Synesthesia

I Smell Trouble: Typically, during karaoke nights, I grow listless and disillusioned leafing through song list after song list of wussified rubbish. My stomach churns every time I hear "More Than Words." However, I don't have the singing chops to rectify the situation.

Do you?

The D.A.S.H. Center for the Arts will host a City Wide Talent Competition Jan. 23 at the Mount Tahoma High School Auditorium. Apparently, the competition will be structured as a cross between Showtime at the Apollo and American Idol. Audience cheers and boos will determine who stays. Experienced judges will determine the winner.

Auditions for the show will be held at the D.A.S.H. Center Jan. 16-17, 4-7 p.m. For mor einformation and tickets, call (253) 507-9466.
 
The Sound Of Art: Weekly Volcano art critic Alec Clayton says John Singer Sargent's watercolor The Fence is easily one of the strongest paintings in The Movement of Impressionism: Europe, America, and the Northwest show at the Tacoma Art Museum. Read Clayton's full review here.

Ever wondered what that piece of art sounds like?

The Northwest Sinfonietta will give it a shot Saturday night. Their second "Music Off the Walls" chamber music concert - "Impressions Heard II "The Golden Trumpet" - features trumpeter Judson Scott, pianist Cristina Valdes and the Sinfonietta's chamber crew in impressionist musical work to complement The Movement of Impressionism exhibit. The concert takes place inside the Tacoma Art Museum, and will feature a mini lecture on the exhibit during intermission.

Sounds cool.

[Tacoma Art Museum, Saturday, Jan. 16, 7:30 p.m., $23-$28, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.5344]

Rear of House

Aaron Trotter-Voronoff calls himself a "21st century stylistic schizophrenic kind of guy," an artist/writer, "scavenging scoundrel," who studied world religion and culture as he earned his BA at The Evergreen State College, and has traveled around the world, including residencies in Portland, Ore., and Alaska.

Trotter-Voronoff is back in Tacoma, at least for now, and has hit the wet pavement running. I managed to slow him down to 90 mph for the scoop on his latest projects.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Hi Aaron. Glad to have you back in our neck of the woods. Where can the South Sound catch you next?

AARON TROTTER-VORONOFF: Happy New Year my friend. My next show will be at the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, which I'm a member, during Third Thursday Artwalk, followed by the Artifakt show at Jazzbones on Jan. 23.

VOLCANO: What are you showing at the Speakeasy?

TROTTER-VORONOFF: Some new abstract junk collage gestural paintings created in my new studio in the JET building across from The Swiss. Most likely I will also be doing a live demo of my process.

VOLCANO: How's the chronic tendonitis in your right hand?

TROTTER-VORONOFF: I push through it because it is essential for my healthy state of mind.  I've even taught my left hand how to draw, or at least fill in the gaps when my right hand refuses to do its job. 

VOLCANO: I've seen your Tacoma landmark drawings around town. Why did you feel compelled to draw them?

TROTTER-VORONOFF: It has been my practice in the last few years to document the people and places that I find myself surrounded by.  The more I practice, the more detailed my drawings get. 

This summer I was in Alaska in an old Gold Rush town and the buildings are very charming and preserved from the 1898 rush to the Klondike.  I filled a sketchbook with ink drawings of the more interesting buildings on the main street and made it into a book. The locals and tourists loved it, I sold about a 100 copies before I hurt my back and was forced to return to Tacoma to recuperate under my mother's watch.

VOLCANO: Did you injure it wrestling grizzlies?

TROTTER-VORONOFF: The short story is that I was in a "safety class" led by the chief ranger of a park that I was doing archaeology for.  The teacher chose me as his "victim" and carried me on his back across the room, when he put me down - spraining my back. I was unable to do my job. But I'm better now, six months later.

As you might imagine my enthusiasm for returning to Tacoma was sort of dampened by the back injury but getting re-hired at the Museum of Glass was a real boost.  

So looping back to Tacoma, I started to get my itchy fingers again, and began a new series with portraits of the Museum of Glass, the iconic cone, the Bridge, etc. That was around the time one of my favorite buildings in the city, the Luzon, got torn down.  I figured, shit, I better get to work before they tear down the Elks. So I have about 15 drawings now of Tacoma. I created a calendar out of the drawings. They sold fairly well as a seasonal experiment but now I am thinking a small book/coloring book would be appreciated by locals and tourists. I will display the Tacoma landmark drawings at the Artifakt show Jan. 23.