Ballardblog.com

November Art Walk is tomorrow, November 8, 6-9pm. Here are the happs:

Reception, BallardWorks (Artist Workspace):

November 2007 
Artists’ reception  Saturday, November 10, 6-9PM with music by Paul Fowler and son, cellist and music teacher at Van Asselt School, Seattle.

BallardWorks Art Exhibit: “Affinities: Space & Structure”
An exhibition of artists engaged in painting with the encaustic medium is curated by Joan Stuart Ross & Jay Lazerwitz. Each artist’s work displays a unique discovery of this tactile medium, yet thematic concerns of dimension, depth and form connect them.

 New York Fashion Academy Auction:

You’re invited to NYFA’s fourth annual Silent Auction fund raiser, taking place this Saturday, November 8th from 6-10 PM, with bidding ending at 9:30 PM. We have donations from local businesses and artists -coffee, gift cards, paintings, pictures, art objects, clothing, gift certificates, accessories, fine wine and port, restaurants, local events and more; all suitable for gifting.  100% of the auction proceeds support the academy student’s upcoming runway fashion show, Prima La Luce: “First Light” which will take place on April 11th, 2009. Complimentary sips and bites.

 Phinney Neighborhood Association Winter Beer Taste

 (yes, I know, NOT Ballard, or Art-Walk, whateves)

Enjoy ten tastes from 27 different breweries from 7-10pm

http://www.phinneycenter.org/events/beer.shtml

Still working on your plans for Halloween this weekend, or never had any in the first place? Probably. That’s what we’re here for. Check out the local Halloween haps:

Halloween Carnival at Loyal Heights Community Center

2101 NW 77th St
Seattle, WA 98117
(206) 684-4052

**Note that the bulletin in a certain Ballard newspaper, achem, promoting a Halloween Carnival at Ballard Community Center for this evening is incorrect– it was last weekend and this week’s is at LHCC.

HalloQueen and F**ck You We’re Leonard Skinnerd at The Tractor

$8 Tickets– Call (206) 789-3599 to Reserve your ticket

5213 Ballard Avenue NW (at 20th Avenue NW)

“Ghosts in the Garden” Pulp Inc. Launch Party with Sweet P from Project Runway (Saturday, November 1)

Ghosts in the Garden Launch Party
Saturday, Nov. 1, 7–9 pm
Havana Social, 1010 E. Pike St.
206.323.2822 or 206.706.7857
$15 entry to party
www.pulplab.com

The Seattle Police Department reports that it will now begin to ticket drivers violating the use of Business Access/Transit Lanes on 15th Avenue and Elliot Way.

The Transit lanes run each direction down 15th avenue to accommodate bicyclists and the increased number of buses during peak hours of traffic from 4-6pm. Other drivers can only use the curb lanes for making right hand turns during restricted hours, and during non-peak hours it is available for parking and/or cruising. 

Insider tip: don’t try to continuously cruise with your right turn signal on… it doesn’t work.

A few weeks ago we heard the unfortunate news that Archie McPhee, our beloved novelty store, was bailing out of Ballard because their 10 year lease expired, to leave the shop homeless on Dec. 31 of 2008. With the landlords unclear on their next move, Archie McPhee decided to get proactive and start looking for a new home–in Wallingford.

We’ll still get to enjoy Archie McPhee through the holiday (Halloween, of course) since they’re not scheduled to move in to their new space until mid 2009. Their new home will be in a much smaller building on the northwest corner of 45th and Stone Way. 

When we visited the shop last week to say “hi” and buy a blue beehive wig for our Marge Simpson Halloween costume, our check-out clerk seemed generally pleased with their to-be neighborhood in Wallingford. “It’s the next best fit for us, and we used to be back in Wallingford before we moved out to Ballard.” Twenty five years ago, Archie McPhee started out in Fremont, and has had two different storefronts on Stone Way before residing in Ballard. Hopefully, the third time is the charm. 

Good luck, Archie, We’ll miss you.

The 5th Annual Sustainable Ballard Festival is coming up this weekend (September 27th and 28th at Ballard Commons Park), brought to us for free by Sustainable Ballard, a local non-profit organization developing a grassroots vision of sustainability for the community of Ballard (www.sustainableballard.org).

From Saturday to Sunday (11-5pm), the Festival will feature a variety of progressive organizations who are at the forefront of discovering and implementing sustainable, green solutions, such as Seattle Electric Vehicle Association and the Sunyata Group. The festival will include various lectures and workshops from eco-gurus and authors on ways to incorporate sustainable living through alternative (but affordable!) transportation, gardening, eating, home/decor remodeling, art and products and the local business where you can find them. They also have fun art projects, puppet shows and “baby oragami” for kids.

Insider tip– Mainstage Festival Sponsor, Earthues (www.earthues.com), a Ballard fair-trade, women-owned textile and eco-friendly natural dye workroom, will host a demo on dying with indigo powders onto fabrics from 10-5pm on Saturday. Seriously, when else would you ever get to do this? Call Weaving Works to reserve your space 206-524-1221.

Come early to the Sustainable Ballard Festival either day and you could be one of the first 200 people that receive a free copy of Chinook Book, full of local event and shopping savings of up to $3,000!

A few weeks ago, we wrote about Archie McPhee’s and the people who go there. Today, we learned that our beloved landmark is moving out of Ballard after the property owner decided to let the building lease expire.

The multi-block property, owned by the Jacobsen estate, stretches from Market Street to 24th Avenue Northwest and another block north to 56th Street. Apparently, the landlords offered a month to month option for commercial tenants, but Mcphee’s declined the offer and is looking to relocate in Seattle.

There is no word yet on what the property owners will do with the space. The estate trustee, Bob Jacobsen Jr, was quoted in today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer saying, “It’s in my best interest to do what’s best for the interests of the rest of the people in the estate–I’ve got brothers and sisters. I can’t encumber the property with a long-term lease. Maybe the best thing to do is to keep it. Maybe it isn’t. But it’s not for sale now, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

But we all know what happens when leases expire and businesses move out; condos move in.

Wayne Wichern and Daria Wheatley are bringing their designer hats to Ballard. Their work has been featured in galleries and special events all over the west coast, such as the Seattle Opera, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, MOHAI and the San Francisco Fine Art Museum. They will exhibit their fall line of handmade millinery, available for purchase, and of course to ogle over, at the upcoming October Art-Walk weekend at the home of New York Fashion Academy (www.newyorkfashionacademy.com).

Friday, October 10, 10am-6pm

Saturday, October 11, 10am-9pm

www.hats2008.com

Let’s face it, this Saturday’s Art-Walk event will probably be the last dry and relatively warm Art-Walk night for the next, oh, I don’t know… nine months? So we are rolling off the couch, and from 5-9pm we will enjoy the cool, descending summer evening on Market Street.

Here are some of the options for this Saturday’s Art-Walk:

Opening Celebration at Monster Art and Clothing

Join the Monster crew to celebrate the very recent opening of the newest clothing and accessory storefront in Ballard with savory delectables, music and maybe even some trapeze action. (Corner of Ballard Avenue and 20th in the Cors and Wegener Building).

Glassblowing at Art By Fire

Pretend to have talent like Dale Chihuly and go to the Art By Fire Gallery at 5465 Leary Ave. NW. For $29 and 15 minutes of inflated, molten glass, you can blow like the pros. Call in advance for reservations (206-789-1490).

Beats at Triple

Did you even know that there was probably the coolest shoe store outside of San Francisco in the space above Rudy’s Barbershop and King’s Hardware? Triple features an array of beat-boy (and girl) styled sneakers and usually hosts DJs to spin records while you shop on Art-Walk nights(www.tripleseattle.com). Check it.

The New York Fashion Academy is gearing up for it’s 5th annual fashion show, with multiple lines expected to hit the runway sometime in April of next year. But fashion shows cost money. Money that broke-ass students don’t have, which will pay for things like pipe and drape, runway construction, lighting, photographers, advertising and promotion, among many other details that go into 15 minutes of fabulousness.

The students of New York Fashion Academy will host a silent auction/parlor party on November 8th, coinciding with the November Art-Walk night. They are currently seeking donations (products or services) that will be auctioned off to fundraise for the 2009 NYFA fashion show. If you’re a proprietor of a local business, consider donating a gift certificate– it’s promo for your business on a bustling Art-Walk night– and you’ll help support little fashionistas in their quest to “work-it-out” and be “fierce”. Or just come to shop– I hear a select group of students will be showcasing some of their pieces, and you won’t want to miss it. It’s kind of a big deal.

Please direct all donation inquiries to:

Newyorkfashionacademy@hotmail.com

(206) 352-2636

More fashion is coming to Ballard. Move over, make room. It’s a big deal. Monster Art and Clothing is moving into the old Cors and Wegener Building on Ballard Avenue and 20th, to officially open for business this Friday, August 29th. But this isn’t another polished Dolce Vita or previous commercial tenant, Merge. All of you Ballard-purists with your skeptical eyes and crossed arms can appreciate what local artist, Holly Gummelt (http://www.etsy.com)  and her art posse are trying to do with Monster Art and Clothing– eco and econ friendly art and fashion.

With the exit of Merge and most recently Olivine (both have moved onto yuppified Fremont), a new movement is setting forth: clothing made by artists, to look like art, at an artist’s budget. Holly Gummelt, a Pike Market craft booth veteran, is picking up her tent, and setting up shop in Ballard to bring art to the common man. She coins her movement, “casual art”, for unpretentious, anti-boutique people– so basically, for Ballardians. “We don’t have a lot of money ’cause we’re artists, so we’re really trying to bring something to others who love handmade art, that’s sustainable and affordable. We’re not ‘hoity-toity’; we want to be accessible.”

And we want to access you, Monster Art and Clothing! With hoodie wraps made from 100% up-cycled wool (see photo with proprietor, Gummelt, modeling hat/scarve), screen-printed T-shirts, and quirky accessories created out of recycled scratch, Ballard welcomes you with open arms…. right after we put down our fishing polls and finish our beers.