Help me make "Magic"
When I learn to control the universe with magic, Things Are Going to Change Around Here. But until then, I’m concentrating on making magic to support contemporary art.
“CoCA Magic” happens the week after next: it’s a fundraiser for the Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) Seattle. Here’s how it goes:
Thursday: we start the art-making marathon. Each artist has 24 hours to complete three or more pieces.
Friday morning: we go home to recover.
Saturday night: we help CoCA auction off the pieces we’ve made.
Artists raise auction paddles at 2018 CoCA Art Auction. Photo credit: Lonnie Mckenzie/CoCA
I love interpreting a theme! I could go a few ways with this:
Black Girl Magic (thanks to CaShawn Thompson)…
Perhaps a riff on the 1940’s-era “Magic Skin” doll (the body’s latex skin is known to darken with age)…
Or maybe my spin on the Magical Negro trope.
But I haven’t settled on which interpretation to take. One? All three? Something totally different? Let me know what you think here.
Wa Na Wari: a Seattle version of 'Hotel California'
When I reluctantly ended my first visit to Wa Na Wari, I told one of the co-founders if I didn’t get out now, I’d never leave this home-turned-gallery space. Apparently that was plan all along: get people in the door with the art, then lull them into staying. Kinda like Hotel California, but homey instead of sinister.
Wa Na Wari co-founder Rachel Kessler and visitors
Creative reminders of home are woven throughout the house, like the hanging sculptures by Henry Jackson-Spieker. They literally mark “places that were points of gatherings or comfort” when the Greene family lived there.
Henry Jackson-Spieker glass & wood sculpture above family table
Wa Na Wari continues the revived trend of home-based art exhibit spaces. Not pop-ups — permanent galleries. No surprise that New York artists have done this in apartments — or just in one apartment room — considering New York rents. The phenomenon seems to be solidifying in Seattle and nearby communities too, as real estate gets pricier by the minute.
Still from “Remembering Her Homecoming,” a film by Natassja E. Swift
The thing I love the most about Wa Na Wari, though, is it still feels welcoming like a home — not merely a house-shaped gallery. In fact, the view into the backyard shook me for a moment: it’s strongly reminiscent of my grandparents’ home in Kentucky, which no longer exists.
Contemplating art & community with Wa Na Wari co-founder Inye Wokoma
This weekend is an especially good time to visit: environmental artist and icon Marita Dingus is teaching a doll-making class on August 11th. Plus, her own doll sculptures are on display upstairs.
Selected works by Marita Dingus
If you have so much fun you can’t bear to leave, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Show closing: Leaving the "Motherland"
This is it, folks: the last weekend you can visit the “Motherland.” Last flight out leaves Saturday.
You have two options left to you: join the artists, collectors and other art lovers at the closing reception…
Credit: CoCA Seattle
… or get your hands on a catalog of all the art exhibited.
This might be your best option if you’re committed to holiday-related events that overlap the closing reception. Bonus: The catalog cost also helps support future CoCA exhibits and events.
This is your engraved invitation — go!