Lisa Myers Bulmash 7/31/15 Lisa Myers Bulmash 7/31/15

Seattle Art Fair and/or Out of Sight

If you're up for a stunning array of artworks, all within three or four blocks, head to Pioneer Square and CenturyLink Field. You'll need the weekend to absorb Out of Sight and the Seattle Art Fair.

Seattle mayor Ed Murray tries out Micah Ganske's VR piece at the 101/Exhibit booth, Seattle Art Fair. — *Seattle mayor Ed Murray tries out Micah Ganske's VR piece at the 101/Exhibit booth, Seattle Art Fair.*

If you've never been to a high-end art gallery, the kind where the art is priced higher than a Honda Civic, the Seattle Art Fair is quite the sight. Most galleries at the Fair are the big dogs of the fine art world: New York's Gagosian Gallery (which has other locations too), for example, as well as galleries from London, Tokyo and Seoul. Some words that come to mind about the Fair:

Glossy.

BIIIIIIG.

*"Eternity-Aphrodite of Knidos, Tang Dynasty Sitting Buddha," Xu Zhen (James Cohan Gallery)*

Sometimes perplexing.

*Seattle Art Fair-goers puzzle over "Eulogy" by Patricia Piccinini (Jenkins Johnson Gallery).*

Funny thing is, some of the art at Out of Sight -- a satellite exhibit of Seattle-area artists -- also inspire the same descriptions: Sometimes perplexing...

*"To our scattered bodies go," Casey Curran (Roq La Rue Gallery)*

BIIIIIIG.

Glossy. Yeah, Seattle can do glossy.

*"Black Bear," Justin Beckman (Roq La Rue Gallery)*

I noticed some of the work here is edgier. You won't see anything like C. Davida Ingram's "Object Lesson -- Where Can My Black Ass Be Safe" or the anti-Damien Hirst piece (didn't see a wall card for information).

I'm enjoying both, but of course I'm rooting for the home team. Speaking of which, it doesn't get any more home team than Art of the City.

This is your friendly reminder that two of my works will be in the Tashiro Kaplan Building -- for one day only! So I'm counting myself part of the Seattle + art + fair experience. If you see no other art this weekend, take the bus down to Pioneer Square and see mine!

Lisa Myers Bulmash 7/24/15 Lisa Myers Bulmash 7/24/15

It's all happening at once: art in August

Seattle festival season always ramps up in August, but I bet the first weekend of that month is gonna set some kind of record. Everything is trying to happen all at once!

I'm blocking out July 30th through August 2nd to visit the first Seattle Art Fair. Tons of art gallery representatives and other glitterati are flying in from New York, Tokyo, Seoul... the list goes on. They're showing their best and brightest artists, looking for new collectors and generally networking like there's no tomorrow. The fair will be at the football stadium, but there are also several satellite fair events sprinkled around the area.

Riding that wave of events is Art of the City, the one-day art and music festival in Pioneer Square. You'll find me at the epicenter, in the Tashiro Kaplan Building, for the final iteration of the Black Lives Matter exhibit.

You only have to walk a few short (really, they're pretty short) blocks between Art of the City and the Seattle Art Fair. (The star in the map is Art of the City; the light blue square is the Fair.)

Oh, but there's more! As I was mentioning Art of the City to a friend the other day, she interrupted with an excruciatingly good point:

"Isn't that also SeaFair weekend?"

Oh, that thing that draws thousands of hydroplane fans to the south end of Seattle? The one led by a pirate crew?

Yes, it is. But the thing is, going to Art of the City is still doable. Here are some suggestions:

Come to Art of the City right off the bat -- party starts at 11am and goes until 11pm
Plot out a bus route using the Sound Transit Trip Planner
Carpool like your sanity depends on it (it probably does)
Prioritize what you want to see at the Seattle Art Fair: preview it to find your kind of art.

Oh yeah, and wear your walking shoes. Not the cute ones that pinch after an hour. The real walking shoes. (This is Seattle: funny-looking shoes are normal here.) See you soon!

Lisa Myers Bulmash 6/26/15 Lisa Myers Bulmash 6/26/15

New series: "Your Crown Has Been Bought & Paid For"

At one of my last exhibits, someone asked me what I was going to make next.

*"Bought & Paid For" altered book series/ Lisa Myers Bulmash. Photo credit: Clear Image.*

I responded I was considering creating work inspired by the following quote.

I've been thinking about the people who've suffered and even died so I could be where I am. I've had a fairly privileged life: loving family of origin, college graduate, married with children. And I'm profoundly grateful, but what sacrifices have been made for me. I could be paralyzed with guilt... or I could get on with making something of what I've been given.

I focused on coronas (which can mean "royal headgear" or "the light around the sun") and paired them with fragments of fake money. Then I layered transparencies of my brother as a child over painted-over images of shelter, fitting each pair into hand-torn book niches.

This first piece is "Reconstruction." Yes, that's a slave auction house in the background. But notice the person leaning against the building is a black man with a rifle -- probably not an enslaved person. I assume the original (Library of Congress) photo was shot sometime after the Civil War, during the Reconstruction Era.

The second piece, "2100 Miles Away", was inspired by a long-ago comment my grandmother made. She was happy to have her daughters both living on the East Coast, "a perfect distance to travel" in her opinion. But then we had to go and move to the West Coast... a distance which made my mother happier than my grandmother.

The final piece points both to the past and the present. Compared to most of my relatives, I live in "land's end": the furthest northwest you can get and still live in a metro area of the contiguous United States. I don't know how much time I have left to see my older cousins again. It brings to mind superstitions about birds on the roof.

I designed these pieces to work as a triptych, so I'm hoping all three will be accepted to an upcoming exhibit. I better get on that submission process...