Upcoming Events
2024 CoCA Northwest Annual: On The Natural
Juried by Ginny Ruffner
(Seattle, WA) Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) presents the latest incarnation of its storied series exploring contemporary art in the region, the Northwest Annual, a juried group exhibition presenting a wide variety of media. This year’s 25th anniversary of the Annual, CoCA is proud to announce Ginny Ruffner as juror. CoCA received nearly 60 submissions from around the Northwest that explored themes of nature, narrative, and abstraction.
Participating artists include: Suze Woolf, anna macrae, Andrea Lawson, Lezlie Jane, Eva Skold Westerlind, Steve Jensen, Neil Berkowitz, David Berger, Hannah Salia, Joy Hagen, Renee Adams, Joy Kloman, Deb McCarroll, Nicholas Bowman, Bella Yongok Kim, Jennifer Fernandez, Tom Gormally, Susan Christensen, Mindi Katzman, Susanne Kelly, Ingrid Lahti, Madelaine Millar, Aaron Morgan, Maulsri Jha, David Julian, Jill Sahlstrom, and Hannah Newman.
Internationally recognized for her pioneering role in the glass art community, Ginny Ruffner has also expanded into public art and explored new media technology in using augmented reality. Her interest in the natural world, especially flora and gardens, anticipated the recognition of climate change in the 21st century and the need for sustainability, sequestration, and conservation. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Glass Art Society's Lifetime Award in 2019.
In selecting 37 works by 27 artists in Washington, Oregon, and Montana, Ruffner offered the title, On the Natural. The exhibition includes a rich assortment of sculpture, collage, prints, painting, sound, and mixed media works that echo each other in surprising ways; interpretations of the botanical world are especially vibrant and abundant.
“On The Natural” Catalog Release Party and Book Sale
As CoCA's 2024 Northwest Annual, "On The Natural", juried by Ginny Ruffner, continues into December, the catalog for the show will be released and available on First Thursday. In conjunction with the Catalog Release Party, we will offer our entire stock of CoCA Publications for sale at a 25% discount. Over 50 catalogs and occasional monographs will be on display, and David Francis has brought in a new batch of antiquarian books to sell as well. If you haven't seen it yet, here's your chance to take in a great show and do some holiday shopping at the same time.
Exhibition Opening: On The Natural
2024 CoCA Northwest Annual: On The Natural
Juried by Ginny Ruffner
(Seattle, WA) Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) presents the latest incarnation of its storied series exploring contemporary art in the region, the Northwest Annual, a juried group exhibition presenting a wide variety of media. This year’s 25th anniversary of the Annual, CoCA is proud to announce Ginny Ruffner as juror. CoCA received nearly 60 submissions from around the Northwest that explored themes of nature, narrative, and abstraction.
Portfolio Reviews
Free Portfolio Reviews for Artists
On Saturdays,September 14 and 21, Mr. Kangas will offer free portfolio reviews for interested artists.
To make reservations between 2:00 and 5:00 pm, contact info@cocaseattle.org.
Portfolio Reviews
Free Portfolio Reviews for Artists
On Saturdays,September 14 and 21, Mr. Kangas will offer free portfolio reviews for interested artists.
To make reservations between 2:00 and 5:00 pm, contact info@cocaseattle.org.
Hiding from the Nazis: The Art of Johannes Kunst
Curated by Matthew Kangas
A new exhibition at Seattle’s Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) explores the aftermath of World War II in Holland and the US through the visual art of Johannes Kunst (1938 – 2017).
Focusing on one body of work by the Dutch-American artist who lived in Blaine, Washington, CoCA and Guest Curator Matthew Kangas present Hiding from the Nazis: The Art of Johannes Kunst, a survey of the paintings done later in life relating to a two-year period during World War II when the artist and his brother hid in the attic of their grandparents’ house in Opeinde to protect them from conscription into slave labor in Germany.
Alternately sad, hopeful, and terrifying, the paintings brilliantly depict how art can recapture times fraught with anxiety and terror. A parallel to the Diary of Anne Frank (whose family was hiding during the same period), Hiding from the Nazis gives us a visual representation of expressively recaptured memories, broadening our picture of wartime Holland which touched non-Jewish families (like the Kunsts) as well as Jewish families.
During a period now of renewed, sporadic global conflict, the exhibition is timely and responsive to current issues of authoritarianism, militarism, and resistance through the visual arts, recollected by a survivor who lived on to form a full career as an artist in the United States.
The exhibition runs through the end of September. A full-color catalogue will be available. More at https://www.cocaseattle.org/2024/kunst
Exhibition Opening: Hiding from the Nazis
Hiding from the Nazis: The Art of Johannes Kunst
Curated by Matthew Kangas
A new exhibition at Seattle’s Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) explores the aftermath of World War II in Holland and the US through the visual art of Johannes Kunst (1938 – 2017).
Focusing on one body of work by the Dutch-American artist who lived in Blaine, Washington, CoCA and Guest Curator Matthew Kangas present Hiding from the Nazis: The Art of Johannes Kunst, a survey of the paintings done later in life relating to a two-year period during World War II when the artist and his brother hid in the attic of their grandparents’ house in Opeinde to protect them from conscription into slave labor in Germany.
Talk & Performance: Resilience
Exhibiting artist Darina Alster will give a performance and artist talk titled Resilience. Free to the public.
Embodyment @ CoCA
As part of a new series focusing on bringing international artists to Seattle, Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) welcomes Professor Darina Alster from Czech republic in their first US exhibition, Embodyment. Alster, an artist exploring video, performance, and other visual media, is co-founder of the New Media II Studio at the Academy of Fine Art in Prague, Czechia (Czech Republic).
Exhibition Opening: Embodyment
Embodyment
Darina Alster, Prague, Czech Republic
As part of a new series focusing on bringing international artists to Seattle, Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) welcomes Professor Darina Alster from Czech republic in their first US exhibition, Embodyment. Alster, an artist exploring video, performance, and other visual media, is co-founder of the New Media II Studio at the Academy of Fine Art in Prague, Czechia (Czech Republic). Embodyment opens first Thursday, August 1, 5-9 pm, with the artist in attendance. Alster will also give a performance and artist talk the following Saturday, August 3, from 1 - 3 pm, titled, Resilience. Both events are free to the public.
Rebecca Meloy @GMS
A Prayer for Earth
Rebecca Meloy @ Gary Manuel Salon
We are fragmenting our wild lands. The cutting of forests, clearing native plants, moving and disturbing soils, and the draining and filling of wetlands, are detrimental to our environment — to our oxygen producing native trees and plants, ground and surface water, insects, birds, animals, soil microbes — and to humans. We are a predatory species and our activities are fueling climate change that could be our demise. Our earth home is stressed.
My mark making on paper and canvas is my plea for nature’s health and our survival.
Chula Tupper @ Collins Pub
Love Letters
Chula Tupper @ Collins Pub
NEW WORK
Exploring the light and dark of the fairy tale romance.
During the day, roses are hand delivered just outside the castle walls.
At night a bewitching owl watches the swans change back to human form.
OLD WORK
To juxtapose the new artwork I chose to show some paintings done over the years, during which
I’ve been fortunate to exhibit at some great venues:
Rita Dean Gallery, San Diego, CA
Debra Owen Gallery, San Diego, CA
Equinox Gallery, Seattle, WA
Roq La Rue, Seattle, WA
Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA
Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
Brassworks Gallery, Portland, OR
Capitol Hill Art Walk: Megan Patterson
Second Thursday Capitol Hill Art Walk, featuring Megan Patterson
Pioneer Square Art Walk: Ghostscapes
First Thursday Pioneer Square Art Walk, featuring Kris Saknussem: Ghostscapes.
Exhibition Opening: Ghostscapes
First Thursday Pioneer Square Art Walk, featuring Kris Saknussem: Ghostscapes.
Capitol Hill Art Walk: Megan Patterson
Second Thursday Capitol Hill Art Walk, featuring Megan Patterson
Exhibition Opening: Identity, Resistance & Representation
First Thursday Pioneer Square Art Walk at CoCA Seattle
Afternoon Tea at CoCA Gallery
Join us at CoCA Gallery on Saturday, March 25 from 3-4:30 PM for a tea tasting with Floating Leaves Tea.
March First Thursday
First Thursday
Pioneer Square Art Walk
Be sure to stop in and experience our current exhibition A Dream Deferred featuring works by illustrator Damon Brown.
Exhibition Opening: A Dream Deferred
Exhibition Opening
A Dream Deferred, a Damon Brown solo exhibition opening.
January First Thursday: Pluralism
January First Thursday Pioneer Square Art Walk
Be sure to stop in and experience our current members’ exhibition, Pluralism.
Featured artist include Joan Beard, Sanjida Sharmin Mita, Esther Ervin, Barbara Shaiman, Tom McIntire, Lorena Krause, Kelly Lyle, Sarah Carr, Polly Purvis, Reginald Brooks, Nina Alderete, Linda James, Kevin Regan, James Leach, Sarah Banks, and Johanna Porter.
December First Thursday: Pluralism
December First Thursday Pioneer Square Art Walk
Be sure to stop in and experience our current members’ exhibition, Pluralism.
Featured artist include Joan Beard, Sanjida Sharmin Mita, Esther Ervin, Barbara Shaiman, Tom McIntire, Lorena Krause, Kelly Lyle, Sarah Carr, Polly Purvis, Reginald Brooks, Nina Alderete, Linda James, Kevin Regan, James Leach, Sarah Banks, and Johanna Porter.