"Montana (erased)" by Buddy Bunting

An erroneously left answering machine message detailing a stranger's travels through Montana form the basis for Buddy Bunting's Montana (erased) at the Telephone Room Gallery -- continuing the Seattle artist's exploration of the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness, and expansion. The show features the actual answering machine message, as well as new paintings and found objects.

"I am fascinated by the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness, and expansion. In researching certain sites of interest, there are diversions, many drawings, and wrong turns. I am compelled to make paintings of these places, paintings which resonate in the mind and require some time to reveal their effect."
---Buddy Bunting

Buddy Bunting, Cemetery at the Montana State Prison near Deer Lodge, Montana, photograph, 2008.
Photo courtesy of the artist.  

Buddy Bunting, creation or bust (honk 4 jesus), ink and pencil on paper, 5 x 7 in., 2010.
Photo courtesy of the artist.  

Buddy Bunting, Untitled, ink and pencil on paper, 5 x 7 in., 2008.
Photo courtesy of the artist.  

See more of Buddy Bunting's art at http://www.buddybunting.com/.

You can also listen to a 2009 interview with Buddy at http://podcasts.thestranger.com/2009/06/bunting.

 

Buddy Bunting is a Seattle based artist who works primarily in ink and watercolor on paper. His work has recently been seen locally at Winston Wachter Fine Art, the Tacoma Art Museum Northwest Biennial, Crawl Space Gallery, and the SOIL Gallery, as well as Powells Books in Portland, Oregon, and the Painting Center in New York City. He was a recipient of Artists Trust GAP Award for Individual Artists Projects in 2009 and 2004, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2008, and a 4Culture Special Projects Grant in 2005.

Montana (erased) by Buddy Bunting will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from November 5 - 30, 2010, with an everyone-is-welcome open house on November 5 from 6-10 pm. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Teeny is Big

Oh, it just never ends, but we never mind it either... the Seattle Weekly named us the "Best Teeny Tacoma Art Space - 2010".

"Small is good, when you can get to it. At 12.5 square feet, The Telephone Room occupies a closet-sized space in a Dutch Colonial home that since 1930 had been occupied by nothing more than a black rotary-dial telephone. But in May 2009, this tiny room began housing artist-led installations by the likes of Blake Haygood, Ben Hirschkoff, Nicholas Nyland, and Kristen Ramirez. One exhibit featured floor-to-ceiling drawings, another was inspired by episodes of drunk dialing, and a third riffed on brass chandeliers. Directed by artists Heide Fernandez-Llamazares and Ellen Ito, the space is available to visitors by appointment and at monthly art openings." —Adriana Grant

I'd like to point out that Blake, Ben, Nicholas and Kristen aren't the only artists we've hosted. We also loved showing Tacoma a teeny bit of (in order of my memory) Shannon Eakins, Marc Dombrosky, Lisa Kinoshita, Matt Johnson, Jennifer Peters, Chris Sharp, Zack Bent and Gala Bent, Peter Lynch, Allison Hyde, Jeremy Mangan, Laura Komada and Paul Komada, Elise Richman, James Porter, Saya Moriyasu, Pei Pei Sung, Randy Wood, Jessica Bender, Noal Nyland, Julie Rivera, Jessica Balsom, and Ellen Ito.

Here's what the Telephone Room Gallery looks like when none of the above artists are showing in it:

Thanks Adriana!

"I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from August 6 - 29, 2010, with an open house on the evening of August 6. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Chris Sharp: "I don't hate anyone"

The Telephone Room Gallery is pleased to present "I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp, featuring painting and a whole mess of letterpress for the month of August. Open house and whirligig-making on Friday, August 6, 2010 from 6-9 pm.

Chris Sharp's beautiful hand-lettering adorns many of his canvases, and can also be seen all around Tacoma via his commercial sign-painting at Satellite Coffee, Infinite Soups, and The Rosewood Cafe, among others. He has most recently had solo exhibitions at Mineral and at the Pacific Lutheran University Gallery. He has an MFA in painting from Washington State University, and he was the recipient of the 2008 Greater Tacoma Community Foundation's Annual Foundation of Art Award.


Chris Sharp's old studio in the Merlino Building, circa 2006.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.

 

Chris Sharp, Let It Roll, enamel on canvas, 2007.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.

 

Chris Sharp and Beautiful Angle, Parking, letterpress, March 2007.
Photo courtesy of Beautiful Angle.

"Our friend Chris Sharp created this great broadside using a combination of vintage wood and lead type, original cuts and 70's era engravings with words by Tom. The muscle car engravings were part of a collection that was donated to Beautiful Angle by the good folks at Clinton Hull Printing when they moved from their location on Commerce in downtown Tacoma." --Beautiful Angle

Chris Sharp, Rainier, linocut, produced at the King's Books Wayzgoose 2009.
Photo courtesy of Anagram Press.  

Chris Sharp, PLU Gallery (installation in progress), September 2009.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.



Chris Sharp, Satellite Coffee, mural, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Weekly Volcano.



Chris Sharp, City, watercolor and ink on paper, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Mineral.


You can read more about Chris Sharp on Exit133's A Conversation with Chris Sharp and in the May/June 2008 City Arts Magazine if you can find an old copy (it's not online).

"I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from August 6 - 29, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

In The Garden/Eternal Flicker Flame Opening

Thanks to Ben and Nicholas, our June artists, and to everyone who came over last Friday. Pictured here is some of the art on view and some of the fantastic paper lanterns made by visitors.

How do you do?

Chris Sharp meets Nicholas Nyland's Running Bond (painted sheet metal, 2010) in the Telephone Room garden annex.

Artworks by Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff will be on view from June 11 - 30, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime - email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

And Chris Sharp's work will be at the Telephone Room in August 2010, with an open house on Friday, August 6!

Celebrating the Summer in the Garden

We're celebrating summer and our June artists, Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff, on Friday, June 11 from 6-9 pm.

The evening will include a "flicker flame" lantern making activity inspired by Ben Hirschkoff's installation. You are invited to bring your own DIY paper lanterns to light up the yard, but please use battery powered flicker flame candles (to be found at Walgreens among other places).

This will also be a bittersweet Auf Wiedersehen for our gallery co-operator Marty who is moving to North Carolina to pursue a Master of Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill.

Update 6/8/10: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Julie Rivera will unfortunately not be on view at the Telephone Room in June. But we look forward to working with her in the future.

Novelty and Possession by Julie Rivera: An examination of two collectors and their need to collect and possess.

Julie Rivera, Untitled, photograph, 2009.


In The Garden by Nicholas Nyland
In June, the Telephone Room expands to include the adjacent garden where Nicholas Nyland will install playful sculptural works that respond to their setting and call upon a long tradition of ornamental garden sculpture.

Nicholas Nyland, Plaid Gnome, glazed ceramic, 2009.

Extended through June 2010:

Eternal Flicker Flame by Ben Hirschkoff
Using the all too common brass chandelier as a medium, Ben Hirschkoff's sculpture celebrates the artificial and symbolizes renewal, creation and destruction.

Ben Hirschkoff, Eternal Flicker Flame (detail), 96" x 28" x 5", reconfigured brass chandelier with flicker flame bulbs, 2010.



Artworks by Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from June 11 - 30, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime - email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Trace Evidence now viewable online!

Trace Evidence is a collaborative photographic installation by Jennifer Peters and Ellen Ito.

Photos of refuse left behind by visitors in museum spaces examine ideas about territory, propriety, trespassing and adaptation.

Why do we leave traces of ourselves wherever we go?
Is it unconscious or deliberate?