This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Seattle Jewish Film Festival—the Pearl Anniversary. SJFF uses the metaphor of the pearl to describe this year’s cinematic offerings:Like a pearl formed through resilience and transformation, the Seattle Jewish Film Festival has spent 30 years illuminating powerful stories that shine through history’s darkest moments and celebrate the triumphs of Jewish life, culture and cinema. 

In February, I was an instructor at an arts-infusion workshop for a group of Seattle Public School elementary teachers. The workshop was held at an amazing multi-arts space that I had no idea existed in Seattle: PublicDisplay.ART. Arts Impact, the organization I teach with, acquired the use of the multipurpose space at no cost—an arts space that can be reserved and used for FREE! “How is that possible?” I asked myself. I connected with Marty Griswold, the Publisher of PublicDisplay.Art (they also publish a hard-copy magazine) and he filled me in on all the details. 

“There’s Trolls in them thar hills!”

The Trolls of which I speak are, of course, the much talked about sculptures brought to the Pacific Northwest (and beyond) through a unique collaboration between Danish recycle artist and activist Thomas Dambo, Scan Design Foundation, and several Coast Salish tribes—especially members from Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie.

Since its publication in 1897, the story of Dracula has not only suffered under the weight of these cinematic clichés, but the vampire itself has mutated into variations ranging from the comedic (Love At First Bite, for example) to the down-right insipid (the Twilight series). I don’t want camp…I don’t want teenage romance…I want the MONSTER…feral and pure.

 I was at the Center to attend the opening reception for the exhibition of Boliglaboratorium: A Danish Housing Lab. As I entered the space carrying the aforementioned mental baggage, I found myself surrounded by action words that were at odds with how I was feeling—words like develop, transform, promote, support, and build. I then found myself embraced by concepts that were contrary to how I felt about our nation’s current political situation—words like diversity, multi-generational, non-profit, mixed housing, social life, synergy, and interaction. I actually relaxed…took a breath…shook off the cold…and immersed myself in the warm world of Scandinavian design. 

Pronouns matter. They have become a means to explore and expand the nature of identity in today’s culture; and, as history continually teaches us, culture is always ahead of politics (and, lest we forget, the arts are the vanguard of culture). The demographic shifts in the United States are changing the culture of our democracy—making it richer, more diverse, and more equal.

The park itself consists of a series of paved walkways that meander among the trees and foliage, offering lovely views of the shoreline and Elliott Bay. The paths have gentle slopes that are accessible by both stairs and ramps. The aforementioned beach offers a nice place for picnics and relaxing. At the end of the walkway is your big reward, an observation tower that gives you an unobstructed view of Elliott Bay, the Seattle skyline, and the Port of Seattle. This vista point is very popular whenever there are fireworks at the Space Needle.

When all construction on the freeway was completed in 1966, many public-spirited Seattleites and King County officials began talking about constructing a “lid” over the portion of I-5 between Union and Seneca Streets to reconnect First Hill to Downtown.

The most innovative aspect to Haag’s reclamation of the land had to be the bioremediation strategies he incorporated into its design. The process of bioremediation is the use of biological systems (typically bacteria, microalgae, and various forms of fungi) to remove environmental pollutants. Instead of simply cleaning out the industrial waste and moving it to another location (i.e. not really doing anything about it), Haag and his engineers decided to leave the waste onsite and have nature do its thing by degrading the pollutants organically over time.

ACT Theatre and the Seattle Shakespeare Company recently announced that its respective boards are exploring a merger between the two Seattle theater companies. The prospective forging of the two would produce a new entity in the Seattle theater community as well as create an arts center that focuses on both classic and contemporary works housed in the historic Eagles Auditorium Building at 700 Union Street.

One artistic choice that seems to occur more often in foreign films is an extended use of metaphor. I especially appreciate the filmmakers who move beyond using visual symbology to enhance their storytelling and deeply embed metaphor into their film’s narrative structure itself.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up.”~Picasso

Image: The Human Library via Folio