Artwalk, 1st Thursday at Pioneer Square 


Okay, folks, it's time to put the post-election blues (or reds) behind you, put your funk on hold for now. Life goes on and it's a wonderful life, for sure. To prove that I spent Thursday and Friday engaged in three separate, but, as it turns out, completely interrelated and connected diversions. On Thursday evening I went to my first "First Thursday Art Walk" event in Pioneer Square. This entry is the Thursday post-election diversion. 

First Thursday Art Walk, Pioneer Square
(Post-election distraction, Thursday evening)

I'd been meaning for a year now to partake in the First Thursday Art Walk. Each month on the first Thursday, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, the art galleries in the Pioneer Square district stay open and very often have the artist or artists they feature available for conversation or discussion. On the same night, the Seattle Art Museum is free. Since this was such a tumultuous week, I figured what better diversion from politics than art and so just about sunset headed downtown to traipse around for a couple of hours.

I got to Pioneer Square a few minutes after six, having caught the 5:38 pm bus and most of the traffic heading away from downtown. I figured I'd start in the courtyard immediately south of Occidental Park. Occidental Avenue South is an old, original, downtown north-south street which has been turned into a pedestrian-only or very-pedestrian-friendly street just one block east of First Avenue in an area of downtown where the two street grids intersect. Apparently, because the city was developed under different real estate moguls and with differing opinions about the street grid, the streets south of the waterfront and north of the waterfront align themselves in a true-North-South fashion. Those facing or on the east of the waterfront parallel the alignment of that part of the city's Bay-facing geography and go Northwest-Southeast. Pioneer Square sits right at the southern junction of these two grids and as a consequence has some of the most interesting intersections and street alignments in the city. The area around Seattle Center is the other really contorted street-grid section because there are three grids which come together in the old Denny Regrade. Occidental Avenue benefits because there is no present need for a vehicular traffic artery where it sits, and, as a result, all the former shop fronts have evolved into a pretty congested and tightly-integrated art district. Whereas 7th Street NW between Pennsylvania Avenue and the MCI Center in DC is that city's art district, it's not really a district so much as it is a stretch of street devoted to galleries.

Because of the alignment of the streets and the creation of a courtyard out of Occidental Avenue S, Seattle's art district has much more of a "district" feel to it. There's the central block, bounded by First Avenue on the west and Occidental courtyard on the east, and Main Street on the north and Jackson Street on the south. This block is nearly 100-percent "all" gallery with gallery after gallery interspersed with "art" stores which sell knock-offs and other tourist-type attractions but which would still fall into the "art" camp. On the facing sides of these streets are more galleries. On both Jackson and Main Streets and First Avenue, the galleries continue further north, south and east from this central block. There are 22 galleries in a short, four-block, distance of each other. Downtown from Pioneer Square north through just past Pike Place Market has an additional 20 galleries. We're talking fine art galleries here - the kind of places where a couple-hundred dollars gets you a catalog. There are, to be sure, plenty of locations in town, both in Pioneer Square, at the Pike Place Market, and scattered throughout the commercial district, where one can pick up very nice prints, photographs, paintings, sculptures, glasswork, and other "objets d'art," but they are not in the same league as these galleries.

I knew Seattle had a vibrant and healthy art scene. I'd just never been in the Pioneer Square art district during any times other than mid-morning when most galleries are not open or late at night after most are normally closed. This was my first exposure to the inside of the galleries I've peered into for more than a year now. In a word, I was "stunned." There is some art here, glass, ceramic, visual, sculpture, cloth, you name the medium, which would be at home in any museum I've been into so far in my life. This is not only a vibrant art community, it is a first-class, world-competitive set of artists. Like I said, I was stunned. Not one, or two, or a dozen, but nearly two dozen wonderful, fascinating, captivating and alluring locations where art of all media are displayed and sold, and all within such proximity to each other that one could see inside all these galleries - quick looks, granted - in the two hours of the Art Walk time frame.

I only wish I were a millionaire because I would have walked out with probably two or three hundred thousand dollars' worth of someone else's creation. There were metal sculptures done by two women artists which are as organic as anything I've seen - far and away more interesting than the Henry Moore's which seem to sprout in every urban garden in the world - more along the lines of the tapestries Calder made but with the fluidness of his mobiles. Really new and exciting stuff. The visual arts were just as exciting, there were canvases created out of poured polymer material done in a very large and flat trapezoid manner such that the front of the canvas was cleaved outward with about an inch-and-a-half of polymer sloping back toward the wall. On a polymer canvas which is four by five or six feet, the effect is unbelievable. The light from the walls and room ambience is captured by the polymer and leaves the canvas through the painting on the front - which is also lit from the ambient and flood lights. The overall effect is very much akin to the evening glow of a western sunset with the blue of the sky appearing to be lit from within. I'd never seen any of these new canvases before and was literally quite taken. Some of the colors one artist uses were very Rothko like with the canvases being - perhaps - a very late tribute to the monochrome approach Rothko initiated.

Some of the visual artists mixed their media such that instead of a simple impasto there were impastos comprised of paint and sand, paint and glass silica fibers, paint and crumbled filamentary material from tiny-veined leaves, paint and pieces of foil which looked like they'd been run through a shredder. Wonderful stuff. Gave me no end of ideas of things I want to try myself - new media, new paint impasto combinations, new approaches with brush and knife application. Goodness, where to start. And, I've been a devotee of modern art for my entire lifetime. I frequented the Hirshhorn, the National Gallery's East Wing, the Corcoran, the Renwick and all the galleries on 7th Street the entire two decades I lived in DC. I love art. Of all sorts and of all periods. I'm a particular fan of the Impressionists and of the Modern and Post-Modern movements, both here and abroad. I frequented the Sackler and the Freer as well because the art from Asia and Asia-Minor is so much from a different perspective and also includes its own movements, including modern. It would be a very simplistic truism to say that I couldn't get enough art. Much as I can't get enough music. A lot of folks think I'm addicted to caffeine, or nicotine, or even sugar. The real truth is that I'm addicted to art (music is art, writing is art, performance is art). More of what I love about humanity, actually. Our amazing expressions of ourselves never, never cease to amaze, amuse, or captivate me.

After two hours of being delighted and listening to others discuss the art in front of them and discussing my own ideas with a few owners and asking a few questions about some of the artists whose work I was taken by, it was time for everyone to go home till the next First Thursday. Well, I've become an addict, now, and will be back. This is also one of those perfect activities for the long winter months. There's a First Thursday coming in December, January, and February, by which time the sun will begin to stay up late again. This is great news for me because it marks a regular exposure to new art on a regular basis.

There were a lot of people like me out this past Thursday. I'd venture there were probably three or four hundred people in groups of ones, twos, up to perhaps a half-dozen, going from gallery to gallery. Some galleries were so jammed one would think it was opening night at the theater, and I mean more than fifty people crowded into one or two 30-by-40 or so foot spaces with a lot of pedestal-like furnishings intruding into the space, each holding some other piece of art. A few of the galleries were as complex as any of the rooms at the National Gallery or, locally, any of the floors of SAM. There are a seemingly equal mix of really large galleries and reasonably-small galleries. The larger ones featured two to five artist's work and the smaller ones featured a single or perhaps two artist's work. What is impressive, of course, is being able to see the breadth of an artist's work and to have it displayed in a meaningful manner. Some of the artists whose work I truly appreciated have as many as four dozen works on display at some of these galleries.

The extra special treat of First Thursday is that all the local coffee houses, many of which normally close at 6 or 7 pm, were open late so I took advantage of the occasion and stopped by Elliott Bay books to get a cappuccino and a double-chocolate cupcake (no gluten, hence no flour and boy was it rich with chocolate, really went well with the coffee). Afterwards I caught the bus home - perfect timing. This was one of those unbelievable, can't get any better, hop on bus, hop off, browse art, get coffee, hop on bus, arrive back home, evenings. In all I was gone probably three hours with the middle two being completely engaged in art appreciation. It could not have been any better, even the night was cooperating with a crystal-clear atmosphere and a Fall-briskness with a slight hint of moisture to come.

If you live in the greater Puget Sound area and have not participated in this fantastic excursion into the world of art, I would encourage you to put the First Thursday of the next three months on your calendar. The galleries open (or remain open, depending on gallery) at 6:00 pm and stay open through 8:00 pm (actually, most stay open for about thirty minutes longer). There's a true festive air. The area just north of the courtyard, Occidental Park (the location of the Seattle Fireman's tribute sculpture) is festooned with tents and candles and other portable lighting devices and features an additional thirty or so artisans and lesser-artists, artists who have their own style and creations but who are not yet well-enough known or reviewed well enough to rate space in the galleries. Kinda like a street fair collection and along the same lines as the art booths at the Folklife festival or Bumbershoot. Well worth one's time as much as the galleries because the two together give a good look inside the amateur-to-professional art community here in the Northwest. Except for transportation to and from and whatever treats or coffee one would like, the entire evening is completely free.

There is actually an added treat to the whole event. Like a symphony or opera or theater setting, the galleries present an opportunity for those who like to dress up and step out to do so. I'd estimate that about half the three or four hundred patrons during the art walk were dressed like me, jeans, somewhat nice pullover, light coat or woolen coverup; the other half were dressed in tres chic outfits, suits or suit-combos, both men and women. High heels, fancy purses and clutches, couples arm-in-arm as if their butler weren't that far behind to hold their satchels. A great collection of people to ogle if one is inclined in that direction. Oh, did I mention hundred-dollar hairdos. And, the gallery owners were just as fascinating a group to watch or talk with. Every step of the sophistication scale from "oh, did you really want to talk to me," to the "yeah, isn't 'so-and-so's' art just great, we're so lucky to have him/her..." I'm not sure that the event is intended to actually sell art so much as to introduce the patrons to new artists. There were quite a number of sales, though, I was witness to about a half-dozen hagglings over price and at least one request for a special-order from a glass sculptor's dealer. The art in question was in the very high hundreds to a dozen thousand dollar category - and in my estimation, probably worth it on the open art market.

And, now some photos of the Art Walk evening...


Looking southwest across the Occidental Avenue South courtyard. These two pictures are not a panorama, but
do show most of the block of the courtyard. They were taken from slightly different positions - the yellow line
marks the two different images. All the shops on the west side of the courtyard are art galleries.



This is the same set of art galleries as in the image above. These two images, also taken from slightly different
perspectives, are looking northwest across the Occidental Avenue S courtyard toward Occidental Park - the
open area at the end of the courtyard in the image on the right.



Directly in front of two different gallieries, the one on the left is a light and light fixture gallery and is on the east
side of the Occidental Avenue S courtyard. The one on the right is a ceramic and sculpture gallery and is
opposite the light gallery, across the courtyard on the west side.



The images are not from inside the courtyard but rather taken along Main Street, which crosses the courtyard.
The Pioneer Square art galleries are really outrageously well-located, all of them, literally within a few steps
from each other and most of them actually adjacent to each other. That makes the First Thursday Art Walk a
really easy and convenient distraction and probably accounts for the crowds of people.



Looking inside two adjacent galleries located at the northwest corner of the courtyard. The large number of
individuals milling around outside the galleries is not detectable in this image because they were not
illuminated, there were, however, as many people outside the galleries as there were inside, most folks
seemed to go from gallery to gallery and linger or browse or chat with the owners and artists before moving
on. The event lasts two hours, starting at 6:00 and running through 8:00 pm, the first Thursday of the month.



Occidental Park set up wth the art tents and various outdoor artists and artisans. The image on the left is midway
north in the courtyard heading toward the park and the image on the right is right across the street from the park.



This is lifted from the Art Guide Northwest web site <http://www.artguidenw.com/index.htm>
and shows in detail the galleries in Pioneer Square. If you can locate Occidental
Park, the courtyard is on Occidental Avenue immediately south of the park. All the
galleries participate in the First Thursday Art Walk and about one third of them have
wine or champagne and crudités and/or bread and cheeses. Most have either the
owner(s) or featured artist(s) available or both.



Of course, what would a city be without alleys. This is one
of the numerous alleys which intercept the blocks around
Pioneer Square. Alleys have their own genre of art.



A view looking towards downtown with the 90-year-old Smith Tower on the right. The street lights are located
in Occidental Park with the courtyard and most of the art galleries to the rear of where this photo was taken.



Here's another downtown-at-night shot featuring the Smith Tower. This shot is a portrait
view and the one before a landscape view. Downtowns always delight with their many
lights and differently-styled buildings aglow from inside - and the occasional building, like
Smith Tower, which are also lit with floodlights from outside.



This is on Main Street with First Avenue showing in the image on the right. This is the Northwest Fine
Woodworking studio at the corner of Main and First. These guys feature local wood crafts and artists
including furniture and some amazing containers and chests. I was particularly taken by an executive
desk for only $7,500. It was carved from a single piece of maple with cherry as an inset wood. There
were other pieces, chairs out of a single piece of wood, which are both exquisitely artistic and functional
at the same time. Some of the chairs were priced at or about the same as the desk. I might be able to
afford a knick-knack box for a few hundred.



The image on the left is inside the courtyard looking south at Jackson Street and the image on the right
is at the corner of Jackson and Occidental Avenue S. The galleries are on all four sides of the block
created by Occidental and First Avenues (north-south boundary streets) and Main and Jackson Streets
(east-west boundary streets). Most of these streets also had nearly complete blocks of facing galleries
on the opposite side of the bounding street. The art district extends both north-south and further east
from this central block.



Just because it's so cool, here's another image of the Smith Tower. The
blue globe at the top is a characteristic feature of Seattle's nightime skyline.



This should have been the first image because as I left home for the First Thursday Art Walk, this is the way
the Sound looked from the tower in West Seattle. We've had extraordinary sunsets for an entire week as the
sun moves further and further south. In mid summer the sun was setting to the right of this image, it is now
setting almost at the left edge and will continue to move south through the late December solstice.

Next up, Friday in Central District, searching for that elusive perfect chocolate. 

Posted: Sun - November 7, 2004 at 10:15 AM          

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