My Favorite Things: C. Davida Ingram on Sonny Assu’s Breakfast Series

“I think the value of Sonny Assu’s piece, Breakfast Series in SAM’s permanent collection, has a lot to do with righting the wrongs of history.” – C. Davida Ingram

Consider the value of contemporary Native art through the perspective of Seattle-based artist, curator, educator, and writer, C. Davida Ingram. Visit SAM’s Native Arts of the Americas galleries and the Art and Life Along the Northwest Coast installation to contextualize Sonny Assu’s Native formline design elements in his representation of Tony the Tiger or the “12 essential lies and deceptions” in his box of Lucky Beads. How does your perspective on food and access to land change as you consider the serious history behind this seemingly lighthearted artwork?

Artwork: “Breakfast Series,” 2006, Sonny Assu (Gwa’gwa’da’ka), Kwakwaka’wakw, Laich-kwil-tach, Wei Wai Kai, born 1975, five boxes digitally printed with Fome-cor, 12 x 7 x 3 in. each, of 5, Gift of Rebecca and Alexander Stewart, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum, 2006.93, © Sonny Assu.

Muse/News: Arts News from SAM, Seattle, and Beyond

SAM News

Seattle Met’s Spring Arts Preview included the solo show of Betty Bowen Award-winner Molly Vaughan as one of the “Top Things to See and Do in Seattle” this spring.

And their cover story, uncovering the gems of “hidden Seattle,” included SAM Gallery—“a space where art appreciation turns into acquisition.”

SAM’s summer exhibition, Double Exposure: Edward S. Curtis, Marianne Nicolson, Tracy Rector, Will Wilson, is featured in Seattle Magazine’s Spring Arts Preview as one of the “can’t-miss” upcoming shows.

Chris Juergens of The International Examiner interviewed Manish Engineer, SAM’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer, about what he’s looking forward to in his new role.

“A higher profile, innovative art museum scene coalesces well with a rapidly growing local economy and world tech hub. Just like Engineer’s professional and educational background is a fusion of many worlds, with Engineer’s help, Seattle too will become a fusion of technology, business and art.”

Local News

Emily Pothast of the Stranger reviews C. Davida Ingram’s solo show A Book with No Pages, now on view at UW’s Jacob Lawrence Gallery, saying it “doesn’t just imagine that love. It’s a portal to a world where it has always existed.”

Karen Ducey of Crosscut takes her camera to the historic Louisa Hotel to capture the life-size murals from an underground after-hours jazz club that were discovered after a fire in 2013.

Rosin Saez of Seattle Met talks with Janelle Abbott and Camilla Carper, the creators of art/fashion line Femail, which is currently housed in the former Lusty Lady space.

“’This one I struggled with, but I think I’m happy now,’ she explained as she gazed at a patchwork dress made with her grandma’s sweatshirt. ‘It’s really, wonderfully, heinous.’”

Inter/National News

Beloved activist and patron Peggy Cooper Cafritz recently passed away; the story of her incredible art collection—and how she had to rebuild it after a fire—is told in a just-released Rizzoli book.

Taylor Dafoe of Artnet on New York-based arts nonprofit Creative Time’s upcoming spring exhibition, which “uses house music to explore issues of mass incarceration and criminal justice reform” in a decommissioned fire station.

Hope you enjoyed your bubbly and takeout for the Oscars last night. Mekado Murphy of the New York Times shares how four artists approached creating alternative posters for Get Out, the film which earned its writer/director Jordan Peele the award for best original screenplay.

And Finally

If SAM ever needs to hire someone to help write wall labels, this might be the person.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Manager of Public Relations

Image: Studio visit with Molly Vaughan, 2017, photo: Natali Wiseman

Muse/News: Arts News from SAM, Seattle, and Beyond

SAM News

Here’s Jennifer Sokolowsky of the Seattle Times on how social media is shaping art; SAM curator Catharina Manchanda speaks about the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors experience.

For art institutions evolving with technology and visitors’ tastes, it’s a delicate balance. “In the end, it’s, ‘How do you have a meaningful experience of art?’ and the answers will depend. From a curatorial perspective, I just want to make sure that the traditional and core mission of the museum lives on,” Manchanda said.

The Stranger’s Slog revived their Short Film Fridays feature to share the winning short films from the Wyeth Film Sprint; the results are appropriately strange and sad and surreal.

SAM earned a reader’s “Rave” in the Seattle Times for Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect; they noted among the patrons “a keen concentration I’ve never seen before.”

Local News

Seattle Magazine recognizes the “Most Influential Seattleites of 2017,” including SAM friends such as C. Davida Ingram, Inye Wokoma, and the KEXP Gathering Space.

Bookend the Jacob Lawrence centennial celebrations with Woodside/Braseth Gallery’s “William Cumming & Jacob Lawrence,” which, the Seattle Times notes, “offers a chance to dig deeper into these two artists’ legacies.”

KING’s Evening Magazine visits MOHAI’s exhibit of the expressive black-and-white photography of Al Smith, which “chronicles 65 years of Seattle history, the Central District neighborhood, and the people who inspired him.”

Inter/National News

Clearly the biggest art world news recently was the dramatic and record-breaking sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi.”

Antwaun Sargent for Artsy on the recent unveiling at Princeton of a public sculpture by Titus Kaphar, which was commissioned as part of the university’s reckoning with its history of slavery. Kaphar was the inaugural recipient of SAM’s Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize in 2009.

Madrid’s Reina Sophia unveils “Rethinking Guernica,” a free website—available in Spanish and English—that offers a visual timeline of Picasso’s most famous painting.

And Finally

Hyperallergic on a forthcoming book that investigates the aspirational kitsch of midcentury album art that expressed “an era of shifting desires.”

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Manager of Public Relations

Photo: Installation view of Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors at Seattle Art Museum, 2017, photo: Natali Wiseman.
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