2024-2025 featured student artists celebrated
At last week’s school board meeting, the Edmonds School District proudly celebrated its 2024-2025 featured student artists. These 35 selected art pieces, representing preschool through grade 12, will be showcased on the district website and social media.
Art is vital in education, helping students express themselves and explore new ideas. The featured work showcases incredible talent, from stunning paintings to thought-provoking digital art.
Congratulations to these amazing artists! You can view all their artwork online here.
~ ~ ~ ~
The Edmonds Center for the Arts Online Auction is open to all. Plus, get Gala tickets!
Auction closes noon, Friday, Oct. 18
Join the ECA online for a chance to win from an exciting list of items and experiences, all in support of ECA.
The ECA said it is thrilled to launch this online event and share these 2024 offerings with everyone in our community. This is your opportunity to win popular items, fabulous ticket packages and access to one-of-a-kind artistic experiences — all while making a big impact on ECA’s mission. It’s the peace of mind of always having a premium reserved parking spot for ECA performances or the intriguing excitement of a cocktail party turned murder mystery on the ECA Stage. The online auction is a great way to be part of the impact during ECA’s biggest event of the year. Every bid helps the ECA continue presenting world-class performances and programs here in Edmonds.
These opportunities are exclusive to the auction, so don’t miss your chance to contribute and connect, even if you can’t attend the gala.
Click the link here and choose “Get Started” to register and begin bidding on a range of items and events, from coveted favorites to exciting new experiences.
Attendance at the gala is not required. However, gala tickets are still available here. Please join for a one-of-a-kind evening on Friday, Oct. 18, as the brilliant star of stage and screen, Renée Elise Goldsberry, comes to ECA, headlining a performance brimming with the magic of all your beloved Broadway favorites (like Hamilton!) and tunes from the great soul, gospel and R&B singers.
This special event is more than just another concert; it is ECA’s most important fundraiser of the year and a night to celebrate and uplift arts lovers like you. As there will be no additional asks at the event, your attendance on this exciting night is the greatest gift the ECA could receive, one that will have a far-reaching impact on our community.
~ ~ ~ ~
Tombstone pop-up show at Graphite Arts Center
Through Nov. 2, Graphite Arts Center, 202a Main St., Edmonds
In the spirit of the Halloween season, Graphite Arts Center hauntingly presents the exhibit Tombstone. All works on display are unframed on paper, including photographs, drawings, paintings, and collages. The art exhibited in this small-scale show features a tombstone, headstone or graveyard scene. Tombstone, which features 15 works of art, is on display in the library space at Graphite.
Gallery Director Tara Shadduck says, “I know Edmonds loves Halloween, and visitors to Graphite will love this month-long pop-up show. The works range from humorous to haunting, all within the theme of Tombstone.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Get a jump on Halloween with the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”
7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 24, Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave. N., Edmonds
The “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a beloved cult classic, mashes together elements of science fiction movies, Marvel comics, Frankie Avalon/Anette Funicello outings, and rock n’ roll of every vintage. Running through the story is the sexual confusion of two middle American “Ike Age” kids confronted by the complications of the decadent morality of the ’70s, represented in the person of the mad “doctor” Frank N Furter, a transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania.
Dress extravagantly, bring your noisemakers and come ready to sing along! Do not bring any items to toss or throw – leave the silly string at home, please.
Captions provided. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase and can be enjoyed in the theater.
Content advisory: The Rocky Horror Picture Show is rated R for strong sexual content, including dialogue, violence and language. This film is not advisable for all ages and may offend some viewers as much as it delights others.
Tickets are available here for $20.
~ ~ ~ ~
The fine art of watermedia from around the world: A captivating online exhibition
Online reception at 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25
Northwest Watercolor Society’s 84th Annual International Open Exhibition runs online from Oct. 25 through Dec. 29. Featuring 75 paintings, the exhibition showcases the fine art of watermedia.
The NWWS online exhibition begins with an online reception that is open to the public. Register for the webinar here. Unable to attend? No worries. The show runs through Dec 29 for art lovers to view at their pleasure and on any device.
Juror Vladislav Yeliseyev’s primary criterion was the ability of the artist to offer a unique and profound insight. “While technical execution and detail certainly played a role, my focus remained on the depth and substance conveyed by the pieces,” he said.
During the online reception, 16 awards, totaling over $15,000, will be awarded. Cash prizes of $2,000 go to first place, second $1,300, and third $1,000. NWWS will also purchase one painting for $1,000, which will become part of the NWWS Permanent Collection.
NWWS sponsors a four-day online workshop with Vlad entitled “Mastering Watercolor Techniques,” Oct. 28 – 31. The course is limited to 20 participants. For more information and to register, click here.
Yeliseyev’s final thoughts on the exhibition are that it “will captivate viewers and continue to promote the fine art of watermedia in the United States and internationally.” For art lovers and collectors, the artwork is for sale.
You can find more information about NWWS and the 84th International Open Exhibition here.
~ ~ ~ ~
Cascade Symphony opens its 63rd season, performing Beethoven and rare Scriabin composition
7:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 28, Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave. N., Edmonds
The Cascade Symphony Orchestra (CSO) opens its 63rd season performing music by composers Beethoven, Camille Saint-Saëns, Alexander Scriabin and Eric Coates for its Poem of Ecstasy concert at the Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA).
Michael Miropolsky, starting his 23rd season as Cascade Symphony’s music director, says it will be “an evening of surprises.”
“We will present three orchestral premieres: Beethoven’s heroic ‘Overture to the Opera Fidelio,’ the delightful Joyous Youth Suite by English composer Eric Coates, and the mystic Poem of Ecstasy by one of the most controversial Russian composers of the 20th century, Alexander Scriabin,” Miropolsky noted.
This Scriabin composition, rarely played in the Pacific Northwest, is not widely familiar. Miropolsky remembers performing it one time many years ago in Moscow and had been wanting to conduct it here. He said that the connection between mysticism and the erotic was important to Scriabin, and it manifested into one of his most significant works. It combines impressionistic elements reminiscent of French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, highly chromatic post-Wagnerian harmonic language, and a lavish orchestration that includes no less than six trumpets and eight horns.
The concert’s featured soloist is 14-year-old pianist Leonardo Zhou, who has performed and won awards locally and worldwide.
Leonardo earned gold medals in the Northwest Chopin Festival of 2019-2020, first places in the 2018 Perugia Music Festival, and won the Eastside Scholarship Competition of 2018-2022, the Fujairah International Competition for 2020, and the grand prize for the Piano Online Forum of 2021. He also earned the Judith Thiel Artist Award for Piano in 2023.
“The young star Leonardo Zhou is ready to impress us with cascades of virtuosic passages from Camille Saint-Saëns’ most popular Piano Concerto No. 2,” Miropolsky said.
Leonardo was previously a guest soloist with the Cascade Symphony in October 2022.
A pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m., by KING-FM radio personality Dave Beck, will preview the musical highlights for the Poem of Ecstasy concert.
Concert ticket prices are $30 for adults, $26 for seniors (60-plus), and $10 for youth (12 and younger). Tickets can be purchased online through the ECA website and by telephone (425-275-9595).
Additional information about the Cascade Symphony Orchestra and its 2024-25 concert season is available here.
~ ~ ~ ~
Through Windows and Doors Exhibit at the Gallery at Graphite
Through Nov. 2, Graphite Arts Center, 202a Main St., Edmonds
Immerse yourself in the exhibition Through Windows and Doors, where the theme explores perspectives and views as seen through, into, out of, between, or across windows and doors. This group exhibit invites you to experience varied interpretations of these everyday thresholds. Each work includes the element of a door or window in some way. Forty-seven works are displayed in this dynamic group show, featuring paintings, photos, and sculptures. Several works in the show are created using actual windows, frames, or doors. Dawn Chesbro’s piece Just Let Me Get My Ball is a large-scale mixed media and stained glass triptych using repurposed window frames.
“I could never have imagined how this show would come together,” Gallery Director Tara Shadduck says. “The variety of mediums and styles represented is very broad, but the theme really brings all the works together with unexpected cohesion. There are many interesting interpretations of the idea of Through Windows and Doors.”
Unique works in the show include Tracy K. Felix’s suspended half-door work titled Home / Peace To All Who Enter, which can be viewed from both sides; Troy Gua’s three bright acrylic paintings featured on the back wall, and Nate Chang’s 2-inch painting titled Life and the Mojave from Seat 13A which is designed to be viewed through an accompanying microscope. Unique to the Edmonds scene are four works that feature ferry boat windows.
— By Elizabeth Murray
Elizabeth Murray is a freelance writer thankful to call Edmonds home. When she’s not busy wrangling her two kids (and husband), you can find her playing ukulele. She can be reached at elmm22@gmail.com
