FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Olympia:
Mark your calendar for Arts Walk XLIII! On Friday, October 7th, from 5-10pm, and Saturday, October 8th from 11am-4pm, downtown businesses will open their doors to showcase the wonderfully rich and diverse resource of visual and performing arts of the South Sound Region. Enjoy an evening of drawings, paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramics, photography, fibers and other visual art. Take in diverse performing arts, from aerial performance to a variety of musical styles and dance from bachata to flamenco, performances and lessons! Consult the Butohracle! Check out spontaneous interpretive poetry and movement! Whatever art form moves you, chances are, you’ll find it downtown during Arts Walk. Arts Walk maps will available at participating locations and at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. NW, after September 24 and an online listing can be found at www.artswalkolympia.com (also after September 24).
For youth and families, the City of Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation Department will sponsor a hands-on activity area with the Hands on Children’s Museum. Stop by Friday, October 7, at Washington Street and 5th Avenue between 5-9pm to get your face painted and create art!
The Arts Walk map cover this fall is by Janice Arnold. With recent exhibitions at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (2009), the Grand Rapids Art Museum (2010) and the Bellevue Arts Museum (2011), Janice is an Olympia artist who is perhaps better known outside our community. Her chosen material is felt: “Felt means both the creation and the process, the making of strong non-woven material from nothing more than raw wool fibre. It is believed that people have been making felt for over 9000 years. In my practice, I am translating this ancient traditional process with a modern aesthetic.”
While Janice is well known for her large-scale textiles, and installations suspending multiple yards of hand-made felt in the form of tents and yurts, “FELT Window #1” is a more figural work inspired by medieval stained glass. The process she uses marries richly hued wool fibers while incorporating silk and metal fabrics, using only hot water and agitation of the fibers. During Arts Walk, Janice is creating a special installation, incorporating over 1500 square feet of handmade felt at the YOGA Loft, #9 on the Arts Walk map.
Arts Walk is sponsored by the City of Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation Department and the Olympia Arts Commission, with support provided by Art House Designs, Capitol City Press, Comcast, Heritage Bank and Mixx 96 FM. For more information, please contact Stephanie Johnson, Arts & Events Manager, at 360.709.2678 or sjohnso1@ci.olympia.wa.us.
