♪♪
-Hi there, and welcome to the show.
I'm Nancy Guppy, coming to you from Gallery Mack,
which this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Located just north of Pike Place Market
on Western Avenue,
Gallery Mack was founded in 1974 by Barbara Mack,
with a the mission to represent contemporary art
from established and up-and-coming artists
all living in and around the Pacific Northwest.
In its 50-year history,
this beloved Seattle institution has captivated visitors
with stunning paintings as well as
though-provoking sculptures in a wide array of materials
including glass, wood, and bronze.
The gallery has also, from its inception,
emphasized community by encouraging collaboration
and creative exchange among artists,
art enthusiasts, and collectors.
Gallery Mack is open Wednesday through Saturday 11:00 to 5:00,
and by appointment Sunday through Tuesday.
More information is at gallerymack.com.
We've got a great lineup for you, including...
Mural Masters in Burien...
...a slate of summer fun...
...and a new release from the great Sarah Rudinoff.
And we'll begin with a snappy new edition of "NARF."
-It's time now for "NARF,"
"Neighborhood Adventure Ramble With Friends,"
with your host, Jed Dunkerley.
♪♪
-Hi there. This is Jed Dunkerley.
Welcome back to "NARF."
And we're here at the Frye Art Museum on First Hill
for perhaps the artiest "NARF" possible in the city of Seattle.
We're going to walk from the Frye
down to the SAM, Seattle Art Museum,
through the Commercial Core.
And in the process, we're going to hop on some POPS.
Now, POPS are, of course, privately owned public spaces.
You can learn more about them at Seattle.gov's
Department of Construction and Inspection website.
But today we're going to learn about some history, some art,
have some fun.
Alright. Let's go get NARFin'.
Here we are at Saint James Cathedral, opened in 1907,
featuring a delightful little courtyard
that'll take you right back to old Europe.
Then in 1999,
the addition of these massive bronze doors,
sculpted by Ulrich Henn,
who also did the doors at the National Cathedral
in Washington, D.C.
Here we are at Freeway Park, built in 1976.
This is 5.2 acres of brutalism and nature.
What's not to love?
Plus, rated as one of the seven
best parkour locations in the world
by the World Freerunning and Parkour Federation.
♪♪
I'm really good at parkour.
[ Notes trilling ]
Here we are at one of the POPS.
This is built into Seattle's building code
for large urban construction projects.
They are required
or encouraged to have privately owned public space,
often with nice places to sit and public art.
Enjoy. This is yours.
♪♪
Here we are at the Washington State Convention Center,
next to one of what I think is the most poignant
sculptural installations in all of Seattle,
a work by Buster Simpson known as the George Monument.
What you've got is a Boeing nose cone
from which grows ivy around a trellis
in the shape of Chief Seattle,
then cut back by a negative profile wind vane
in the shape of George Washington's face.
Cultural assimilation. Public art.
Seattle.
Now, the Commercial Core has
an abundance of public sculptures.
For instance, "Urban Garden" by Ginny Ruffner.
♪♪
Here we are in the plaza of the IBM building.
This is the site of the former Seattle Ice Arena,
home of the Stanley Cup champion Seattle Metropolitans.
And what we've got here is a bronze fountain
by a guy named James Herbert Fitzgerald,
who in his era in the 1960s, was the Dale Chihuly of his time.
He worked in bronze. Here it sits.
♪♪
-Here we are in front of the downtown library.
Behind me I've got a fountain by George Tsutakawa
in 1960 called "The Fountain of Wisdom," which,
as you can see, is flowing mightily here in 2024.
No American urban center would be complete
without a sculpture by Henry Moore.
This one's called "Three Piece Sculpture #3: Vertebrae."
Here we are at Second and Madison.
A seminal work by Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero,
installed here by real estate developer Martin Selig.
He owns "Eve" too, but her location is undisclosed.
♪♪
Okay, well, our NARF ends here
at the Seattle Art Museum on First Avenue,
home of the iconic Jonathan Borofsky sculpture,
"The Hammering Man."
But your NARF doesn't have to.
We here at NARF Industries invite you to continue to go out
and find, explore, adventure in your neighborhood.
See the art, the history,
the culture and the communities that make Seattle great.
Happy NARFing.
♪♪
-Murals activate public spaces,
especially in urban areas.
Case in point -- the seventh installment of Mural Masters
in beautiful downtown Burien.
♪♪
-Mural Masters is an annual street art
and graffiti event here in Burien, Washington.
This is the seventh year of it,
and we are back now after a five-year break.
We have 15 to 20 artists painting different walls
around the city of Burien,
and mostly down the alleyway of 152nd Street
between 4th and Ambaum.
♪♪
-We want to make pedestrian walkways more accessible.
We want people to be walking and feeling safe.
And so if you have a beautiful area like a mural
and people are taking pictures,
they're more likely to walk through
and eat at restaurants and shop at local stores
and just be in the neighborhood, use public transit.
And those are the things that I feel
make a really successful neighborhood.
♪♪
-We're painting a beautiful mural of the birth of a spirit.
So it's kind of emulating the center source
and us coming from the center source
outwards as separate spirits.
If you're really looking at it,
the center portal source is really where everything
and all the energy emulates from.
And as we grow further, we go further into the unknown.
Communication is a big part of this work,
and I feel that this is the loudest way I can communicate.
So, having a larger and larger space
to communicate this really is vital to the work,
to the life, to the message itself.
♪♪
-I grew up in Vietnam.
I lived right across the street from a movie theater,
and I've always been visually stimulated.
I was asked by Sam Sneke, a close friend of mine
for 30 years now.
He called me up like, "Hey, I heard you're doing murals.
Do you want to be a part of this Mural Masters?"
I'm like, yeah, I would love to. It's summertime.
You know, what a great time to be a part of something.
♪♪
-There's mural tours now that are happening
around the country, around the world, probably.
And these mural events, you know, they're everywhere now.
And when we started it, there was only like three.
I see its value as adding energy to the streets,
you know, having things for people to look at,
you know, bright images and things like that,
as opposed to, you know,
gray, brown, beige, you know, types of walls.
I mean, that professional look is okay,
but it's okay to add some color.
♪♪
I've always drawn.
I always draw on stuff that's from inside of me,
and I think it's inside of a lot of people.
♪♪
-The Burien murals will remain up through summer 2025.
Location information is at muralmasters.org.
And now a few events for your summer calendar.
Hop a ferry to Bremerton
for a visit to the magical world of Elandan Gardens.
Created by Dan and Diane Robinson in 1993,
this eight-acre garden, built on an old landfill,
features 350 bonsai trees,
wooden snags, stalactites,
and a gift shop stocked with one-of-a-kind items
from all around the world.
Open Thursday through Sunday, 10:00 to 4:00.
The Seattle Recycled Arts Juried Art Show is back
for the eighth year, with an exhibit showcasing
over 65 delightful works by 43 artists.
The only rule, per usual,
is that the materials used have to be used.
Runs now through August 24th
at Fogue Studios and Gallery in Georgetown.
And finally, if you like Shakespeare and you like parks,
Seattle Shakespeare Company's outdoor play program
"Wooden O" is not to be missed.
Family-friendly and always free,
this year's offering, "The Two Gentlemen of Verona,"
is being performed in public parks
throughout the Puget Sound region.
Locations and dates are at seattleshakespeare.org.
♪♪
And that's a wrap!
Big thanks to Gallery Mack for hosting us,
and a heartfelt congratulations
on their 50th anniversary.
To plan your visit, go to gallerymack.com.
And we're going to leave you on a musical note.
Powerhouse performer Sarah Rudinoff
recently released "Together," an album of favorite songs
she has sung from a wide variety of genres,
including jazz, blues, musical theater, and rock and roll.
In addition to the great music, "Together" is, at its heart,
a celebration of collaboration and the talented people
Sarah has worked with for over 30 years.
"Together" is available at togetheralbum.com.
And mark your calendar
for the record release show happening Friday, July 26th
at the Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill.
So, here are Sarah Rudinoff and Gretta Harley
rehearsing their original song "I'll Meet You Here."
Enjoy, have a great summer, and we'll see you in the fall.
♪♪
-♪ Well, I'll meet you here like the very first time ♪
♪ No, let's not go back to the dying vine ♪
♪ I won't drink from your wishing well, I said ♪
♪ I wish you well, I wish you well ♪
♪ Trace this line to somewhere inside ♪
♪ Stand right here, maybe let's not decide ♪
♪ I said no, you said yes ♪
♪ I said no, I said yes, and you go ♪
♪ What will be when so much came before ♪
♪ Horizons, ah, horizons will change ♪
♪ Didn't guess I'd be headed for sundown ♪
[ Singing indistinctly ]
♪ Not falling, it's not falling today ♪
♪ Bet you didn't guess I'd be all a mess ♪
[ Singing indistinctly ]
♪ Freefall ♪
♪ Freefalling your way ♪
♪♪
♪ Turn around, it looks different from inside ♪
♪ So much flying by I embrace the ride and I'm ♪
♪ Freefalling ♪
♪ Freefalling this way ♪
♪ Turn around, it looks different from inside ♪
♪ So much flying by, I embrace the ride and I'm ♪
♪ Freefall ♪
♪♪
[ Both chuckle ]
Yeah!
-Nice. Beautiful, you guys. That was great.
♪♪