♪♪
-Hi there, and welcome to the show.
I'm Nancy Guppy, coming to you from the Frye Art Museum,
where I'm standing in the midst of "Flying Woman:
The Paintings of Katherine Bradford."
Now, this exhibit, organized
by the Portland Museum of Art in Maine,
is Katherine's first museum survey,
and it is breathtaking.
38 paintings created between 1999 and 2021
fill three-plus rooms,
so it feels like an immersive experience.
At every turn, you are greeted with bold, thrilling,
delightful blasts of color and shape.
And Katherine's subject matter --
the places and people that she paints, swimmers,
superheroes, friends, family, strangers --
are depicted with empathy, humor, mystery,
and most important, love.
This show is not to be missed.
"Flying Woman: The Paintings of Katherine Bradford"
runs now through May 14th.
Hours and location to the always free Frye Art Museum
are at FryeMuseum.org.
We've got a great show for you, including...
plaster artist Dawn Bassett...
-And that's how you make a giant mess.
-...a new memoir from Eric Pitsenbarger...
...and music from a band called "Awesome."
-♪ I wanna live ♪ -Whoo!
-♪ Until I die ♪
-And we'll begin with Carolyn Hitt,
an artist and builder with a deep and dynamic commitment
to her local creative community.
-I just feel really compelled to create spaces
that are safe for people to exist
because I find that it's a very difficult world to exist in
if you're a little bit different.
So it's a compulsion.
If I have to put obsessive energy into anything --
because I can't necessarily make it go away,
so it has to be focused.
So this is how I've chosen to focus my energy.
Hello, friends.
I am a Seattle-based artist and community organizer.
I run a handful of art studios on Capitol Hill.
I'm a painter.
I do a little bit of small set design.
♪♪
I have been an artist
for probably as long as I can remember.
I mean, my earliest memories are of building blocks
and Lincoln Logs.
I always made little things.
I always, I mean, I've just always been an artist.
I feel like it was inevitable
that that's what I was going to be.
[ Electric saw whirring ]
There's a lot of house themes in my work,
and I think it's, like, my own...
It probably definitely stems to a childhood
of moving around a lot and not feeling that stability.
My creative process is to try to continuously be in the moment
and to allow the art to make itself.
I find that when I try to force any art,
that it's usually terrible.
♪♪
So much of my art is about connection.
It's about making sense of the vastness of the universe
and the complexity of our connection to everything.
You know, I put things out that are in various stages of,
eh, like, that's done enough.
Like, that seems done.
Like, the more abstract my work gets,
the less finished it ever is.
But some of my work is more graphic and linear
and has a start-to-finish puzzle situation.
It's like, ah, this is clearly done.
♪♪
I'm involved in a lot of things,
and I feel like I've built a lot of these things
out of purely my interests of, like,
oh, I want somewhere where I can build stuff.
I want somewhere where I can paint big,
but I don't want to be the only one there.
So, we'll just keep this. This is just my stuff.
I'll put it in my area of stuff.
-Of course. -[ Laughs ]
I like the camaraderie of community coming and going.
I like to create with other people
or collaborate with other people.
There's so much in the studio that's kind of my stuff,
but everybody's stuff, and then there's very few things
that are just my stuff.
♪♪
I currently run Blue Cone Studios,
and what's always been important for me
is community engagement.
In the style that I run it,
we host a number of, like, open drop-in nights,
a variety of those, you know, low barriers to access,
meaning that anybody can participate
if they can get here.
Tuesday, 6:00 to 9:00, Japera hosts ceramics.
-If you haven't gotten the pinecone,
you got to try the pinecone.
-This is so perfect for you. [ Chuckles ]
[ Indistinct chatter ]
♪♪
We have two other studios,
and I built them out, and I manage those.
So we're headed down to So Below Photo & Design,
which is another one of our studios,
where we built a dual corner cyclorama wall.
And I just finished a major remodel.
We built this studio in particular
to provide a unique photography/videography studio.
A handful of our clothing brands that we are connected with
shoot their products here.
We really wanted to make it affordable.
We really wanted to offer somewhere
for people to practice their craft.
♪♪
My future goals are definitely to acquire more space
so that we can support more artists.
I'm pretty proud of where I am in community.
I'm proud of the work that I do in community
and that I've managed to hold space
in a way that is important to the people that come.
♪♪
-Follow Carolyn on Instagram.
Catch her solo show opening May 11th at Vermillion Gallery.
See her work with other local artists
at On the Block Seattle,
a creative street marketplace every second Saturday,
May through October.
And drop by Blue Cone Studios
every second Thursday of the year-round
Capitol Hill Art Walk.
♪♪
Our music this week is from a concert that we shot in 2018.
The band is called "Awesome," and features
John Ackermann on mandolin and vocals,
Kirk Anderson on drums and vocals,
Basil Harris on bass,
Evan Mosher on trumpet and vocals,
David Nixon on banjo and vocals,
John Osebold on guitar and vocals,
and Rob Witmer on accordion.
Here's "Awesome" performing "Believe in Faith."
♪♪
-♪ I wanna live ♪
-Whoo!
-♪ Until I die ♪
♪ Life is a circle ♪
♪ Or something else round ♪
♪ And when I die ♪
♪ I won't be alive ♪
♪♪
♪ That's just the way it is ♪
[ Crowd cheers ]
♪♪
-♪ So touch my face ♪
♪ It's the one with the nose ♪
♪ No, that's my ear ♪
♪ But you're getting real close ♪
♪ Did you wash your hands? ♪
♪ 'Cause, baby, something smells weird ♪
♪♪
♪ I guess it's too late 'cause here come your hands ♪
♪♪
♪ Baby, I love you anyway ♪
♪♪
♪ 'Cause I got a hand fetish ♪
♪♪
♪ Ohhhh, this feeling ♪
♪ Ohhhh, there's no turning back ♪
♪ 'Cause tonight is the night ♪
♪ Everything's gonna be alright ♪
♪ Never give up the fight ♪
♪ Believe in faith ♪
[ Crowd cheers ]
♪♪
-♪ Well, lover, it's time ♪
♪ I got to leave ♪
♪ So kiss me goodbye ♪
♪ Then I'll go to the store ♪
♪ Well, please check this list ♪
♪ Did I forget anything? ♪
-Whoo!
-♪ I also need to go to the bank ♪
[ Crowd cheers ]
♪ I think I just got paid ♪
♪ And I need some of that money ♪
[ Laughter ]
♪ Ohhhh, this feeling ♪
♪ Ohhhh, there's no turning back ♪
♪ 'Cause tonight is the night ♪
♪ Everything's gonna be alright ♪
♪ Never give up the fight ♪
♪ Believe in faith ♪
[ Recorder solo ] [ Laughter ]
♪♪
-It's okay to cry. -[Bleep] brilliant, mate.
♪♪
-Whoo!
-John Ackermann on the recorder. -I'm not done yet.
I'm not done yet. -Oh, sorry.
He's still going, but wow, he's amazing.
-It's the long, skinny accordion.
-Yeah.
Incredible, incredible time.
-♪ This is the time ♪
-♪ This is the place ♪
♪ This is the moment ♪
♪ And this is the place ♪
[ Laughter ]
♪ This is the location ♪
♪ Of the aforementioned place ♪
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
♪ I love you, girl ♪ [ Laughter ]
-♪ I love you, girl ♪
-♪ Oh, I love you, girl ♪ -♪ Oh, I love you, girl ♪
-♪ I love you every... ♪ -♪ Girl, you're really special ♪
-♪ Oh, girl, I love you ♪
[ All singing indistinctly ]
-♪ Every rose has its thorn ♪
-♪ What's your price for flight? ♪
-♪ Just like every night has its dawn ♪
-♪ In finding Mister Right ♪
-♪ I'm going hungry ♪
-♪ You'll be alright tonight ♪
-♪ I can't fight this feeling ♪ -♪ I'm going hungry ♪
♪ Going hungry, yeah ♪
♪ Ohhhh, this feeling ♪
-♪ Oh, this feeling ♪
-♪ Ohhhh, there's no turning back ♪
-Sing it with us!
-♪ 'Cause tonight is the night ♪
♪ Everything's gonna be alright ♪
♪ Never give up the fight ♪
♪ Good niiiiiight ♪
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you, thank you!
Thank you, thank you.
-"Awesome" plays live on Sunday, April 30th
at Theatre Off Jackson.
Two shows, at 3:00 and 7:00.
Ticket information is at awesome.ticketleap.com.
Next up is Dawn Bassett, a visual artist
who works in the centuries-old medium of plaster,
both Venetian and Moroccan Tadelakt.
-I remember the very first time I tried to draw.
I was about 3, and my sister was 5.
And she, being older than me,
I thought was amazing at everything.
And I really wanted to be an awesome artist
like my sister.
It was about six or seven years ago,
I found some early ephemera of me and hers,
and she drew stick figures.
She was a 5-year-old,
but I thought she was so incredible.
And I guess that that was the inspiration.
It's something that I have always loved to do,
is playing with materials and drawing.
I worked in textiles for a long time.
I did custom lighting and lighting pieces.
And I hated it, but I was really good at it.
But it was never for me.
It's so finicky and delicate,
and you have to be clean, clean, clean.
And then I met plaster something like 20 years ago,
and it was brutal,
and you have to put your whole body into it.
And I like that I get to play with mud for a living
and be messy, and I like that it's layers.
And that's how you make a giant mess.
There's many different kinds of plasters.
I have, for 20 years, worked in finish-grade plasters,
lime-based plasters like Marmorino,
Venetian plasters, and Tadelakt in specific
is a Moroccan plaster and it is just exceptional.
It is made using a lot of the similar materials
as a Marmorino or a Venetian plaster,
but it also has an obsidian glass ground into it.
It's been in the hands of men for a long time, plaster,
and they've been using it the same way --
either to fresco or as wall finishes.
But it's so much more than that.
And Tadelakt in specific can be so much more than that.
Just the way it works,
the different finishes you can get,
how you can see the particulates in it.
So, it really -- it really looks like stone.
We don't even know what it can do yet.
And that's one of the things I love about my medium,
is it's ancient and incredibly experimental.
The way you're going to get a specific texture
or visual effect with the plaster is with time.
So, whether or not you're going to burnish it,
leave it matte, whatever.
That drying process is integral
because you have to catch it at the right time
before you put your full weight in it
and burnish it and burnish it
and then get the effect you want.
I need the time in between.
I need the time to think about it
and to step away and really look at it
and let it fully cure
so that I understand how the next layer is going to interact.
Letting plaster layers dry has allowed me to go for walks,
and now that I have a daughter, to spend time with her.
Yeah.
April 11th, Violet Viper Bassett was born
and she is already a force to be reckoned with,
and it's been the best
because she reminded me that's what I was.
And I went through this really horrible loss before her.
And I used to not be able to look in the mirror
'cause I didn't see myself.
And I found this picture of
when I was doing stand-up in the Village in New York,
and I was like 22 years old and I was a force, you know?
And she is that.
And it's just such a pleasure and a delight to be around.
But yeah, it's the best decision I ever made, making that kid.
My whole body of work right now that I'm working on
until about May is called Time in a Bottle.
And all my pieces are about time 'cause it's my biggest enemy.
It doesn't play by any rules.
If you want more of it, there's less of it.
If you want it to stop, it goes faster.
If you want it to go faster, it slows down.
I went through a brutal heartbreak and loss,
and I don't understand.
You know, that happened in the same chunk of time
that I decided to use a donor and have my daughter,
and now there's all these moments
I want to freeze and keep forever.
But there were all these times where it wouldn't go fast enough
to help the heartbreak go away.
Or now it's like going so fast that I just had my kid,
but she's not a baby anymore.
She's going to be walking, and that's a blip.
And plaster is all about time.
It's so ancient and it'll be here forever.
It doesn't bleach. It doesn't fade.
When I make a piece, it's always very personal to me,
these thoughts or these memories I put into stone.
And the only meaning that they have
is if someone happens to engage with a piece I have
and they feel something.
♪♪
I go by "Monster" a lot of times
because monsters are just a creature
that you don't understand, that has incredible powers,
that everyone wants to destroy.
And I think that's how I've felt my whole life.
I'm not a princess. I'm not a hero.
I'm just a monster.
And I want to be in my lair and breathe fire and make magic.
If you're the scariest thing,
like, what do you have to be afraid of?
And I really, like, I feel like that I'm not afraid of anything.
♪♪
The lake is crystal clear, especially in the winter.
And I hate being cold,
but there's just this charge that happens
when you get in the water at whatever temperature,
and so I swim year-round.
And I do it in the morning.
No one else is up.
There's bald eagles down there that know me now.
They won't move. They'll be like 4 feet from me
on a branch by the lake, and it feels like
how people should live -- swimming in the cold,
and then you get out and you feel so alive
and you come in here and you play with mud.
I mean, I hazard to guess if anyone did this
for a month of their life,
that it wouldn't totally change how they feel about everything.
-Right now at Vetri,
we're showing the work of Dawn Bassett.
Dawn is somebody that has been working
in the medium of Tadelakt plaster,
and she's using it in a way that is very different
from anything that I've seen really anywhere.
She's able to take the things and the images out of her mind
that she wants to create and expertly create them.
And I think that's the difference with her work,
is that it's informed by what image she's trying to create,
but it's also informed by what the material will allow.
And it's her relationship with the material
that is a partnership
and making all the pieces that are in the gallery.
I think Dawn's career is headed in a global direction,
towards showing in more and more galleries
and working more and more in the studio.
This is what she's been working towards for so many years.
-When I think about where my work is going,
I've always said this,
and I don't care if people think I'm crazy --
I want Gagosian by 45.
And by that I mean I want a world stage for plaster.
I won't stop. I don't stop.
And I know that this material has so much to say.
And that's five years from now.
And what I'm going to be making in five years
is going to be crazy.
As long as people just get out of my way, it's happening.
♪♪
-Follow Dawn on Instagram
and see her new show,
"Oxides + Pigments," at Vetri
opening Thursday, May 4th.
For hours and location, go to vetriglass.com.
We want to give a shout-out to Eric Pitsenbarger,
a Seattle-based artist and writer
who has published a charming memoir called
"Beaujolais in My Blood:
Growing Up Gay and Well-Fed in a Family-Run French Restaurant."
I asked Eric for a brief description of the book,
and this is what he said.
"'Beaujolais in my Blood' is written from the perspective
of my disgruntled and closeted teenage self
and is a revealing, often humorous account
of a complex family story
intertwined with the creation of a legacy French restaurant
in the rustic world of 1970s Mendocino, California.
In addition to celebrating a new way of life
eating fresh, well-prepared food --
what is now referred to as farm-to-table --
this coming-of-age and coming-out adventure
includes eccentric locals, movie stars,
the revelation of a dark family secret, and true love."
"Beaujolais in My Blood:
Growing Up Gay and Well-Fed in a Family-Run French Restaurant"
is available at ericneilpitsenbarger.vom.
And meet Eric in person on Tuesday, April 25th
at Book Larder in Fremont;
Tuesday, May 9th at Third Place Books in Seward Park;
and Friday, May 19th at Café Beaujolais
in Eric's hometown of Mendocino, California.
And that's a wrap.
Endless thanks to the Frye Art Museum for hosting us.
And a reminder that "Flying Woman:
The Paintings of Katherine Bradford"
runs now through May 14th.
Also at the Frye,
"Marsden Hartley: An American Nature"
runs through May 21st.
And a fabulous exhibit,
"The Third, Meaning:
ESTAR(SER) Installs the Frye Collection,"
is on view through October 15th.
And thanks to you for tuning in.
Have a great week, and we'll see you soon.
♪♪
-♪ You can get a bunk bed at Mervyn's for 499 ♪
♪♪
♪ Tadpoles are not the same as minnows, and that's alright ♪
♪ I ♪
♪ I am the boy from Lam Kien Salon ♪
♪ I ♪
♪ I am the boy from Lam Kien Salon ♪
♪ I ♪
♪ I am the boy from Lam Kien Salon ♪
♪ I ♪
♪ I am the boy from Lam Kien Salon ♪
[ Ding ]
[ Cheers and applause ]