Technological Transitions: Historical Artifacts from the Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum is an historical look at policing technology and equipment used by SPD throughout the history of the city of Seattle. Eighteen images include historical badges, weapons, and montages of past and present equipment. Images are set on a solid black background and include a description of the item and why it was used at the time. All of the actual historical items and their history were supplied by the Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum, a non-profit organization in downtown Seattle.

The second project, Contemporary Portraits of the Men and Women of the Seattle Police Department, consists of 26 black-and-white portraits of police department employees with more than 35 years of service, as well as recent award recipients. The awardees included in this exhibition are some of the many employees recognized for their hard work, bravery and dedication to the citizens of Seattle.

The SPD photography unit photographed all images in this collection.

IMAGE: Portrait of­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ SPD Pipe & Drum Members, 2012, black and white photograph, 26″  X 36″. Photo courtesy of the Seattle Police Department.

SPU purchased three masks by Daniel Morsett, Jr., a young Coast Salish artist in his 20s who has been carving since the age of 16. His alder, acrylic, abalone and horse-hair Bear Shaman Mask is stylistically carved and adorned. This mask depicts the moment the shaman is transforming into a bear. Coast Salish artist Ruth Peterson’s Salish Serpents Comb is a meticulously carved panel giving homage to ancient Salish weaving traditions. The double comb depicted in the artwork was historically used to push the warp and weft threads on loomed blankets. The serpent was used on weaving tools to prevent tangles in the yarn. Also on view is the serigraph print Symphony of Butterflies by Susan Point. This print is uniquely contemporary with its flourish of butterfly wings. However, Susan still incorporates her ancestral design elements into her work to keep it distinctively Salish.

“This exhibition features both traditional and contemporary artwork by some of the most influential Native American artists in the region,” states Curator and Collections Manager Deborah Paine. Artists in the exhibition are: Lawrence “Ulaaq” R. Ahvakana, Dennis Allen, Trevor Angus, Rande Cook, Allie High, Maynard Johnny Jr., James Lavadour, Daniel Morsette Jr., Andy Peterson, Ruth Peterson, Shaun Peterson, Susan Point, Mark Preston and Thomas Stream.

SPU’s collection is exhibited throughout the utility’s offices, engaging its employees and visitors by helping to create an interesting and diverse work environment. The purchase was made possible with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds.

IMAGES:
Susan Point, Symphony of Butterflies, 2006, serigraph print, 33” x 27”. Photo by Bob Mathieson.

Daniel Morsette, Jr.; Bear Shaman Mask; 2012; alder acrylic, abalone, horse hair; 31”h x 11”w x 5.5”d. Photo courtesy of Stonington Gallery

Ruth Peterson, Salish Serpents Comb, 2012, carved panel, 25” x 9”. Photo courtesy of the Steinbrueck Gallery.

Shefrin’s Food Drops in Afghanistan depicts women collecting food parcels dropped by the Bush administration in 2001. Above the scene, she has stitched the contents of one of the humanitarian daily rations, or HDRs. “I stitched Food Drops in Afghanistan in compassion for the Afghani people who have done no wrong, and in distress about the bombing, and about the travesty of airline meals as food aid.”

Conversation, a series of watercolors by DeCaro, features a young girl in the foreground with silhouettes of adults in the background. DeCaro states, “My interest in creating the Conversation suite was to relate an idea in the form of a sequence, as if it were a video.”

Artist included in the exhibition are Marsha Burns, Claire Cowie, Pat DeCaro, Jody Isaacson, Fay Jones, Deborah Lawrence, Sherry Markovitz, Anne Mathern, Liza Von Rosenstiel, Sima Elizabeth Shefrin and Barbara Earl Thomas.

“The narrative artworks in this exhibition can be explicit or mysterious, suggestive or didactic, political or humorous,” explains Curatorial Assistant Blake Haygood, who selected the pieces for Women’s Stories from the city’s Portable Works Collection. “The show features only a few of the many women in the collection, but it shows the strength and variety of work and highlights some lesser known artists alongside more established names.”

IMAGES: Pat DeCaro, Conversation, 1999-2000, watercolor on paper; Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, Food Drops in Afghanistan, 2001, fabric appliqué and quilting; Fay Jones, Untitled, 1982, acrylic on paper.

The exhibition reflects the dynamics of current Ethiopian artistic movements both in the country and among the diaspora. The show also also presents current artistic philosophies among individual artists and groups. Unlike the traditionally known and religiously themed Ethiopian style, this body of work deals with personal, social, historical and psychological subject matters.

Artists included in the exhibition are: Admassu Addisu, Kerima Ahmed, Atakilt Assefa, Nebeyou Assefa, Seyoum Ayalew, Getachew Brihanu, Meseret Desta, Mekibib Gebretasadik, Fasika Moges, and Melaku Tesfaye.

Images: Untitled (Detail), Melaku Tesfaye, acrylic on canvas; Untitled, Seyoum Ayalew, acrylic on canvas.

Remember Haiti offers a vision of Haiti through the eyes of artists Olivia Pendergast, Robert Horton and Eric D. Salisbury. Pendergrast spent months in Haiti before the earthquake to capture the spirit and culture of the people. Horton and Salisbury went to Haiti one year after the earthquake as part of a mission trip organized by Of One Body, a Seattle nonprofit organization. Horton and Salisbury’s art shares the strife, chaos and sadness of lives changed and lives lost.

Remember Haiti will consist of approximately 36 works in watercolor, acrylics and sumi ink drawings. Information will be available on how to make a difference in the lives of those affected by the earthquake.

 Image: Olivia Pendergast, Red Jumper Orphanage 1, 2011, oil, 36” x 36”. Photo courtesy of the artist.

An opening reception will be 3 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 24, at City Hall’s Boards and Commissions Conference Room L280.

Consisting of 40 photographs by 12 artists, Our Children, Our Voices reveals perspectives of local Somali youth on cross-cultural identity, citizenship, education, assimilation and immigration. Through oral histories and photography, the multi-layered narrative focuses on early childhood education and first-generation youth and highlights the agency, activism and self-representation of these two groups.

Also on view are portraits of community members and project participants by Garoutte. Garoutte, along with Saheed Yinka Adejumobi, Gurey Faarah, Hodan Sheikh and Nafiso Samatar, created this community-driven documentary endeavor over the past two years.

The work was inspired by an interdisciplinary, community-based research project of Seattle University faculty and members of the Somali/Oromo Cultural and Character Education Group and Neighborhood House at Yesler Terrace, a part of Seattle Housing Authority. The project identified the need for better cross-cultural dialog with the larger Seattle community and discussion on child rearing, identity and education within the Somali community.

Image: Ahmed Abdi, Portrait of Omar, 2011, 16 x 20 in., inkjet print. Taken during a summer photography workshop at Seattle University for Somali first generation youth.

Ever wonder what happens to old pull tabs from aluminum cans, the wire off champagne corks, or that old lathe from a room remodel? Well, wonder no more. You’ll find these and many other objects reclaimed by several artists and put to good use in the exhibition Reclaimed: Artists Working with Recycled or Repurposed Materials. The exhibition is on view through June 1 at Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery.

Reclaimed highlights 16 artworks by 10 artists, including Lawrence Beck, Ross Palmer Beecher, Evan Blackwell, Diem Chau, Marita Dingus, Julia Haack, Meng Huang, Kate Hunt, Deborah Lawrence and Marie Watt.

In Tracks 2 (2009), Haack salvaged the lathe from old houses being torn down and reworked the rough-hewn wood into brightly painted, dimensional wall pieces. Beecher gathered tin cans and bottle caps then cut and wove the tossed debris into motifs in Candy Cobweb Quilt (2003). In The Disposable Heroes series (2005), Blackwell used thrown-away materials such as plastic forks or those iconic, red plastic cups and melted them to form life-sized heads.

City Curator and Collections Manager Deborah Paine selected the artworks from the city’s Portable Works Collection. Nine of the artworks were recently purchased by the Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) Solid Waste Division using SPU 1% for Art funds.

Image: Marita Dingus, Quilt (detail), 2000, recycled fabrics, 62″ x 36″. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Both the city of Seattle and King County have collected artwork for more than 40 years. “Enduring Clay” showcases a total of 43 artworks by 28 regional ceramic artists including Howard Kottler, Robert Sperry, Akio Takamori and Patti Warashina. The exhibition demonstrates the diversity of expressions in clay and the various techniques that continue to expand ceramics as a fine art medium.

Tiles and concave shallow bowls by Sperry highlight his innovative use of slips and glazes. The figurative constructions of Sperry’s widow, Warashina, showcase her love of the human form.  Much like Warashina, Takamori uses stoneware clay and underglaze to give his sleeping figures a life-like appearance. Malia Jensen and Kinu Watanabe, each use pillow-like shapes that are neither soft nor comforting in their hard, ceramic surfaces. While Watanabe creates intricate slip drawings on her shaped forms, Jensen’s shiny porcelain surface becomes almost mirror-like.

From delicately painted and finely built shapes to the rough and uneven surfaces of assembled constructions, the artworks in “Enduring Clay” demonstrate a sampling of the unique forms and variety of techniques in ceramic art.

Image: Akio Takamori, Sleeping Woman in Blue Skirt, 2003, stoneware clay with underglaze, 6″ x 12″ x 29″. Photo by Spike Mafford.