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?

Artist Perri Lynch is in the midst of creating a free-standing stone and glass sculpture for the new Fire Station 21 that will incorporate LED lights that will change color when the firefighters are called out on an emergency.

Lynch says the stones and glass sections are layered to show the relationship between stability and fragility when a crisis occurs. The glass will be illuminated with blue/green LEDs, which will change to red/orange when the station alarm system is triggered.

Photo courtesy of Perri Lynch.

The sculpture is held through the middle by a six-inch galvanized steel pipe that’s about 14 feet tall. It’s located on the southwest corner of the site at 7304 Greenwood Ave. N.

Lynch, who used to live in the neighborhood, will begin installing the piece on that pipe next Monday, weather permitting, and hopes to finish by the end of the week. This is her second piece of art for a local fire station; the first is currently being installed in Issaquah. (Note 8-29-11: Installation is delayed about two weeks due to additional site prep work.)

Photo courtesy of Perri Lynch.

She spent a full daytime shift with firefighters at Station 21, going out on emergency calls, to help her create art that represented what firefighters go through every day.

“It was such an eye-opener to me. The strongest impression I had was how many hours of preparation it takes to roll out so fast,” she said. “To respond in a split second.”

She also was amazed at the almost rock star status that the Defenders of Greenwood enjoy.

“It’s very unusual for a neighborhood to have such a close relationship to their firefighters,” she said. “I hope that the piece…kind of reinforces the connection that the community already has with the station. I hope it also provides a beacon of safety.”

Artist Perri Lynch with a drawing of her stone and glass sculpture for Fire Station 21. Photo by Gary Burkhardt.

Some of the stones lower down will be perfect for children to sit on, and she hopes that people walking by will take the time to see a different perspective of the artwork every time. For her, Lynch said the work represents the interruption of the daily flow of life.

“For responders it’s the flow of their work, but for people in crisis it’s a total interruption of their lives,” she explained. “Fire in itself is a provocative medium, in terms of being one of the essential elements, but also one of these things that warms us, but also brings crisis to our lives. I love the multi-faceted aspect of fire.”

She’s also honored to have been chosen to create the art for Fire Station 21.

“It’s a humbling thing,” she said. “I’m really honored by the opportunity to have the artwork in your community.”

This month’s Greenwood-Phinney Art Up Artwalk on Friday night is in conjunction with the annual PhinneyWood Summer Streets (formerly called Greenwood Summer Streets), when Greenwood Avenue North is closed to cars from North 67th to North 87th streets, from 6-9 p.m.

You can read more about Summer Streets here and here (and we’ll have another post on it later today).

Here are a few highlights of the Artwalk, which nearly three-dozen local businesses are participating in. Check out the Artwalk blog for full details.

Bherd Studios Gallery, inside the Greenwood Collective at 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1, features the second month of its unique art installation called “Inc. – where wall meets canvas.” Seven artists — Carlos Aguilar, Ksera, Weirdo, Sensei 23, Zach Bohnenkamp, Solace and John Osgood — painted the installation over four days, blurring the line between canvas and the wall.

“Inc. – where wall meets canvas” continues through Aug. 26. Artists also will be out in the streets in front of the Greenwood Collective, painting live during the Artwalk.

Tasty art gallery at 7513 Greenwood Ave. N. is hosting an Art Fair with 20 artists in front of the gallery. Local band Gavin Guss will play two live sets during the event, circus fire performer Cypris of Exuro also will perform, and chef Tiberio Simone will do a live food art demonstration on bikini-clad models in Tasty’s front window.

Inside Tasty, the show TechnOrganic features paintings by Sean Wilkinson and David VonDerLinn, plus a group exhibit with 10 more Northwest artists. TechnOrganic runs through Sept. 4.

Strut shoe store right next door to Tasty, at 7511 Greenwood Ave. N., features the work of local mural artist Ryan Henry Ward, who will be painting live in front of the store.

Art on the Ridge, 8005 Greenwood Ave. N., hosts a rare collection of prints from 1940s Russian Director Sergei Eisenstein, who sketched 30 scenes from his movie, “Ivan The Terrible.” Plus they’ll have live painting in the streets.

Gainsbourg, 8550 Greenwood Ave. N., hosts artist Ethan Jack Harrington’s oil paintings (above). “As a plein-air oil painter, the artist captures scenes in-person, in real-time; when a subject earns his attention, Harrington sets up his easel on a sidewalk, rooftop or in an alley and quickly paints the area as he sees it at that moment.”

The Phinney Art Gallery at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., hosts local artist Dara Solliday’s encaustic mixed media works, “Weight, Water, Regrade.”

Rockwell Realty, 8315 Greenwood Ave. N., is hosting a fundraiser for The Rose International Fund for Children, which works to improve the lives of children and adults in Nepal, particularly those with a disability. “We will be showcasing beautiful hand-embroidered cards created by the Deaf Women’s Empowerment Group as well as beautiful photos and artwork from Nepal. All proceeds go back to supporting the deaf women in Nepal that are creating these cards and TRIFC.”

Francine Seders Gallery’s newest exhibit brings together three of the local art scene’s most well-known artists and the work of their children, also working artists. Running from Friday through Aug. 14, at 6701 Greenwood Ave. N., the exhibit features the work of: Fred Birchman and his sons, Julian Birchman and Sam Birchman; Michael Dailey and his daughter, Susanne Kelly; and Michael Spafford and his son, Spike Mafford.

Fred Birchman draws, and occasionally paints and sculpts. Julian Birchman is an animation artist currently living in the Bay Area, who recently worked on animation projects for Nike and the band Evelyn and Evelyn. Sam Birchman is a painter in Seattle.

In tossing around ideas for this show, the three decided to make portraits of one another. The show will include Fred Birchman’s drawings of his sons, Julian Birchman’s animated version of voicemails he received from his father and brother, and Sam Birchman’s paintings with his father and brother as subjects.

Julian Birchman, “CU42,” still from work in progress, 2011

Susanne Kelly, daughter of the late Michael Dailey, is a painter and printmaker. She was her father’s studio assistant and framer for 10 years before his death in 2009. Kelly’s woodcut prints and oil paintings will be shown with several of her father’s acrylics on canvas.

Susanne Kelly, “My Mother Said That I Never Should 2,” 2010, oil on canvas, 49 ½” x 54 ½”

Michael and Spike Mafford’s first collaborative show was in 2002 at Francine Seders Gallery. Titled “Shared Labors,” it was a collection of oils painted on photographs and woodcuts printed on photographs, and was based on the Labors of Hercules myth. In the new exhibition, they continue that Hercules theme with woodcuts printed on photographs, where each labor is presented as a triptych.

Michael Spafford and Spike Mafford, “Lernaean Hydra, 2nd Labor of Hercules,” 2011, 11×30”, photo: Spike Mafford.

The opening reception is from 2-4 p.m. Sunday. Francine Seders Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

Volunteers with Vision Greenwood Park are inviting the community to help design and fabricate metal artwork that will be incorporated into a fence at Greenwood Park’s new Community Garden. Greenwood Park is at 602 N. 87th St.

VGP is working with local sculptor Kim David Hall, who is donating his time to the project. An initial design for the artwork has been created. The left side of the fence would include a bicycle, pinwheel, bus and sailboat, with mountains in the background.

The right side would include more bicycles and flowers.

The Fremont Avenue side of the garden will include a low concrete wall (to support raised garden beds) with a metal fence on top. We will attach metallic art pieces onto the fence and construct an archway entrance into the garden…The art pieces draw on the Interurban as a creative theme linking the historical trolley line with the current bike route.

This theme represents the Greenwood neighborhood and ties into other artistic and interpretive elements in the existing park.

Later in July and August, you can join Kim David Hall in his professional studio on South Lake Union on the metal work to fabricate the art pieces.

Community members are invited to a meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. Monday, at 9538 Dayton Ave., to finalize the design and draft full-scale sketches.

Please RSVP for the meeting to the VGP Steering Committee at Visiongreenwood@gmail.com.

Phinney Ridge and Greenwood’s monthly Artwalk, nicknamed Art Up and Chow Down, is from 6-9 p.m. Friday, and features two new venues among the three-dozen businesses showcasing art — A-1 Piano Sales & Rentals, and Top Ten Toys.

A-1 Piano Sales & Rentals, 7020 Greenwood Ave. N., will feature oil paintings and custom jewelry by Tracy Wallschlaeger, whose influences include Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keefe and local artists ZZ Wei and Lois Silver.

Top Ten Toys, 104 N. 85th St., will feature artwork by four children, aged 5-7. The store will also offer 15 percent off arts and crafts supplies during Artwalk hours. (Image at right.)

Here are a few other highlights. For the complete list of participating venues and artists, and a map, check out the Art Up website.

Art on the Ridge, 8005 Greenwood Ave. N. has a special exhibit called “Sustainable Us,” and will have a workstation for people to build their own sculpture out of found objects.

Assemble Gallery & Studio, 7406 Greenwood Ave. N., features “Tooth and Claw” by Pamela Davis. “Tooth and Claw is a meditation on evidences of empathy, cooperation and hierarchical structure in the natural world. Each hand-embroidered piece explores the idea of morality as an evolved trait rather than culturally instilled, placing both human & nonhuman firmly in the animal world. The visual inspiration comes from literature, mythology and natural history illustration. Each work was created on reclaimed textiles and paper.”

Avanti Art & Design, 7317 Greenwood Ave. N., is having its second round of its popular 30/30 show, where 30 artists each created 30 pieces of art in 30 days, for a total of 900 pieces of art hanging in the gallery. (Image below.)

Bherd Studios Gallery, 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1 (inside the Greenwood Collective), features the boundary-less art of seven urban contemporary artists in “Inc.” “…where wall meets canvas tasks mural artists with ‘incorporating’ the walls into the canvas hung in front of them. Each artist or team was designated an area of wall space in the gallery to do whatever they wanted to it and the whole group was given the outside entry wall to the gallery to collaborate on.”

Across the hall from Bherd Gallery at The Showroom @Bherd Gallery, see “Enter the Western Wood” by Siolo Thompson. “This series of work has that wonderful quality of pictures from a children’s storybook. Let Thompson take you back to those days of youthful fantasy and fanciful dreams.” (Image below.)

Phinney Center Gallery at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N., features art by Betty Hageman, Elizabeth Halfacre and Irene Iris Ingalls in “Layers of Meaning.”

Rockwell Realty, 8315 Greenwood Ave. N., has oil paintings by Sam Day. “Sam paints classically in oils, with complete immersion. Personal work ranges from soul searching, identity-wrestling metaphors to the celebration of masculinity, strength and beauty.” Also, live music by Jeff Rodriguez and Kelly McShane of “Playground Republic” from 7-8:30pm. (Image below.)

Tasty, 7513 Greenwood Ave. N., will have an opening night party for its two-month show “TechnOrganic,” with paintings by Tasty co-owner Sean Wilkinson and L.A. artist David VonDerLinn that juxtapose the mechanical with the organic. TechnOrganic runs through Sept. 4.

Businesses offering specials during Artwalk hours include: Emma Jeans Consignments and Antiques, 8554-1/2 Greenwood Ave. N., 30% – 50% off; Carmelita, 7314 Greenwood Ave. N., $5 Happy Hour menu all night; Bleacher’s Pub, 8118 Greenwood Ave. N., discounted appetizer or entrée; and Gaspare Ristorante and Bar, 6705 Greenwood Ave. N., 3- course Italian meal for $22 and Fresh Mint Mojitos and Bellinis $5 each all night, plus Happy Hour menu from 5-7 p.m.

Artists have until July 31 to submit work for the 2011 Northwest Fine Arts Competition at the Phinney Neighborhood Center from Oct. 5-28.

Artists must reside or work in the Pacific Northwest, and submit 2-D or 3-D media completed in the last two years (and which has not already been shown in the Phinney Center’s Gallery).

To enter: submit up to four samples of work on a CD (JPEG format up to 300 dpi, with image size no more than 1,200 pixels per side). Each image should be labeled with the artist’s last name and a number, i.e., Smith01, Smith02, etc. The entry fee is $20. Artists will be notified on Aug. 31.

The juror’s pick will receive $300 and a six-week solo show in the Gallery in 2012.

For more information, and an entry form, contact Pamela Jaynes at arts@phinneycenter.org.

Yvonne Palermo had already endured more than 20 hours of hard labor during her daughter’s birth, when a doctor accidentally stepped on the pedal that controlled the head of her hospital bed. Her head slammed down as her feet went up, and the fetus slid upward inside her body with the force of a head-on collision, rupturing four discs in her lower back and breaking her neck.

She immediately complained of neck pain, but no one believed her. Instead, she spent four years seeking out doctor after doctor, receiving one misdiagnosis after another, and even spending a whole year believing she had Multiple Sclerosis.

She now documents her painful odyssey with chronic pain and the medical establishment through brutally honest paintings, which depict women in various states of subjugation, with twisted spines, wrapped in barbed wire, utterly beaten down.

“Defeat II” by Yvonne Palermo. Artist’s statement: “Sometimes I just want to crawl into the tightest ball I can and disappear. All the frustration from lack of caring and honest listening from the doctors of our healthcare system, and all the physical pain I endure as a result, makes me want to just be gone.”

Last summer Palermo opened her own studio inside the Greenwood Collective, 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1, and participates in the monthly Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk.

“I was really lucky to be an artist to begin with,” she said as she worked on a custom painting in her studio one afternoon. “You get in the darkest places. The only thing you’re left with is your paintbrush. You’re going to lose friends, but your paintbrush is always there.”

Palermo has always been interested in both art and science. She was an emergency medical technician, went to nursing school, and was a microbiologist and virology technician. She received her BFA, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University, just months before breaking her neck.

“Science and art goes hand in hand for me,” she said.

Yvonne Palermo paints a custom piece for a client at her Greenwood studio.

Unfortunately, her body won’t always allow her to create art. The weather affects all the various metal parts inside her (including titanium screws and a plate in her neck), and our brutally cold and wet spring wreaked havoc on her body, keeping her out of the studio for three months. She sometimes paints while wearing a neck brace.

But Palermo has made it her mission to be a voice for other chronic pain sufferers, hoping that medical professionals will realize that the condition is very real, and those suffering from it are not just looking for a drug fix.

Palermo herself spent years being accused by doctor after doctor of just trying to get drugs — even after they discovered her broken neck. She would refuse medication just to prove a point.

It wasn’t until one day in November 2003 when her arms and legs were temporarily paralyzed, that a doctor finally discovered her neck was broken. He was shocked that she had been walking around for more than four years with a broken neck, saying she could have died at any moment. Hospital staff immediately put a neck brace on her and wheeled her into surgery early the next morning.

She said it’s extremely difficult to get doctors to believe you when you complain about chronic pain. And she’s not afraid to say that many doctors treat men and women’s chronic pain complaints differently, often dismissing women’s complaints as being in their heads.

She laments the stigma that comes with chronic pain, explaining that it’s not easily describable as a single condition that comes with a trendy colored wrist band. Chronic pain includes a large group of diseases and injuries from accidents, including arthritis, fibromyalgia, spinal cord injuries, cancer and many others.

With her broken neck undiagnosed, Palermo’s body began trying to heal itself by building up the muscles around her neck, to the point where she says her neck was the size of a football linebacker’s. Her doctor explained that her body built its own neck brace, and he had to shave off half the muscles in her neck.

She’s endured dozens more surgeries, including one to remove a piece of a morphine pump that a doctor accidentally left inside her body, leading to a staph infection, an open wound for six months, and a spinal catheter that came partially out. In both cases, medical personnel didn’t believe her at first, and assumed she just wanted drugs. It took her 13 months to convince doctors that the pump was there before they operated to remove it.

It’s that constant fight with the medical establishment that Palermo has documented in her paintings, with titles such as “When you do not listen” and “When you take away my medication I fall.”

She’s even written a chapter in an upcoming book on chronic pain and palliative care through the National Institutes of Health. She’s titled it “The Art of Pain.”

“Escape” by Yvonne Palermo. Artist’s statement: “Escape is a portrayal of my inner person. The figure depicted represents my ability to let go and accept my constant state of pain in order to continue existing. The figure’s horizontal positioning symbolizes both the serenity that comes with this acceptance, but also the consequential death of the Self. When I fully accept my torment, I achieve a state of peace, but with this peace, I lose myself.”

She also has to constantly deal with the stigma of using her disabled parking permit while not “looking” disabled. People have said mean things and even left nasty notes on her car, which leaves her in tears.

“People treat us like we are losers. There’s a complete stigma with this. I don’t expect you to understand my pain, but don’t judge me,” she said angrily. “People need to wake up. Everybody’s got to know that they’re one accident away from chronic pain.”

On a positive note, Palermo loves her current doctor in Richmond Beach, whom she’s been seeing for about six years. “He’s a godsend, literally. He saved my life. He got me the help I needed. I was in a place of ignorance. I was being ignored. He stood up for me. He is what every doctor should be.”

She said her chronic pain condition has led to lost friendships, because she frequently has to cancel appointments and outings when the pain is too much. Even Palermo’s own mother doesn’t believe her chronic pain condition.

“You get isolated so quickly. Once you walk through that threshold of chronic pain, that doorway is a tight one. You can’t get back out,” she said. “I just want to be a voice, and for people to understand my art.”