Art Around Town

Spaceworks round two is well under way, and we can only encourage those who haven’t made the rounds yet, to do so immediately. Some of the new exhibits, such as wait, where am i?, at the Woolworth Building, will morph throughout the three-month exhibition, and you won’t want to miss any stage of the transformation. Likewise, you can track the work of Spaceworks artists-in-residence, such as Michael Kaniecki, even if it’s through a rain-spattered window (consider the drizzle an opportunity to test drive your favorite, Northwest-ready technical gear).

Kaniecki can’t stop drawing. Since beginning his residency in mid-October at 1114 Pacific Ave., he has covered seeming miles of scrolled paper with India ink studies that somehow burst with spontaneity while at the same time adhering to a grid. One cannot resist attempting to interpret these deft drawings, many of which suggest multiple meanings, while resisting any single one. “I am starting a new drawing using India ink, wash and some earth pigment I ground from red rock in Moab, Utah,” says the Tacoma transplant. The new piece is 6′ and growing.

Italian-born photographer Alice di Certo‘s black-and-white cross-section of her adopted country, My America, is on view at the Woolworth Building, making the familiar look fresh all over again.

Also in the Woolworth windows is Kyle Dillehay‘s haunting meditation on genetically modified food sources, Lines of the Earth. Behind one pane is a long, corpse-shaped, freshly turned mound of soil surrounded by dead roots; in the other bizarre organisms jut out on poles from the wall, some wearing tiny, forged copper helmets. The white walls form a sterile, laboratory-like environment.

A foliage-filled, pastoral response to Dillehay’s dystopia is Remembrances, by Sisy Anderson and Scott Huette. This subtly layered work is filled with individually cut and painted leaves, representative of the passage of time and the shifting nature of memory. Designer Tiffanie Peters resurrects the best of 1970’s style with her own star turn at Chiffon. This slinky dress in a bold print makes us think of mirror balls, Bianca Jagger, Halston and Iman, in the best way…

Barbara De Pirro‘s vortex plastica fills the windows at 912 Broadway. Made from recycled and reimagined materials, it is a considered rebuke to a consumer society measured, in some respects, by its waste.

Creative brain trust and music headquarters, the Personal Power Company will open its doors at 913 Pacific Ave. on Nov. 17. More to come…