The Black Front Gallery:
News and Notes
Well, the time has come. You may have heard, one way or another, but The Black Front Gallery will be closing at the end of this month of May. Yes, we decided to close the doors a little early. Although our lease isn’t up until the end of August and a group of Black Front folks are in the process of restructuring the place in hopes of running under another name, this month’s show is, for all intents and purposes, the last as The Black Front.
Many folks have been asking me what led to the end and my answer has always been as straightforward as possible, but maybe not so simple. Of course, the greatest culprit is the lack of financial support, but that didn’t spell then end in itself. Yes, if we were selling pieces or bringing in donations to pay the bills properly, I wouldn’t think twice about continuing on into another year. However, life seems to throw it all at you at once, and it doesn’t seem to be any different for me or the gallery.
To be truthful, it has really come down to a culmination of several realities. Money is just one aspect. Mostly, it just seemed to be good timing and prioritizing the areas where I feel needed the most. As many of you know, I am also a full-time teacher (assuming North Thurston’s levy passes this time) and a father of two beautiful daughters. At the moment, their mother is in the process of opening, Studio West, a new ballet school on the west side, so our girls are certainly going to need me to be even more available.
As I have always said, I thought that the gallery would only run for one year. That’s all that I had money for and we made it almost two years. I never planned on going into a second year and I certainly never expected it to be a money making venture. It was always for you, the community.
So, if you haven’t yet, come on down to see the last great show. It actually makes closing now seem just right. Daniel Barron, who was coincidentally booked for May, just happened to be our very first artist. Now he will be among our very last as well. Perfect book ends, don’t you think? This time around we are also so excited to have sculpture by Julie Day. The works of Barron and Day so perfectly complement one another. Yes, once again, you may be thinking that it’s slightly creepy, yet oh so good. And of course, we can’t forget the video and print work by Rodrigo Valenzuela. He is actually the only artist that we’ve shown three times. I guess we love him that much. But the great part is that each time, he has work that appears to be branching off into a new direction. We never know what to expect down here at the Black Front, but we’ve always been happily surprised.
Okay, so I know I said that the fore-mentioned show was our last, but that was technically misleading. In fact, our very last exhibit will be a two day show of work by the Photo Interns at The Evergreen State College. It has been in the works for quite some time so we wanted to do what we could to make sure you had the opportunity to see it. There will be an OPENING FRIDAY, MAY 30th. We hope you will be there for what looks like the very last event of The Black Front Gallery.
But before we close those doors for good, we have one last musical performance. SATURDAY MAY 24th we will be hosting Pushing Daisies Underground experimental film & sound show. This is the type of show that we have always wanted to do. Film with live soundtrack – how awesome is that? I hope that we will see you too.
Until then, please take care, check out the current exhibit, and support local art.
Sincerely so long,
Jason Sieling
Owner, The Black Front Gallery
www.theblackfrontgallery.com
www.myspace.com/theblackfrontgallery
j.sieling@comcast.net
The Black Front Gallery
106 4th Avenue E
Olympia, 98501
(360) 786-6032
Sunday - Thursday, 11-7 pm
Friday & Saturday, 11 - 9 pm