Arts Briefs | January 23 edition

Published 11:30 am Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Whim W’Him

The award-winning Seattle-based contemporary dance company Whim W’Him will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, at Vashon Center for the Arts.

The dance concert, “Winter ‘25,” will feature works by choreographer Cameron Fraser-Monroe, a member of the Tla’amin First Nation; director and artist Robyn Mineko Williams; and a can’t-miss world premiere from Whim W’Him’s artistic director, Olivier Wevers.

Find out more and get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org. The show is free for ages 18 and younger.

Gangstagrass

Gangstagrass, an award-winning multiracial collective of musicians who play a high-octane mix of bluegrass and hip-hop, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, at Vashon Center for the Arts. The group is known for creating a shared cultural space for dialogue and connection between groups of music lovers who seldom intersect.

Find out more and sample the ensemble’s music at gangstagrass.com, and get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org.

Art Talk

A gallery talk with avian expert Adria Magrath will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, at Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA), with a walk-through of VCA’s current group exhibition, “Birds Take Flight.”

During her talk, Magrath will highlight a selection of birds depicted in the artworks — ranging from majestic herons to playful songbirds — sharing insights into their distinctive behaviors, habitats and environmental roles. The exhibit includes paintings, drawings, photography, fiber arts, quilting, felting, embroidery, watercolors, glasswork, mixed media and more, with avian subjects ranging from majestic herons to playful songbirds.

Magrath is an island biologist and naturalist. After a career in research and tenure as a biology professor, she now works in the Vashon community as a citizen scientist, steward of VCA’s Heron Meadow, gardener, habitat restoration specialist and occasional environmental educator. Among her other roles, she serves on the board of the Vashon Bird Alliance and works for the Vashon Nature Center and VCA.

The event is free and open to the public.

Book release party

A free book release party for “Lucid,” a new novel by island author Cindy Hoyt, will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, at Snapdragon. Hoyt’s novel tells the story of Callie Naylor, a resident of Vashon, who begins inducing and directing her lucid dreams, with alarming results.

Hoyt said the book is about “the thrills, adventures, joy and terrors our brains bring into the world at night, and how a little attention can transform an ephemeral curiosity into a reason to live.” Find the book at Vashon Bookshop or on Amazon, and learn more about it at cindyhoyt.com.

The Maury Island Incident

A screening of “The Maury Island Incident,” a 2014 film detailing the island’s place in the pantheon of mysterious UFO sightings, will have a screening at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, at Vashon Theatre. Filmmakers Steve Edmiston and Scott Schaefer will be in attendance.

This event is a fundraiser for the Vashon Heritage Museum, made possible with support from the Vashon Theatre and Island GreenTech.

The film tells the story of a Tacoma mariner, Harold Dahl, who reported seeing multiple UFOs flying in the waters off of Vashon and Maury Island on June 21, 1947. It also explores the origins of the “Men In Black” conspiracy theories surrounding the case. Over the years, the short film has shown in many festivals, winning prizes along the way.

Tickets are $15 for general admission or $10 for students, seniors and Heritage Museum members. Find out more and get advance tickets at vashonheritagemuseum.org/events.

Dance Party

A social dance party with instructor Sarah Howard will take place from 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, at Snapdragon. The party will feature salsa, foxtrot, swing, waltz and tango music, with mini-lessons throughout the evening. The bar will be open for food and drink, and solo dancers are welcome. There is a $10 suggested donation and a one-drink minimum.

Donna Caulton

Northwest Watercolor Society’s (NWWS) Signature Exhibition, running Jan. 23 through July 15 at the Seattle Convention Center, includes a work by island artist Donna Caulton.

Caulton’s painting, “Gone From the Highlands,” is included among the 63 Signature and Gold Medal Fellowship members’ 85 pieces to be on display in the Phyllis Lamphere Gallery, on Level 2 of the Arch Building located at 705 Pike Street, in Seattle. The show is also online at nwws.org.

Caulton’s painting is from a group of her acrylics that honors animals that were alive during the migrations of her mitochondrial DNA ancestors many thousand years ago.

There will be a reception for the artists, with light refreshments, from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, in the south end of Level 2 of the Convention Center’s Arch Building. Special recognition will be awarded to 14 artists. Information on parking is available at seattleconventioncenter.com/parking-garage-information.

Mushroom talk

Mycologist Danny Miller will give a talk, “The Secret History of Mushrooms,” at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, at Vashon Center for the Arts.

Miller chairs education programs for the Puget Sound Mycological Society, helping to design and teach the curriculum for the club’s classes. He is also the club’s librarian, and Identification Committee co-coordinator, as well as the emergency poisoning point person for King County Washington Poison Control.

Miller also belongs to the PNW Key Council, a group of amateur and professional mycologists, and is a co-creator of mycomatch.com, a free Pacific Northwest mushroom identification program. He has an avid interest in taxonomy and figuring out where all of the mushrooms fit into the fungal tree of life, and is currently trying to collect the DNA of every Pacific Northwest species to determine which still need names.

His talk is presented in collaboration with Vashon Nature Center. Get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org. The talk is free for ages 18 and younger.

Pete Droge tickets

Islander and alt-rock music icon Pete Droge, joined by his longtime partner in life and music, Elaine Summers, will play a show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at Vashon Center for the Arts. The show is all but certain to sell out. Get tickets starting on Friday, Jan. 24, at vashoncenterforthearts.org.