On Sight: A Cultural Plan for Tacoma

On Sight, A Cultural Plan for Tacoma, was a large magazine format  with a color glossy cover.

In 1992, I was asked by graphic designer Julia Field to create illustrations for the Cultural Plan for Tacoma.  This was a unique project in that Julia and I attended planning meetings for the plan and over the course of several months the illustrations and look for the document were developed along with the writing.  It was an excellent process, and the resulting publication was quite impressive.

This piece was done for the section on individual artists.

This is an illustration for the Arts and Cultural Section.

An illustration of a cultural map for the section on Neighborhood and Cultural Identity

Flying tickets for the Marketing and Cultural Tourism section

"Artistic risks can be taken with the support of a financial safety net,"  from the section on Cultural Organizations.

From the section on Neighborhood and Cultural Identity.

From the section Arts and Cultural Education.

A "live/work space" for the section on Individual Artists.

Illustrations for Guitar World

Eric Clapton in 1992

As graphic designers who had worked in the creative freedom of The Rocket moved on in the quest for greener pastures in publishing, they often brought along their illustrator contacts.  Jesse Reyes took over at Guitar World and featured a number of Seattle illustrators including myself.  Here are a few of the pieces that I did.

Eric Clapton in 1994

Robert Cray

Thrash metal

Yard Art

Little Freeway

The day that I was scheduled to be on an artist designed garden tour, I was unexpectedly detained on the Strange Bedfellows float in the pride parade, but my little garden was on the tour.  Thankfully, Rose, my downstairs neighbor, was also on the tour.   My home studio was next to the long term I-90/Rainier Avenue South overpass construction site and there was a concrete pumping company at the end of the block, so I created a miniature freeway traffic jam.  Sculptures from the Eden II installation and my collection of river rock embellished my little parking strip garden.

Re-Bar

"Vanity" leaves the studio at dawn after the usual all-nighter.

During the 90s my work occasionally appeared in Re-Bar, or on a Re-Bar float in Seattle's Gay Pride Parade.  Sometimes it was the remains of a previous installation, as with the exotic fruits from "A Fool's Paradise," or my Wind Puppets.  Other times I collaborated with Steve Wells and crew to produce parade floats.  I later created a stage set for "Pirates of Lesbos," one of the many theatrical productions that Re-Bar hosted.  I also worked on some of the numerous benefits that were put on there, including one for Babes and one for Reflex entitled "Mirror Mirror Off the Wall."

Ready for the parade.

Strange Bedfellows are ready for the ride.

Strange Bedfellows was a Wells brothers production in 1995.  After another all-nighter, Steve talked me into joining the bedfellows.  He had to race me home to grab my outfit and big wig.  Yes that's me in the blue.  It was great fun, and I even made the evening news!

After the parade, Strange Bedfellows moved to Fremont to be part of "A miracle on 34th Street, a celebration of life through miniature golf."  The event was a fund raiser for the Northwest AIDS Foundation and Rise n' Shine programs for children and teens affected by HIV and AIDS.

Strange Bedfellows set up on 34th Street.

As I recall, you had to hit the ball through the slipper.

From Media to Metaphor: ART ABOUT AIDS

Graphic from the poster/program/mailer designed by Art Chantry

In 1992, I curated the Seattle portion of COCA's "Media to Metaphor: ART ABOUT AIDS," the traveling exhibit originally organized by Robert Atkins and Thomas W. Sokolowski for Independent Curators, Inc. in New York City.  This was an extensive broad ranging production including the gallery exhibit, 16 window installations, a video program,  projections on SAM, a panel discussion, a cabaret benefit and a DJ dance party.  I worked with two graphic designers to pull this all together into the poster/program/mailer:  Art Chantry did the main graphic (above), and Julia Field designed the program piece and helped me to organize my thoughts and the benefit for Babes.  

Artists in the gallery exhibition:

Curated by Independent Curators, Inc.:  (Art)ⁿ, Ross Bleckner, Kathe Burkhart, Nancy Burson, Steven Evens, General Idea, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Gran Fury, Kieth Haring, Adrian Kellard, Peter Kunz-Opfersei, Rudy Lemcke, Robert Mapplethorpe, Paul Marcus, Duane Michaels, Donald Moffett, Frank Moore, Ellen B. Neipris, Diane Neumaier, Nicholas and Bebe Nixon, Gypsy Ray, Rod Rhodes, Jane Rosett, John Sapp, Dui Seid, Jo Shane, Rosalind Solomon, Masami Teraoka, Max (Torque) =, Doug [(Bruno) Hammett], Kathy Vargas, Brian Weil, David Wojnarowicz, Thomas Woodruff.

Curated by Carl Smool:  Juan Alonso, Fred Birchman, Tom Cantwell, Cheryl Comstock, Marita Dingus, Michael Ehle, Kevin Harvey, David Hartz, Sylvain Klause, Mary Molyneaux, Nancy Morrow, Barbara Quah, Grego Rachko, Kathy Ross, Harriet Sanderson, Wicktor Sandowicz, Tom Schworer, T. Ellen Sollod, Tom Thein and David Wickland, Peter Toliver, Mike Walsch, Alice Wheeler.

I wanted to expand the exhibition beyond the gallery, and so chose 16 artists to create window installations in neighborhoods including Downtown, the International District, the Rainier Valley, the Central District, Capitol Hill, the University District and in Kirkland.

  

Artists in the Window Project:

John Chapman, Jessica Klein, Alan Lande, Robert Yoder, Timothy Siciliano, Terry Amidei, Ted Link, Don Howe, Jill Beppu/Dan Neish, Jack Shields/Scott Fogdall (Heart to Art), Ron Travelletti, Skip Wright, Frank Video, Wicktor Sandowicz  

Program statements from COCA and myself.