Seattle Art Scene News…

Now, as we know, the public (ie, regular people’s) access to great art is usually dependent on some eccentric kajillionaire – his decision to donate say, 15 mil worth of Van Gogh and Monet to a Boston museum, or leaving his or her priceless collection of heirlooms to the Smithsonian. Well, here in Seattle, where the Seattle Art Museum (sadly, describing their art collection as “lame” would be too nice, and only every third year do they even get a special exhibit worth visiting) has long disappointed my art-seeking mania, our own eccentric kajillionaire, Paul Allen, has decided to (probably for a hefty fee) display his tremendous collection of art in the Experience Music Project building – for the story see here http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002652590_allenart29.html
Lichtenstein, De Kooning, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Van Gogh…if you’ve heard of them, he probably has a piece by them. I’m especially excited about the Lichtenstein, I’m a huge fan of his work, which must be seen in person to appreciate. Now, the down side is this very rich guy who charges an arm and a leg to visit EMP, the also-housed-in-the-same-building Science Fiction Museum (yes, a seperate fee for each) will probably also charge an outrageous amount to see his art exhibit. But it’s still cheaper than a visit to San Fran, Boston, or NYC.
The Bellevue Art Museum is also trying to get back on it’s feet. The lofty, centrally-located building has sat empty for many moons now, and back when it did house art (art exhibits included colorful underwear strung across the ceiling, an entire room carpeted on all sides in astroturf, and an exhibit where you laid yourself down on a cube, put on earphones, and watched a video on the ceiling display endless loops of video game heroine Lara Croft being killed) it didn’t exactly bring in the crowds – though I enjoyed it 🙂 I’m hoping they build up a clientele so they can stay in business. The Tacoma Museum of Glass is another fun place to visit, although a bit of a drive from Seattle – their outdoor exhibits (which you can see for free) including a glass-ceilinged bridge containing hundreds of pieces of glass art by Chihuly, and one time, a fountain in which hundreds of red blown glass apples bobbed) often beat the indoors exhibits, except for the working glass shop studio, which is worth your time.
Anyway, visual art is very appealing to me – something I can’t do or make, but that I crave. So, this new infusion is welcome news…just think, with enough $$ you will be able to see Darth Vader’s helmet, Jimi Hendrix’s embroidered suits (he was tiny!) and Gauguin’s painting all in the same visit.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
And Rebecca Loudon has once again said it better than I can…
http://radishking.blogspot.com/2005/11/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving.html

Its perfect reading weather this time of year, dreary, cold, with short days, and I find myself more and more huddled in my cat-abused chair by the fireplace. I just finished the riveting Here, Bullet, by Brian Turner, which is so accomplished, so clean, and yet moving – I dreamed about being in Iraq after I read it. It just impressed itself into my mind like a brand. And, the wonderful new journal The Fairy Tale Review (www.fairytalereview.com) – I keep reading and re-reading and always find something new. It’s not an academic journal, it’s full of fanciful prose and poetry by the likes of Kim Addonizio, Aimee Bender, Francine Prose…there’s hardly a bad piece in the whole thing, and the journal looks like one of Andrew Lang’s Blue (Red, Crimson, etc) Fairy Books. It’s like I wished something like this to exist and bang, it came into being. Anyway, buy it – $10 is steep for most lit mags, but this one is worth it.

A little slug of good news in the transom today…I know this is old hat for a lot of you, but I just got my first-ever Pushcart nomination, from American Poetry Journal for “Wonder Woman Dreams of the Amazon.” Yippee!

I’ve been lucky – in the latest slug of November-y, drizzling cold rainy days, which can suck the life out of you and make you wonder why you moved the Northwest, I got to see a friend (Kelli Russell Agodon) give one of her best readings ever at the cozy Ravenna Third Place Books venue, and then yesterday got to have a lovely lunch of crepes (mine: toffee-caramel-apple) and coffee with another friend and very talented poet, Annette. I mean, if you have to fight off the gloom of winter, that’s the way to do it.
Now I’ve started reading, appropriately enough for a time of year when it’s dark at 4 PM (if you’re lucky enough to have some sun to start with) Lucille Clifton’s Book of Light. I’ve read through Clifton’s collected/selected books before, but this book really showcases the strength of Clifton’s compact, simple but powerful and direct vocabulary and phrasing. I’m loving the poems about Leda, Cain, and Superman.
Two rejections today with long nice notes, but still – feeling a bit bruised. Been writing some new poems – maybe for the second book – in a new vein, something a little different. Even a prose poem, what’s that line from “Why I am not a Painter” “It is even in prose, now I am a real poet!”