Art Walk

THURSDAY, NOV. 20: It’s the third Thursday of the month, which means only one thing for the Tacoma crowd: time to gallery stroll. And as such hip citizens, you take Third Thursday Art Walk virgins to the best galleries — and, of course, to galleries offering the best appetizers. But even the hipsters might not know that a new gallery, The Robert Daniel Gallery, makes its Art Walk debut tonight (see page 15). Pretend like you knew about this all along. Other notable shows tonight include Mike Capp’s paintings at the Lark Gallery (the gallery goes dark at the end of the month!), a Northwest Native show at mineral, and Blank Expressions, an interesting blown glass head with a mélange of objects a la Dali by Ross Richmond, at Fulcrum Gallery. Hmm. I’m not sure about this last one. I don’t want a giant head staring. Right. At. Me. 

[Greater downtown Tacoma, 5-8 p.m., free, 253.272.4327, artwalktacoma.com]

Belly up

THURSDAY, NOV. 20: When most of us think of dance as art, we envision starving ballerinas onstage executing fairy tales with impossibly high leaps and dizzying pirouettes. Swans in tutus. Cinderella en pointe. Or we see two unisex performers clad head-to-toe in yellow spandex, jerking their bodies back and forth to the sound of amplified rain hitting steel. Cold. Barren. High, distant Art.

But that’s just perception, myth if you will. Dance is movement, and movement is step, shimmy, roll — arms extended, eyes lit. Entice. Emote. Exchange. Tell the world you’re beautiful with a little push of your left hip. Belly dancing.

Tonight, the Tacoma Art Museum, in conjunction with its Ottoman-era art in the middle gallery, hosts belly dancer Hanan Vallant and live East-West-themed music. Oh, and their café pours happy-hour-priced wine and microbrews from 5-7 p.m. Nice.

[TacomaArt Museum, 5-8 p.m., free, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4258]

Art Slam

FRIDAY, NOV. 21: First it was Denny’s Slams, then poetry slams, and now, once again, Tacoma’s Art at Work-sponsored Art Slam hits the Rialto Theater in downtown Tacoma Friday night. What the heck is a “slam” anyway?

The truth is that the term “slam” is a derivative of “poetry slam,” a competitive evening of poet against poet (think 8-Mile only without the hip-hop) whose name was derived from baseball and bridge terminology. This event is not that at all. This is Art Slam — two hours of local art slammed into your consciousness like a shot of adrenaline. This is not your Grandma’s slide show. It’s an entertainment View-Master, with fast action and cheering.

Local artists will have 10 works projected on the big screen at the Rialto Theater as slides and digital images. Each picture will appear for just a few seconds along with information about the art and the artist. No one is going to “slam” anyone’s work — at least not out loud — although five spoken-word artists will add to the excitement.

If you thought art operated on its own isolated, lonely schedule: get depressed, self-mutilate, see self in mirror, paint feverishly in loft, check this night out.

[Rialto Theater, 7-9 p.m., free, 301 S. Ninth St., downtown Tacoma, 253.591.5191]

Bad Sweater Party

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 26: Bitch all you want about the commercialization of Christmas; your soft-cheese sentimentality is just as bitch-worthy. Especially when it comes to your gawd-awful holiday sweater.

Each season, wherever you go — the office, the mall, your own home — your felt appliqué Santa monstrosity, your BeDazzled nativity pullover, your Ben Affleck reindeer sweater goes with you.

Scrooge! Bah! Humbug! Nobody really feels that cheery during the season. And if they do, it’s only fleecing (it doesn’t work here but it made me laugh — so it’s in), induced by your uncle’s eggnog made with lighter fluid.

I was happy to hear that Doyle’s Public House will be corralling you all together again with its Ugly Holiday Sweater Party Wednesday. You and your ilk will compete for prizes beginning at 8 p.m. far away from me.

Drat. It’s also my regular Wednesday Knowledge Night outing at Doyle’s. Hmmm. Just stay on your side, OK?

[Doyle’s Public House, 8 p.m., no cover, 208 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.7468]