Seattle Mag
2008 Spotlight Award: Diem Chau
Diem Chau uses ordinary objects to create extraordinary art.
When Diem Chau wanders through thrift stores, she hears a cacophony of voices: A ceramic rice bowl whispers of family dinners, a porcelain teacup betrays shared confidences, a sturdy mug evokes memories of staying home sick and sipping Campbell’s soup. “I love more traditional techniques and mediums, but at some point I just found that…
2007 Spotlight Award Winners
Our picks for theater and arts top five arts talents of the year.
When it comes to big local art news, we all know it’s been Seattle Art Museum’s year. This past January the Olympic Sculpture Park opened, ushering in a brave new era of public art in Seattle. May marked the spring of SAM, so to speak, with the unveiling of the museum’s thoughtful downtown expansion. While…
2007 Spotlight Award: Greg Lundgren
Greg Lundgren is not an influential artist.
On a sunny afternoon last May, a Seattle mother had a perplexing conversation with her 6-year-old daughter at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Standing in front of a bright white swing set, she tried to explain to the puzzled little girl that the structure–a standard piece of playground equipment–was, in fact, not a swing set. The…
2007 Spotlight Award: Marya Sea Kaminski
Local theater pro Marya Sea Kaminski can do it all.
Much of the buzz surrounding Seattle Repertory Theatre’s controversial spring 2007 production, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, centered around a singular question: How to define its real-life title character’s refusal to settle for the status quo? For the play’s one and only actor, however, the answer was simple. “She was a hero, but not for…
2007 Spotlight Award: KT Niehoff
Choreographer KT Niehoff brings contemporary dance to the people.
KT Niehoff isn’t normally the life of a party. Throw her into a roomful of strangers, she says, and she feels deeply uncomfortable. But turn said room into a raw, light-filled dance studio and said party into Inhabit—the charmingly disarming interactive piece she created and performed with her local contemporary dance company, Lingo, last May—and…
2007 Spotlight Award: Seattle Art Museum
Meet the behind-the-scenes heroes at SAM.
If the Seattle Art Museum had sat in psychotherapy five years ago, its diagnosis would have been simple: Patient suffered from severe identity crisis. With a collection that was neither encyclopedic nor specialized–and trapped in an outdated building–SAM was best defined by a sense of fragmentation. To quote Gertrude Stein out of context, there was…
Brangien’s Weekend Arts Round Up
I’ll be making my second appearance on New Day Northwest tomorrow (11 a.m. on King 5), filling in for ArtZone arts maven Nancy Guppy, and giving viewers a to-do list of arty events this weekend. It’s supposed to be sunny (yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it), so most of them are outdoors. Tune…
Must Watch: Tour de France at Cafe Presse
If you’re a Francophile or a bicyclist, you’ve probably spent at least some time this month watching men in spandex race their way through the French countryside. Lucky for Tour de France fans, Cafe Presse is offering up a much needed escape from bite-sized ESPN recaps. Starting at 7 a.m. tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, you can belly up to the bar…
March to Marché with Greg Atkinson; Momiji Brings Sushi to the Corridor
March to MarchéWhen the news broke last fall that Greg Atkinson, the former Canlis chef and Seattle Culinary Academy instructor and current cookbook author, would be heading back into a restaurant kitchen at Kailash, local foodies were abuzz. But while that concept died, another idea was brewing. Atkinson will open Restaurant Marché, a bistro focusing…
Road Trip to Winthrop
Winthrop welcomes all comers—from fiddlers to insect wranglers.
WHERE: Winthrop, Washington, in the Methow Valley. WHY: For the BIG NORTH CASCADES OLDTIME FIDDLERS CONTEST (8/27. $15; kids younger than 12 are free. Spring Creek Ranch, 22 Belsby Road; 509.996.2111; winthropfiddle.org), where you’ll celebrate American folk music via hardcore fiddling competitions for all age divisions, from Pee-Wee to Senior. BRING: Your own insect or…
The Local Renaissance Faire Gets a Makeover
Regal knights, saucy wenches and eye-pacthed pirates.
The Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire cometh—now with pirates! This year, in addition to ye olde lineup of regal knights, saucy wenches and creepy jesters, organizers have added eye-patched, “arrrg”-spewing mateys to the mix. We suspect it’s a blatant attempt to widen the crowd appeal, and we’ve got a few ideas of our own for how…
Seattle’s Third Wave of Fro-Yo
Frozen yogurt is back, and this time, every ounce counts.
You may remember Seattle’s last frozen yogurt explosion back in 2008, when national chains like Pinkberry and Red Mango hit town and spawned countless imitators. Way back then, it was all about the flavor—frozen yogurt that actually tasted tart, like yogurt (as opposed to previous ice cream imitators a la TCBY). Now fro-yo is back…