Art of the West Coast Counterculture Archives

Poke in the Eye Object Spotlight: Susanna and the Elders

Nicole Block on Aug 26 2024

Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture is now on view at SAM! This homegrown exhibition features 87 ceramics, sculptures, paintings, and drawings from SAM’s collection—some of which are being shown for the first time. Throughout the run of the exhibition, we’ll be periodically sharing insight on a few of the eclectic artworks on view.

Please note: The following article includes mentions of nudity, coercion, and sexual assault.

Like many works on view in Poke in the Eye at SAM, this painting’s vibrant colors and figurative style draws the viewer in, then flips expectations upside down.

From a distance, Susanna and the Elders (Novelty Hotel) (1980) looks like a cartoon, but the artist, Robert Colsecott (1925–2009), often used this visually appealing strategy to hook viewers and make them confront the more serious issues of race and gender that are in his works.

This intriguing painting is titled after a story from the Bible that perhaps wouldn’t be so well known if not for the many Renaissance artists who painted it. Although Colescott didn’t cite one particular artwork as inspiration for his work, he was familiar with this subject from historical artists like Tintoretto, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn, and many others who depicted the story.

In this tale, found in the Book of Daniel, two men are spying upon Susanna bathing in the garden of her home. They catch each other peeping and unite to coerce Susanna into having sex with them. They threaten to blackmail her, but still she refuses. They have her arrested and publicly accuse her of adultery. These two respected men are judges and elders in their community and Susanna is sentenced to death on their word until the prophet Daniel appears and questions them. He finds major differences in their stories and declares Susanna innocent.

Although a somewhat minor anecdote in the Bible, Susanna’s story became popular partly because it allowed artists to display their talent at depicting nude women. During the Renaissance, artists often portrayed Susanna lounging naked, sometimes unaware of the men watching, or other times, seeming to seduce them. Like the elders watching the oblivious Susanna, the patrons and viewers of these paintings also act as voyeurs of Susanna and lust after her with the excuse that the artwork depicts a biblical story.

Robert Colecott interprets this tale in his own way: a naked blonde woman emerges from behind a shower curtain, much to the glee of three ogling men and one rubber ducky. At the Novelty Hotel (a real hotel that Colescott visited in Paris), a bald white man in a red robe, cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and a Black janitor holding a mop are directly next to this Susanna, physically leaning on one another as they witness this scene. Another Black man peers in through the open window, a self-portrait of Colescott himself with his signature glasses and facial hair. The rubber ducky also seems to be looking up at her eagerly from the tub. None of them are touching Susanna or harming her, but they are intruding on the privacy of her hotel room and her body.

Much like the men in this scene, the viewer is also a voyeur complicit in this visual violation. With its bright colors and cartoonish style, paired with the towering seven-foot-tall canvas on which it sits, Colescott’s painting is unmissable. Visitors passing by can’t help but stop and stare at the intrusive tableau.

Susanna’s eyes appear closed as if she’s unaware of those watching her. Alternatively, Susanna’s facial expression could be interpreted as giving the voyeurs a flirtatious smile over her shoulder, as if performing for them. With all these eyes looking at her, it seems impossible that she wouldn’t notice these men around her, but is she to blame for their actions? By calling her Susanna in the title, she is aligned with the innocent and happens to be the unfortunate subject of this male attention.

Colescott grew up in Oakland, California and attended the University of California, Berkeley where he studied painting. He studied in Paris for a year, working with Fernand Leger. Colescott’s Night and Day, You Are the One (1969), also on display in Poke in the Eye, more closely resembles Leger’s Cubist-inspired, rhythmic style. Colescott visited and lived in Paris throughout his life, but returned to Berkeley for his master’s degree before becoming an art teacher in the Pacific Northwest, at a junior high school in Seattle and Portland State College. He later held other teaching positions in Cairo, Egypt, California, and Arizona.

From the mid-1970s on, Colescott was well-known for creating artworks that spoofed and remixed art history. He was a satirist, taking the serious subjects of the art world and translating them with critique, wit, and humor into offbeat commentaries.

Often, Colescott subverts artistic precedents by changing the racial makeup of the scene, substituting Black figures for the historically White main roles. Another work on display in the galleries of Poke in the Eye, Les Demoiselles d’Alabama: Vestidas (1985) plays on Pablo Picasso’s famous Cubist painting of sex workers, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). Picasso’s original took direct influence from African masks, at the time regarded as “primitive” in the wake of ongoing colonization of that continent, but Colescott puts actual Black figures in this key moment in art history.

In Susanna and the Elders, the men overcome their racial differences to unite in their ogling of the modern Susanna. They are all complicit in this behavior and caught red-handed. However, Susanna seems to still have the upper hand—she stands tall, powerful, and unbothered.

By the 1980s, thanks to the previous decades’ feminist movement, American and European women received more recognition of their social and political rights and a degree of sexual liberation. Even with these men watching her in the hotel shower, she will not be accused of adultery and sentenced to death as the original Susanna was. These older men don’t pose a mortal threat to her in the same way that the biblical judges did. Colescott instead transforms the story into a comical episode that shifts the power in favor of the female lead.

– Nicole Block, SAM Collections Associate

Photos: Chloe Collyer. Susanna and the Elders (Novelty Hotel), 1980, Robert Colescott, American, 1925-2009, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 72 1/8 in. (213.4 x 183.2 cm), Mary Arrington Small Estate Acquisition Fund, 84.170 © Estate of Robert Colescott/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.

How SAM’s Interpretation Team Brought Poke in the Eye to Life

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 23 2024

Have you ever wondered who creates interactives at SAM? Hi! We’re Emily and Ramzy and we design interpretive experiences at all three of SAM’s locations. We work on SAM’s Interpretation team which creates educational in-gallery experiences designed to spark creativity, connect visitors to the art, and share dynamic storytelling.

We hear from visitors regularly that they are hungry for more opportunities to interact with the exhibitions on view, learn about the art in our galleries, and show off their creativity. We considered Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture to be the perfect opportunity to pull out all the stops and create a cohesive suite of interpretive offerings that further explore the exhibition’s themes. In close collaboration with Carrie Dedon, SAM Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art and the exhibition curator of Poke in the Eye, and Justin Scoltock, SAM Exhibition Designer, we developed four interpretive offerings: a ceramic touch table, a counterculture response wall, a hands-on art activity, and rotary phone audio guides.

Ceramic Touch Table

How many times have you been in an art museum and thought “I wanna touch that”? For the average art museum, encouraging visitors to touch is a rarity. Making museums multi-sensory allows visitors to show up as their whole selves, ensuring museum-going can be more memorable, educational, and welcoming to all.

Since Poke in the Eye focuses so heavily on ceramics, we wanted to ensure that people had the chance to experience all the shiny, globby, sharp, and rough textures that make the ceramic works what they are. This led us to develop the centerpiece of the interpretive gallery space: a giant blob-shaped table we affectionately call the “touch table.” The table features 25 samples covering the various stages of the ceramics process, all with completely different textures, colors, and glazes, that any visitor can walk up and touch.

To guide visitors as they touch, we wrote accessible didactic signage to accompany each type of ceramic. This presented a natural opportunity to try something new for SAM: incorporating braille labels into the galleries. We hope this is one small step of many toward SAM’s progress in making art and interactives more accessible.

So far, it has been clear that people simply love to touch stuff. Visitors respond with visible and often audible joy when they see the words “please touch” in the galleries. There’s also a huge variation in how people engage with this table. Some read every word of the educational signage, some talk out loud with a friend about the different textures they’re touching, and others don’t read any signage and just touch the ceramics. Any of the above is fine by us!

Counterculture Response Wall

We knew the interpretive space wouldn’t be complete without an opportunity for visitors to express themselves and share their ideas. Counterculture is a key throughline of the exhibition, and we wanted to give visitors a chance to understand the concept more concretely by making it personal and related to their own lives, not just as an abstract idea from the 1960s and 70s. After selecting one of four prompt cards about counterculture, visitors can respond however they’d like using colored pencils: with words, with illustration, or most popularly, a mix of both.

An unexpected but welcome outcome of this interactive is how much visitors love reading other visitors’ responses. Any time we pop into the interpretive space, we’re bound to see visitors looking at others’ responses and pointing, smiling, or remarking on the ideas, impressive illustrations, or multiple languages they see on the shelves. We’ve been blown away by the creativity that people are exhibiting in their responses to these prompts.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary Art Activity

Expressing yourself conceptually in response to a prompt is a great way to share your personal connection to the exhibition’s themes, but why stop there? We know that a dose of creativity is powerful for both learning and well-being, so we wanted to provide a more visual opportunity for visitors to create.

Many of the artists featured in Poke in the Eye use mundane, everyday objects as inspiration for forms that they included in their art. These ordinary objects are transformed into new, original, and extraordinary art by the artist. We wanted to give people a glimpse into this perspective and a chance to try out a version of this process themselves, by transforming an illustration of a trailer, a toilet, a teacup, or a rotary phone into something extraordinary.

And wow, “extraordinary” is an understatement! Our visitors have really understood the assignment. As of mid-August, visitors have transformed about 7,000 object cards. It seems that the rotary phone is one of the most popular cards that visitors choose to transform. As designers, we’re thrilled to know that visitors are engaging with both the activities in the interpretive gallery and our final interpretive offering which is sprinkled throughout the exhibition: the rotary phone audio guides.

Rotary Phone Audio Guides

While exploring Poke in the Eye at SAM, you may have noticed a few old-school rotary phones in several of the exhibition’s galleries. Pick one up and you’ll hear exclusive content about some of the artworks on view in the exhibition. These phones are part of the Interpretation team’s latest efforts to break out of the box and put a new spin on a classic museum offering: the audio guide.

To create this retro experience, we tackled two major obstacles: hacking 60 year-old rotary phones to play MP3 files, and developing engaging audio content to connect our visitors with the art. To hack the rotary phones, we called in Sasha Falsberg, SAM Systems Engineer, who took each one apart, studied the mechanics, and reassembled them with a tiny raspberry pi computer. Now when you pick one up, the pins on the phone trigger the Pi and an MP3 plays until you place it back down— it’s magic!

For the audio content development, we had two main goals: 1. Feature the voice of artists and 2. Develop family-friendly content. We interviewed artists Fay Jones, Patti Warashina, and Jeffry Mitchell, who shared their unique perspectives on creativity, process, and the stories behind their artwork. For the family stops, we developed scripts in the form of a thoughtful dialogue between a teeanger and a kid, encouraging close-looking and connection to the art. This kind of scripted, theatrical conversation was a new approach for SAM, so we collaborated closely with educators, parents, and kids to ensure that the content would land with our younger visitors.

Since opening Poke in the Eye in June, we’ve seen the phones spark joy in our visitors, regardless of age. Even though we designed the family stops with kids in mind, it’s been a pleasant surprise to see that adults have been enjoying the rotary phones just as much, if not more, than kids! There’s something about the tactile and playful experience of picking up a vintage phone in the galleries sparks the curiosity of visitors of all ages, leading to meaningful connections with each other and the art.

What’s Next?

Creating interpretive experiences for Poke in the Eye has been an incredibly rewarding experience for our team. From hands-on experiences, to art-making and rotary phones, we’ve had the opportunity to flex our creativity and collaborate across departments throughout the museum. In the last two months, it’s been exciting to see firsthand the impact on the visitors’ experiences at SAM. In the galleries, we see friends showing off the everyday objects they’ve transformed, toddlers using the step stool to reach for the ceramic touch table, and kids leading their parents to the vintage phones in the next gallery. We can’t wait to continue this momentum into our future exhibitions at SAM, designing interpretive experiences that foster creativity, belonging, and connection with the art for all of our visitors.

– Emily Gardner, SAM Assistant Manager for Gallery Learning, & Ramzy Lakos, SAM Digital Interpretation Specialist

Photos: Chloe Collyer.

Poke in the Eye Object Spotlight: Double Poke in the Eye II

Nicole Block on Aug 6 2024

Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture is now on view at SAM! This homegrown exhibition features 87 ceramics, sculptures, paintings, and drawings from SAM’s collection—some of which are being shown for the first time. Throughout the run of the exhibition, we’ll be periodically sharing insight on a few of the eclectic artworks on view. Stay tuned for more object spotlights to come.

Did you know that Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture derived its title from one of the artworks on view in the exhibition? It’s true!

Created by artist Bruce Nauman in 1985, Double Poke in the Eye II features two faces made up of bright neon tubing. The figures look at one another while the hands in between them alternate lighting up. There is a slight delay between when the hands light up, but the two figures are always simultaneously poking each other in the eye, both at fault. Their pointed fingers just barely touch one another’s eyes and one face has its mouth open, seemingly arguing.

Nauman began making works in neon in the 1960s, often using wordplay and both text and figurative imagery, to address “pain, life, death, love, hate, pleasure” to quote the title of another neon work by him that puts those words into a never-ending circle. Neon is typically used for commercial advertising, attracting the consumer’s eye to a storefront, but Nauman’s signs twist this commonly recognized aesthetic to question philosophical and artistic ideas.

Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison to study mathematics, physics, and art, then the University of California, Davis for his MFA. UC Davis was a hub for artists who rejected abstract and minimalist aesthetics and boundaries of low and high art. William T. Wiley and Robert Arneson were among those who taught Nauman at Davis and are also featured in Poke in the Eye.

Nauman mainly studied sculpture, but after graduating, became known for his performances recorded in his studio space. Nauman captured himself doing repetitive tasks and exercises; for example, Walking in an Exaggerated Manner around the Perimeter of a Square, 1967–68, is ten minutes of Nauman doing just what the title describes. Watching these mundane actions captured on film draws attention to the topics of surveillance and privacy, as well as the human body’s physical limits and abilities, and what qualifies as art. To Nauman, anything an artist does in his studio is art and one of the most accessible materials an artist can use is his own body.

Though Double Poke in the Eye II is not a performance piece, it echoes some of these themes. It mimics an endless, repetitive action as the figures go back and forth poking one another. Due to the way the lights click off and on and make the work change moment to moment, the viewer can get caught up watching this pattern repeat, trying to observe the whole sequence. In the way that viewers watch Nauman’s own body perform these repetitive actions, here we have people performing the same simple poke, again and again. Though the neon colors make this scene cartoonish, this piece illustrates a moment of pain and bodily harm that the viewer is forced to watch.

Yet, a “poke” has less serious connotations than a punch, a jab, or a stab to the eye. A poke is slightly silly. We “poke fun” at things to make light of them. The word choice for the title is significant because Nauman is also interested in the role of language in his art.

The gaps where language is imprecise are part of what Nauman wants to tease out. In 1989, Nauman said:

“When language begins to break down a little bit, it becomes exciting and communicates in nearly the simplest way that it can function: you are forced to be aware of the sounds and the poetic parts of words. If you deal only with what is known, you’ll have redundancy; on the other hand, if you deal only with the unknown, you cannot communicate at all. There is always some combination of the two, and it is how they touch each other that makes communication interesting.”¹

The work isn’t just a poke in the eye but a “double poke” which is a not a common phrase: Is it a double poke because of the two figures poking one another? Or because there are two eyes as possible targets? Or could they be poking twice in a row?

Besides the verb of “poke”, the emphasis on the eye in this work is key—damaging someone’s vision impairs a major way of interacting with the world, limiting the way they can perceive others, art, and everything around them.

Double Poke in the Eye II is open to interpretation and double meanings. When asked about what the title of this particular work means on a SAM questionnaire, the artist simply replied “It is what it is.”

For the exhibition though, this title represents the experimental modes that these artists used to depart from their contemporary artistic movements and seek something new. Many of these artists in Poke in the Eye depicted figures in their work (rather than abstraction); worked with neon, ceramics, and textiles (rather than paint and canvas); and were silly and self-effacing (rather than serious).

Artworks like these are a type of a poke in the eye—they stand out as offbeat and off-kilter from expectations of what art should be.

– Nicole Block, SAM Collections Associate

1 John Yau, “Words and Things: The Prints of Bruce Nauman”, in Bruce Nauman Prints 1970-89, ed. Christopher Cordes (Castelli Graphics: New York, Lorence Monk Gallery: New York, Donald Young Gallery; Chicago, 1989), 10.

Photo: Chloe Collyer.

Muse/News: Meeting Ourselves, New Leader, and Pirate Myths

Rachel Eggers on Aug 5 2024

SAM News

Author and speaker Jodi-Ann Burey writes for ARTE NOIR about spending “an afternoon with Jacob Lawrence” at the Seattle Art Museum. A 13-work exhibition of the modern artist, Jacob Lawrence: American Storyteller, is now on view.

“Why does one painting call us more than others? What parts of ourselves, buried or thriving, known or unknown, does art draw out? What does it mean to stand in front of a Jacob Lawrence painting and think only of my mother? I make a mental note to call her on my way out.”

“An Uproarious Survey in Seattle Brings Together the West Coast’s Artist-Heretics”: Art historian Patricia Failing reviews Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture for ARTnews. You’ve got one month left to see it at SAM!

“Wrapping together art-historical revisionism and kid-friendly displays, the Seattle Art Museum’s new exhibition, “Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture,” flashes back to artistic rebellions of the 1960s and ‘70s associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement, Funk art, and Northwest studio ceramics.”

Local News

The latest weekly newsletter of Cascade PBS’s Brangien Davis features Actualize AiR, the new endeavor in the Coliseum Theater, and mourns the passing of potter Reid Ozaki. BTW: Did you know that Davis has launched a new video series, Art by Northwest? It broadcasts on Friday nights and streams the following Mondays.

Here’s Jas Keimig for South Seattle Emerald with another helpful “Arts in the South End Roundup” for the month of August.

Big news via Tat Bellamy-Walker of The Seattle Times: “Seattle’s Northwest African American Museum picks Brandon Bird as CEO.”

“Bird doubled down on the need for the museum to be ‘anchored and grounded’ in reflecting its mission to be a family-focused institution that uplifts the experiences of all Black people, particularly those in the Pacific Northwest.”

Inter/National News

Via Brian Boucher for Artnet: “Snoop Dogg Paid an After-Hours Visit to the Louvre. Zaniness Ensued.”

Andrew Russeth for The New York Times on Pacita Abad’s first retrospective, which opened at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis last year and is now on view at MoMA PS1.

Maev Kennedy for The Art Newspaper on the conservation of a rare pirate flag for an upcoming exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in London.

“The exhibition will demolish cherished myths about pirates, including walking the plank and maps of buried treasure. It will also reveal that some kept disappointingly pragmatic rules on board—Bartholomew Roberts, better known as Black Bart, insisted on lights out by 8 pm.”

And Finally

Celebrating James Baldwin’s 100th birthday through his sentences.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Chloe Collyer.

Muse/News: Timeless Calder, Trash Art, and Artsy Ceremony

Rachel Eggers on Jul 29 2024

SAM News

For Seattle Magazine, Rachel Gallaher interviewed collector Jon Shirley and curator José Carlos Diaz about iconic artist Alexander Calder and Calder: In Motion, The Shirley Family Collection. By popular demand, the exhibition has been extended through October 20.

“Calder invented an entirely new way to make sculpture,” Shirley adds. “His works of 70 years ago look like they were made yesterday. Not many artists have created a whole new art form, and have created works that seem timeless. To my mind, he is the most accessible artist ever.”

Seattle Refined’s “Artist of the Week” is Jasmine Novak, a coldwater scuba diver who creates evocative photographs from the watery depths. She is also a SAM Gallery artist whose work was recently shown at the gallery’s booth at the Seattle Art Fair.

And Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture at the Seattle Art Museum is on Seattle Met’s list of “Things to Do in Seattle.” So come and see it already!

Local News

Via Seattle Met’s Adam Willems: “The Ultimate List of Local Olympians to Watch in Paris.”

The Seattle Times’ Erik Lacitis wrote a story about a half day driving tour to do with visitors; then he shared a follow-up sharing readers’ thoughts on what he missed (including the wise suggestion of a visit to Volunteer Park and the Seattle Asian Art Museum…).

Also in The Seattle Times: Gayle Clemans on “trash-talking art and other must-see Seattle shows in August 2024.”

“These thought-provoking exhibitions ask us to reconsider art and political history through carefully crafted works of art that elevate often-overlooked stories and materials.”

Inter/National News

Via Artnet’s Jo Lawson-Tancred: “5 of the Most Memorable Artist-Designed Olympics Posters.” (We’re partial to Jacob Lawrence’s Study for the Munich Games Poster (1971), which is now on view in Jacob Lawrence: American Storyteller at the Seattle Art Museum.)

Sarah Belmont for ARTnews on “Nine Must-See Exhibitions in Tune with the 2024 Olympics in France.”

Artnet’s Sarah Cascone name-checks all the references in the “unusually art-filled” Olympics Opening Ceremony in Paris.

“The Mona Lisa escaped from the Louvre to catch the occasion, braving the rain along with an expected 300,000 Parisians and visitors from around the world.”

And Finally

“Snoop Dogg, NBC’s New Voice of the People.”

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Image: Installation view of Calder: In Motion, The Shirley Family Collection, Seattle Art Museum, 2023, © 2024 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo: Alborz Kamalizad.

Muse/News: Park Life, All’s Fair, and Benin Returns

Rachel Eggers on Jul 24 2024

SAM News

Heaven Quiban, SAM’s Manager of Public Engagement, recently appeared on KING 5’s New Day NW to talk about Summer at SAM at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Watch the segment to hear about this free programming series and enjoy a performance by musician Alie Renee, who plays at the sculpture park with her band, BYLAND, on August 1.

“Why you should see Seattle Art Museum’s exuberant new show”: Gayle Clemans for The Seattle Times on Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, now on view at the Seattle Art Museum.

“It’s a show that asks us to look again at SAM’s permanent collection and the nature of art itself, with our sense of humor engaged and our eyes wide open.”

“It looks like neon guts!” That’s 7-year-old art critic Cora on the exhibition for a sparkling “mother-daughter” review from Elizabeth Hunter for Seattle’s Child. In addition to more gems from her kids and their friend, Hunter shared insights from Carrie Dedon, SAM Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Ramzy Lakos, SAM Digital Interpretation Specialist, on how the art and in-gallery experiences will appeal to young visitors.

Local News

Seattle author Octavia Butler’s 1993 post-apocalyptic novel Parable of the Sower opens on July 20, 2024. The Stranger’s Charles Mudede thinks you should read it.

The Seattle Times recently published a package called Affordability for Artists, with several features on how the city’s cost of living impacts local artists, including this illustrated guide of 15 ways to support Seattle-area arts and artists.

For The Seattle Times, Gayle Clemans has tips and highlights for navigating the Seattle Art Fair, which takes place this weekend—swing by our booth to see art from SAM Gallery and swag from SAM!

“As usual, SAF will be a gathering place for the city’s creative community as it intersects with visitors from across the world.”

Inter/National News

Via Artnet: “Fiction About the Art World Is Trending. Here Are 8 New Novels to Read This Summer.”

Sopan Deb of The New York Times on how “Keeping the Lights on at the Met Museum Is an Art in Itself.”

Gareth Harris for The Art Newspaper reports on how the Stanley Museum of Art in Iowa has become the first US museum to return looted bronzes to the Oba of Benin.

“Asked if the Stanley Museum of Art is confident that the works returned will be publicly accessible, Lauren Lessing, the director of the Stanley Museum of Art, says: ‘It is not my job to tell people what to do with their own possessions. The two works of art restituted were stolen from the Oba of Benin in 1897, and they belong to him.’”

And Finally

“I Think About Bill Paxton’s Fiancée in Twister a Lot.”

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Chloe Collyer.

Poke in the Eye Object Spotlight: Red Hot Pot

Nicole Block on Jul 23 2024

Poke in the Eye is all about encounters with the odd and unusual as well as challenging expectations of what you’ll find in a museum. Patti Warashina’s Red Hot Pot (1969) embodies this spirit with more than just tongue-in-cheek humor.

The shape of Red Hot Pot is not a standard form like the ceramic vessels that we use everyday. The large, curved rectangular white base with a black bottom edge resembles a toaster. But instead of toast emerging from this form, a bright pink tongue pops out from a pair of large red-orange lips and teeth. The shiny finish on the surface makes the lips look picture-perfect, glossy, and red hot, as the title says.

Red Hot Pot is part of Warashina’s Basket and Loaf series where the forms (in this case a loaf) allude to themes of food and the kitchen, traditionally associated with women. Starting her career in the 1960s in a male-dominated art world and the rise of second wave feminism, Warashina often critiqued gender stereotypes and the sexualization of women’s bodies. Curvy vases have long been associated with women’s bodies and their reproductive capabilities, as vessels that can be filled. Warashina’s Faucet Pot (ca. 1966), also on view in Poke in the Eye, critiques this symbolism explicitly.

Likewise, the plump lips of Red Hot Pot mimic a seductively red mouth, but the tongue sticking out seems like an act of defiance. The lips aren’t blowing a kiss, but are drawn into a smile, poking fun at us for looking.

In isolating the lips and removing the rest of the face, Warashina draws attention to how sexualized a woman’s mouth can be, but also makes it more peculiar in this context. Warashina was inspired by Surrealist artists like Rene Magritte and Marcel Duchamp who are known for their strange, dreamlike scenarios that demand we inspect the mundane more closely.¹ Red Hot Pot is definitely dreamlike, or maybe nightmare-ish, adding a mouth to this inanimate object.

Talking about her work recently, Warshina said, “I like things that are not quite right, they’re kind of loony… The parts and pieces fit together and if they kind of go against each other that’s even better. You know, I don’t like things to be too logical. I like things that are kind of disturbed.”²

Warashina grew up in Spokane, Washington where her father, a Japanese immigrant, and her mother, a second-generation Japanese American, encouraged her education. However, they didn’t envision Warashina becoming an artist, and neither did she. Warahina attended the University of Washington intending to get a practical degree to work as a dental hygienist. When she took her first elective art classes, however, she fell in love with clay and experimenting with its techniques. Warashina returned to teach at the University of Washington from 1970 to 1995. In 2024, she received the UW Alumni Association’s Golden Graduate Distinguished Alumnus Award.³

Throughout her career, Warashina was inspired by her fellow artists, especially those on the West Coast like Peter Voulkos, Viola Frey, David Gilhooly, and Howard Kottler, who were exploring different ceramic techniques, modes of humor, and figurative forms. Abstract art had become a dominant force in the art world, especially on the East Coast, with Abstract Expressionism from artists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko and Minimalism from the likes of Donald Judd and Frank Stella. However, art departments at universities like the University of California, Davis, UC Berkeley, and the University of Washington became hubs for alternative approaches, rejecting abstraction, and typical materials like paint and canvas.

Art history in Europe and the US has tended to focus on paintings and sculpture (usually carving from marble or stone), Meanwhile, more everyday and functional materials like textiles and ceramics have been relegated to the category of “craft.” But many of the artists in Poke in the Eye like Patti Warashina pushed ceramics, and other materials like fiber and neon, to new possibilities and built the art world of today that recognizes extraordinary artists in any medium.

When talking about the divide between what is art and what is not, Warashina defined it for herself: “When I come in and I see something that raises my blood pressure, then I know that there is something more than just a bowl or a sculpture or a painting. It makes me react to the painting chemically in my body. And that’s when I know—or music, you know. It makes my body react. And that is my way of judging whether, I guess, quote, whether it’s art or not… It alters your being.”⁴

Red Hot Pot, though it might cause confusion, discomfort, or even a laugh, provokes a reaction and that is what Warashina is looking for. To hear more from Patti Warashina herself, watch her recent SAM Talks conversation with Carrie Dedon, SAM Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

– Nicole Block, SAM Collections Associate

1 “UW ceramic arts program is in good hands with Patti Warashina,” UW Magazine, December 1, 2007, https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/the-wonder-of-patti-warashina/.

2 Airstream Turkey by Patti Wararshina, audio tour, Seattle Art Museum, 2024, https://www1.seattleartmuseum.org/tours/media/1544.

3 “Ceramic artist Patti Warashina Receives UW Alumni Association Golden Graduate Award.” UW Magazine, 2024, https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/ceramic-artist-patti-warashina-receives-uw-alumni-association-golden-graduate-award/.

4 Doug Jeck oral history interview with Patti Warashina, September 8, 2005, accessed September 13, 2017, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-patti-warashina-12864.

Images: Red Hot Pot, 1969, Patti Warashina, American, born 1940, ceramic with glaze, 11 x 19 1/4 x 19 in. (27.9 x 48.9 x 48.3 cm), Gift of Lucy and Herb Pruzan, 2023.23.3 © Patti Warashina, photo: Scott Leen. Photo: Chloe Collyer.

Poke in the Eye Object Spotlight: American Gothicware

Nicole Block on Jul 2 2024

Howard Kottler’s American Gothicware from 1972 spoofs the well-known painting by Grant Wood, American Gothic, made in 1930. By placing a decal of the image on four plates and adding his own twist to each one, dinnerware becomes Gothicware à la Kottler!

During the start of the Great Depression (1929–1939), Grant Wood painted this now-iconic couple (the models were actually Wood’s dentist and sister) looking somber and proper in front of their farmhouse. Many viewers interpreted Wood’s painting as satire of older generations and outdated traditional values, while others saw it as a reflection of the resilience of farmers like these in the face of tough times. Since then, this painting has been parodied and reproduced in many forms, symbolic of one particular view of what it means to be an American.

Howard Kottler, working 40 years later, was a ceramicist in Seattle who taught at the University of Washington. Kottler was inspired by Pop Artists like Andy Warhol who experimented with reproducing famous images from pop culture and the art world. After World War II when the American economy was booming, artists were fascinated with the way that consumer goods and images could be mass-produced and identically replicated. Along with that, artists were also drawing from earlier movements like Dadaism and the idea of the readymade to challenge hierarchical definitions of art.

Kottler decided to use an everyday material that one could easily overlook, ceramic dishware, to bring politics to the table. American Gothicware conveys Kottler’s subversive attitude toward American life by altering Grant Wood’s painting across four plates: Look Alikes, Personal Possession, American Minstrels, and The Silent White Majority. Each plate offers a visual confrontation of the original painting by Wood and with it mainstream American values.

Look Alikes duplicates the man’s face and places it on the woman’s body, transforming them into a gay couple of sorts, or identical twins. In Grant’s painting, each character is strongly associated with their gender roles—the woman in her apron with houseplants on the porch behind her indicating her role as caretaker of the home, while the man is in overalls and a coat, holding a pitchfork and aligned with the red barn over his shoulder. While their stern expressions already made these two look alike, Kottler adds ambiguity about gender and the relationship between the characters. Kottler himself was a gay man and often included these questions and hidden meanings in his artworks.

In Personal Possession, a painted landscape seeps into the bodies and faces of the two characters, covering everything except their facial features and hair. Their skin is the color of the sky and their clothes have been replaced by a forest scene with some signs of human development: a bridge in the background and a tunnel to the right. The pioneer settlers who took the land as their own personal possession now wear the land as part of their clothes. It has become part of their identity as farmers who tend the land, but Kottler seems to ask if it was ever theirs to claim, critiquing the history of Manifest Destiny that is often taught in US history.

American Minstrels also delves into more unpleasant parts of American history. This image subtracts color from the skin of the two farmers to make them appear as white as the plate itself, making their whiteness literal. The title implies this could be seen as whiteface, an inverse of blackface minstrel shows wherein white performers would dress up as Black characters and parody their speech and behavior. Black performers would also participate in these minstrel performances, exaggerating their differences from white society. Minstrel shows were popular entertainment throughout the 1800s and perpetuated stereotypes that still linger today. Kottler’s reference to minstrels leaves the work open to more questions—what is being performed here and in the original American Gothic?

The Silent White Majority also critiques whiteness in America, co-opting a phrase that President Richard Nixon coined in 1969 for the American voters who did not vocally join in the counterculture and political discourses surrounding the Vietnam War. Here, the pair’s faces are mask-like with white covering the mouths but leaving their eyes and noses exposed. Their literal whiteness again calls attention to race, but even in their silence, they have power as a majority to influence politics in their favor, maintaining the status quo.

By modifying the recognizable symbol of Grant Wood’s American Gothic, Kottler subverted and questioned prevailing ideas about American identity in terms of gender, sexuality, race, and national history. Alongside these political messages, American Gothicware challenges the medium of art too, transforming the humble ceramic plate into an artwork that offers a visual and conceptual feast

– Nicole Block, SAM Collections Associate

Photos: Alborz Kamalizad.

Playfully Irreverent, Intentionally Weird: An Inside Look at Poke in the Eye at SAM

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 26 2024

This summer, dive into an oft-overlooked chapter in art history: the aesthetics that emerged on the West Coast in the 1960s and ’70s as a counter to the prevailing artistic practices of the time. Reacting against the sleekness, formality, and coldness of New York minimalism and other dominant modes of abstraction, many artists on the West Coast, particularly in Seattle and the Bay Area, began creating artwork that was intentionally more offbeat.

Instead of sleek, hard surfaces, artists opted to make work that was lumpy, tactile, and boldly colored. Instead of pure abstraction, they depicted human figures, animal caricatures, and fantastical narratives. Rejecting industrial materials, they embraced traditional craft techniques, especially ceramics, subverting divisions between “high” and “low” art. In many cases, these artists refused to take themselves or their work too seriously, by intentionally employing an irreverent sense of humor and wit.

Taken together, these strategies represented a tongue-in-cheek anti-establishment rebuttal to the dominant art market engine. Though this genre of work is often described as “Funk art,” after the seminal 1967 Funk exhibition at UC University Berkeley that brought several of these artists together for the first time, Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture takes a broader view. Here you’ll find that the aesthetic of this time and place was not a strictly delineated “movement,” but a moment: an organic and informal counterculture vision that continues to resonate today.

As one of the focal points of this West Coast aesthetic, Seattle is the ideal location to tell this story, and SAM has a particular strength in telling it—the depth and breadth of our permanent collection. Poke in the Eye is drawn primarily from SAM’s collection, mining works that visitors may have never seen before to uncover one of the legacies of our region. Experience collection favorites in a new light, discover new surprises for the first time, and learn a fresh version of art history in which SAM and Seattle play an integral role.

This article first appeared in the June through September 2024 edition of SAM Magazine and has been edited for our online readers. Become a SAM member today to receive our quarterly magazine delivered directly to your mailbox and other exclusive member perks!

Photos: Chloe Collyer.

Muse/News: Weird and Wild, Fan Service, and Double Takes

Rachel Eggers on Jun 24 2024

SAM News

Lights, camera, action! Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture opened last week at the Seattle Art Museum, and Carrie Dedon, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, appeared on KING5 programs New Day NW and Evening to talk about curating an exhibition of offbeat art from SAM’s collection.

“Feeling a little rebellious?” asks Alina Hunter-Grah of SEAtoday. If so, she promises you’ll fit right in at the exhibition.

And here’s Destiny Valencia of 425 Magazine on “Visiting the SAM’s Weird, Wild, and Wacky ‘Poke in the Eye’ Exhibit.”

“How one interprets art is, of course, inescapably subjective. Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture at the Seattle Art Museum makes that implicit truth unusually explicit by prompting visitors to ponder what, exactly, they consider to be fine art.”

Local News

Cascade PBS’s Brangien Davis seeks out “the downtown Seattle art collection hiding in plain sight.”

For Seattle Magazine, Rachel Gallaher profiles dancer and performance artist Lavinia Vago.

Special to The Seattle Times, T.S. Flock writes “Seattle’s MadArt holds its last show, celebrating its legacy.”

“Someone walking into MadArt for the first time may wonder what ties them all together, even if they delight in the objects. Put simply, the show succeeds as a fan-service anthology, in which audiences can relive experiences they’ve had with MadArt’s projects.”

Inter/National News

Stewed eels, rum punch, and a dessert known as “The Convent Serpent”: Artnet’s Andrew Russeth goes inside Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s recipe collection.

Via ARTnews’ Alex Greenberger: “Carrie Mae Weems Returns to ‘Kitchen Table Series,’ This Time with A$AP Rocky, for Bottega Veneta.”

Rowland Bagnall for The Art Newspaper on Teju Cole’s latest photobook, Pharmakon, which features photographs of “unpeopled scenarios” accompanied by short texts.

“Cole frequently presents a pair of images, the same scene photographed from slightly different angles, moments apart, the gesture (literally) of a double take, illustrating, possibly, the two modes they exist in: peaceful, disturbing. Self-consciously oblique, almost withholding, Cole’s photographs invite us to consider not only what but how we see, through whose lens, when, for what, and why.”

And Finally

“Miss Piggy Has a Mother.”

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: L. Fried.

Muse/News: Impressive SAM, Not Static, and Baltimore Queen

Rachel Eggers on Jun 17 2024

SAM News

“Art-loving families should visit the Seattle Art Museum” this summer, says Mark Sissons for Vancouver’s VITA Magazine, thanks to our “impressive” collection galleries and our summer exhibition Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, which opens this week on Thursday, June 20!

Nick Hilden for The Observer comes to town to discover “Where to See the Best Art in Seattle” and while at SAM finds that “the museum boasts an impressively eclectic range of works.”

Via Nura Ahmed for South Seattle Emerald: “Tacoma Artist Anida Yoeu Ali Demands to Be Seen.”

Local News

Have you been keeping up with this season of Cascade PBS’s Black Arts Legacies? They’ve rolled out eight incredible profiles; earlier we shared the one of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, but you won’t want to miss the ones of DJ Riz Rollins, painter Moses Sun, glass artist Debra Moore, and more.

Sara Jean Green of The Seattle Times reports on the “long-promised Super Block” coming to the Central District that will feature a public art installation on the neighborhood’s history.

Via Rachel Gallaher for Seattle Magazine: “Tacoma Art Museum’s latest show reconsiders the meaning of Western American art.”

“The four curators are giving space to 17 contemporary artists whose work is often excluded in the context of collections like the Haub. ‘The art of the American West is not static,’ [curator Faith] Brower says. ‘There are many artists creating work that will further our understanding and deepen our connections to this iconic region.’”

Inter/National News

“I can act a fool, I can be delirious, I can give into anger, I can give into joy, into love”: Anthony Hudson AKA Carla Rossi interviews Jeffrey Gibson for BOMB Magazine. While you’re at it, rewatch this video of Carla’s visit to Like a Hammer (it’s our…52nd rewatch? But who’s counting?).

Arun Kakar for Artsy with “The 10 Best Booths at Art Basel 2024,” including works by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith at Garth Greenan Gallery’s booth.

“How an Artist Became the Queen of Baltimore”: Aruna D’Souza of The New York Times spends the day in Baltimore with Joyce J. Scott on the occasion of her career retrospective, which is co-organized by BAM and SAM and travels to Seattle this fall.

“She sees her life as an artist as modeling for others another way of being and living,” said Catharina Manchanda, a curator at the Seattle Art Museum. “She has an incredibly strong conviction that every artwork has a role in bringing people together and offering people an opportunity to learn together, but she also models a whole new way of being an artist within a community. It’s not as much a career for her as a way of life.”

And Finally

“A Photographer Wins a Top Prize in an A.I. Competition for His Non-A.I. Image.”

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Alborz Kamalizad.

Muse/News: Essential Summer, Hooked on Clay, and Pointed Playful

Rachel Eggers on Jun 10 2024

SAM News

The Seattle Times staff recommends “8 essential things to do during summer in Seattle,” including a visit to the Olympic Sculpture Park, especially during Summer at SAM. The annual free series of performances, tours, and activities takes place every Thursday night and Saturday morning between July 11 and August 11.

In South Seattle Emerald’s “Arts in the South End: June 2024 Roundup,” Jas Keimig recommends an upcoming show at SAM. Jacob Lawrence: American Storyteller features 13 works on paper by the celebrated modern artist; it opens June 28.

Local News

Via Catalina Gaitán for The Seattle Times: “Seattle now has two of the largest outdoor murals in North America.”

Artists Anida Yoeu Ali and Kamari Bright were announced as the recipients of the 2024 Arts Innovator Award. Both artists will receive $25,000 to continue their practices. You can see Ali’s work at the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Hybrid Skin, Mythical Presence through July 7.

The June issue of University of Washington Magazine has a profile on artist Patti Warashina by writer Hannelore Suderman that reveals the ceramic artist’s original plan for her studies… click to find out just how lucky we are that she discovered clay. You can see examples in Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, which opens at SAM on Friday, June 21.

“She loved the tactile experience of throwing clay on a wheel and was hooked on creating, pushing the limits of clay and taking inspiration from her classmates.”

Inter/National News

Via Artnet: “A Major Restoration Breathes New Life Into Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s Iconic Seasons.”

Holland Cotter of The New York Times recommends several shows to see in NYC galleries this month, including a solo show for Xenobia Bailey at Venus Over Manhattan. You can see the Seattle-born artist’s Afrofuturist fiber crochet work on view in Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, beginning Friday, June 21.

Art in America’s Andy Battaglia interviews Joyce J. Scott on the occasion of her retrospective, Walk a Mile in My Dreams, which debuted at the Baltimore Museum of Art and opens at SAM this fall.

“Time and again, Scott’s colorful creations stare down histories of racism, classism, and sexism with steely eyes and an impish grin. She takes a pointed and playful approach to bracing subject matter, the small-mindedness and absurdity of which she exposes as abhorrent and just plain dumb.”

And Finally

“Oh Happy Day” 30 years later.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Chloe Collyer.

Muse/News: Amiably Weird, Pride Art, and Creative Freedom

Rachel Eggers on Jun 3 2024

SAM News

Alex Greenberger of ARTnews recommends “44 Museum Shows to See This Summer,” including Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, which opens at the Seattle Art Museum on Friday, June 21. Can you dig it?

On view right now at SAM is Yirrkala: Art from Australia’s Top End, an exhibition of Australian Aboriginal paintings recommended in the May/June 2024 issue of Seattle magazine by Helen Lowenthal.

Artist Anida Yoeu Ali was interviewed for KUOW about “the fabulousness of being a Muslim woman” and her performance work, which is now on view in Hybrid Skin, Mythical Presence at the Seattle Asian Art Museum through July 7.

Local News

For KNKX, two Garfield High students reflect on “what it’s really like to perform at the pinnacle of high school jazz”: the Essentially Ellington competition in New York.

Here’s Brangien Davis of Cascade PBS on the opening of a delightful new brick-and-mortar bookstore in Pioneer Square, Long Bros. Fine & Rare Books.

Gayle Clemans for The Seattle Times on “5 Seattle art shows to see during Pride month 2024.”

“The past, present and future of art is powerfully and inextricably linked with the creative contributions of LGBTQ+ artists who have used art for self-expression, advocacy and social critique.”

Inter/National News

Lance Esplund of the Wall Street Journal reviews the Norton Simon Museum’s exhibition, I Saw It: Francisco de Goya, Printmaker, with prints that include haunting allegorical scenes and brutal images of war.

Artnet’s Katie White interviews Pipilotti Rist at the artist’s “zany, kaleidoscopic, and creatively cluttered” Zurich studio on the occasion of her survey exhibition Doha’s Fire Station.

Via Gameli Hamelo for ARTnews: “When El Anatsui Isn’t Busy Being One of Africa’s Biggest Artists, He’s Collecting Vinyl.”

“Just like Fela, I believe that my career has proven that the audiences will always look to the artist to lead, to expand their experience with new presentations or renewals of old fare. When encountering objects, I think of what they can do and what has not been explored yet, and try to explore it. Freedom has a lot to do with it.”

And Finally

Kabosu, the dog behind the “doge” internet meme, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Chloe Collyer.

Muse/News: Going Mobile, Deep Roots, and Mother Wit

Rachel Eggers on May 13 2024

SAM News

“Hope you like mobiles!!” The Stranger’s Everout names SAM’s first-ever Calder Symposium one of “The Best Things To Do in Seattle This Month: May 2024.” With a talk by renowned Alexander Calder biographer Jed Perl on Friday evening and a day of tours, lectures, and screenings about Calder’s genius all day Saturday, you won’t want to miss it.

And save the date: SAM’s summer exhibition, Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, opens in just over a month. 425 Magazine mentioned it in their “This Week in A&E” spotlight.

Local News

In her latest ArtSEA post, Cascade PBS’s Brangien Davis sees arts venues “putting on a good face”; some of her recommendations have passed but some are ongoing—don’t miss out!

Via Sarah Stackhouse for Seattle Magazine: “Rebuilding Re-Sole 206.”

“One Reel, former Bumbershoot producer, closing; its art paper survives”: Chase Hutchinson for The Seattle Times with an update on the 52-year-old nonprofit arts organization.

“In an email, Elisheba Johnson, One Reel’s board president, spoke of the organization’s ‘roots that are long and deep in the community. Almost every events/music employee in this region has worked at One Reel at some point of their career,’ Johnson said. ‘One Reel will be remembered as the incredible convener of arts and culture in Seattle for over 50 years.’

Inter/National News

Artnet rounds up the best looks inspired by art history at the Met Gala.

Via Ad Age: “Apple apologized Thursday for a new iPad Pro commercial that was met with fierce criticism from creatives for depicting an array of creative tools and objects—from a piano, to a camera, to cans of paint—being destroyed by an industrial crusher.”

Via Evan Nicole Brown for T: The New York Times Style Magazine: “Betye Saar Remains Guided by the Spirit.”

“Saar, who is 97, decides what to reach for based on something she has referred to over the years as “mother wit”: she feels when a wooden statue, antique doll or rusted dagger is calling to be used. Saar considers this selection process to be a sacred one.”

And Finally

“10 Times Artists Hid Themselves in Their Paintings.”

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Installation view of Calder: In Motion, The Shirley Family Collection, Seattle Art Museum, 2023, © 2024 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo: Alborz Kamalizad.