Read the 5/21 Weekly Volcano intern review of the Tollbooth Gallery.

There will be lots to see with a bit of ground to cover! Walking maps will be available that day at the Farmer’s Market and the Woolworth Windows, as well as online.

New Artscapes installations in the Woolworth Windows at 11^th and Broadway/Commerce streets include: “Bed Dress” by Seattle artist Jennifer Zwick, “Untitled” by Tacoma artist Rachael Dotson, “Wayzgoose 2013” curated by Tacoma letterpress printer JessicaSpring, and “Dragons” by Beth Johnson – the National Arts Program 2011 “Best of Show” winner.

Plus, the Tollbooth Gallery is open again thanks to local filmmaker Kat Ogden who has agreed to curate the gallery. Located on Broadway across from the Woolworth Windows, this diminutive video gallery features works from Tacoma’s film and video artists.

Spaceworks’ Creative Enterprises will open their doors that night to share their wares. Our alumni projects include: Feather & Oar, Poppy & Co, Fab-5’s Fabitat, Write@253 and N. Dybevik Piano & Company. Fabitat offers their Graffiti Art class from 5 – 7 pm. on Thursdays and of special note, Nate Dybevik and special guests will be performing from 6 – 6:30 pm. Also two brand new Creative Enterprises will launch that evening! Join us and be the first to know about these exciting Tacoma businesses!

Additionally, Spaceworks Coordinator Heather Joy will offer a short Spaceworks Informational Workshop. Geared to potential applicants or anyone interested in learning more, Joy will share information about the upcoming application deadline and the three Spaceworks tracks: Artscapes, Special Project Residencies and Creative Enterprise. Two identical workshops will be held from 5 – 5:45 pm and 7 – 7:45 pm at Write@253 located at 1310 Martin Luther King Jr. Way  Tacoma, WA 98405. Please RSVP on Spaceworks Tacoma’s Facebook page if you plan to attend a workshop.

Spaceworks Tacoma is currently seeking applications for its three tracks: Artscapes, Creative Enterprise, and Special Projects Residencies. Artists, organizations, community groups and creative entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply. Through this application cycle, participants will be identified to fill no- and low-cost temporary vacant spaces in Tacoma through 2013. Deadline: June 10, 2013

1) Artscapes temporarily places 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional or new media art installations in interior window storefronts. The program offers an artist stipend of $500 to support the creation of new work and site-specific projects, or the installation of existing work. Click here to review application guidelines and apply.

2)  Special Projects offers dedicated practicing artists the chance to pursue projects and develop work in any discipline for up to six months. Temporary space is provided dependent on space availability and project success. Residencies are not open to the public, except for special events or open houses determined by Spaceworks or the participant. Click here to review application guidelines and apply.

3) Creative Enterprise provides artists, designers, crafters, consultants, organizations, community groups and other fledgling entrepreneurs the chance to test new products and services in a no- or low-cost temporary space for up to six months. But it’s not just about space, this track provides relevant and meaningful professional development and peer-to-peer support to the participants to systematically grow Tacoma’s creative class and generate destination quality activity that will engage and transform our community. All Creative Enterprises are expected to hold a set of regular weekly hours open to the public, including participation in occasional Spaceworks events. Click here to review application guidelines and apply.

Deadline to apply is June 10, 2013.

We look forward to hearing your ideas!

For more information and a detailed job description, visit:
http://www.tacomachamber.org/content/chamber-hiring

The deadline is next Friday, May 17 so hurry and apply! We look forward to hearing from you!

Debbie and Tom Pitzer at Bryson Speer Salon (Federal Way, WA) in front of a 25 foot wall finish that she created using a hybridized plaster mix and a special tool she created to apply over concrete blocks. She used a metallic rust finish on the two supports to make them look like iron beams.

Spaceworks currently has about a dozen awesome projects that we are working to find vacant space for in downtown Tacoma. One of those projects is Pasticcio Design, an artistic interior design business owned by Debbie Pitzer. Pasticcio creates custom finishes for interior surfaces; walls, ceilings, floors, windows, furniture, etc.

She was recently interviewed on the “Business Matters” show on TV Tacoma. It is airing now and we invite you to check it out!

You can find it on Ch. 12 (Tacoma residents) and Channel 21 (Pierce County residents):
Mondays, 2am & 3pm
Tuesdays, Midnight, 3pm & 10pm
Wednesdays, Noon & 9pm
Thursdays, 4pm & 11pm
Fridays, 4am, Noon & 6pm
Saturdays, 4am, 9am, 3pm & 9pm
Sundays, 11am & 6pm

Or click here to video stream it anytime  (click on the April 16-May 15 video).

Thanks to advice and resources she received through partners of the Spaceworks program Debbie recently launched her first website: http://www.pasticciodesign.com/ 
Keep up the great work Debbie!

Friday, April 26, 2013
Registration at 5:30pm, Tournament at 6pm
BLRB Office, 1250 Pacific Ave, Suite 700, Tacoma, WA

Bring your “A” game and retro tennis apparel (optional) to the 4th annual 2013 AIASWW Wii Tennis Tournament. Join Spaceworks staff, friends and supporters for a fun night of Wii Tennis at the cool offices of BLRB in downtown Tacoma. Spaceworks will appreciate your support through your entry fee of $20 for players or $10 for spectators, which includes both food & drink.

Please RVSP on our Facebook page or drop an email to: aia@aiasww.org
Presented by Emerging Leaders Group (American Institute of Architects South West Washington Chapter)

They have three workshops and two tutoring programs happening in the near future. Maybe one of them will strike your fancy.

Writing Workshop for Health Care Professionals
Ernest Hemingway said: There’s nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down and bleed. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Writing can be spontaneous, fun and energizing! Join colleagues and writing teacher Judy Cromett at write @253 to embark on a journey of discovering—or re-discovering–the rich rewards of writing. Together we will learn to write clearly and concisely, write descriptively, enjoy writing, jump-start our writing, revise and strengthen our writing.

When:  Six Tuesdays, every two weeks, beginning April 9:  April 9, 23, May 7, 21, June 4 and 18.
Where: write @253, 1310 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Tacoma
Time:  7-9 pm
Cost:  $120. Scholarships are available. This is for everyone.
To register or for more info contact: Mary Fox, mfox@tacomacc.edu

PLU @253
Join letterpress artist Jessica Spring and her students from Pacific Lutheran University’s Elliot Press for a series of free letterpress workshops titled PLU @253. Elementary and middle school students will ink type and press the type to paper to produce an image and make journals, bookmarks, paper and even T-shirts with our own hands.

When:  Three Wednesdays:  April 10, May 8, and June 12
Where:  write @253, 1310 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Tacoma
Time:  3:30-5:30 pm
Free, supplies provided. This is for everyone.
For more info contact:  Samantha Loete, samanthaloete@yahoo.com

Body as Landscape — The Hilltop Women’s Writing Collective
Jennifer Berney leads the third workshop of the year for the collective. What stories do we tell ourselves about our bodies? More importantly, what stories do our bodies tell about us, our lineage, the choices we’ve made, and where and how we’ve lived our lives? Think of scars, tan lines, stretch marks, a pinched shoulder. Think of a mannerism passed from mother to daughter.  In this two-hour workshop we’ll try to quiet our minds and connect with our bodies. We’ll allow body, not brain, to dictate the stories we tell. We’ll attempt to differentiate between the stories we’ve been told about our bodies and the truths they actually hold.

Jennifer lives in Olympia, where she raises two sons, teaches writing, and tries to find time for everything else she loves, namely baking and long distance running. Her essays have appeared in Hunger Thirst and Raven Chronicles; she recently won the Hugo House New Works award for her short memoir “Terminus”. Jennifer’s short stories have appeared in various literary journals including The Salt River Review and Barn Owl Review. Her favorite thing about teaching is the chance it affords her to glimpse the inner worlds of people she might otherwise only meet in passing

The Hilltop Women’s Writing Collective is a group of talented, creative women of all ages, backgrounds and writing levels who explore and celebrate themselves, their histories, and their community through creative writing projects. They empower each other through refining the writing used in everyday life and are driven to speak and challenge the women they once knew themselves to be, asking them to be greater than before and to speak for out for those who cannot or will not speak. Whether you think of yourself as a writer or not, come and be with the group as members explore the art of storytelling with each other.

When:  Saturday, April 20, 12 to 2:30 pm
Where:  write @253, 1310 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Tacoma
Free, refreshments provided. This is for everyone.
RSVP: hilltopwomenwrite.253@gmail.com.
For more info contact: http://hilltopwomenwrite253.blogspot.com/

Hilltop after-school homework help and writing enrichment
Volunteers help students kindergarten through high school with their homework and lead writing activities.

When:  Monday-Thursday, 3:30-5:30 pm
Where:  write @253, 1310 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Tacoma
Free
For more info contact: Mary Fox, mfox@tacomacc.edu

Salishan after-school homework help and writing enrichment
Volunteers help students kindergarten through high school with their homework and lead writing activities.

When:  Tuesday-Thursday, 3:30-5 pm
Where: Family Investment Center, Salishan, 1724 E. 44th St. Tacoma
Free
For more info contact: Mary Fox, mfox@tacomacc.edu

//

Please join us! Spaceworks is sponsoring the next Walk Tacoma event, a Public Art Walk, led by the Tacoma’s very own Arts Administrator Amy McBride. This 1.5 mile walk will be held on Wednesday, April 17 at 5:15 p.m., starting at the Hotel Murano, 1320 Broadway,  Tacoma, WA 98402.  Participants will learn about many of the art pieces and installations placed throughout downtown, including art work in the Convention Center, Tollefson Plaza, UWT, and the Woolworth Windows.  Spaceworks Coordinator Heather Joy will also be on-hand to share an overview of the Spaceworks program. The event will include a post-walk social at the Gallery at BITE Restaurant located in the Hotel Murano.  There is no pre-registration necessary, just join the group at the start.

The Public Art Walk is part of Walk Tacoma, an eight walk series, sponsored by Franciscan Health System, held on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, from April through August.  The fun, themed walks, now in their fourth year, encourage downtown employees and residents to exercise and enjoy the outdoors by discovering the different walking routes and parks in downtown Tacoma.  Click here to see the entire Walk Tacoma schedule.

South Sound Magazine’s writeup of Feather & Oar

Have you been to Feather & Oar yet? If not, you should! Spaceworks alum Feather & Oar started as a Spaceworks Creative Enterprise a few blocks away at 311 S. 7th over the holiday season and in January 2013 they found a new space, dialed it in*, opened their doors January 21st, and have been going gangbusters ever since. Owners JD Elquist and Travis Pranger will make your experience in the store an enjoyable one, along with the other talents they have gathered in the mix: stylist Drew Collier, bespoke tailor MacLachlan, CFO Robert Taylor, Ricky the tailor, and leather maker Stephen Jones. Buy some cool men’s clothes, have some alterations done, pick up a pound of coffee, snag a leather iphone holder, have your hair done, or just chat with these folks and walk out feeling good! Your thoughts about fashion or the potential of Tacoma will be uplifted.

* Dialing it in included hauling over 10,000 lbs of material (layers upon layers of flooring, sheetrock, and more) out of the space to reveal the 1911 character of the building.

Feather & Oar is open six days a week, Monday – Saturday 10-6 at 759 Market Street – Tacoma, Washington 98402.

Spaceworks Tacoma is thrilled to highlight its Creative Enterprise projects that started in a vacant commercial Spaceworks space and have transitioned into being paying lease holders in the city of Tacoma! It shows that Spaceworks works!

Do you have an idea that would transform a vacant space in Tacoma? We’d love to hear about it! Applications for the next Spaceworks round will be available May 1st. Email Spaceworks Coordinator Heather Joy to get on our notification list.

Heather Joy and the Woolworth Windows

Spaceworks Tacoma is pleased to announce Heather Joy Helbach-Olds as its new coordinator. Heather Joy will facilitate the three Spaceworks tracks: Creative Enterprise, Special Projects and Artscapes. Heather comes to Spaceworks with a wide array of skills and knowledge thanks to over 12 years of experience as an artist, small arts business owner and arts administrator in the Puget Sound region. She has worked with hundreds of artists on the business side of art, most notably as the manager and coordinator of Artist Trust’s EDGE Professional Development Program. As a small business owner, Heather understands what it takes to get a business up and running and keep it running. And as an artist, she finds inspiration from working with other artists.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this amazing project! I look forward to working with the Spaceworks artists and creative entrepreneurs to share their talents with the Tacoma community as well as provide them the support they need to reach their goals. Plus, I am excited to build from the more than two years of success that Spaceworks has under its belt and help grow it into an even stronger program.”

 To learn more about Heather Joy, visit: http://www.tacomachamber.org/content/chamber-welcomes-new-spaceworks-coordinator