By Breanna Lai, UW News Lab

Sorry guys, this month’s art walk is all about the ladies.

Bherd Studios and Tasty Gallery, two local art galleries, have teamed up once again to promote two all-female artist exhibits that will open during Phinney-Greenwood’s monthly Art Up Artwalk this Friday, from 6-9 p.m.

“This is our fourth annual all-female art show,” said Michele Osgood, co-owner of Bherd (pronounced “be heard”) Studios. “It is the second year we have co-promoted an all-female show with Tasty Gallery. Each year we theme the art around feminine issues and things that deal with women artists in this field.”

Bherd Studios’ show, “Pretty, Sexy, Dirty Girly,” is the brainchild of Seattle artist Siolo Thompson. It is a multimedia exhibit featuring a dozen female artists exploring the topic of feminine sexuality.

Up the street at Tasty Gallery, owner and curator Sheri Hauser said they will introduce “Girls Gone Wild,” a figure-driven show featuring 11 female artists’ work.

“When we cross-promoted our events we realized that we generated more interest and attention, so we did it again this year,” Hauser said. “We are even looking to extend to other gallery owners in the neighborhood and make it even bigger in the future.”

Hauser played with show titles and settled on “Girls Gone Wild,” named after the infamous videos that show girls exposing themselves on camera, because she wanted to give the phrase a new, more positive, meaning.

A lot of the artists have different interpretations of what is “wild,” but Hauser said the group of women who are exhibiting are all strong, independent, talented, tenacious artists from various cities in the Northwest. She is particularly excited to include three artists from Vancouver, British Columbia, the city where she first started working in art promotion.

“I am excited about this shift being Canadian; Vancouver is only two and a half hours from Seattle so it would be crazy not to expose more artists to the market here,” Hauser explained.

Thompson, the curator of “Pretty, Sexy, Dirty Girly,” chose these four words when thinking about the different ways women are sexual or are sexualized by others. Thompson’s artists are local residents and represent a broad range of ages and backgrounds. (Check out her blog on the project.)

“We have a woman who is in her 50s, and our youngest exhibitor is 16. We’re bringing all these people together who have completely different backgrounds and ages and different politics,” Thompson explained. “There are lesbians, straight people, a transgendered woman, a woman who comes from a Midwestern background, and a photographer that works within the drag community.”

Along with the medley of women is their variation in mediums. There are photographers, painters, resin artists, burlesque dancers and a poet.

Because of the sexually charged nature of the content, some pieces may be considered controversial and adult content. Bherd Studios will be posting signage on their door as a warning.

“This might not be a show that a lot of venues would want to put on because maybe they’re not able to because of their audience,” Osgood said. “It’s a good chance to have an area for people to voice something that might be controversial. Some venues can’t just shut off families from coming in, but we have the ability to put a sign up and give a warning.”

Thompson hopes these shows will change the way people participate in art walks. She wants to spark dialogue.

“Generally what happens is you go to art walks and everyone is walking around with a little plastic cup of wine and they are nodding their heads and saying, ‘Oh I like that,’ but there is never really any discussion of things in the community,” she said.

Bherd’s curator said she purposefully included controversial pieces because she wants people to walk away thinking about the content artwork, not just if it would match nicely with their couch.

“What I wanted to do was use the gallery space to do more than entertain,” Thompson said. “I want it to be an engaging experience rather than just a display of craft.”

Because many of the artists are sexually empowered women, their work is a reflection and exploration of how they reached empowerment.

“This is not just girl power. It’s all about trying to get as many voices as possible to talk about the idea of what is feminine sexuality,” said Thompson. “It’s very difficult for us to look at art where the woman is in charge, or is the sexual subject and has agency over her sexuality. So the work of the women is all about that.”

(Breanna Lai is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.)

“Girls Gone Wild,” at Tasty Gallery, 7513 Greenwood Ave. N., opens on Friday and runs through March 6.

“Pretty, Sexy, Dirty Girly,” at Bherd Studios, 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., opens Friday with an artists’ reception from 6-10 p.m.; the show runs through March 2. On Friday night, Bherd is holding a raffle to raise money for the Urban Rest Stop in downtown Seattle, a free service that provides needy individuals and families with clean laundry and bathing facilities. Bherd is encouraging people to bring laundry soap, toothbrushes and other hygiene items to donate.

Perri Lynch, the artist who created the artwork outside the new Fire Station 21 at Greenwood Avenue North and North 73rd Street, tells us that defective electronics are to blame for the artwork not being lit up yet.

The rock-and-glass artwork was supposed to be completed by the end of last year, shortly after the Defenders of Greenwood moved into their new station, but Lynch and her crew have spent a lot of time troubleshooting electrical problems. She says the electronics need to be replaced.

“My apologies to the community for this delay and thanks very much for your patience,” Lynch told us by email.

Once completed, the glass layers of the artwork will be lit a bluish-green when the firefighters are in residence, and red when they are out on a call.

Here are a few newsy tidbits from around the neighborhood.

The old Van’s 105th Tavern at 602 N. 105th St. recently became Tim’s Tavern. Owner Tim Arnot says a new neon sign is coming soon.

Umpqua Bank’s quarterly local business promotion is now featuring Metropolis. Last quarter Umpqua featured products by Zak & Zoe. You can purchase Metropolis products right inside the bank and 100 percent of the purchase price goes back to the merchant. Metropolis products will be available at the Phinney Ridge Umpqua store through March.

Umpqua’s Phinney Ridge Store Manager Jo Figurelli and Metropolis Owner Terry Heiman. Photo by Mike Veitenhans.

Seattle’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs announced funding for 39 neighborhood arts partners. Each organization will receive $1,200 this year. In our neck of the woods, grantees are the Art Up Phinneywood Artwalk and “Heaven and Earth,” an outdoor art exhibit at Carkeek Park.

“Seattle’s neighborhoods are home to a range of cultural events that help forge connections among diverse communities,” Vincent Kitch, director of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, said in a press release. “By investing in these events we hope to support creativity at a grassroots level and help build community through arts and cultural participation.”

Don’t forget that Naked City Brewery & Taphouse at 8564 Greenwood Ave. N. is hosting another “Think & Drink” series event at 7 p.m. Wednesday. “Alien Encounters: Sci-Fi Movies, the Cold War and Today” is a conversation with author and film critic Robert Horton, and will feature film clips from classic sci-fi films such as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

Admission is free, and it’s sponsored by Humanities Washington.

The Greenwood Arts Council is about to print its monthly Art Up Artwalk maps for 2012, but first they want to know of any more businesses who would like to join and be included on the map. This includes any business that plans to offer an Artwalk special (such as discounted dinner or drinks, or a percentage off certain items in your store during Artwalk hours), even if that business won’t be hosting any artists or artwork.

The cost to be included is $25 for the year. That gets your business an informational blurb and link on the Art Up website, plus 100 printed maps to give to customers, and a poster for your window.

The deadline to be included in the 2012 printed maps is Friday, Dec. 16.

Make your $25 check out to the Phinney Neighborhood Association (which is the Greenwood Arts Council’s fiscal agent), but mail to Sheri Hauser at Tasty, 7513 Greenwood Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98103, so she can get your info on the map right away. She will deliver the checks to the PNA.

Questions? Email artup@greenwood-phinney.com.

The Defenders of Greenwood welcomed the community to their new Fire Station 21 in Phinney-Greenwood today, and thousands of neighbors packed into the new two-story station.

The truck bay as seen from the stairwell.

Several tables were set up around the truck bay, with various activities for children, from coloring their own stickers, to correctly identifying hot objects they should never play with, to stacks of red plastic fire hats (which I noticed a few adults were wearing as well!)

Children color their own stickers.

Kids also got to try on official firefighting gear.

And meet Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean.

Top Pot Doughnuts had its mobile truck parked outside, handing out free old-fashioned donuts.

Artist Perri Lynch (below, second from left) designed and fabricated the stone-and-glass sculpture in front of the station. By the end of the month, the glass panels of the sculpture will be lit bluish-green when the firefighters are in-house, and will change to reddish-orange when the firefighters are on a call.

Just before this morning’s open house, the owners of Avanti Art & Design right across the street, presented the firefighters with a specially framed Fire Station 21 flag. The flag used to fly from the back of the fire engine many years ago. Several months ago, the firefighters had asked Avanti for a simple frame for the flag.

Instead, Avanti’s co-owners, Wendy Keen and Emmalee Bozek, asked a friend, woodcarver Baer Charlton to create something special.

Charlton found some 100-year-old vertical grain fir that had been in a fire. Charlton estimated he spent “more than 40, less than a hundred” hours creating the frame, which is 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall.

“It needs to be preserved and it needs to be showed off appropriately,” Charlton said.

Textile artist Charlene Bozek did the hand dying for the fabric backround.

The owners of Avanti said they missed having the firefighters across the street while the new station was under construction, and are happy to have them back.

“They’re the ones keeping us safe out there, Keen said. “We’re just really happy to have them watching out for us.”

The rotating artwork in the Heart of Phinney Park on the corner of North 67th Street and Phinney Avenue North now features “Samaras” by Matt Babcock.

Photo courtesy of the PNA.

Artist’s statement:

A samara is a seed with a wing, such as a maple seed.

My goal as a sculptor is to create complex impressions using simple parts. I often use forms derived from the structure and movement of animals and plants. In April 2012 the Phinney Neighborhood Center Gallery will show some of my animal mobiles.

The powder-coated steel sculpture is 41 inches high, 41 inches wide and four inches deep. It is for sale for $6,800. If interested, contact the Phinney Neighborhood Center at 206-783-2244.

It’s time once again for the monthly Greenwood-Phinney Art Up Artwalk from 6-9 p.m. Friday.

Here are just a few highlights. Check out the official Artwalk website for a full list of all participating art galleries and businesses, plus a map. (A few restaurants offer discounts during the Artwalk.)

Art on the Ridge at 8005 Greenwood Ave. N. has a solo show special exhibit by neighborhood artist Ingrid Matthews Olson (photo), and a group exhibit by artists Justin Elk, Susan Brown, Rakish Malik, Jan Tervonen, and Priscilla Neison, plus live music by Hejira.

The Chocolate Shoe Box, 7410 Greenwood Ave. N., features photographs by Green Lake resident Conrad Chavez, who is also an author and digital media trainer.

Strut shoe store, 7511 Greenwood Ave. N., has appropriately themed artwork by local artist Brenda Joy, who has created peep toe to platform shoe paintings.

Next door at Tasty, at 7513 Greenwood Ave. N., see the “Sugarscapes” exhibit, with landscape and foliage artwork by Stella Latwinski and Jenna Colby.

In The Red Wine Bar & Café, 6510 Phinney Ave. N., features photographs of India by Leigh Pate, a local cyclist and photographer (photo).

Artist statement:

Traveling by bicycle takes you far off the tourist path and into beautiful rural areas rarely seen by Westerners. Local people are generous and kind, and bicycles open doors to experience their daily lives. These photographs capture unique images of the people met along the way as they go about their daily lives. Even the humblest person from the poorest village will labor in the fields dressed in a colorful sari, or take their goods to market on an ox cart painted bright colors and decorated with flowers. We expect images of India to be about grinding poverty, overcrowding and filth. These photographs convey the beauty and strength we often don’t see while on the typical tourist trail, and celebrate the color and beauty that is part of everyone’s everyday life.

The Phinney Center Gallery at the Phinney Neighborhood Association, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., is showing artwork around the theme of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. “Dia de los Muertos celebrations emphasize life and death as part of the same cycle and regard death on friendly and intimate terms. Artwork is by Oleana Perry, Joy Rufener and students from Madison Middle School.”

Bherd Studios Gallery, inside the Greenwood Collective at 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1, is showcasing its “Gifted” exhibit, featuring the urban contemporary works of Pacific NW artists Michelle Anderst, Debbie Bianchi, Claudio Duran, Ninjagrl, John Osgood, Joe Vollan and Vblast. “The artists have specifically put together smaller sized pieces for the gift giving season for this holiday show and offer everything from metal sculpture work, wood panel pieces and canvas work.”

A new exhibit opening this weekend at Francine Seders Gallery celebrates travel. The gallery, at 6701 Greenwood Ave. N., will showcase the art of photographer Eduardo Calderón and painter and printmaker Juliana Heyne.

Eduardo Calderón practices his own brand of street photography. He is skilled at picking small telling moments from the blur of urban life and placing them in the photographic frame for viewers to examine. He is not so much interested in documenting what he sees as creating images viewers can enter into imaginatively rather than intellectually and understand in the context of their own experience. Calderón visited Rome first in 2003 and then recently returned as a visiting artist at the American Academy.

Eduardo Calderón, Biciclettas, 2011, silver gelatin print, 11 x 14 in. Photo courtesy Francine Seders Gallery.

Juliana Heyne visited Greece in November/December of 2010. While she did travel some, she was based in Athens and expected to find it similar to Rome, which displays its antiquity in architectural and sculptural layers. Instead, outside of a handful of landmark ruins, she discovered Athens to be a city repeatedly leveled and rebuilt by outsiders who left it without much visual history. In addition, it clearly was facing hard times without the financial resources to maintain its infrastructure or undertake new projects. In many of Heyne’s paintings and monoprints grafittied buildings and abandoned construction sites bump up against crumbling stone walls, broken statuary, and tumbled marble blocks. While these landscapes are more chaotic mix than archaeology lesson, they aren’t gloomy—they have light, color, and plenty of grit.

Juliana Heyne, Lonely Statue, 2011, pastel and charcoal on paper, 17 x 25 in. Photo courtesy Francine Seders Gallery.

The exhibit runs from Friday through Oct. 30. An opening reception for the artists is from 2-4 p.m. Sunday. Francine Seders Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

Jean and John Bolivar, board members of House of Stone, a non-profit that raises funds for disadvantaged Zimbabwean children, are hosting a garden party fundraiser on Saturday. More than 90 African statues are scattered throughout their house, and a six-foot-tall stone statue of an African mother and child is currently in their driveway.

The free garden party from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday is open to the public, at 6706 Cleopatra Pl. NW. Sculptures are priced for a variety of budgets, and there will also be crafts and jewelry from several programs that House of Stone supports.

The statues represent over 30 artists, including many from the artist colony of Tengenenge, Zimbabwe. Some of the world-famous Zimbabwean artists whose work will be shown are: Fanizani Akuda, Davison Chakawa, Josiah Manzi, Conducto Kagore, Stanford Derere as well as many lesser known artists. The show will also feature the first US showing of Goodson Mlera’s stunning statues of African women, including several large pieces over 5 feet tall. Many of the featured artists are represented in the world’s finest galleries and museums.

House of Stone was founded in 2000 by two pediatricians, Susanne Martin Herz and Arnd Herz, formerly of Seattle. They saw an opportunity to strengthen Zimbabwean communities while supporting artists and raising awareness about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Southern Africa. House of Stone primarily raises funds through the sale of Zimbabwean “Shona” sculpture – African stone sculpture from Zimbabwe is often called Shona sculpture, named after the largest tribe engaged in sculpting. In 2010, HOS helped fund a preschool for the deaf, provided education and warm meals for 270 preschoolers, supported job-skills training for vulnerable girls, and maintained programs at preschools that were under threat of closure. Past events in San Francisco helped House of Stone raise over $100,000 for vulnerable Zimbabwean children, while supporting the livelihood of Zimbabwean artists. Over 95% of funds raised go back to help the children of Zimbabwe.

Artist Perri Lynch has started installing her commissioned artwork at the new Fire Station 21 today, at North 73rd Street and Greenwood Avenue North.

Artist Perri Lynch, second from right, and installation crew.

The sculpture incorporates alternating large stones and glass with LED lights that will change color when the firefighters are called out on an emergency.

Glass slabs that will have LED lights that change color from blue/green to red/orange when firefighters are out on a call.

The $90,000 project is being paid for from Seattle’s Fire Facilities and Emergency Response Levy, which is also paying for the brand new fire station. The city’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs uses 1% to fund arts projects. Lynch told me today that 85 percent of that cost goes back into the local economy as she hires an engineer, installers and others to work on the project with her.

The monthly Greenwood-Phinney Art Up and Chow Down Artwalk is from 6-9 p.m. tonight. (A few galleries and restaurants stay open later.) Dozens of art galleries, restaurants and other businesses are hosting artists and musicians. Here are just a few highlights. Check out the Artwalk website for a full list.

Tonight is opening night for “Bits & Pieces” at Tasty art gallery at 7513 Greenwood Ave. N. Twenty artists used repurposed and recycled materials to create paintings, mixed media sculptures, textiles, toys, yard art, shower art, illumination art and more.

Snapshots of recycled/repurposed art at Tasty.

A-1 Piano Sales & Rentals at 7020 Greenwood Ave. N. is hosting artist Britt McKenzie’s color pencil landscapes and other whimsical musings (below), plus live music.

Assemble Gallery & Studio, 7406 Greenwood Ave. N., is featuring the work of Scott Scoggin of Slide Sideways. “Row Me to the Shore focuses on the interaction of shapes and flat color (below). The work exaggerates the process of silk screening and cut paper, by which one is constantly thinking about layers. Each piece assembles minimal illustration and typography, sometimes ‘collaging’ random shapes, to produce a new whole. All work is gouache on paper, and each painting is signed in pencil by the artist.”

Urban Light Studios, 8537 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 1 (inside the Greenwood Collective) has the “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad Show,” featuring the works of urban contemporary artists inspired by Mad Magazine. And if you’re hungry, the Camarena Tequila Taco Truck will be stationed in the ground level of the Greenwood Collective back alley giving away free tacos.

Greenwood artist John Osgood, co-owner of Bherd Studios, 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1, is featured on CNN.com’s “Ripple” project, which asked about 20 artists across the country for their interpretation of the ripple effects of 9/11.

Osgood’s artwork is called “Here Comes Trouble,” and is listed under the project’s “Absurdity” aspect.

Artist’s statement: This 18-by-30-inch acrylic and aerosol-on-canvas painting is my idea about how the world of transportation changed since the 9/11 tragedy. From the excellent work conducted by the TSA to the absurd work by the TSA, travel has changed. My painting is loosely inspired by a recent story about an elderly lady who had to remove her adult diaper in order to pass through security. Terrorists exploited flaws in the system of travel, and now the U.S. has to raise the level of security to make sure this tragic moment in time never happens again. But where do we draw the line?