Making do with what you have

Fabric Basket, 18h x 20w x 20d inches, Marita Dingus. Courtesy of the artist and Traver Gallery, Seattle.

BELLEVUE, WA (PNAN) – On view through January 29, 2023, New Art and Sounds from the Pacific Northwest: Indie Folk is a show of works that are handmade, unpretentious and can blur the line between functionality and aesthetics at the Bellevue Arts Museum.

For the artists whether a patchwork quilter and abstract painter, they have passed-down knowledge and rural working-class principles on making do with what you have are as foundational as art history and studio technique. In addition, the exhibition features an intergenerational array of notable artists from throughout the region and a playlist selected by Portland’s Mississippi Records.

In this show, immaculate woven baskets and tooled-wood objects mix with works that are makeshift, improvisational and employ salvaged materials, mainly because the Pacific Northwest is home to a unique artistic ecosystem involving craft traditions, pre-industrial cultures and Indigenous and settler histories.

For more on this show and other programming see www.bellevuearts.org.

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