The Volcano Gods notice us

Alec Clayton writes nice things about Jessica Bender's art in The Weekly Volcano today.

"The Bluebird: Jessica Bender’s tribute to Charles Bukowski"
by Alec Clayton
August 13, 2009
www.weeklyvolcano.com/2009-08-13/visual-edge/4088

Dead Man in my House

Rosemary Ponnekanti wrote a very nice article about the Telephone Room Gallery and our Art + Ice + Beer event with Jeremy Mangan in The Tacoma News Tribune today:

"From small art gallery, big ideas"
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Rosemary Ponnekanti
www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/840897.html

Also published in the Seattle Times, "Tiny Tacoma art gallery makes big splash":
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2009708623_tinygallery23.html





Photos courtesy of the Tacoma News Tribune.

Celebrating Bukowski

Jessica Bender on The Bluebird, in her own words:

"The Bluebird is an installation inspired by and celebrating the life and work of Charles Bukowski, American poet and author, for his birthday August 16th.

The work is the culmination of a week-long residency at the Two Dot Spot in Two Dot, Montana. This remote town consists of a post office and a bar, which seemed the perfect setting to channel Bukowski energy, as he worked for the post office for some time and is known for his drinking habits. Bukowski made a series of paintings/drawings using whatever was on hand. Embracing this principle, much of the work is made from materials available in Two Dot, including excavated antelope bones and moths.

As an homage, the installation includes pieces of Bukowski’s text, including the show title 'The Bluebird,' an influential poem for this work."








Jessica Bender, The Bluebird (work in progress), mixed media, 2009. Photos courtesy the Telephone Room Gallery.

Jessica's blogs: www.cabinet713.blogspot.com and www.jessicaabender.blogspot.com
blog about Two Dot, Montana that has a bit about Jessica's artist-in-residency there: www.twodotspot.blogspot.com
Charles Bukowski website: www.bukowski.net

The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is on view from August 5 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—please email us.

Wild Kingdom

The Telephone Room Gallery chose the artist for the August 2009 City Arts Tacoma Curator's Eye. We chose Shannon Eakins who lived in Seattle and then Tacoma for the past 8 years or so, and recently moved to Las Vegas to pursue her MFA in sculpture. We miss her already.

Unfortunately, magazines have to edit their articles but we want to share with you the original article that we wrote...

Wild Kingdom
Shannon Eakins, Artist Selected by Martin Gengenbach, Ellen Ito and Heide Fernandez-Llamazares of the Telephone Room Gallery

Almost any city dweller has had an encounter with wildlife. The moment when you see a crow on the sidewalk, and you both stop short, eyes locked...is this a greeting? An acknowledgement? A silent challenge? What informs our interactions with wild animals? Do we want to tame them? Engage with them? Live among them undetected? Shannon Eakins' artwork reflects upon such moments of secret communication and explores our shared experiences with the Animal Kingdom.

While living in Tacoma for the past five years, Shannon has engaged with falcons, deer, and other animals of the Northwest. Her work doesn't simply depict animals-this is art that aims to be meaningful to animals and to beguile them: an exquisite, intricately embroidered falconry glove, an alluring installation of kinetic sculpture that mimics the sounds, sights and scents of deer mating rituals.

Shannon contemplates our shared urban environment and the animals that surround us but are not our pets. It is something we can all relate to: we've all had experiences with animals, either thrilling in the connection made ("and then it looked right at me") or not made ("and it didn't even see me").

"Dolphins may voluntarily swim with us (and have for decades, in the Bahamas), but what if I actually entice a whitetail deer into a gallery to participate in my installation, or what if that falcon actually comes when I call it? I want to see if animals can care about what I make. People seek something from wild animals even when they are not using them to fulfill a basic need. Could the same be said in reverse? I really want there to be a reason for this reciprocity and I want my work to explore that desire." --Shannon Eakins






I Made This for Us. 2008. Embroidered leather falconry glove, hood, and bronze whistle. Performance/documentation views. Dimensions variable. Photos courtesy of Shannon Eakins.

Shannon's blog: www.shannoneakins.blogspot.com

Eakins & Dombrosky: www.tacomafunmachine.blogspot.com and www.battlebornlv.blogspot.com

Shannon was a part of the Telephone Room Gallery's inaugural Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009). The Telephone Room Gallery is always viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Bluebird

The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is inspired by Charles Bukowski, and his poem My Telephone, for his birthday month.

More about Jessica Bender's art and Charles Bukowski:
www.cabinet713.blogspot.com
www.jessicaabender.blogspot.com
www.bukowski.net

The idea for Jessica Bender's show started with Bukowski's poem My Telephone, which made her think of the Telephone Room Gallery. Her installation piece is an homage to Bukowski involving bottles, bones, a pillow, and more. The Bluebird is another Bukowski poem that Jessica enjoys.

The Telephone Room Gallery will be hosting an open house for The Bluebird on Friday, August 7 from 5:00-9:00 pm. Please email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for directions if you are interesting in visiting.

Jessica Bender, The Bluebird (work in progress), mixed media, 2009. Photos courtesy the Telephone Room Gallery.

The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is on view from August 5 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—please email us.

A Small Army of Buddhas

"The Badman is the first reductive sculpture I’ve ever made that wasn’t ice. I learned to carve ice mostly from Takeo Okamoto, a man whose generosity in teaching is matched only by his skill. But I also learned from a small army of Buddhas. One of our first clients at Okamoto Studio was a restaurant for whom we carved a life-sized seated Buddha six days a week. My first real contribution as a carver at Okamoto Studio was to make those figures. I was still a grad student at the time, so I would come in two days a week and cut three Buddhas a day. In all I carved well over 300, more likely 400. I liked to joke with the Okamotos that there actually was no restaurant, that they just loaded those Buddhas up in the van, drove to some vacant lot in Queens, and kicked them out the back – sort of a ‘Karate Kid’ type thing, and once I reached 1000 they’d finally let me carve something else, like a majestic winged unicorn or a gorilla wearing boxing gloves.

So if not for Takeo and the Buddhas, this painter would never have ventured into the 3D world of The Badman. Nor would we be carving ice mugs on Friday, a favorite at our summer BBQs at the ice studio. Hard to say if the best part is drinking the ice-cold suds or smashing the mug on the sidewalk once it springs a leak. You decide."
—Jeremy Mangan.

Copyright Okamoto Studio, 2009.

Jeremy Mangan, The Badman (detail), 2009. Photo courtesy The Telephone Room.

Join us for an evening featuring Jeremy Mangan's art + ice carving + beer on July 24, 2009. Please RSVP at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Badman by Jeremy Mangan is on view from June 17 - July 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

The Badman and some bad men

Our current exhibit The Badman by Jeremy Mangan finds the Telephone Room occupied by a dead gunslinger: life-size, and in a pine box to boot!

The Badman effect has us watching season after season of Deadwood—and also got us wondering:

Was the Old West really full of the sort of gun battles that ricochet across the silver screen?
How did most of the westward settlers of the shoot-'em-up variety truly meet their end?

From Wikipedia:
"Often, a gunfight was spur-of-the-moment, with one drawing his pistol, and the other reacting. Often it would develop into a shootout where both men bolted for cover. Other times, one or both were drunk and missed several normally easy shots. Many times the shootout was little more than one taking advantage of the other's looking away at an opportune moment...

Gunfighters King Fisher, John Wesley Hardin, Ben Thompson, Billy the Kid, and Wild Bill Hickok all died as a result of an ambush, killed by men who feared them because of their reputation. Famed gunman Clay Allison died in a wagon accident. Gunmen Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Commodore Perry Owens, and Luke Short all died of natural causes, living out their lives on reputation and avoiding conflict in secluded retirement."

Secluded retirement? No! Just the thought makes us crave some good old fashioned... Reenactments! Every year the town of Northfield, Minnesota celebrates it's heroic place in outlaw history with Defeat of Jesse James Days. The festival, held the weekend after Labor Day, marks the anniversary of Northfield's brave stand against the James/Younger gang's attempt to rob the First National Bank.
If you'd like to learn more about this true tale of outlaws and gunfighters, the festival website has a historical account of that fateful September 7th.
Or, if you fancy yourself an expert on Jesse James, or on Northfield, Minnesota you can test your knowledge with the Raid Trivia Quiz.
If reenactments aren't your thing, check out some Mutton Bustin' instead.

Join us for an evening featuring Jeremy Mangan's art + ice carving + beer on July 24, 2009. Please RSVP at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Badman by Jeremy Mangan is on view from June 17 - July 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.