The self-guided Tacoma Studio Tour is back, after a two-year suspension because of COVID-19. On Saturday & Sunday, 15-16 October, 50 artists will share and discuss their work in 38 studios across the city. I'll be at Studio 4 (see the map) both days, 11AM - 5PM. Each studio will feature an active demonstration or a hands-on activity -- I'll have two stations set up where you can create your own acrylic painting. (I've done this in the past -- children love it!)
The interactive map makes it easy for you to select the studios you want to visit, thereby generating an itinerary and personal map of your day. During the tour, you can sign up for a drawing for prizes offered by participating artists.
Tacoma arts
Black & White, abstracted /
The Tahoma Center Gallery presents “Black & White, abstracted,” featuring 36”x 36” monochromatic paintings by JW Harrington. The spacious gallery is on the second floor of the former St. Leo High School. Come upstairs to be amazed by how much boldness can be rendered in black, white, and grays!
5 July – 30 August 2022
Monday – Friday 8:30AM – 5PM
(Check in at main floor entry)
Reception 4:30 – 7 pm, Thurs 18 August
during the Downtown Art Walk
1323 S. Yakima Ave., Tacoma WA 98405
Painting news /
As I’ve admittedly procrastinated in composing an update on my painting, things to share have piled up. But I haven’t procrastinated in painting!
My primary current series is titled The Impossibility of Knowing. The works share an attempt to capture a moment (for those that are representational) or a set of shapes, and to indicate the passing of the moment or the absence of those shapes, usually by an outline of a mirrored image of the subject. Each is on a muted background, usually graduated from light to dark. Here’s one example, The Impossibility of Knowing (16). Each of these is acrylic paint on a 16”x 24” canvas.
This summer, I’m also fascinated by creating an illusion of depth within a composition. Here’s an example, in which I challenged myself to maintain a distinction in the apparent distance from the viewer to the various features, and to provide enough detail to hold the viewer’s interest.
I’ve not abandoned my abiding interest in visual abstraction. Here’s one of my favorite paintings, Reach (40”x 30”).
One major development has been joining the cooperative gallery Collective Visions. It’s at 331 Pacific Avenue in Bremerton, WA. What attracted me to the gallery is the quality of the artists, the diversity of the work, and the space being large enough for each member to have an area for display. We rotate our exhibits at the beginning of each month, so there’s always something new, and always some works by each of us. For those of you in or near Seattle, it’s two blocks from the ferry terminal. Bremerton’s worth a visit: there’s been a lot of redevelopment on the waterfront, and of course, the ferry trip is magnificent. For those of us in or near Tacoma, it’s only a 25-minute drive beyond the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
I’ve also been accepted into the art-rental program of Ryan James Fine Arts, a commercial gallery in Kirkland, WA. They currently have four of my pieces, for rental to commercial or individual clients.
This month (August), 13 of my small works are on display at Bluebeard Coffee Roasters at 2201 Sixth Avenue in Tacoma (standing at the east end of the Sixth Avenue collection of shops and restaurants). These include the entire Faces of Evil series, which didn’t scare away the shop owner, and bring quizzical looks from the café’s patrons.
As always, I invite you to visit my website, jwharrington.com, to see what new things I’ve completed!
Farewell, Heather Joy /
Spaceworks Tacoma is an organization that supports entrepreneurs (focused on "creatives," but applied deliberately broadly) and matches them with available operating spaces in Tacoma. It combines three of y own passions: artistic expression, individual self-determination, and economic development. Heather Joy is leaving Spaceworks after five years at its helm. Take a look at her farewell letter, for a description of how a creative and useful organization was born and has developed!