Tacoma Arts in Review: Traver Gallery's February Group Artist Show (Ending Sunday)

Bond Chain by Jiro Yonezawa
_{Image Courtesy of the Traver Gallery}

Snugly located between Dock Street and the marina sits the Albers Brothers Mill building, home to the Traver Gallery. Although the cold, wet winter may keep us away from the marina, Traver Gallery Group Artist Show is a perfect way to stay warm.

Inside the gallery, the artwork featured in the group show shares a concise and intriguing snapshot of contemporary Northwest art as developed by the creative experts who helm the Traver Gallery. William Traver and his staff have been curating the artistic culture of the Northwest for the past thirty years and any gallery group show can be considered an authoritative survey in current trends and artists-to-watch.

This group show includes works in a variety of mediums, including sculpted and blown glass, two-dimensional oil on canvas and mixed-media sculptures by fifteen artists. A few works in particular drew my attention, including Jiro Yonezawa’s sculptures. His bamboo-woven creations seem to display the kinship between Japanese and native northwest aesthetics, inviting me to explore the pattern of the woven bamboo and encouraging one of many moments of serenity in this show.

One of the Northwest’s more recognizable artists, Preston Singletary, is also included in the show, his glass sculptures brightly complementing Yonezawa’s pieces. This display is an enticing precursor to Singletary’s solo show, opening March 5th at the Traver Gallery.

Julia Ricketts’ trilogy of paintings Fabric of Time displays an accessible point of view on current northwest abstraction. Ricketts’ work appear woven—the canvases crisscrossed with a combination of colors combined to create an embracing whole.

All of the pieces on display in the group show encourage contemplation and contentment in the viewer, contributing to the harmony of the gallery space. The Gallery Group Artist Show is an invitation, harmonious and warm and the perfect place to visit this weekend to escape the frigid temperatures. See it before it closes—your last opportunity is this Sunday!

Traver’s Gallery Group Artist Show features Sonja Blomdahl, Nancy Callan, Benjamin Cobb, Alessandro de Santillana, Alan Fulle, Mary Josephson, Benjamin Moore, Shelly Muzylowski-Allen, Julia Ricketts, Davide Salvadore, Preston Singletary, Claudio Tiozzo, Dick Weiss, Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen, and Jiro Yonezawa.

Traver Gallery is located in downtown Tacoma next to the Museum of Glass.

Address: 1821 E Dock Street #100, Tacoma, WA 98402
Hours: The gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 to 6:00, and Sundays from 12:00 to 5:00.

The current group show runs through Monday, February 28th.

Review by Sarah Wise

ABOUT TACOMA ARTS IN REVIEW
Tacoma Arts In Review, a new column on Exit 133, regularly shares timely reviews and stories on art happenings in Tacoma written by local college students and community members. For more information and application details, go here.