♪♪
-Hi there and welcome to the show.
I'm Nancy Guppy, coming to you this week
from the new and truly spectacular
Cannonball Arts.
Located in the old Bed Bath & Beyond building
in downtown Seattle,
Cannonball Arts is a contemporary art center
that runs the gamut.
Lots of visual art, of course.
Paintings, sculpture, murals, installations,
and an indoor sculpture park
fill out the entire two-story, 66,000-square-foot space.
Then there is the virtual reality dark ride experience.
A rideable soft-form sculpture in hot pink...
...a five-ton cedar log
being carved into a dugout canoe...
...an electronics department...
...a gift shop packed with one-of-a-kind, must-have items
like this vase stuffed with superballs
and a flexible performance stage
that can accommodate pretty much anything,
including wrestling.
That's right, I said wrestling.
Put it all together, and Cannonball Arts
is a vibrantly alive and constantly evolving
hub of creativity and good old fashioned fun.
Learn more about Cannonball and their partnership
with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe
at Cannonballarts.com.
We have a great lineup for you, including...
-I love colors.
-...Fiber Arts in Ballard...
-I love curating how colors play together,
and I like having a space small enough
that you can really kind of have a point of view.
-...the iconic Gaylen Hansen...
...and music from Bow and Yarrow.
-♪ Diving into this salty ocean but I keep on coming up ♪
♪ So I let go, I float with flow ♪
-And we'll begin with artist, curator
and passionate advocate for the local arts community,
Tommy Gregory.
♪♪
-...to Fairbanks, please make your way to...
-Public art is important for so many reasons.
Seeing things that are made by another person
that didn't exist before --
it's something that's just inherently human.
There's something in us
that reminds us of our kind of wonder.
♪♪
My name is Tommy Gregory.
I'm the Senior Manager and Curator
for the Port of Seattle's Public Art Program.
I was born in Houston, Texas.
I went to undergraduate at the University of Houston.
I was really lucky to have a diverse group of art specialists
as instructors who would introduce me to public art.
One of them, notably, Luis Jiménez,
who was infamous for doing the Denver Mustang.
I was also his studio assistant in Hondo, New Mexico,
and I worked on that infamous Mustang.
So that was my intro to knowing that public art could be a job.
And that led me to going into grad school for sculpture,
because I wanted to be a public artist.
I was the Houston Airport's first curator.
Seattle, you know, graciously brought me over from Houston.
I landed in November of 2018,
started work the next morning and haven't stopped since,
[Chuckles] to be honest.
♪♪
We're in the Checkpoint 1 zone right now.
Day two of installation.
We selected 22 works of art integrated into a dividing wall.
Predominantly Pacific Northwest artists.
Blown glass, sculpted steel, carved wood.
A little something for everybody.
I have a vision that I think is...
very much an homage to how it started.
I think that the collection started in a smart way
with the Nevelson and the Rauschenberg and the Stella,
these major heavy-hitters
that are nationally and internationally known
mixed in with very prominent Pacific Northwest artists
like James Washington Jr. and Francis Celentano.
This is a collection that started very pure.
They got work that looked like art.
It didn't look like public art.
They let artists be artists.
[ Man speaking indistinctly over PA ]
We are at -- near Gate A11
and the A gates,
real close to the iconic Cappy Thompson.
The artist we're looking at is Dan Friday.
Dan is extremely well known in the Pacific Northwest.
A strong indigenous artist
who is predominantly a glassblower.
This is one of his rare neon pieces.
We're walking by a relocated Robert Rauschenberg piece,
and then we're coming up on Peter Shelton,
who has one of the biggest site-specific installations
in the airport's collection.
These are bronze, and these are resin elements above us.
And somebody who grew up in the Pacific Northwest,
John Geise.
"Infinity Column."
And it was commissioned in 1973.
So this piece has been lit since the '70s.
These shapes are influenced by the mountains
of the Pacific Northwest.
"York Factory A" from 1972 by Frank Stella.
It's noticed worldwide,
so that's a statement piece that Seattle's like,
"Look what we put into an airport."
I don't think there's another airport in the country
that has a Frank Stella painting of that scale
hanging prominently on display for all to see.
I looked at my job as, um,
come in and recognize what was here before
and then try to maintain or elevate that.
I try to start out opportunities for artists
with my team that I have here at the airport.
Grace Flott, Andy Arkley...
That means creating more opportunities for artists
to be in this legacy that has started since the '70s,
but also to just raise the bar.
Now the de la Torres were selected for this restroom.
They are the first Chicano artists in the collection.
There's handblown glass elements.
It's called a lenticular. It has two images in one.
So as you move, it animates the image.
What can we do that no other airport in the country
or the world is doing?
I think that the public feels it.
The people who come in here,
they see things that, you know, they might see in a museum,
or they might see in a gallery.
Everybody looks at it and they see
a standard that's set here.
-We literally are one of the largest
airport art programs in the US.
We're getting a lot of inquiries from airports around the world
and in the US about our program.
-There's not an artist I've worked with
in my six and a half years here
who hasn't just thrown the kitchen sink of their energy
and their ideas
at trying to succeed in being a part
of this kind of storied collection.
And you can always tell when somebody likes it,
because there's already fingerprints all over it.
I feel like I'm a good conduit
between the artist that we're contracted with.
I'm also somebody who has an ongoing
and a constant studio practice.
I'd say my three favorite mediums right now would be, um,
neon, bronze, and then the occasional printmaking.
-We're very fortunate to have him.
He's a very, very high caliber artist.
He's not someone we just assigned to the program
and said, "You're responsible for art,"
but he is a professional artist himself
and a wonderful curator for the program.
-I'm cutting them all to a similar dimension
and...just seeing how they work on a pattern
that will eventually be
approximately four foot in diameter,
a kind of nurse log.
It's Yale Wolf Studio here in Seattle.
He's kind enough to let me bend a few things with him.
I try to hit all of the studios
and all of the open -- uh, gallery openings.
Keeping a finger on the pulse, basically,
of what artists are doing in this town.
[ Bell jingles ]
Excited about these shows.
Three in one night,
25 artists from all over Seattle.
For the most part, light-based artists and, um,
you know, bringing light.
This is my neighborhood.
Probably the best place I've ever lived.
♪♪
There is a vibrant art community here that is --
I think it just needs to be, like, you know,
brought up a little bit, so I take that --
That's my responsibility in my position
is to get to know the community,
to be a part of it.
-...at our community exhibit.
It's a show that's curated by Tommy Gregory.
-Is Tommy here? -[ Cheers and applause ]
-Where's Tommy? Thank you, Tommy.
-Sorry, everybody. One more thing.
If you are down to hit,
there's two more shows in Columbia City.
I want to always represent my position here
as somebody who is going to generate opportunities
to elevate the local and regional artists.
So please join us, follow Question Mark Guy.
Enjoy the show.
[ Applause ]
I work with as many, um,
collaborative teams and fabricators
just to learn.
I can't hear you! -[ Cheers and applause ]
Make some noise if you love Rainier Arts Center!
[ Cheers and applause ]
I think me being an artist
has allowed me the behind-the-scenes look
into those -- those folks
who've been waiting for this opportunity for years.
We've got artists who are kind of
hometown heroes in a way.
My hope is when people come to the airport
that it's not something they could ignore.
Drawing to painting, to ceramics, to carved wood.
I think that we've been so intentional
with where we put things
that people are going to feel the art in this airport.
It's going to be undeniable.
Hopefully it makes them see the world
a little bit differently.
It should just make you feel not alone.
You're a human being, and you're traveling through
a visually cultural, strong destination.
♪♪
-Witness Tommy's curatorial eyes throughout Sea-Tac Airport
and follow his personal art journey
at Tommygregory.com.
Our band this week is the fun and refreshing Bow and Yarrow,
featuring Mari Ichimasu, Tony Fantozzi and Bob Lovelace.
Well, here they are performing "Salty Sea"
from the Sunset Tavern stage.
♪♪
-♪ I woke up in the morning feeling tangled ♪
♪ Life is not the same since you were gone ♪
♪ Walking on a path to the shore ♪
♪ Feeling my heartbeat ♪
♪ The wind is cold ♪
♪♪
♪ Twilight has come ♪
♪ Indigo will take on ♪
♪ Stars shining bright ♪
♪ Sing their ancient songs ♪
♪ Night owls speak back ♪
♪ Echoes through the rain forest ♪
♪ The moon light is so kind ♪
♪ They stay by my side ♪
-♪ All night along ♪
♪ Salty Sea ♪
-♪ Diving into this salty ocean but I keep on coming up ♪
♪ So I let go, I float with flow ♪
♪ Keshiki ni Toketeku ♪
♪ Twilight has come ♪
♪ Indigo will take on ♪
♪ Stars shining bright ♪
♪ Sing their ancient songs ♪
♪ Night owls speak back ♪
♪ Echoes through the rain forest ♪
♪ The moon light is so kind ♪
♪ They stay by my side ♪
-♪ All night along ♪
♪ Salty Sea ♪
♪♪
-♪ Twilight has come ♪
♪ Indigo will take on ♪
♪ Stars shining bright ♪
♪ Sing their ancient songs ♪
♪ Night owls speak back ♪
♪ Echoes through the rain forest ♪
♪ The moon light is so kind ♪
♪ They stay by my side ♪
-♪ All night along ♪
♪ Salty Sea ♪
♪♪
-"Salty Sea" on Bow and Yarrow's self-titled EP
is available as a download from Bandcamp,
and catch Mari and Tony playing live as a duo
at Eastlake Avenue's Funhouse
on Thursday, January 22nd, 2026.
♪♪
Tucked behind a charming brick storefront
in the Ballard neighborhood is Wool Friends,
a Mecca for textile and fiber art enthusiasts.
-We are a maker space for fiber and textile arts,
so we have members who pay a monthly fee
to get to come and use the looms
and the spinning wheels and the sewing machines,
and then we do workshops open to the public
for people to learn how to do all those arts.
Because we're a new business, a lot of our workshops
are focused on the introductory level.
So getting people into the arts
and learning how to use all the equipment.
♪♪
-My name is Pam Uchida.
I'm a fiber lover, textile lover.
I sew, I knit and I crochet, and I've always wanted to weave.
You learn something different from each teacher.
-So when you're done with that, come to the table.
In the meantime, I'm going to do a little research.
-She really stressed how you just keep going forward.
She said, "So if you lose your way,
pick a thread, any thread."
She said that over and over and it worked.
[ Laughs ]
That was the coolest part.
I like how your brain and your entire body
is involved in the process.
You have this yarn and you can pick any one you want,
and then you make what's in your head,
rather than buying something that's almost what you want,
but not quite.
You get to fashion it from scratch,
and that's very satisfying.
-I love color,
so color's like my --
I call it my love language.
I love curating how colors play together,
and I like having a space small enough
that you can really kind of have a point of view.
-So if you're spinning a really fine single,
you can move this back and forth and pull towards you,
and it'll tighten up. -Oh, there it is. Okay.
And then you can pull this way. -Uh-huh. Yeah.
-Okay.
♪♪
-My name is Joselle Garfias, and I've been doing yarn work
since I was in middle school --
knitting, sewing, and recently I got into weaving.
-[ Inaudible ] -Correct.
-I consider myself a lifelong learner,
so I'm always learning something.
And this is something new and exciting.
It's really fun.
-So up and around, up and around
and a little longer tail.
And now just spin it with your fingers.
Beautiful! Keep going.
-Well, when you're first starting,
there's a lot of, you know, mental activity --
move this first, this goes here, this goes there.
But then as you start getting better at it,
there's kind of a zen place that you get to
where it is really calming.
It's really soothing.
I spent all week at work going, "I can't wait to weave,"
and so I think that I'm going to be doing this for a long time.
-I am really interested in storytelling,
and by having all of those crafts together,
you can really learn the story
of how fiber gets converted into fabric
and other kinds of projects.
We want to be a safe space for people to come and explore
and feel creative and inspired.
-Learn more about Wool Friends and their classes
at wool-friends.com
And that's a wrap.
A big, warm thank you to Cannonball Arts
and their fabulous staff for hosting us.
This groovy joint is open Wednesday through Sunday.
For hours, location, exhibit and event information,
go to Cannonballarts.com.
We're going to leave you with Woodside/Braseth Gallery's
retrospective exhibit of paintings
by the extraordinary artist Gaylen Hansen.
FYI, at 104 years old,
Gaylen was at the opening night reception
and continues to paint in his Whidbey Island studio
every single day.
He's an amazing guy,
and his show is up through December 1st.
Enjoy, and we'll see you soon.
♪♪