Got Wheels? Third Thursday's "Art Drive" Itinerary

A better name for this evening tour of art might be “Art Drive,” as my itinerary includes points beyond the official Artwalk map.

Cover to Cover: The Art of Shereen LaPlantz opens tomorrow at Collins Memorial Library at the University of Puget Sound (4:30pm – 6:00pm). The show illustrates diverse bookmaking techniques by the late Shereen LaPlantz (example below). Rochelle Monner, a local book arts advocate, inherited the artist’s sample book collection in 2003. This is the first time it will be exhibited. The reception includes informal presentations on folding and binding techniques by the Tacoma Book Arts Group. Read more about it when you pick up your copy of the January 2010 issue of City Arts Tacoma.

More after the jump...

TINY: New works by Chris Sharp. If you didn’t catch the official opening, worry not. Thursday’s lineup includes a re-opening with Sharp’s latest works. In this exhibit, one of Tacoma’s best-known artists (and cyclists) offers viewers a glimpse into his process with a collection of small drawings and paintings (example below), including figurative and abstract compositions in various stages of completion. Visitors are invited to flip through stacks of Sharp’s studies, which are clipped to the gallery walls. Mineral Gallery: 301 Puyallup Ave., Suite A (that's in Tacoma's Dome District, not Puyallup) through February 14.

Mad Hat Tea Company (1130 Commerce Street) presents the work of Mario Smiraldo, an artist exploring the vast realms of spirituality and imagination with The Creation Series and Out of Nothingness. Beginning many years ago as a realist painter in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the eighty-year old Smiraldo is moving closer to abstraction with work that his son (Lucas Smiraldo, the spoken word artist “Vanilla Soul”) calls “playful, mischievous and mystical — a kind of humor with a sacred and inventive center.” Thursday’s reception is 7:00pm – 10:00pm Runs through February 10.

Photographer Jim Oliver exhibits a forty-piece collection of works spanning a spectrum of styles from Impressionistic to film noir in Part II: The Follies Return. The opening reception is tomorrow, 6:00pm - 8:00pm at The Tahoma Center Gallery: 1323 S. Yakima St., on the second floor of Catholic Community Services (the old St. Leo’s School). Runs through February 28.

Fulcrum Gallery hosts a Third Thursday opening (6:00pm - 9:00pm), featuring Monument by Troy Gua. In this exhibit the artist investigates the war in Iraq — and the subsequent glossing over by the American media. "This installation is my memorial to loss. I'm not a soldier. I have never seen war. How do we reconcile this experience? How do we grieve loss?" asks Gua in his statement for the show. Runs through March 13.

Brick House Gallery (1123 South Fawcett). This venue is only open on the evening of Artwalk and by appointment. This month the gallery continues with a retrospective by Nancy Johnson entitled “A Painter’s Life.” The show features work from the 1960s to 2002, with a broad spectrum of subjects, including ethereal landscapes and figurative works like "Poolside" shown below. This Thursday there is an artist reception, 5:00pm - 9:00pm. The show runs through the end of January.

Traver Gallery highlights the work of Danish glass artist Jeannet Iskandar with Between Fragment and Whole. The artist’s first North American solo exhibition includes seven works inspired by the mathematical constant Pi and Ravel’s Bolero in which Iskandar seeks to combine complexity and simplicity in a single expression.

Tacoma Metal Arts, a newly opened metal arts studio, is hosting an open house (4:00pm – 8:00pm) with food, drink and free silversmithing demos.

The Speakeasy Arts Cooperative’s gallery, retail space and lounge will be open 11:00am - 10:00pm with an open mic starting at 6:00pm. For those looking for some beautiful body adornment, henna artist Jada-Moon will be in the house.

And last, but certainly not least: Thursday is the opening reception (4:00pm - 7:00pm) for the Social Injustice exhibition at the gallery at Tacoma Community College. (For the full story read the feature in this month's issue of City Arts Tacoma.)

For those looking for a great weekend event:

Bill Scanga, Living Room (Tom and Jerry), 1996. Mixed media and video, 15 x 36 x 16 inches. Collection of John and Mary Shirley.
One of the works featured in The Secret Language of Animals in the Tacoma Art Museum's new exhibit.

On Saturday, January 23, Tacoma Art Museum kicks off its new exhibit, The Secret Language of Animals with an opening celebration and concert by the Northwest Sinfonietta Woodwind Quintet at 5:30 pm. They will perform Peter and the Wolf (narrated by City of Tacoma mayor-elect Marilyn Strickland), Flight of the Bumble Bee, Lion Tamer Rag, Carnival of the Animals and more. Cost for the pre-opening concert is $15 for adults, $5 for children 10 and under, and $5 for members. Following the concert, the opening begins in full with an instrument petting zoo and family activities. Animal-inspired attire is encouraged for all guests. (The post-concert celebration is free with an R.S.V.P. to 253.722.2455)