Cliff Notes
Each week, our regional Cliff Notes columnists Jaydra Johnson, Brittney Frantece, Blessing Greer Mathurin, and Quintessa Matranga pick the most exciting events and exhibitions on the West Coast.
Central District Arts Walk
Seattle, WA Central District Neighborhood
Every First Friday of the month, 6 to 9 pm
The Central District Art Walk is new to the Seattle Art Walk experience, joining Belltown, Pioneer Square, and other neighborhoods across Seattle. This walk includes paintings by Stephanie Morales on view at Made Space Seattle, a fashion and style showcase by Avery Tien and Justin Legget at Arte Noir, ceramic sculptures by Djakou Kassi Nathalie at Wa Na Wari, and DJ Asia from The Lab3L spinning 90s and contemporary hits at Cafe Avole. Don’t get it twisted; this is a very abbreviated list. Since September 2024, Seattle’s artistic or art-curious communities have been participating in an art walk experience unlike the others. It’s not just an art walk—it’s a cultural experience that emphasizes Black diasporic arts.
Although I was creatively full after everything I witnessed, I spent an incredible amount of time with Rodney King’s paintings that filled the downstairs of the gallery of Wa Na Wari. King’s paintings are geometric, almost like a kaleidoscope full of texture and dimension. The bodies, as well as the environment, are made of angles and shapes. Although the play with colors and shapes creates a slightly disorienting feel, the paintings are not abstract. Black cultures, people, and experiences are very clearly represented. Though I wouldn’t call King’s work surreal, the work blurs the line between reality and the Black world that King imagines. It was fun to witness and travel to this Black world!
Reflection: Do you enter the world of the artist when you look at art?
Artwork by Betye Saar and Amoako Boafo from the Seattle Art Museum’s collection
Seattle, WA
Ongoing
Now, I am more of a fan of smaller galleries because I get to engage with new, local, self-taught, and experimental artists. But every once in a while, I like to venture up to the Seattle Art Museum. On my last visit, two works stood out: Amoako Boafo’s Floral Coat Lining (2022) and Betye Saar’s Cage (In the Beginning) (2006).
Every time I see Boafo’s work, I am blown away! In Floral Coat Lining, Boafo uses oil on canvas to construct his portrait. The skin is textured with dark color mixing with blues, blacks, and browns. The visible paint strokes are thick and layered—not smoothed out. Baofo’s portraiture style innovates the creative and imaginative ways Black people can be represented.
Betye Saar work is often dark, obscure and grotesque, yet distinctly feminine in style and depiction. Cage (In the Beginning) is a sculpture made of log pieces in a saddle notch style. The logs are stacked in a way that resembles a tower. There are gaps in between the log pieces, where upon careful, closer look there is a Black woman’s body hanging upside down. This body feels trapped and tortured. To me, this piece deftly forces viewers to reckon the anti-Black mission to traffic, torture, and trap Black people to build U.S. wealth.
Reflection: What makes your favorite artist’s style distinct?