Image of the Day

Strath Blue Ribbon – a totally amazing birthday present by Joey Veltkamp! I feel truly honored to be surrounded by so many great and talented people.

IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN

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This Wednesday night, The Living Room (a bar and now gallery in the space formerly occupied by the Anne Bonny) presents its inaugural exhibition, curated by Amanda Manitach and Monika Proffitt.

Inspired by Twin Peaks, Montana-born Seattle-based artist Joey Veltkamp constructed 30 paper maché owls (and one gigantic dear trophy) for the show, and invited friends Jeffry Mitchell, Matthew Offenbacher, and Gretchen Bennett to contribute their own guest owls. The northwest has a complicated relationship with these secretive little birds, to say the very least, so it's a natural motif for exploration, and I'm looking forward to seeing these ones en masse by some of my favorite local art superstars.

IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN opens this Wednesday, July 14th, with a party from 6–9 PM, and will remain up through August 31 at The Living Room (Olive between Bellevue and Melrose).

See more of Joey Veltkamp's work at his blog and website.

Image of the Day

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Joey Veltkamp's excellent multimedia contribution to the group show Parallel Universe (which also features work by Gretchen Bennett, Leo Saul Berk, Dawn Cerny, Claire Cowie, Harrell Fletcher, Jeffry Mitchell, and many others), on display through April 2nd at Grey Gallery. [Click the photo for a better view.]

My Favorite Things

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Jasper Johns, Target, 1974

If you find yourself in or near downtown Seattle this evening and are looking for some culture and what promises to be a fascinating and enlightening half-hour of conversation, be sure to drop by the Seattle Art Museum for Joey Veltkamp's public tour of the museum's current special exhibit, Target Practice (organized by SAM curator Michael Darling and focused on artists who challenged the conventions and traditions of of 20th century painting in myriad ways). From SAM's daypage:

This week SAM offers a tour of Target Practice: Painting Under Attack 1949-78 with painter, curator and writer Joey Veltkamp. Since 2007, Veltkamp's blog Best Of has been essential reading for the Seattle visual art community. His paintings and drawings have been seen in numerous exhibitions around Seattle. Veltkamp's [new] project [is] transforming a group of beloved cupcake stores into a showcase for emerging and established community-minded artists.

The tour is free with museum admission (which is pay-what-you-can), and will meet at the entrance to the exhibition on the Fourth Floor at 6:30. SAM is open until 9 p.m. tonight, and there's lots of other great stuff to see while you're there. More info on Target Practice here (and more on cupcakes and art here).