Artist Randy Cezan extracts form from chaos

Sculpture by Randy Cezan.

“Images of colliding galaxies were the direct forms that I have attempted to represent with these sculptural forms,” says artist Randy Cezan of his new art installation, Large Interacting…on exhibit in the windows at 950 Pacific Avenue in Tacoma.

“The title of my [work] was taken from one of the early Hubble  images I encountered, ‘Large Interacting Galaxies’.” Cezan’s artwork captures the elegant clockwork dynamism of the universe – but conjures up a myriad of forms found in nature as well. His sculptures are informed by investigations of the environment in which he discovered “micro and/or macro examples of repeating patterns in nature.” For example, pieces of driftwood found on the beach at Pt. Defiance for him evoked meteorological associations: “The spiraling intermingling of wood grain was reminiscent of eyes, multiple funnel cyclones, as well as cloud formations.”

“Interacting Galaxies” by Randy Cezan.

The mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot coined the term “fractal” to describe such repeating forms: “I conceived and developed a new geometry of nature and implemented its use in a number of diverse fields. It describes many of the irregular and fragmented patterns around us, and leads to full-fledged theories, by identifying a family of shapes I call fractals.”

Cezan’s sculptures will eventually be mounted as mobiles; stunning behemoths with convex curves and concavities that suggest dinosaur skulls, helixes, vortexes and of course, massing stars and galaxies. Their powerful forms seem already to move of their own internal force. Carved from polystyrene and measuring 20ft. across and 15ft. high, the trilogy weighs just 100lbs.

Micro and macro worlds collide in “Large Interacting…”.

Cezan says Large Interacting…illustrates a theory about social engagement as well as science and geometry. “My comment is how human interaction even in its mildest forms involves change in the people who genuinely interact. You can think of these shapes starting as regular spiral galaxies until gravitational pull distorts their uniformity. I propose that something similar happens when people interact: Neither party comes out unchanged. When one is open and listening, the ideas, opinions, and emotions of another register and create change, whether mild or profound.”

Cezan’s Spaceworks installation appears to span light years, but Large Interacting…“is the product of 15 months pondering and more than six months of work.” Check it out at 950 Pacific Avenue through February 28, 2013.

A new video by Holly Senn

Check out this 1-minute art video, Collective by Holly Senn, then see what it’s about – Senn’s temporary, site-responsive installation is on exhibit now at Pacific Lutheran University. Collective is currently on exhibit in the Anderson University Center (where 122 St. South meets Park Ave South). PLU is open daily 7 am-9 pm. Last day of the exhibit is Wednesday, December 12, 2012.

Local lightning rod: Electricbranch Creative

Foursquare brilliance: Electricbranch Creative

Electricbranch Creative is a branding company and creative firm that is throwing a high-voltage spotlight on our city’s much-vaunted Tacomacentricity. “Our community is rich in a multitude of cultures and lifestyles which are lived out on a daily basis in the numerous neighborhoods within Tacoma. Each of those neighborhoods has their own merchants, style and cultural aspects,” says Electricbranch front man, JD Elquist. The creative house (formerly known as Camp 6) is making a name while working with clients such as the Broadway Center, Republic of 253, Queering the Museum, and A Spoonful of Sugar. It recently co-produced the big Spaceworks fundraiser, Cakewalk, in its warehouse loft space downtown. Its main client: Tacoma itself, which Elquist and co-founder, Travis Pranger, clearly relish dissecting into its historical and cultural parts.

Breaking it down in T-town. Photo courtesy of Electricbranch Creative

Electricbranch’s purpose “is to capture the essence of why our clients do what they do and translate that into beautiful visual elements” through channels of branding, print advertising and live events, says Elquist. Their event programming is splashy, well-conceived and often features a historical hook: “My stance is how do we take our city’s beautiful history and make it relevant to our community.” A recent project was the cheekily titled Gentlemen’s Tacoma, “a style experience and fashion show showcasing men’s clothing and lifestyle in Tacoma over the decades.” Presented at the Broadway Center’s Fall Free for All in September, the event was conceived after Elquist, a fashion designer, was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Tacoma Historical Society. The fashion show spanned the 1920s to 1970s and highlighted classic Tacoma purveyors of men’s suitings including Klopfenstein’s, Lundquist Lilly’s, Brotman Brothers, and Peoples Store. Authentic sporting apparel from the early 1900s to the present also appeared on the runway.

While interweaving the menswear history and sporting history of our city, the fashion show also demonstrated to Tacoma “that ‘getting dressed’ isn’t a foreign concept…but rather something of our past we overlooked,” says Elquist, a striking man of Swedish and Alaska Native descent. Other breakthrough projects included promotion for the first Cathedrals: Tacoma concert featuring soul group Pickwick, and country rockers The Maldives. For next year, the firm is planning a party for Galloping Gertie, a bicycling event “that is rooted in Narrows Bridge history. The idea is we want to mix the cultures of Tacoma and Gig Harbor” in a bike ride that will span from the harbor waterfront to Wright Park “and end in a lawn party.”

Tacoma – YOU Take the Cake!

A big thanks to TACOMA for showing us the love at Cakewalk last Saturday! We know a lot of worthy groups have been bending your ear lately, Tacoma, a lot of exceptional organizations and people who are holding on tight during the current economic mess and holding their breath, just like us. We’re all in it together. But when the going gets tough, you shine the brightest, and last Saturday was no exception – thanks to your generous giving, and the splendid outpouring of gifts by our art and culinary communities (also feeling the pinch) – the Cakewalk exceeded its goal and Spaceworks is funded through the end of the year!

Judi Hyman wields her “Business Open” cake with a yellow frosted detour sign, candycorn traffic cones and Oreo and graham cracker “dirt”!

This event was fuuun. We have no idea how many people eventually filled the tricked-out warehouse at 311 S. 7th St. (headquarters of Electricbranch Creative), but the competition was fierce for the fantastic array of original art and homemade cakes up for grabs. DJ Broam, DJ Mr. Melanin and videographer Kris Crews set the tone for the night, and there was gyrating aplenty as partygoers moved around the separate “cakewalk” and “artwalk” circles for which they had bought tickets. The fact that this was an all-ages event made it all the more fun. Apparently, there is no official rulebook that governs the Cakewalk, but we were warned that body blocking little kids to get what we wanted would not be tolerated. Still, we threw down our $20 (artwalk) and $5 (cakewalk) tix with abandon, happy to support a great cause.

Spaceworks award recipient, Electricbranch Creative founder and Cakewalk event organizer, JD Elquist, with Drew.

Peter Stanley gets lucky.

Some people have all the luck – like Peter Stanley, twice a winner who took away an incredibly intricate Sean Alexander ink on paper as one of his prizes. “The main thing is to support Spaceworks,” he said. “It’s the best thing to happen in this town in a long time.” His date, Liz Kaster, also sashayed away with a piece of art, the iconic “Prop Cake” broadside designed by master printmakers Jessica Spring and Chandler O’Leary for their Dead Feminist series. “I love their work. I have a lot of their pieces,” she said.

Pas-de-dough: performance piece by the BareFoot Collective. Photo: Jamie Brooks

Another multiple winner was Post Defiance editor Katy Evans, whose arms were full with a delicate print by Meghan Mitchell, and one of Jennifer Adams‘ fine equine figures sculpted in paper (you can see more of her horses right now in a Spaceworks installation in the Woolworth Windows).

In a dark corner of the warehouse, contemporary dance troupe and Spaceworks award recipients the BareFoot Collective performed a dance piece possibly inspired by French artist Yves Klein‘s 1960 experimental work, Anthropométries. Painting their entire bodies with languorous movements, they kept viewers spellbound. Meanwhile, the conga-for-cake line rolled on with art lovers competing for dough (if we’re giving sugar/eggs/flour a lot of ink tonight it’s because we’ve been covering the art pieces in Cakewalk for the past few weeks).

“P.H.D’Licious” owner Denise Parker boasts “a sweet degree in flavor.”

The latest comer in Tacoma’s cupcake derby is Denise Parker, owner of a baking company called P.H.D’Licious, and originator of the surprisingly luscious Corona [as in beer] Cupcake with lime frosting, a fresh lime sliver, and upon request, a sprinkle of salt. We’ll take a six-pack! Parker, who looked like a dazzling avatar of the 1960s singer Ronnie Spector in flawless head-to-toe vintage, also introduced a PB&J (made with homemade strawberry jam) ‘cake, and mini-cupcakes adorned with edible pearls. “Everything from scratch,” she said proudly.

We saw attorney Stan Rumbaugh walk the walk for his wife, political strategist Sarah Rumbaugh, with a successful outcome: she proudly hoisted a fabulous ink drawing to add to her booty.

Sarah Rumbaugh stayed in the game all night.

Stan Rumbaugh turned over his winnings to Sarah Rumbaugh.

Rick Semple and Jori Adkins took time out from restoring the architectural gems they own in the Dome District to support Spaceworks. Their building projects, mostly self-supported, are now going on 10 years. “We need a vacation,” said Jori. The couple are headed for Mexico in the winter. We hope they come back.

We had a pleasantly hazy conversation with artist Shaun Peterson, Ben Ferguson of BLRB Architects and Dr. Jamie Brooks of Brooks Dental Studio about genealogy and our respective family histories, pondering the tangled webs of humanity, world events, personal choices and restless internal dispositions that after centuries had landed us together in Tacoma, Washington, on a balmy Saturday night walking in circles to win dessert.

Aaron Stevens and dentist/gallerist Dr. Jamie Brooks.

Goldfinch front man and Broadway Center programmer Aaron Stevens filled us in on the long-awaited Broadway Center “Fall Free for All” next weekend – it’s a full two days of music, theater, film, dance and more, all FREE, don’t miss it.

More and more righteous art and beautiful cakes blew past our fingertips. People kept walking round and round until every last blessed painting and oven-baked masterpiece had found a happy home.

Cakewalk was the kind of great party for ages 5 to 95 that Tacoma does really well – no one got obliterated and did something stupid, but many got very, very silly without even taking a drink. Money was made to support a great cause: to energize Tacoma’s downtown with art and fledgling entrepreneurship and to promote the work of our hardworking creative community. It made us feel warm inside, even if we didn’t get to put an artwork in the backseat or bring home something good to eat.

Amocat Café owner Morgan Alexander gets a grip on the ganache-covered, chocolate truffle cheesecake he created with Paula Jacobson.

Eddie Sumlin supertight on Saturday night.

Ben Ferguson and artist Shaun Peterson.

Post Defiance editor Katy Evans waxes triumphant.

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Cakewalk Artwork: Meghan Mitchell

These three beautiful works by Meghan Mitchell will be available at the Cakewalk, valued at $200 each. The texture in these pieces is gorgeous – come see them in person!

What: Cakewalk
When: September 15, 6pm-9pm
Where: 311 S. 7th Street, Tacoma, WA
Admission: free, all ages, refreshments provided, drinks for sale  (21+)
Live DJs: Mr. Melanin and DJ Broam, performance by the BareFoot Collective. For more info, click here.

Support Spaceworks’ upcoming fundraiser celebration, Cakewalk. You’ll have the opportunity to buy a ticket to participate in either an ‘artwalk’ or a ‘cakewalk’ ($20 for artwork, $5 for cake), and take home something fabulous for dirt cheap – all while supporting a good cause. Help us celebrate the first two years of Spaceworks and keep it going in 2013!

Cakewalk Artwork: Gabriel Brown

Sculpture by Gabriel Brown

Another piece for the Cakewalk - Floating Estate Island by Gabriel Brown, self-described ‘garbologist’ and a previous Spaceworks artist. This sculpture, valued at $100, could be yours in just a few short weeks!

What: Cakewalk
When: September 15, 6pm-9pm
Where: 311 S. 7th Street, Tacoma, WA 98402
Admission: free, all ages, refreshments provided, drinks for sale  (21+)
Live DJs: Mr. Melanin and DJ Broam, performance by the BareFoot Collective. For more info, click here.

Support Spaceworks  upcoming fundraiser celebration, Cakewalk. You’ll have the opportunity to buy a ticket to participate in either an ‘artwalk’ or a ‘cakewalk’ ($20 for artwork, $5 for cake), and take home something fabulous for dirt cheap – all while supporting a good cause. Help us celebrate the first two years of Spaceworks and keep it going in 2013!

Horses in the Clouds

Photo: Jennifer Adams

Cloud – “A visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water…suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body.” http://www.ENN.com

Clouds are mysterious. Ceaseless shape-shifters, they are ever poised to unleash a meteorological drama (crashing opera, wispy ballet) on the vast stage of the open sky. On a hot summer’s day, these huge, slow-moving masses become a projection screen for our own emotions, memories and ideas – what if they veiled a secret life within?

Sculpture by Jennifer Adams.

Using clouds as a backdrop, and placing horses in the foreground, artist Jennifer Adams has created a quiet meditation on the loss of a special companion in her installation, Equus Cirrus, on view at the Woolworth Building through December 15, 2012. “My installation consists of horses and cloud photos. [But] what had started as a suggestion of lazy, sunshiney afternoons, had a transformation,” she says. “Recently, my beloved 13 year-old dog passed away. My thoughts were constantly about her; her life, her spirit, her energy. To try and minimize my pain, I began imagining her in the most ideal landscape, in her prime, enthusiastic and energetic.

Adams’ herd of horses ranges on a field of white.

“Imagining my beloved pet in this landscape led to me thinking about the spirits of animals and where they went. What would it be like if they gathered in one area? I imagined the horses, congregated in the clouds, wisps of vapor clinging to their hooves.” Adams’ comment echoes the writer Cormac McCarthy’s haunting idea that all horses have one soul. Her leggy horses, rendered in torn paper, have a beautiful, gestural quality. They are small, about 10″-14″ high, and composed in a single line across the huge backdrop of the 13′-high window. The horses stand delicately in this white cosmos; lean toward one another; sleep; there are grown horses and foals, doing what horses do, on a cloud-like range of cotton. Snapshot-size photos of clouds are suspended above their heads, also consumed by the large white space.

Adams continues: “How amazing would it be to glance out an airplane window and catch a glimpse of these horses ranging about, like driving through the wilds, and encountering a herd of wild horses. Only more magical.” Equus Cirrus, the Woolworth Building, 11th & Broadway, through Dec. 15, 2012.

write@253 Open House and Book Arts Exhibit

Over the past couple of months, write@253 has quietly been moving into their space on the Hilltop, ramping up for writing workshops, student tutoring, and lots of other word-based activity this summer. On Third Thursday Gallery Walk, June 21, they’re throwing open their doors with an open house and exhibition of artist-made books. You’re invited to 1310 MLK Way from 5-8 pm this Thursday to check out the space, meet the staff, learn about upcoming activities, and view the book arts exhibit, about Tacoma history and family narrative, courtesy of the University of Puget Sound Collins Memorial Library. Visitors will have the opportunity to sign up for workshops covering skills from creative writing to resumé crafting to poetry.

write@253′s mission is ”to inspire the writer who lives in everyone, by nurturing creativity and celebrating the tremendous talents of our community.” What’s not to love? Give a big welcome to Tacoma’s own literary cadre as they mix it up with an all-ages community event! Find more info about this fantastic writing and tutoring program here.

Spaceworks Artists: Cakewalk 2012 Needs YOU!

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UPDATE: CAKEWALK HAS BEEN MOVED TO SEPTEMBER 15, 2012. _________________________________________________________

Walk the walk for Spaceworks at the August Cakewalk! Photo: Jason Ganwich.

On August 18, 2012, we are throwing a party but not just any party, it is the Cakewalk!  With a goal to raise $5,000,

Spaceworks Tacoma will celebrate all of the outstanding artists and projects we’ve had the pleasure to work with over the past two years. The fundraiser, Cakewalk, is a triumphant return of a much-loved community art event that, in the past, supported Tacoma Contemporary.  (Cakewalk 2004 was an event of the game-changing “Scattered Ephemera” exhibition that put T-town on the art map – check it out here.)  Up for grabs are amazing artwork and fabulous cakes that are art in their own right!

Photo: Jason Ganwich.

Since July 2010, the Spaceworks journey has been nothing short of incredible. In just two years, we’ve supported 26 active projects, 54 art installations, and 100+ events and performances in 22 underused spaces. This year, we incubated two new businesses on Hilltop, Nate Dybevik’s Piano Co. and Fab-5’s Fabitat (who have signed leases with property owners and set up shop) and we’re working to help other projects stabilize while continuing to present quality temporary public art installations.

Thanks in large part to the passion and talent of our participating artists (YOU!), we have supported inspiring opportunities for artists and creative entrepreneurs to showcase their work and further their careers in Tacoma – while making our beloved T-town look gooood…

Will you help to make the Cakewalk a success?  We need donations of artwork and mind-blowing cakes!  If you consider frosting an art medium, then we need you: Collaborations between artists and bakers, and cake-inspired artwork are highly encouraged. We’ll supply the music and fun, integrating performances to make for an event that showcases many disciplines.

These Marie Antoinettes had their cake and ate it, too, at Cakewalk 2004. Photo: Jason Ganwich.

Your support, in whatever form it takes, tells the community, potential donors, and local politicians that not only do our Spaceworks participants believe in our work, but they have also contributed to the effort – your support is a powerfully persuasive argument that proves that this program is, at its core, a collaboration and tool to build community. Let us know how you can help by following this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Cakewalk. Please respond by Friday, June 29. We’ll follow up to confirm. We want you all to be there, so everyone who contributes will get free admission to the event.

A Single Word, A World of Damage

Next Thursday, playwright Rosalind Bell and Spaceworks artist Marilyn Bennett will perform a free reading of Bell’s play, Under the Circumstances, at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Presented by Conversations on Race and Dukesbay Productions, this autobiographical work examines how the relationship between two women writers is challenged when one of them writes a book spouting vitriol and slurs. The play centers on the tension between the author’s voice versus what her character says.

“The caution about language isn’t kidding,” notes Bennett. “Most of it is mine. I am honored to read this play with Ros, the playwright, and my talented co-actor Ieisha McIntyre. Rehearsals have been such a pleasure!” A short discussion will follow the performance. Reading is free; donations gladly appreciated. Under the Circumstances, Trinity Presbyterian Church, (1619 6th Ave. in Tacoma), 7 pm.