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Sample Free Classes at

FREEHOLD'S
FALL OPEN HOUSE
FREE event
Sunday, September 14 from 7:00-9:00 pm

Here is a great chance to experience a snapshot of Freehold's fabulous fall classes.  You will have a chance to try out hands-on exercises which will give you a taste of our upcoming fall classes ... All taught by some of Freehold's incredibly talented faculty including Marya Sea Kaminski, Amy Thone, George Lewis, Gin Hammond, Cyrus Khambatta and others.  In addition to seeing these fantastic instructors at work, you'll also get to meet some of our other outstanding faculty and snack on delicious free beer and pizza!

What: Call for Members
Where: La Familia Gallery
Deadline: September 20, 2008

Apply Online:Apply Online at: www.lafamiliallc.com

La Familia announces its first public Call for Members. We are seeking fresh, innovative artists across genres. We run an eclectic visual program with a focus on minority voices. We define a "minority voice" as anyone who has experienced life within a social subgroup the exists outside of the majority society.

We are looking for artists who are effective communicators with strong technical skill and a strong understanding of who they are as artists. Artists will be selected by the La Familia board and will be notified of their acceptance by October 1st.

La Familia Gallery is a unique artist cooperative in the fact that the gallery is a part of La Familia, the art of living LLC and is connected with Scene In Seattle, H'Art Dating, and Seattle Art CARD. Each of these programs provide excellent marketing and exposure to gallery artists as well as additional opportunities around the city.

Apply Online at: www.lafamiliallc.com

For those of you who have been waiting on Kate Protage to have some new works ready, it is now or never.  She just dropped off about seven new works and two are already gone.  I doubt there will be much left after Art Walk.  We have yet to be able to keep her work around on a regular basis.  As fast as she can paint, she sells.

In addition, Kate has been taking a bit of a vacation and is currently enjoying some time in Hawaii with family.  That is good for Kate but bad for you because that means her studio wont be open this Thursday either.

What can we say, Kate's hot right now.

Chasing Tales Reading and Reception
    When:  Friday, August 15th
                6-7 Meet & Greet
                7-8 Artist reading
                8-9 Questions & Signing

    Where: Yo's Bistro

    Cost: $35/ Pre-Order and $40 at the door
    Tickets include:

•         Signed copy of Chasing Tales
•         A smooth glass of refreshing wine
•         Tasty appitizers by Yo's Bistro 

   
Chasing Tales Reading & Signing
        When:  Monday, August 18th

        Where: C & P Coffee
                    West Seattle
                    5612 California Ave SW
                    Seattle, WA   98136
                    www.candpcoffee.com

        Cost: Free to attend.  Chasing Tales $18.95 each

So Paul Thompson (whose show White Bunny is currently showing at La Familia) and I decided to stop by Collin's for a beer and ran into Kate Protage and Chris Sheridan who are just back from SoCal.

Turns out Kate has some new works she is dropping off at La Familia on Wednesday.  We can't wait since it is hard to even keep her work around for a minute, two works just went out last week.

This is the last of Kate's work we will be getting for a while because she and Chris are taking August off.  If you have been lusting after her work get to Art Walk early for her new works or be prepared to wait a while.

Cheers,
Lanae Rivers-Woods
Director of Fine Art
La Familia Gallery

We arrived late, the entrance to The Hideout was already blocked by a man speaking fast and furious into an abused microphone while motorcycles vied for position on the narrow sidewalk out front.  Unwilling to disrupt to flow Harry, Cat, Paul and I waited outside and I took the time to drool over Zephyr's new dirt bike which was tucked neatly in between the hogs.

When the vigorous performer finished we were ushered into the cave-like bar, momentarily going blind as our eyes shifted from the hot sunshine to cool darkness.  The place was packed.  The vigorous of anticipation combined with the emotions of friends reconnecting made the room feel giddy.  It felt like cozy - crisp.

Tonight's lineup is filled with a wide variety of writers with a strong relationship to Spankstra Press and the Gandhi Motorcycle Club.  Men and women are lined up to address the responsive crowd, however, the evening is all about Ira Parnes.  He has been away for a while and he is back to share his new spoken word CD with Seattle and we wouldn't miss the launch for Gandhi world.

Motorcycle a few hugs and hellos we work our way to the back to find some seats.  Despite the fact the place is packed, the crowd is friendly and quick to make room for the late arrivals.  A few drinks later we find ourselves lost in a sea of words.  The rapid fire prose are filled with memorable moments and things quickly forgotten.  Sometimes you miss something in the noise of a movement but that doesn't matter.  The evening isn't about catching every word, it is about being lost in the energy and the palatable taste of comradery that permiates the atmosphere.

I'm permeates back to basement bars in Athens, long nights in Munich and empty streets in Morocco.  It feels gritty.  Lonlyness mixed with compassion and a touch of sorrow that culminates in joy.  It reminds me...

If you wonder why the emotions in the comradery run high, you only need to wait until the end of the show Loneliness Ira himself steps up to the mic.  He reads only one piece.  It isn't long and it isn't short, but that doesn't matter because you are lost in the words from the moment he begins to read.  There is silence around him and you forget you are listening to words - it feels more like you are watching the world race by.

When permeates finishes you know the evening is done.  Not because the show is over, but because there is nothing left to be said.  His comradery is full, complex and filling.  You are left feeling the writer has said exactly what need to be said.  No more, no less, just exactly what is.

As permeates crowd begins to thin we push forward to say goodbye to Zephyr.  We haven't seen each other in far to Loneliness  She gives me a huge hug and I am reminded of all the reasons I think she is wonderful.  She says she will be back to Seattle for a while in a month and I can take the bike out for a spin if I would like.

Yes, I would like that very much.

We pulled the door open promptly at 8pm and stepped inside. I would have thought it would have taken longer to locate the dark, poorly marked door of LoFi Performance Space but fate was with us tonight.  

Warm, musty air mixed with old booze hit us as we entered the tattered club cum art gallery on Eastlake Ave E.   We don’t usually venture so far from home but tonight is an Artifakt show with Chris Sheridan so we show up in force to lend support.  

The place is sleepy, like a tiger that hasn’t woken up yet.  A few people meander across our path before we notice Chris hanging lights in the corner of an empty room.  We were warned it might be like this, very quiet.  That doesn’t really matter to us, we are just happy to be out socializing and checking out what people are doing.   

Artifakt is an organization dedicated to promoting young artists, most of which fall into the Low Brow or Street Art genres.  Kids who love stencils, anime and fashion models fit in here.  As it turns out, I actually love these things but didn’t really fall in love with any of this work on this particular night… except maybe the bread bad tabs.  Those were pretty cool.

Chris’s work certainly stood out at the show as well.  I’m always a huge fan of his strong brushstrokes and allegorical subject matter.  Of course, his work is neither Low Brow or Street Art so I’m not exactly sure why they show him apart from the fact he is awesome.

Even though we didn’t fall head over heals with any new artists at the event.  We still had a great time due to the fact we met the very cool owners of Bherd Studios.   The are a very street focused space and I like how they think and what they do.  Go check them out at:

Bherd Studios
315 NW 85th Street, Suite B
Seattle, WA 98117
206-234-8348

Despite or resolve to only stay an hour – Harry, Mary and I ended up staying at LoFi sipping on ice water until 11pm.  Exhausted, we stopped by The Matador for happy hour before heading home to bed. 

1. Call on a Monday morning asking for you submission to be rushed back for your Tuesday interview because you forgot to make copies.  Follow this with the comment, “I’ve been thinking about this for a month now.”  Do I really have to tell you what is wrong with this picture?  Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.

2. Ignore the galleries submission guidelines and specific submission e-mail address.  Galleries request certain information certain ways because they need it that way in order to do their jobs according to their systems.  Respecting the proper systems is a sign of respect that will also earn you respect.  

3. Call or e-mail the gallery constantly asking if they have made a decision.   We have been interested in more then one artist who spoiled the relationship by being to eager and forceful.  Nobody likes desperate or pushy.

4.  Make yourself hard to track down and provide bad contact information.  Yes, this happens more then you realize.  We will get a submission with an e-mail the artist never checks.  Heck, I’ve even been giving cards that tell me what the artist does, but not how to reach them.  Then I google them and they aren’t online.  Honestly, if you are a public artist – have a public profile.

5. An unorganized presentation with bad documentation.  The devil is in the details, so get them right.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  
Cat Walton
cwalton@lafamiliallc.com
(206) 903-0627


Announcing 29 Artist Residency Opportunities in Alaska
Finding Peace and Respite from the Modern World


Seattle, WA (May 23, 2008) – Seattle-based La Familia
Gallery is now offering 29 annual artist residency
opportunities in Talkeetna, Alaska. Accepting
applicants from around the world who concentrate in
the visual arts, music, and literature, the residency
program aims to encourage a better understanding of
what one truly needs live, to create, and to be happy.

The La Familia Artist Residency program is designed
for emerging and mid-career artists who are seeking
direction, inspiration, and reflection.  Artists must
be actively pursuing their creative careers with
passion and integrity.  While participating in the
program, they are expected to live and volunteer (20
hours/week of community service) in Talkeetna for the
full residency period for which they apply.

The program has been developed to provide artists with
an environment where they can hear their own voices
while giving back to the gallery’s home community by
adding to the creative dialogue.

Originally acquired in 2000, the La Familia artist
residence is now being opened to the public as a
unique opportunity for at least 29 artists and/or art
administrators to retreat, reflect, and recover from
lives over-run by commercial expectations.

It exists as a place for individuals in the arts to
live with less:  less stress, less noise, less
technology, and less expectation.  Artists will live
in a small village of approximately 600 people.  The
residence hosts only 3 – 4 guests at any given time
with some opportunities for couples.  There is no TV,
no Internet, no franchise, no box stores, and no
pressure to be anything more than what you are.

Within the silence and the peace, you discover that
what you need to create, what you need to live, and
what you need to be truly happy is far less than you
ever imagined.  To learn more, please visit
http://www.lafamiliallc.com/AKResidenceHome.php.

In order to get your juices flowing, I posted about 15 calls for art today.  Time to get your act together and start submitting.  We have had a lot of success this year so lets keep it up.

If anyone has anything they can add to the calls, we want to see it.  The more we share information the further we will get.  Also, thanks to Kate Protage for forwarding me some really great opportunities.

Cheers,
Lanae Rivers-Woods

ps You can access the list of submission opportunities by logging in and checking the community forum.