story? What might the lessons be?