Artfully Edmonds

Letters Aloud Reading Series With or Without You: Letters of Loving, Longing, and Leaving Edmonds Center for the Arts ~ 410 Fourth Ave. N. Limited tickets remain. Valentine’s Day ~ Friday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. The first cabaret-style performance for Edmonds Center for the Arts is going to be a sweetheart of a show!…

Reminder: Edmonds Arts Awards deadline approaching The submission deadline of Tuesday, Feb. 18 for nominations to the 2nd annual Chamber Arts Awards is fast-approaching. As an arts and events destination, Edmonds is drawing performance arts patrons and gallery enthusiasts from Seattle, Everett and beyond. The annual awards ceremony provides local residents with an opportunity to…

Few situations in life have the potential for misunderstanding and mayhem more than personal ads and blind dates. Edmonds’ Phoenix Theatre will capitalize on that potential during “Beyond Therapy,” which opens Friday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. “Beyond Therapy,” by playwright Christopher Durang, premiered in 1981 at an off-Broadway theatre named, coincidentally, the Phoenix Theater….

ARTspot Art Supply ~ 408 Main St. Inspired by Picasso’s observation “To become an artist, one must go back to being a child,” Tracy Felix Fraker and ARTspot co-owner Denise Cole established two programs intended to appeal to children interested in color, multi-media, and textures. Their No School Friday ART Day Camp scheduled to coincide…

The Edmonds arts scene, for the remainder of the month, will be as varied as it is exciting with these featured productions: Edmonds Center for the Arts Cascade Symphony Orchestra On Monday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m., ECA’s resident orchestra, the Cascade Symphony Orchestra, presents the second concert of its 52nd season.  Attendees will be…

Well, folks, it’s been a good run. I’m moving across the mountains to greener pastures this month to help breathe some life into a much smaller town. As I prepare to move on, I see how much Edmonds has transformed in the year and a half I’ve been home, and I see the potential for…

The sun will stand still at 5:11 p.m. this Saturday (not literally, but it will look that way if you are using ancient astronomical tools of measurement), marking the longest night of the year, and the return of light to our desolate lands. Winter solstice is the single day of the holiday season that is…

It really is the most wonderful time of the year—and the busiest! Hordes of holiday shoppers seem to be flocking to downtown Edmonds this year, finally persuaded by the facts and figures that show how shopping locally benefits the community. Signs up all over town promoting “Small Business Saturday” last week claim that 60 cents…

Crafters are pulling out all the stops this holiday season to stretch the spirit of giving as far as it can reach. Several holiday bazaars benefiting local charitable organizations are upcoming this week. Saturday, Nov. 16 is the Gentle Giving Fair at Richmond Beach Congregational United Church of Christ (1512 N.W. 195th St., Shoreline). Several…

“Give me a stack of books, a warm blanket, and a cord of wood and I’m set ‘til spring,” one customer remarked at the bookstore on Tuesday—and I think that’s the general sentiment around town since winter’s wind and rain announced its arrival earlier this week by blowing out our power. But, alas, the world…

Driving toward my parents’ house this week, I encountered about 100 crows on the road and in our neighbors’ yards, rooting for whatever tasty morsels crows like to eat to fatten up for winter. Since I can remember, crows have congregated around Shell Creek in late October, making a racket in the trees—and occasionally playing…

Welcome our sisters from Hekinan, Japan Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Edmonds Center for the Arts. A delegation from our sister city, with which we have enjoyed a partnership for 25 years, is visiting Edmonds from Oct. 29th-Nov. 4th. On the 30th, they will present a Hekinan-Edmonds cultural fair, featuring photography from Hekinan, and performances by…

Friday, Oct. 18 at the Edmonds Yacht Club, immerse yourself in the fabulous food and fashion of Edmonds at An Edmonds Kind of Soiree—a fundraiser for the Downtown Edmonds Merchants’ Association. In your chic-est cocktail attire, enjoy a champagne toast, heavy appetizers catered by local restaurants, and a fashion show put together by our esteemed…

Two opportunities for citizens to participate in open-forum discussion surrounding civic support for the arts are coming up this week. The first, on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. at ECA, concerns the Cultural Access Fund. The CAF Coalition consists of 35 cultural organizations in the Puget Sound area dedicated to securing state funding that…

From Aug.15-Sept.15, an open-access questionnaire was live online to collect data from Edmonds residents regarding the use of parks and open spaces and city-sponsored arts events. The City’s Community Cultural Planning Committee met again this week to discuss the findings from this “Environmental Scan” and how they differ from the objectives of previous cultural plans….

Thursday night’s Art Walk was, as one of the many sidewalk musicians put it, squinting into the sun, “probably the last good one we’ll have.” The public turned out in hordes to take in the last gorgeous summer evening along with their monthly dose of art of all media.. I caught up with photographer Chris…

Judith Larsen’s portraits of “Frontline Heroes” honor female news correspondents whose lives were cut short in the line of duty. Larsen felt a growing sense of urgency to preserve the memories of these civilians—especially the women, whose deaths seemed to Larsen to be passed over by the news media. Her portrait series includes the first…

Edmonds Center for the Arts has bid a fond farewell to Jamie Herlich, Director of Advancement and Communications. Herlich has been asked to fill the role of Director of Individual Gifts at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. The invitation from long-time mentor Ben Moore, Seattle Rep’s Managing Director, to take the newly created position at Seattle…

Edmonds Cultural Plan Survey I mentioned in last week’s column that the City of Edmonds is gearing up to write a new six-year plan for the future of art culture and our use of parks and open spaces. Earlier this week, the city released a link to an anonymous survey to get a more complete…

On Wednesday night this week, the Community Cultural Advising Team met for the first time to discuss goals for the next six years of Edmonds arts culture. The team, selected by Arts Commissioner Frances Chapin, consists of 20 people from all different aspects of our artistic and cultural community. I was asked to join the…

Let There Be Light! The Phoenix Theatre needs new lights for its sixth season of “comedy without all the drama!” The old lights in the theater generate an unpredictable amount of heat and an irritating humming noise. If Phoenix Theatre reaches its goal of $10,000, it will be able to purchase new lighting that will…

For many artists, the hardest part of the job has nothing to do with what goes on in the studio space and workshops. Finding the resources (and courage) to share the fruits of your labor with the outside world, on the other hand, can be daunting. I can’t help you with the confidence aspect, but…

Thursday night was the Edmonds Arts Commission’s first look at three project proposals for the future Five Corners Roundabout. Out of 22 submitted applications, the jury invited CJ Rench, Julie Berger, and Stuart Nakamura to create models for the 21-foot roundabout. About 10 members of the public observed the presentations and jury reactions, and we…

First of all, a HUGE thanks to Lily Jaquith for stepping in to write last week’s “Artfully Edmonds” while I was away on the babysitting on the best “work” vacation ever—with Twist Vinyasa Yoga’s teacher training retreat to Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon. Breitenbush is truly a special place on this planet, and I recommend…