Simone Leigh Archives

Muse/News: Art for the Earth, Fair Reflections, and Venice Prizes

Rachel Eggers on Apr 25 2022

SAM News

Earth Day is every day! Get inspired to create change with Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, now on view at SAM. Aesthetica Magazine features the exhibition on their list of “5 exhibitions for Earth Day” from around the world. So does the Stranger’s Everout list of things to do in Seattle for the important holiday. And Seattle Met includes the exhibition on their list of things to do in Seattle right now.

JiaYing Grygiel for ParentMap offers up “Best Things to Do With Kids on the Seattle Waterfront,” sharing fun secrets for a visit to the Olympic Sculpture Park (and very cute pictures of her kids zooming around sculptures!).

“Every hour on the hour, a bell chimes and the Father and Son water fountain reverses. Take the walkway over the railroad tracks, where transportation-obsessed kids will love that you can watch train, car, plane, and boat traffic all from the same vantage point.”

Local News

Grace Gorenflo of the Seattle Times continues on the arts recovery beat, with recent stories on creative pandemic fundraising and this look at Mayor Bruce Harrell’s plan for the arts–and what arts leaders think.

The Stranger’s Jas Keimig heads to the Henry Art Gallery’s new exhibition and reports back on “Finding Yourself Inside a Magma Slit.”

“How a 1962 art critic reviewed the Seattle World’s Fair”: Crosscut’s Brangien Davis looks back on the 60th anniversary of the Seattle World’s Fair and its “World of Art.” (She also shouts out some exhibitions to see for Earth Day, including Our Blue Planet at SAM.)

[Seattle Times art critic Ann G.] Todd was much more impressed with the Fine Art Pavilion’s exhibit of ‘Northwest Indian Art,’ curated by University of Washington anthropology professor and ethnobotanist Erna Gunther (who also served as director of what is now the Burke Museum). Previewing the show in the very first issue of ArtForum magazine (June 1962), Todd gushed, ‘It would be difficult to imagine more stunning proof of the expressive genius of the Northwest’s aboriginals.’”

Inter/National News

“5 Incredible Art Pieces From World-Class Contemporary Artists That Anyone Can Afford”: Jeff Miles for ARTnews with some very cool artist editions you can buy. Might we also recommend a visit to SAM Gallery and SAM Shop?

Tabitha Barber for the Art Newspaper reviews: “A new visual history of domestic service spanning 400 years examines the lives of those working within the home.”

Artnet reports back from the Venice Biennale: “Sonia Boyce and Simone Leigh Win Golden Lions at the Venice Biennale for Work Honoring the Visions of Black Women.”

“Both Boyce and Leigh were the first Black women to represent their nations at the 127-year-old biennale. They are also the first Black women to win Golden Lions… Asked about her plans after the award ceremony, Boyce told Artnet News, ‘I’m going to close the blinds, lie down, and cry for an hour.’”

And Finally

We would really like to be in one of these jazz clubs right now.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Image: Natali Wiseman.

Muse/News: New Questions, Distant Ballet, and Simone Leigh Represents

Rachel Eggers on Oct 19 2020

SAM News

Seattle Met’s fall print edition is out; for the culture section, Stefan Milne explores the future of equitable art spaces. He interviews SAM director & CEO Amada Cruz and director of equity, diversity and inclusion Priya Frank, as well as artist Barbara Earl Thomas, whose solo exhibition opens at SAM next month.

She likens this moment, with its calls for more equitable structures, to the creative process. ‘Right now, we’re in the chaos phase.’ But if we trust the process, and push through the confusion, eventually a clear idea emerges. Then, says Thomas, you follow it, and ‘not only do you have a truth, but you see a whole new set of questions.’”

Local News

Crosscut’s Margo Vansynghel reports on the six surprising new art spaces that have opened in King County in recent months.

Mayumi Tsutakawa for South Seattle Emerald on the Pacific Bonsai Museum’s new show, World War Bonsai, which features 32 bonsai all made by artists who were forced into incarceration camps for Japanese Americans during World War II.

Seattle Met’s Stefan Milne has the details on Pacific Northwest Ballet’s season of “socially distant ballet,” including new works choreographed by Jessica Lang.

“To deal with the limitations, and fit with Schumann’s music, performers appear as shadows, sometimes synchronized with the dancer you can see, sometimes moving like a ghost with a mind of its own.”

Inter/National News

T, the New York Times style magazine, convenes a discussion with three artists, a curator, and a writer on the 25 most influential examples of American visual protest art since World War II. The angular, charged Panel 5 from Jacob Lawrence’s Struggle series made the list; you can see it next year at SAM.

Artemisia is headed to your TV: Artnet reports that a scripted series on the life of Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, based on Mary Garrard’s biography, heads into production next year.

From Artforum: Simone Leigh will represent the United States at the 2022 Venice Biennale. She will create a new series of sculptures for the US pavilion, which is being co-commissioned by Boston ICA director Jill Medvedow and chief curator Eva Respini.

“‘Over the course of two decades, Simone Leigh has created an indelible body of work that centers the experiences and histories of Black women and at such a crucial moment in history, I can think of no better artist to represent the United States,’ said Medvedow in a statement.”

And Finally

Dancing through Harlem.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations