First Friday beckons, with both monumental and intimate works

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Step out and about on the evening of Friday, March 4, to visit local art venues, shops, eateries and beverage spots — many places in town will be open that evening from 6 to 9 p.m.

The night will boast music, too: Eva Cain will deliver a cozy concert from 6 to 8 p.m., at Vashon Brewing Community Pub, while indie folk-rocker Laura Veirs takes the stage at Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA) at 7:30 p.m. To find out more about what’s going on in town, visit vashonevents.org.

Here’s what you’ll see at VALISE Gallery, and Vashon Center for the Arts.

VALISE: ‘Water Works’

In March, VALISE Gallery members have created photo collages, drawings, constructions and paintings around the theme of “Water Works.”

The artists include Gregory Burnham, Dot Cherch, Bill Jarcho, Jessie Johnson, Pascale Judet, Corrine Lightweaver, Rachel LordKenaga, Robert Passig, Jiji Saunders, Sharon Shaver, Hita von Mende and George Wright.

A press release for the show described various works in the show in terms of their possible effects on those who see the show.

“Rachel LordKenaga’s oil painting, ‘Break,’ may entice viewers to leap into the Sound,” the release said. “While Pascale Judet’s photo collage, ‘Endless Possibilities,’ will encourage people to consider other bodies of water. For deep-sea divers, there’s Bill Jarcho’s three-dimensional shadow box, ‘The Grimey Deep.’ George Wright’s photograph of a dock bisecting cool blue water looks just right for foot splashers. And for dogs, there’s Sharon Shaver’s painting, ‘A Day In the Country,’ which features three dogs playing in a lake. And then there’s the absence of water in Robert Passig’s Buddhist-inspired empty rowboat drawing, ‘Afloat in Dukkha.’”

VALISE is open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. An opening reception for “Water Works” will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, March 4 — the show can also be previewed earlier in the day. The show will be on view through Saturday, March 27, at the gallery, located at 17633 Vashon Hwy. SW.

VCA Gallery: Women’s History Month exhibitions

Two large-scale exhibitions, “Call to Arms” by Mary Coss, and “The Pulse of the Salish Sea,” by June Sekiguchi, will have an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 4.

According to Lynann Politte, gallery director, Coss, in “Call to Arms,” throws down the gauntlet to the patriarchy and questions gendered power dynamics through a twist of materials and imagery.”

Coss is an interdisciplinary artist known for installations that explore the human condition. She has received numerous public art commissions and has exhibited her work nationally and in Northwest galleries, museums and sculpture parks that include the Museum of Northwest Art, Bainbridge and San Juan Museum of Art, The Wing Sculpture Park and Webster’s Woods Sculpture Park.

Her exhibition at VCA includes modern and historical references, revealed through her depiction of the female body using materials including cast bronze. The work in the show is large-scale and includes a 10-foot-tall pelvic bone, wrapped in wedding gowns — intended to stun viewers as well as lure them in to take a closer look.

“The Pulse of the Salish Sea,” a 40-foot art installation by June Sekiguchi, also captures a spectacular dynamism: the flowing rhythms and hypnotic attraction of Pacific Northwest waters, said Politte.

Sekiguchi, who was born and raised in land-locked Arkansas, now lives in Tacoma, where she frequents areas including the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and Point Defiance — places she finds to be overflowing with natural beauty and inspiration.

“I have always gravitated to all kinds of water forms,” said Sekiguchi. “The most accessible to me, growing up, were rivers and lakes, so [to first experience] the vastness of the ocean was of course immensely thrilling … water has always meant possibilities and freedom to me.”

Sekiguchi’s VCA exhibition is the latest iteration of her installation, “The Pulse of the Salish Sea,” which was first shown at Tacoma Ocean Fest and at the Foss Waterway Seaport, in the summer of 2021.

Regular gallery hours are 12 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The work of Mary Coss is also available for viewing and purchase online, at gallery.VashonCenterfortheArts.org.

In an appearance augmenting her exhibition, Mary Coss will be joined by her daughter, Roxy, for “A Cross-Generational Talk on the Creative Process,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at VCA.

Find out more at vashoncenterforthearts.org.