October 22nd Coalition supporters:

The 14th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality will take place on Thursday, October 22, 2009 in roughly two dozen cities  across the country. Seattle’s contribution to this day will include a rally starting at 5:30pm and a march starting at approximately 6:15pm from Occidental Park (between S Washington St & S Main St and between 1st Ave S & 2nd Ave S) in Seattle’s Pioneer Square district. We ask all of our supporters to attend this event to help raise a resounding “NO” to police violence and killings.

Whether you are able to attend this event or not, we also ask you to
endorse our Call for the National Day of Protest on October 22, 2009;
you may do this via one of two links:

http://www.october22.org/files/documents/call2009.pdf
http://www.october22.org/Call2007.html (for now, has 2009 endorsement form)

We also ask you to attend one of our upcoming organizing meetings, at which you can receive flyers advertising the event to pass out or post. The next two meetings will be held at Revolution Books, 89 S Washington St. in the Pioneer Square district, on Tuesday October 6 at 3:00pm and on Saturday October 10 at 4:00pm. You can also help by spreading the word to other email lists.

As a reminder of what we accomplished last year, here is a link to our annual “WEAR BLACK!” newsletter giving an overview of our National Day of Protest on October 22, 2008:

http://www.october22.org/files/documents/newsletter08.pdf

On October 22nd, wear black! Join our protest and fight back!

Seattle Affiliate
October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality
206-264-5527/1-888-NOBRUTALITY
oct22seattle@hotmail.com
http://www.October22.org

From June through October, Seattle’s Occidental Park has been the setting for ephemeral art works curated by artist Susie Lee and landscape architect Elizabeth Umbanhowar. Lee and Umbanhowar invited four teams of artists (one artist team for each month) to create site-specific work related to the writing of Haruki Murakami. October’s upcoming installment is by Gina Coffman, Seth Damm, and Kristin Ougendal.

A time-based narrative in four acts, the performances will feature coyotes in the form of the three artists wearing coyote mask/heads they created. The heads are stunning yet somber; evidently hand-made, yet transcendent. The coyotes are teenagers.

From the press release:

“In the spirit of a Haruki Murakami story these urban agents of transformation, trickery and transcendence will, in 4 acts, explore the fitness of Occidental Park, make preparations for a den and establish a liminal and wayward home.”

Wayward Home

Act One

In and Through

Friday, October 2nd, 4pm-dusk

Coyotes pass through the park taking stock, surveying and discovering a territory fit to inhabit.

Act Two

Egg and Wall

Tuesday, October 13th, 11:30am-1pm

The coyotes return to tidy-up the park accompanied by a restless house.

Act Three

Well House and Surrender House

Saturday, October 24^th, 8-10pm

The coyotes find refuge and begin to build a den. Joined by the house they engage in the ritual of settling down, exploring internal environs and inviting you to do the same.

Act Four

Foundation and Transcendence

Saturday, October 31^st, 6-9pm

In a final act the coyotes transcend their subterranean home. Restless again they parade out, away and into the night.

Also through the month of October will be a show of photographs by Seth Damm and Kristin Ougendal at All City Coffee in Pioneer Square. The photographs (taken by Damm) document the cross-country trek of the androgynous coyote (Ougendal) through awkward forest surrenders and graceful desert dislocation.

Opening reception October 1st 5-7 pm

All City Coffee

125 Prefontaine Pl S

Seattle

This summer, Occidental Park, as part of the new Artsparks programming, will feature events and site-specific performances inspired by the works of Haruki Murakami.  Occidental Park, with its combination of old architecture, mature trees, new and old businesses, alleyways, and varieties of people, was a perfect site to explore his themes of the magical and the mundane, outsider and insider, the spontaneous and the routine, the ephemeral and absurd.  These meditations on Murakami will be presented from June through October in a series of events by these five artists and arts organizations:  Doug Jeck, dk pan / nko rey, 826 Seattle, Steve and Katie Messick with Orchestra Seattle, and Gina Coffman with Seth Damm and Kristin Ougendal.

Occidental Park is in the heart of the historic Pioneer Square district. This busy square overflows with business people, pigeons, tourists, shoppers, and wanderers, most of whom coexist surprisingly well. Maple trees, benches, and a modern pergola, provide shade and shelter besides fashionable shops and eateries. Back in the 1850s, when logs began streaming down Skid Road to Henry Yesler’s sawmill, this area was part of the heart of a young and rowdy Seattle. It was also the birthplace of the Salvation Army in 1887, and later the site of the Savoy Hotel, which was torn down and replaced with a parking lot in 1965. The present park was build over this half-acre of asphalt in 1971, during the general renovation of the Pioneer Square area.
(Excerpt from Enjoying Seattle’s Parks by Brandt Morgan)

Three downtown parks will come alive with art of all kinds this summer. ArtsParks, a program sponsored by the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Seattle Parks and Recreation, 4Culture and the Metropolitan Improvement District, will feature free art events in Victor Steinbrueck Park, Occidental Park and Westlake Park June through October.

Experience art in process and interact with the artists at Westlake Park in a series programmed by conceptual and installation artist Ingrid Lahti and visual and sound artist Carrie Bodle.

At Victor Steinbrueck Park, puppeteer Rob D’Arc will curate puppetry, improv and busker-like entertainment. At Occidental Park, visual artist Susie J. Lee and landscape architect Elizabeth A. Umbanhowar will weave themes from Japanese writer Haruki Murakami’s work into interactive performances, readings, music and visual works.

For Westlake Park event dates and details, visit the Westlake ArtsParks Event page or Facebook page.

Three downtown parks will come alive with art of all kinds of art this summer. ArtsParks, a program sponsored by the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Seattle Parks and Recreation, 4Culture and the Metropolitan Improvement District, will feature free art events in Victor Steinbrueck Park, Occidental Park and Westlake Park June through October.

Experience art in process and interact with the artists at Westlake Park in a series programmed by conceptual and installation artist Ingrid Lahti and visual and sound artist Carrie Bodle. At Victor Steinbrueck Park, puppeteer Rob D’Arc will curate puppetry, improv and busker-like entertainment

At Occidental Park, visual artist Susie J. Lee and landscape architect Elizabeth A. Umbanhowar will weave themes from Japanese writer Haruki Murakami’s work into interactive performances, readings, music and visual works. Visit the blog for more information.

For event dates and details, visit the ArtsParks Facebook page.

Original post: http://www.seattle.gov/arts/enews/june09.html

This June is a bit colder, wetter, and more drear than any I have experienced in the emerald city. No matter, except for trying to sell paintings and prints in Pioneer Square! Dang, I was looking forward to a sunny day in Occidental Park visiting with potential buyers.

I am thinking now that perhaps I can take a few large Gasworks paintings down to that great park and set them out on easels on the day of the parade. I stopped in to the Solstice workshop and took pictures of stuff…including this shot of a pink haired gal who was working hard on a computer, presumably getting ducks in a row for this years festivities. She identified herself as “Q’ as om Qathy (her parents were either spelling challenged or a bit of hippy in the mix) . At any rate, she let me poke around and take some pics so you dear readers could see into the inner workings of the famed parade that is coming up in a few weeks now!

Since today is not a good day to see my paintings in the park, there is always the US Banks at Northgate, 3rd and Battery in Belltown, downtown Magnolia, Roosavelt at 63rd, and the Aurora Branch by the Central market up in Shoreline. And….if you cant get out and run around today, just go to my website at www.art13.com and check out big selection of my paintings. Of course there are many many more and all for sale! Prints too……………….

This month, I have an article in Landscape Architecture Magazine with Elizabeth Umbanhowar about the recent renovation of Occidental Park in Seattle. It’s a pretty interesting story and draws out, in specifics, some themes that have been rattling through the profession about public versus private space, the commoditization of parks, and the general undervaluing of landscape as art/cultural expression. (All of which are the reasons that I’m involved in The Cultural Landscape Foundation and helped write the landmark nomination for this).

If you have a chance, drop me a line and let me know what you think.