Don’t miss all the visual treats in store on the August First Friday Art Walk. Most galleries and art spots are open from 6 to p.m. Friday, Aug. 3. Live music will also be on tap with two special shows featuring beloved island players.
The Hardware Store Restaurant
Work by esteemed local artist Ted Kutscher will be shown in the gallery during the month of August, with an opening reception planned for Friday, Aug. 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. Kutscher, who has lived on Vashon for more than 31 years, describes his work as being inspired and informed “by the great tradition of drawing from Albrecht Durer onward, the impressionist painters, the Nabis such as Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard, the wellspring American illustrator-painters Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and NC Wyeth, and painters of the California School Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebault who pushed the interplay of color, realism and abstraction.” In his day job, Kutscher is an estate planning and tax lawyer and financial planner in Seattle, but he is long been active in both making art and supporting it. He is a trustee at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle (2009-2018) and a member of the finance committee of 4Culture, King County’s development authority responsible for funding many arts program.
This is his first major show at The Hardware Store Restaurant.
Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union
Ceramics by Chris Beck and journal prints and sketches by Darsie Beck will be on display. Live music by Loren Sinner will also be on tap.
Daryl Redeker and guests play at Vashon Bookshop
Island guitar master and teacher Daryl Redeker will play music from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Vashon Bookshop, bringing along up-and-coming young musicians who Redeker also describes as being skilled and seasoned performers. These include guitarist Emmet Sherman and Petrichor, a duo made up of Iris Sackman and Dimitris Brown. Both acts have played widely on island youth stages and other venues.
Ron Hook, John Browne and Bob Krinsky light up the night at VCA
Three powerhouses of the island music scene, Ron Hook, John Browne and Bob Krinsky, will play music in the round from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the Kay White Hall at Vashon Center for the Arts. Hook has been the frontman of the legendary island band Subconscious Population for more than 30 years. Bluesman Browne, performing as a singer, guitarist and harmonica player, has made an indelible mark on the island music scene. Krinsky has a lifetime passion for songwriting under his belt and has performed in coffeehouses, clubs and festival stages across the United States. Don’t miss the rare chance to see these venerable musicians perform on the same stage.
Cafe Luna
Local artist Peter Ray will exhibit his work in a show called “In Another Land.”
Hastings-Cone Gallery at Snapdragon
Shelley Hanna will show an exhibition of photography capturing small towns in Washington — places she described as “fading towns, places being swarmed with commuters, reinvented towns and towns you might spend a lifetime in without ever leaving.”
Judd Creek Ranch Gallery
A grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the gallery, located at 22237 103rd Ave. SW, will take place at 6 p.m., with Vashon’s new unofficial mayor, Goliath, in attendance. In conjunction with gallery owner Connie Conroy’s installation, “Translucent Tea House,” showing at Vashon Center for the Arts during August, Judd Creek Ranch Gallery launches with a celebration of the art of the Japanese Tea Ceremony — the implements used and the meaning that surrounds this ancient ritual. Implements both on display and for sale include handcrafted bowls, vases, bamboo scoops and whisks, tea containers and other implements from a variety of artists. The gallery will also be open Saturdays and Sundays, Aug. 4 to Sept. 16. “Chadogu: Implements of the Japanese Tea Ceremony” demonstrations will be held every Sunday at 3 p.m. For more information, visit juddcreekranch.com.
Margaret in the Hallway
Paintings by Margaret Heffelfinger will include circus cats, a few walruses and a big orange horse.
Vashon Senior Center
Abstract and conceptual work by John Cook, made over the course of 25 years, will include a variety of media, such as oil pastels, tea, concrete, glue and dye. The center is on Bank Road and 100th Ave. The show will run during the month of August. Cook said he “finds inspiration in everyday experiences.”
Relish
Nadine Edelstein will show her tile art at this new shop and events space next door to The Hardware Store Restaurant.
VALISE Gallery
“Dancing With Dogs,” a show celebrating the joy of dog-human relationships, includes colorful acrylic paintings by Sharon Shaver and encaustic paintings, mixed media work and animal chairs by George Wright.
Vashon Center for the Arts/Vashon Summer Arts Fest
Two new exhibits will open and run through Aug. 19: Connie Conroy’s “Transparent Tea House” — a full-sized transparent Japanese tea house created with photographic transparencies of images of a traditional tea house and tea utensils; and “Vashon Makerspace,” curated by Neil Wiesblott — a large, multidisciplinary installation including an 8-foot wood chair, a 1,200-pound cement chair, alternative photographic processes, handmade sculptural jewelry and lathe-turned wooden vases and bowls.
These shows will join exhibits already on view at the Arts Fest, including shows by eight individual artists and two group shows (“The Red Shoe Group Show” and Collage Group “Cut and Paste”) continuing until Aug. 12. For more information about the Arts Fest, visit vashoncenterforthearts.org.
