Wood, rain and cityscapes at Pioneer Square Art Walk

It’s the first Thursday of the month and that can only mean one thing: Pioneer Square Art Walk. Over the last year-and-a-half, the art walk has been popping off in ways I’d never imagined. The youth have been turning out in droves — even during the colder months! — and it’s heartening to see. Thankfully, the art on view has been excellent as well. Here’s what I’m keeping my eye on:

< No First Thursday Art Walk is complete without a visit to Greg Kucera Gallery. This November and December, artist John Buck will present thirteen ink drawings on wood in his eighth show at the gallery, Drawings on Wood (thru Dec. 23). Since the early 1980s, Buck has used jelutong — a light, soft Southeast Asian wood — to create his sculptures, woodblock prints and drawings. In this exhibition, Buck’s drawings are swirly, verging on psychedelic, depictions of the West, from industrial mines to Goblin’s Archway in the Utah desert to beaver lodges.

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<  The good folks at Specialist have invited Susan Metrican to put on a solo show of new works, Come to the Woods or You Won’t See Me(Nov. 5 – Dec. 12). Inspired by the recurrence of birds, flowering plants and reflected moons in art practices from across cultures, Metrican’s exhibition explores “the tensions beneath pastoral imagery and the enduring impulse to make things by hand.” Metrican pulls from the tradition of the decorative arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, utilizing handmade canvas, fiber-reactive dye and florid colors to create her distinctive pieces. Her “Cat’s Ladder” speaks to me. 

< As rain wets our windows, sidewalks and souls this season, Kelda Martensen’s First Rain (thru Nov. 24 at J. Rinehart Gallery) captures our layered relationship with water, relief and grief. Her collage-like woodblock monotypes combine delightful hues of pink with gray woodgrain prints, adding a dynamism to her portrayal of rain and curving waterways. A welcome balm in this water-drenched season.

< Seattle is a city of constant change. And a lot has changed in the last half-century as tech wealth has radically transformed our cityscape. In Urban Works: 1978-1980 (at Peter Miller through the end of the year), Michael Burns’s black and white architectural photos of Seattle from 1978-80 capture a city on the precipice of immense growth. Images of the Fremont Bridge and the Space Needle look familiar while places around Downtown capture scenes from the past. (RIP the Alaskan Way Viaduct, I will never forget you.)

< Forest For the Trees teamed up with I Am Love to present Rituals in Resistance (Nov 5-30) over at Railspur. Curated by tom manzanarez, the group exhibition features work by queer and BIPOC Pacific Northwestern artists across a variety of mediums “showcasing the resilience in collective strength and radical spirit.” Featured works include Michael Espinoza’s cotton embroidered Polaroids and June T. Sanders’s chair made of salvaged railroad wood.

< It’s your last chance to catch the group exhibition Social Contractat Actualize AiR, put together by resident artists Tommy Gregory and Rachael Comer. Be sure to check out Marita Dingus’s sculptures, I love her wire works so much. On the same night, ONCE REMOVED is presenting Light Seeking (Nov. 5-23), a solo exhibition by Gaeun Kim in the Yesler Gallery. Here, the Seattle artist explores hope via delicately crafted ceramic paper airplanes and their persistence through a red-brick wall. Huh, kinda sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

With our shorter days and longer nights, the fall festival circuit is in full swing. Here are some to lookout for this weekend:

Nordic folks know how to do cold weather right, obviously. Seattle Sauna Festival (Nov. 7-8 at the National Nordic Museum) is a celebration of sauna culture in those northern countries. Attendees will have the chance to sweat in saunas, do cold plunges, and listen to live music while enjoying Nordic-inspired food and drinks. Each general admission ticket gets you a 90-minute session and admission to the museum. 

While my favorite Ballard-based psych-rock festival — Freakout — is no more, the music powers that be have given Seattleites a new one this year. Baba Obscura Music Festival (Nov. 5-8) will be spread across four venues downtown (Baba Yaga, Showbox Market, AXIS and Central Saloon), all within walking distance of each other. Bands like The Gories, Downtown Boys, Mdou Moctar, Dark Chisme and Carrion Kids will be throttling their guitars onstage. Prepare for lots of headbanging.

The New Works Play Festival (Nov. 5-22 at the MLK FAME Center in Madison Valley) is produced by The Shattered Glass Project, an organization devoted to “amplifying unheard voices” in theater. The three-week fest features readings of four new plays by emerging women, non-binary and trans playwrights, with themes from the afterlife to friendship. I’m particularly intrigued by Lisa A. Price’s Anatomy of Flight, an eco-thriller involving new types of toxic mushrooms. 

I did not understand the power of cats until my roommate got one last year. Now, my feed is stuffed with videos of cats doing all sorts of things. For the feline-inclined, Sea-Meow Cat Convention (Nov. 7-8 at Seattle Center’s Exhibition Hall) will feature an appearance from noted cat whisperer Jackson Galaxy, workshops for painting cats with sumi-e ink, and Sassy Cat Bingo. Ready your “here kitty kitty kitty” — those who believe themselves to be excellent cat callers can participate in a literal cat calling contest as well. You can even bring your own cat, if you’d like.

Short Run Comix Festival (Nov. 7, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at Seattle Design Center) is one of my favorite yearly events in Seattle. The alternative comix and small press festival will feature over 200 local, national and international artists vending their lovingly homemade paper-printed wares. It’s the perfect place to pick up a holiday gift or something cool to hang on your wall. The programming this year is stellar too — the Center for Cartoon Studies will be onsite to present What We Stand For and Against, its new educational comic about fascism and World War II. Come caffeinated!