Arts
Free money sounds good, right? For artists with the talent, gumption, planning skills and the discipline necessary to do the work, the money is out there. Most people start with arts grants. The City of Tacoma has a few, as does the State of Washington. But that's just the beginning.
Arts
So you love making art. You've got a bank of original pieces, and you want to sell them. We'll assume they're awesome. Now what? Well, before you head out and look for a gallery to show your work, master the following three skills. These are skills that may seem to have
Arts
OK. Time to ditch the metaphysics of art and get pragmatic for a while. Apparently, "making it" is hot right now. For brevity's sake we'll define "making it" as producing and selling enough work to quit your day job and live off your creations. Most artists harbor this dream, but few
Arts
We must live as if the Apocalypse has already happened. Sorry. I've got the end of the world on the brain. That whole 2012 thing - the latest in a long line of end-of-the-world prophecies - is rapidly approaching. The Apocalypse and all its dystopian bric-a-brac is officially a pop-culture phenomenon.
Arts
Recently I went and sat in a room with a small group of Tacoma School of the Arts students. Led by Fred Novak, a slight, jittery young fellow with self-applied Joan Crawford-style eyebrows (which is awesome), these students met at Mad Hat Tea Company as part of a SOTA class
Arts
As artists, we often cordon ourselves off from the world in the name of creativity. It's easy to do - to pass off our own, deeply ingrained alienation as some sort of heroic individualism. When contrasted against the sort of pap that passes itself as "community", or "leisure," the dandyism
Arts
I woke up this morning and wrote six pages of strangeness. I’ve done this every day for six days now on the advice of an author — Julia Cameron, an award-winning journalist, screenwriter, director, filmmaker and self-help guru. Her book is called The Artist’s Way Every Day: A Year of
Arts
First Night. It happens all over the country, including our fair city. At the heart of the tradition is a spirit of celebration without the assistance of a bottle of vodka, beer or wine. Or weed. Or speed. Or spray paint in a plastic bag. It’s a strange idea —
Arts
I’m sick of Christmas — not because I hate holy days. Not because I’ve succumbed to the stupid, reactionary cynicism that seems to accompany standard anti-Christmas rants. Not because I despise the meaningless consumer rampage that seems to define this particular holy day. Not because I can’t escape R&B covers
Arts
Oh Tacoma. Of all the cities I’ve ever known, we know how to raise a ruckus about architecture. Case in point: Make No Little Plans, an arts exhibition that will mourn the demise of the historic Luzon Building (or what was left of it) beginning this Thursday at the Logical
Arts
Nearly 50 hungry artists are packing into the Mad Hat Tea Company in hopes of making a little cash. It’s called the Cash Flow Show, and everything is on sale for $25 or less. Like everyone else involved in the business of selling stuff, these folks are hoping
Archives
Tacoma’s got talent. There is no question. You’ll have your chance to see the folks who have the talent, along with the courage to show up, this Saturday at The New Frontier. It’s called Raw Talent, and it’s the second installment. The show is boasting a line up of 20
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I don’t get modern dance. Neither do you. That’s because there’s nothing to “get.” Dance speaks a language of its own — a kinetic language, a cellular language, a somatic language — and trying to shove it into a rational framework doesn’t work. I had the distinct pleasure
Archives
I’m getting bored to tears by aesthetics built on darkness and degeneration. I’m no puritan, but seriously — evil is becoming boring as hell. There was a time when there was a sense of freedom that came with celebrating darkness, entropy, self-destruction, sado-masochism, chains and leather, drug and
Archives
I heard last week that the Liquor Control Board (LCB) and Tacoma PD worked together to shut down a party thrown by a group of under/overground show organizers. These folks throw some of the best arts events in Tacoma — consistently and proudly. At a recent semi-underground event,
Archives
There aren’t many cities willing to dedicate an entire month to art. Tacoma is one of the few, and it’s called Art at Work Month, which runs through November. This year will mark the eighth anniversary of Art at Work, which will showcase Tacoma talent via hundreds of community-hosted arts and
Archives
Sorry folks, but this one’s going to be completely uninspiring. I’m beat. I’ve spent the last five weeks working myself to the bone. I’m surrounded and drained by people going through 16 different kinds of personal hell. Illness, life drama, financial failure, home foreclosure, dying businesses, dead relationships, dying relationships,
Arts Feature
Sorry folks, but this one’s going to be completely uninspiring. I’m beat. I’ve spent the last five weeks working myself to the bone. I’m surrounded and drained by people going through 16 different kinds of personal hell. Illness, life drama, financial failure, home foreclosure, dying businesses, dead relationships, dying relationships,
Arts Feature
Ah, the Creative Class. This latest demographic demi-urge was created by researcher-turned marketing guru Richard Florida, whose list of credentials is long. Florida coined the term to describe population and demographic trends that are making so-called creatives the core force driving economic growth in the world today. A bunch
Archives
Ah, the Creative Class. This latest demographic demi-urge was created by researcher-turned marketing guru Richard Florida, whose list of credentials is long. Florida coined the term to describe population and demographic trends that are making so-called creatives the core force driving economic growth in the world today. A bunch
