What Was Your Favorite Craft?

That's what we asked some artists as we get ready for the opening of Assignment: Crafty on June 4.

Elise Richman:
   "I loved making candles as a kid. The process involved amazing transformations and vats of heated wax seemed like witches' cauldrons. Candle crafts feel very elemental. I was rapt watching candle wax melt like ice bergs into pools of lava. Candles are shape-shifters of a sort becoming layered rainbow stars, solid scented blocks, dipped tapered stalks or just about anything.
   I could never master any crafts involving yarn and hooks. I always blamed my left-handedness but know this is a poor excuse since I'm certain many south paws are knitting/crocheting fiends. My fingers get twisted and I can't manage the delicate intricacies of casting on, stitching and knotting. This was a source of shame when knitting became hipper than cupcakes or being in a band."
http://www.eliserichman.com/

Graham Bell:
   "My favorite was always drawing "boycentric" drawings. Of cars and dinosaurs and robots.
   My trouble was when it was realized by my teacher that I was just tracing out of a book with exceptionally thin paper and then adding on my own touches. Usually having to do with dino-robot-cars. Zoom. Rawr. Beep.
   Also I really liked gluing construction paper to itself with a gluestick. Never Elmer's. The slow-drying time was a definite negative."

Lisa Kinoshita:
   "As a kid I made daisy chains, also chains folded from Doublemint gum wrappers. Early inklings of jewelry making..."
http://www.lisakinoshita.com/

Shannon Eakins:
   "That's a hard question for me, but I had a special love of that clay that you made from flour, salt, and water (an early self-drying clay?). I remember making figurines, and miniature girl-scout cookies with it. The best part was using my mom's clear nail polish (shhhh!) to seal my creations, always before they were completely dry, and then watching the mold grow."
http://www.shannoneakins.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Adams:
   "When I was a kid, I enjoyed cross-stitch. Before heading to a friend's mountain cabin for two summertime weeks, we would head to the sewing store. My mom allowed my sister and me to pick up a little cross-stitch kit to pass the time when we weren't hiking, reading, playing UNO or saving mountain dogs.
   Now I enjoy knitting, which I am terrible at, and needle felting, which sometimes scares me because the needle is so big and barbed, and moving in such a fast stabbing motion!
   I have always wanted to whittle little animals out of wood, but am afraid of cutting myself to ribbons. As a kid, I tried with soap. I ended up with a chunk of chopped up soap and a mad dad."

Colleen Maloney:
   "My favorite craft is also a favorite family memory. When we were kids we got to decorate our own Christmas tree. So we sit on the floor and make our own ornaments out of straws, pipe cleaners, glitter, egg cartons and whatever else we could find. The only challenge was cleaning up the Elmer's glue and glitter on the coffee table."

Marc Dombrosky:
   "At the time, it felt more like an intensive training mission than a *craft*, but my brother and I would build extensive arsenals out of white paper and Scotch tape that we would then emblazon with insignias--Thundercats, Ho!--code numbers, buttons, and secret messages meticulously drawn in black marker. Telescoping swords would have components that would augment their use, like robotic gloves, secret compartments full of paper throwing stars and a shoulder strap. A shoulder strap?"
http://www.marcdombrosky.blogspot.com/

Revisiting craft projects culled from how-to books from the 1960s to the 1980s, Assignment: Crafty asked artists to explore three randomly assigned projects taken from these books. Artists were given the freedom to create one, two or all three projects, and encouraged to modify, combine and interpret the projects in any way through the filter of their own artistic practice.

Come see contemporary perspectives on fish printing, bottle gardens, rock creatures, Ojos de Dios and more from the following artists: Jennifer Adams, Jessica Bender, Peter Lynch, Matt Johnson, Ann Darling, Lauren Faulkner, Chris Sharp, Colleen Maloney, Elise Richman, Saya Moriyasu, Tobin Eckholt, Maria Jost, Meghan Mitchell, Lisa Kinoshita, Jennifer Peters, and Terry Dew.
 
Assignment: Crafty is curated by Ellen Ito and is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from June 4-30, 2011. The opening is on June 4 from 5-9 p.m. Viewable by appointment almost anytime afterwards -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

What's a "hmuh"?

The Telephone Room is all aflutter, with birds alighting on every surface. In honor of Elise Richman's avian themed show, For the Birds, we've put together a brief list of bird facts. Twelve interesting tidbits about our feathered friends, one fact for each day left in the month -- twelve days remaining to come see For the Birds!

The sparrow-sized Elf Owl, only 5 to 6 inches long, found in southwestern deserts, is the smallest owl in the world.

The average canary has about 2,200 feathers.

At 40 pounds or more, the Trumpeter Swan is North America's heaviest bird.

The average robin lives to be about twelve.

Harris's Hawks often hunt cooperatively.

Only six inches long, the Least Auklet is the world's tiniest Auk.

The topknot that quails have is called a hmuh.

The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.

There are more Bald Eagles in the province of British Columbia than there are in the whole United States.

A group of larks is called an exaltation.

Big Ben was slowed five minutes one day when a passing group of starlings decided to take a rest on the minute hand of the clock.

A group of ravens is called a murder.

A group of owls is called a parliament.

For the Birds by Elise Richman is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from January 8 - 31, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

"For the Birds" by Elise Richman

The Telephone Room gallery proudly presents For the Birds by Elise Richman in January 2010.

"For the Birds involves intimate portraits of birds that act as surrogates and guardians, emotional personifications that simultaneously expose and protect. Each amiable yet awkward bird expresses a yearning for a state of wonder and receptiveness that is perpetually lost and sometimes regained. Their very postures and round forms convey a striving for openness and good will as they open, spread and lift their wings in gestures both hopeful and helpless." ---Elise Richman

Elise Richman, For the Birds, 2010. Installation at the Telephone Room Gallery, Tacoma, Washington.

For the Birds by Elise Richmand is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from January 8 - 31, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

For the Birds

Birds! Sculptures, drawings, paintings of birds! Standing, sitting, almost flying birds! Friendly, amiable, round birds!

For the Birds is a show about hope, humor and feathers -- lots of feathers. They adorn and identify, making each bird special, providing characteristics that express character.

It's a flock of sorts, composed of birds who do their best to be who they are while trying to become something more.


Elise Richman in her studio with "Billy".

For the Birds by Elise Richman is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from January 8 - 31, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

We're the best!

...at least that's what Seattle Magazine says. They noted the Telephone Room Gallery as the most artistic use of outdated architecture in their annual "Best of" issue (December 2009). Follow the link, or find it in print at a newsstand near you!

And as always, stay tuned for information on our upcoming exhibitions. We're featuring Elise Richman in January 2010. Say goodbye to the aughts and hello to the... tweens?

The End (of "Undead")

Some final images of the Undead show, a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers.

Consumption, control, attraction, repulsion... Capes. Fear. Lines of defense. Why do zombies and vampires continue to captivate our cultural imagination? Undead is artwork and writings that explore these fetid creatures of film, folklore and nightmares.

Featuring art by Jessica Balsam, Jessica Bender, Marc Dombrosky, Shannon Eakins, Matt Johnson, Lisa Kinoshita, Peter Lynch, Saya Moriyasu, Jennifer Peters, James Porter, Elise Richman, Julie Rivera, Chris Sharp, and Randy Wood.

As well as a folio including writing and art by Jessica Balsam, Marc Dombrosky, Bob Fingerman, Ben Paulson, Brooks Peck, and Brad Young. Contact thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for copies of the folio.

Undead at the Telephone Room Gallery, October 2009.

Undead at the Telephone Room Gallery, October 2009.

Randy Wood, Dogula. Papermache, wire, ink, marbles. 2009.

Randy Wood is a Seattle cartoonist/sculptor/painter. He is a member of the artist run gallery, SOIL, and teaches cartooning classes at Pratt and Gage Academy.
www.randywoodart.com

Julie Rivera, Untitled. Photograph. 2009.

Elise Richman, Wolf Man. Gouache on Illustation Board. 2009.

Elise Richman is a Tacoma based artist with an MFA from American University and a BFA in painting from the University of Washington.

James Ackerley Porter, TURNED. Charcoal/graphite/vinyl/collage. 2009.

Chris Sharp, Creep. Sign paint on sign board. 2009.

“Local award winning artist Chris Sharp is totally fine.” –Chris Sharp

Matt Johnson, Lestat the Elder: The Cleansing. Doily, crystal glass, dentures, water, Alka-Seltzer tablets. 2009. Price: Your soul or best offer.

www.mattjohnsonart.com

Lisa Kinoshita, NO HOST BAR. Sterling silver barbed wire, silver shark’s tooth (cast from fossilized tooth), leather. 2009.

www.lisakinoshita.com

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Congratulations to...

Matt Johnson – for receiving one of seventeen 2009-2010 Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP) grants.

Started in 1999, the Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP) is a biennial program to support individual artists who reside in Tacoma in their creation of new artwork.
...details at www.tacomaculture.org/arts/funding.asp

Jeremy Mangan – who currently has a show at The Helm gallery in Tacoma and an upcoming solo show at the Telephone Room in June.

March 19 - April 9, 2009 at The Helm
"...my current work is a series of drawings and paintings of barn or shed-like structures elevated and supported by stilts. I hope these images allude to the strength, usefulness, and beauty, but also the hubris, precariousness, and ridiculousness, of human ambition."
...more at www.thehelmgallery.com/?page_id=155

Nicholas Nyland – who currently has a show at the brand new OHGE Ltd. gallery in Seattle.

Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere
New work by Nicholas Nyland
March 21 - May 9, 2009
"Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere includes works in a range of media (painting, works on paper, paper mache and ceramics) that are a world apart."
...read and see more at www.ohgeltd.com/Ohge_Ltd/Past/Entries/2009/3/26.html

Elise Richman – who currently has a show with four other artists at SOIL in Seattle.

Forces and Formations
Kevin Bernstein, Jonathan Bucci, Claire Johnson, Chauney Peck, Elise Richman
April 1 - May 2, 2009
"Natural forces and formations provide a jumping off point, a reference that inspires each artist’s highly personal visual logic and evocative manipulation of materials."
...read and see more at http://soilart.org/archives/apr2009

Gala Bent – who currently has a show at Gallery4Culture in Seattle for the month of April.

Overgrown
April 2 – May 1, 2009
"In a dozen or so works on paper, Bent has produced an enchanting primer on the role of imagination in our understanding of reality."
...more at www.4culture.org/publicart/gallery/2008_2009/bent.htm

Shannon Eakins and Marc Dombrosky – who have an upcoming show at Fulcrum Gallery in Tacoma.

Phantasm Chasm
April 23 – May 31, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 23rd 6-10 pm
Fulcrum Social/Artist Talk: Sunday, May 10th 6 pm
"Phantasm Chasm uneasily unites some of the failed opportunities, tragic events, and myths in Tacoma’s past."
...more at www.fulcrum.oliverdoriss.com

All of these artists were nice enough to be a part of the Telephone Room's Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009).
Viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.