SUZY STUMP: CHECKING IN WITH ART AT WORK >>>

Ahhh, Art at Work month is sure fun, isn’t it?  Fun and loving.  And creative.  And community filled. Wish it came more than once a year, don’t you? Or maybe, for some odd reason, you don’t.  Either way, the month is far from over. Here are a few upcoming Art at Work month events:

BOOK ARTS AUCTION
Raise funds for book acquisition for underfunded Tacoma school library programs by buying beautiful book art. Nov. 12, 5-9 p.m., King’s Books

ARTS SYMPOSIUM
Provides local artists with nuts and bolts information in order to become and remain successful in the arts. Nov. 15-16, University of Puget Sound campus

ART SLAM
An opportunity for local collectors and art enthusiasts to see the art that is being produced in the South Sound region. Nov. 21, 6:30-9 p.m., Rialto Theater

OPEN HOUSE AND POETRY MARATHON
King’s Books invites you to browse the books, drink coffee or tea and check out the following poets: Lana Hechtman Ayers, Mivhael Magee, Jack McCarthy, Chris Jarmick, Shannon O’Donnell, Kevin Miller, Casey Fuller, Kelly Richstrein, Jeff Lair, Richard Brugger, Connie Walle, Josh Rizeberg, Peter Ludwin, Lorraine Healy, Allen Braden and others. Nov. 22, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., King’s Books

LELAVISION PHYSICAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE
Physical Music is a display of physical agility and musical prowess infused with a delightful sense of humor.  Nov. 28, 1 and 3 p.m., Museum of Glass

LINK: Art at Work month events

LINK: ViVA South Sound arts and entertainment calendar

SUZY STUMP: WILLOW ESKRIDGE IS THE BEST >>>

Tacoma Professional photographer Willow Eskridge grabbed “Best Portrait” and “Best of Show” titles for her Color Me Bad portrait during the Fall Competition at the Pierce County professional photographers association meeting last month.

She was chosen from a panel of local peers from the Seattle Association of Professional Photographers of America.

SUZY STUMP: MUSICIANS, PAINTERS, POETS ON ONE STAGE >>>

Seems like everybody’s doing a little politicking these days, and there are more people with something to say than ways to get it out. Well, my guess the folks involved in tonight's Tacoma Artists In The Round No. 4 won't just staring at their own navels either.

Come down to Club SOTA tonight for music by Barton Carroll, Star Anna and Motopony; poetry by Luke Smeraldo and Rajnii Eddins; and live painting by Rebecca Mantyla and Asia Tail. The always-provocative Tacoma In The Round series will no doubt touch on Tuesday's election through lyrics, words or paint. The evening starts at 8 with an $8 cover.

[Club SOTA, Saturday, Nov. 1, 8 p.m., all ages, $8, 1117 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.307.8750]

SUZY STUMP: THIS KICKS GLASS >>>

Sick of eating your bologna sandwich in your cubicle every day?

Then break out! 

The Museum of Glass will gladly entertain you for your 60-minute lunch break (and where do you work?) during its Hot Lunch glass demonstrations.  Every Friday, audience members are encouraged to try the museum’s box lunch from Gallucci's Glass Café and eat in the Hot Shop, where special guest glass artists do their thing. To order your lunch, contact the Cafe at 253.474.7885 or by e-mail by 3 p.m. Wednesday prior to your visit.

This Friday, try a little glass action with your Snack Pack Pudding. 

[Museum of Glass, Friday, Oct. 24, noon to 1 p.m., $8-$16, 1801 Dock St., downtown Tacoma, 253.396.1768]

LINK: Weekly Volcano's Dish section

SUZY STUMP: THE ARTS â€" TACOMA STYLE >>>

Tacoma’s Art at Work month â€" November 2008 â€" will be a Godzilla’s feast of literary, visual and performing arts.

Check out Alec Clayton's cover story on Art at Work month, which focuses on the studio tours, in today’s Weekly Volcano. You can read it online here.

Special thanks to Lance Kagey of Beautiful Angle for this week’s cover. Check it out to your right. It’s awesome.

LINK: Find out how we were fortunate to have Lance Kagey design our cover.

SUZY STUMP: HERBAN CAFÉ TO REOPEN >>>

The Herban Café’s temporary closure a month ago may have freaked some Tacomans, especially coupled with the closing of Shakabrah Java and Stadium Bistro, but the Sixth Avenue café’s reopening the morning of Sunday, Oct. 26 will restore faith in the local restaurant scene, and give another boost to the local art scene.

I've said it several times before, but it's still worth noting again: There's never been a stronger art season in Tacoma than the one we just experienced. Besides the growing gallery scene and strong shows at the museums, art became active and visible to those who might not normally care. Every Friday at noon, for 29 weeks in a row now and counting, the Frost Park Chalk Challenge has consumed the small patch of park in downtown Tacoma that is its namesake with chalk artists, bloggers, media types and average onlookers. Businesspeople ate their lunch and browsed. Pierce Transit riders stopped and pointed. The Tacoma blogs burst with chalk art photos, comments and, yes, votes every week to determine a winner.

When the Herban Café reopens Sunday, it will showcase a new chef, and a Frost Park Chalk Challenge retrospective art show on its walls. The Frost Park Chalk Challenge retrospective will be shown the night before and curated by illustrator James Stowe.

Three weeks after Tacoma artist R.R. Anderson introduced chalk art competitions to the Friday lunch get-togethers at Frost Park, Stowe began to apply his chalk to the park’s pavement, grabbing several first place prizes along the way, including Chalk Challenge No. 16, which resulted in a solo art show to be hung at the Herban Café. 

“Originally it was meant to be a solo show with a catered opening, but I am an illustrator by trade and do not really have many gallery ready pieces,” explains Stowe. “So, I decided to share my show with the rest of the Frost Park chalkies and turn it into a celebratory retrospective type show that everyone could contribute to.”

The Frost Park Retrospective Gathering and Art Show will be Saturday, Oct. 25 from 7 to 10 p.m., with a private gathering an hour before Herban Café’s doors open to the public. Herban Café owners Steve and Gretchen Nogler will provide free appetizers with beer and wine for sale.

Stowe invited past Frost Park Chalk-Off contestants including R.R. Anderson, Andrea Lowen, Dawn Fortner, Mark Monlux â€" to recreate one of their past entries. He has also invited anyone with pictures taken at Frost Park to frame and hang prints at the show. Naturally, Stowe will also contribute his talents to the retrospective.

“I'm a transplant and had never been to the Pacific Northwest before excepting the job here, so I knew only a handful of local people and virtually no artists. Participating in the Chalk-Offs has really opened Tacoma up to me. I've met great people, incredibly talented local artists and made several good friends,” says Stowe.

[Herban Café, Saturday, Oct. 25, 7-10 p.m., no cover, 2602 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.0170]

LINK: Vote for your favorite chalker

SUZY STUMP: CELEBRATE THE DEAD EARLY >>>

Mexicans aren't death-obsessed, but as the Web site Mexico OnLine explains, "[T]hey recognize it, mock it, even defy it. Death is part of life and, as such, it's representative of the Mexican spirit and tradition which says, 'Don't take anything lying down â€" even death!'"

Mad Hat Tea Company is death-obsessed and they’re proving it this Thursday, several weeks before the Nov. 1 Dia de los Muertos holiday.

As we explained in our Oct. 9 cover story, Tacoma’s downtown tea hangout will celebrate the Day of the Dead Thursday, but I just learned what that will entail. Expect live music, henna art, Mexican food, dead art, shrines and more. Owners Maureen and Tobin ask you to bring a kazoo, an hors d’oeuvres and beverages.

[Mad Hat Tea Company, Thursday, Oct. 23, 5-9 p.m., no cover, 1130 Commerce St., Tacoma, 253.441.2111]

LINK: The Tacoma Art Museum is already Dead on