White Center Now: The blog about White Center

It’s become a monthly tradition – and tonight’s your chance to check it out again: The White Center for the Arts open studio tour, 5-10 pm.

You never know who and what you will see in the artist studios adjacent to the old rink – more info here.

Lots of great art in the studio rooms upstairs from the 16th SW entry to the old skating rink .. but this was our favorite … with an invitation to do your own creating.

WHITE CENTER FOOD BANK: Today’s the first of its new monthly Saturdays – third Saturday of each month – for WCFB to be open for clients 11 am-1 pm.

ART STUDIOS OPEN: White Center’s artist community invites you to another open house 5 pm-10 pm — enter from 16th SW, same place you’d use to get to the old skating rink (where it’s another Rat City Rummage NEXT Saturday, by the way).

Damien and his brother Drake have a new band Hoquiam, and they are playing Full Tilt this Saturday with Husbands love your wives, and special guests. The fun starts at 8pm. This will be a packed house, so get there early.

From Tina, in a comment on our coverage of the last White Center Arts open house night:

They are doing it again! Open studio art tour, Saturday, March 21st, from 5pm to 10pm. There will be several local guest artists showing their art too.

9639 16th Ave SW
White Center for the Arts building

And as already reported here, Rat City Rummage plans an encore March 28.

We just stopped by. Lots of vendors and shoppers. Amazing quirky stuff like an item we picked up – Hunter S. Thompson, stenciled onto an old vinyl disc (we looked at the back – Saturday Night Fever, the album – fitting in an odd way).

Adding a video interview with stencil artist Dave Ryan shortly. Rat City Rummage continues till 6 tonight in the old roller rink – you can enter from 16th SW. 11:35 AM UPDATE: Here’s that clip:

ADDED 9:53 PM: Thanks to Highland Park’s Dina Johnson for sharing this page full of photos of other artists and craftspeople who were on hand at Rat City Rummage.

A new “edible garden” has sprouted at the White Center Food Bank; volunteers from Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle and SeattleWorks spent several hours Saturday clearing ornamental plantings from the plots where vegetables will now grow. Read more about it on partner site West Seattle Blog – including the need for one more volunteer – somebody to set up and tend a new worm-compost bin! Meantime, hours after we stopped at WCFB, it was off to the first open house at the artists’ studios on the east side of the old skating rink:

The party inside and upstairs was a little too crowded and dark for good pix but we had a great time wandering from room to room, viewing some of the artists’ creations, including paintings, sculpture, even a striking bench with an inset eagle-head carving. Next weekend, the artists will be involved in the first Rat City Rummage event – remember, you can look for the entryway from 16th:

Rat City Rummage is set for next Saturday, 10 am-6 pm at the old skate rink.

You heard about it here first, two and a half weeks ago – now the big night is here – the first White Center Open Studio Art Tour, 5-10 pm tonight:

ART EVENT TODAY: Kim sends WCN this reminder of what should be quite the spectacle in Burien this afternoon/evening:

A 30′ sculpture of a mother and child, The Passage will be the first artwork installed in the new Burien/ Interim Art Space (B/ IAS). This impressive scuplture is being transported from its current location on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, and will be installed with a community celebration planned for January 24th – and you are invited!

The Passage was originally created for Burning Man, built from recycled scrap metal, and features a flame between the hands of the mother and child, water falling from their other hands, and footprints also lighted with flames. The sculpture will only have the flames lighted for special events.

The interim art space will temporarily take over the lot just north of the first residential building at Burien Town Square. For the next year, several sculptures are being brought in from national and local artists, thanks to efforts by Ignition Northwest and the Burien Arts Commission, in collaboration with 4Culture, Urban Partners and GGLO. Local arts groups, students and gardeners will also be encouraged to contribute to the space.

The B/ IAS grand opening event starts at 3 p.m. with a pre-event artists’ reception at the Burien Town Square sales center, followed by a processional to the interim arts space, and the lighting of The Passage, which features both flames and water. Other sculptures will be introduced, also featuring interactivity and flame.

Here’s a map to Burien Town Square.

ANNEXATION ON THE AGENDA: Monday night’s Burien City Council work session has North Highline Annexation-related items on the agenda; see that agenda here. If you can’t make it to the meeting in person, you can watch the online stream via the City of Burien’s recently revamped website.

Beyond One Language – Más allá de una lengua

A literary event celebrating the Spanish language and Latino/a culture

The second in a series of popular literary readings happened on Friday, December 5th in White Center.

The goal of these events is to promote the Spanish language – as well as native Latin American languages – via literary readings by Spanish language authors. For the December 5th event, local writers Javier Amaya and Paola Casla Taylor will be reading their work. Zita Paulino will also be there, and will read the poetry of Irma Pinedo Santiago in their native Zapotec language. English translations of the readings will be provided by House of Writers / Casa de Escritores, Inc., so that non-Spanish speakers can join the celebration.  Here are some pictures from this wonderful event.

Save the date!  The Cafe Rozella Holiday Party and Open House will be held next Saturday, December 13th starting at 4 p.m.  The Rozella Party will feature Ricardo’s famous Mole.  Bring donations for the White Center Food Bank.  Cafe Rozella is located at 9434 Delridge Way, SW south of the intersection of Delridge and 17th Ave SW.  Online directions at www.caferozella.com or call (206) 763-5805.  Hosted by the Rozella Writers and Poets Group and Cafe Rozella.

Beyond One Language – Más allá de una lengua

A literary event celebrating the Spanish language and Latino/a culture

The second in a series of popular literary readings will happen Friday, December 5, from 6 to 9 PM, at Taqueria del Rio, 10230 16th Avenue SW in Seattle’s White Center neighborhood.

The goal of these events is to promote the Spanish language – as well as native Latin American languages – via literary readings by Spanish language authors. For the December 5th event, local writers Javier Amaya and Paola Casla Taylor will be reading their work. Zita Paulino will also be there, and will read the poetry of Irma Pinedo Santiago in their native Zapotec language. English translations of the readings will be provided by House of Writers / Casa de Escritores, Inc., so that non-Spanish speakers can join the celebration.

The event is free to the public, and an outdoor setting resembling a Mexican town has been secured in order to enhance the experience. In addition to the readings, there will be a demonstration of traditional Jarabe dance, a book exchange, music, and food.

This event is sponsored by:

• The Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs

• House of Writers / Casa de Escritores, Inc.

• The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods

• Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior

• Hedgebrook

• Viva la Música

• 4Culture

• La Sala

• Mujeres of the Northwest

# # #

For more information about this event, or to schedule an interview with one of the featured readers, please call Laura González at 206-320-8780 or e-mail her at lago1212@msn.com.

(Picture is from New York Times website)

The New York Times Travel Section celebrates the quirkiness of Seattle’s Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods, in a piece entitled, “A Seattle That Won’t Blend In.” It probably goes without saying, that once the literati celebrate a place’s Bohemian character, the place is no longer Bohemian and likely has gentrified to the point of gentility.  True Seattlelites, as the late Emmett  Watson of lesser Seattle might have noted, know that one is more likely to find Adobe geeks, PCC yuppies and trophy wives getting botox shots in Fremont than they are to find witches, hippies and beats.   But so be eat.  Let the tourists have Fremont and Ballard.

At Cafe Rozella we like to riff on the old Fremont, by saying that White Center is the “new” Center of the Universe.  In some sense, we do carrry the torch of real quirkiness, as affordability, ample bars and coffee houses feed the artitistic temperament.   And as we well know, The New York Times is not going to be celebrating our charms anytime soon.  So on this night of witches, warlocks and saints, drink a toast to the White Center that IS before we toast to the White Center that WAS.  Cheers!

Can’t promise that there will be any big stars but this Sunday afternoon there will be a film crew using Cafe Rozella for one of their scenes.  Customers can still patronize the cafe but they will have to quiet down for the dialogues.

tonight is the Official openign for the Dluks Crew art show hanging at Full Tilt.
myspace. com/DLUKS3CREW

The party begins at 8pm with an acoustic performance by sickeversence. The Dluks Crew is an all female artists collective, and they are looking for memebers. Here is the email they are sending out.

We are looking for Members to join our new group,

Here is information on us and what we do:

We are the Dluks Crew (all female) based out of Seattle,WA

myspace. com/dluks3crew (add us on your myspace!)

(There are not many all girl “crews” in the world so here we are…
we are currently seeking members so if your a female writer,urban photographer
or painter and
would like to join our actual crew,
contact us and we’ll let you know the details!)

We are available for:
• Artwork/graphic design for Clothing
• Custom artwork
• Illustrated logos
• Editorial illustration for print media
• Advertising illustration
• Book jackets
• CD art
• Poster illustration
• Murals / Public art Guerilla Art Marketing

Check out our main founders photos and websites to see our work!

Here are some pics from the Zapotec Weaving exhibit and sale at Cafe Rozella going on today.   Drop by – great rugs.  Wonderful cause:  direct to producer sale!

Looking at Oaxacan rugs