The 15 People to Know for Spring Arts
Let us introduce you to the artists making headlines—and entertaining audiences—in the new season.
By Steve WieckingWith contribution from Sarah Anderson, Wilson Diehl, and Michaelangelo Matos
A Maverick Marriage
John Kazanjian and Mary Ewald,Founders, New City Theater
You should know them because Whether in a SoDo warehouse or in their own home, their experiments in theater and language have produced bracing political experiences for audiences for over 25 years.
What they’re up to now “We tested the waters with residencies at various places,” says Ewald. “But nothing permanent came of it.” The couple has never lacked for daring—last fall they once again used their own house as a theater with jaw-dropping results: Ewald played a rapt Laura Bush reading Dostoevsky in Kazanjian’s production of The Grand Inquisitor. And, uncertain financial market or no, they invested in a 900-square-foot performance space, called the Shoebox, on Capitol Hill (no surprise that the curtain rises this month on a staging of notorious NEA artist Holly Hughes’s cutting, queer Clit Notes). Spring will find the new venue filled with New City tradition: a showcase of “any and all genres up to 90 minutes in length” staged by local directors, playwrights, and actors. “It’s about access,” says Kazanjian with passion. “Some of these programs are bridges. They’re ways to get artists to want to live and create new work in Seattle.” Now that’s city planning.
See for yourself The Director’s Festival, May 7–June 7, The Shoebox, 206-271-4430; www.brownpapertickets.com
Literary Enchantress
Isabel Allende, Writer
You should know her because Since her first novel The House of the Spirits debuted in 1982, the Chilean author has continued to stir up magic on the world’s literary scene.
What she’s up to now Though Allende spent a week in Seattle in 2004 when her young-adult novel City of the Beasts was selected for the public library’s Seattle Reads program, she’s more widely known as an international author of books for grown-ups. In a natural move for someone who began her writing career as a journalist, she dropped the protective shroud of fiction for Paula, a 2003 memoir about the death of her 28-year-old daughter, which earned critical acclaim. Recently she’s finished a bold, bald new chronicle about life after Paula’s death, The Sum of Our Days. Since the subjects in the new work are still very much alive, Allende, whose stop here is part of University Book Store’s lineup, sought clearances from everybody before publishing. She jokes, however, that when it comes to writing nonfiction, it’s much easier to apologize afterward than to ask for permission ahead of time.
See for yourself Isabel Allende, April 4, University Temple United Methodist Church, 206-634-3400; www.bookstore.washington.edu
Rocket Man
Ron van der Ende, Visual Artist
You should know him because He turns reclaimed lumber into bas-relief cars and jets and ships that sell at the speed of light.
What he’s up to now In his giant studio in Rotterdam, Holland, van der Ende stays for months at a time creating large-scale wall sculptures with a pop-art-meets—industrial-chic vibe, including a seven-by-five-foot replica of Arctic explorer Robert Edwin Peary’s schooner, the Roosevelt. “My sculptural strategy,” says van der Ende, “is not dissimilar to that of a passionate modeler.” Though he tends to work with typical boy stuff—boats, spaceships, stereo equipment, fast cars—the appeal of his work is not limited by gender or genre. Combining elements of architecture and fine art, he creates work that people without a background in either can relate to: “I bring life back to things we see every day, the things we tend to forget about enough to render them invisible.” His OKOK show is his U.S. debut, and he’s sold every piece he’s produced. If you’re interested in collecting, don’t dawdle.
See for yourself Ron van der Ende, May 10–June 9, OKOK Gallery, 206-789-6242; www.okokgallery.com
Published: February 2008
