Elegance in Aluminum

Review of Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir: Wayfinders at National Nordic Museum
Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Eme Graunke and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Daphne Bunker

Wayfinders 1

Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir: Wayfinders, showing at the National Nordic Museum until January 28, is an abstract exhibition about humankind's connection with nature. It features aluminum humanoid statues scattered throughout the museum; some are on the second-floor bridges, surveying the entrance like sentries. Some are worked into other exhibitions, hidden in plain sight; others are secreted away in alcoves, and others still are out in the open or bracing themselves on the wall, waiting for viewers to notice them.

The exhibition also includes a collection of rough watercolors and the artist's summary of what these figures are meant to show. This summary and the watercolors add crucial context; without the information in the overview, the sculptures would still be beautiful, but their intended message wouldn't be as clear. The watercolors depict the statues interacting with invisible forces of nature. photo credit: @photobakery

Read More

Meet the 2023-2024 New Guard!

New Guard

The New Guard: Teen Arts Leadership Society trains teens to become the next generation of arts leaders. New Guardians connect with fellow teen arts-goers to explore the arts and culture in our community and learn from the people who make it happen. The New Guard meets twice a month. Once for an arts outing and second for a meeting with focus areas like youth arts advocacy, career exploration, and community building. This year they are partnering with ACT Theater in our first ever Community Partner Residency Program and working to program engaging activities at Community Day events this season. Keep an eye out for social media takeovers, blog posts, special projects, and more from this awesome group of teens!

The New Guard operates in line with the school-year schedule and runs continuously from September to June. Interested in the New Guard? Apply this spring to join the group for the 2024-2025 school year!

Read More

De/Reconstruction - How Positive Fragmentation Challenges High Art

Review of Positive Fragmentation at Bellevue Art Museum
Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Sylvia Jarman and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Aamina Mughal

BAM Positive Fragmentations

The concept of “positive fragmentation” existed long before the exhibition at the Bellevue Art Museum. The term was coined by the feminist art critic Lucy Lippard, in her 1978 essay, Making Something from Nothing. Lippard’s essay dissects the disparity in male and female representation in high art. Lippard notes that art produced by women tends to be labeled as hobbyist and nothing more by those discussing high art. She goes on to state that the same can be said for certain art mediums, specifically printmaking, as it is seen as replicable and, thus, less rare or valuable. With Lippard’s idea here in mind, there is a clear intersection for female artists whose primary medium is printmaking, who have gone almost entirely overlooked because of this. Enter “positive fragmentation,” a term Lippard uses to describe the aesthetic of these artists and what their work accomplishes. “Positive fragmentation” is described as eclectic, bombastic, the “collage aesthetic,” and Lippard posits that it lends itself incredibly well to marginalized artists because of its inherent willingness to deconstruct and then reconstruct the notions of high and low art. The exhibit Positive Fragmentation, bearing the same name as Lippard’s theory, aims to the ideas she had outlined, showcasing over 200 prints by 21 contemporary women printmakers that demonstrate the sheer power of the medium, totally averting the preconceived notion that prints are incapable of being expressive and unique.

The exhibition is found on the third floor of the Bellevue Art Museum (BAM), a sprawling space lined wall-to-wall with prints from remarkable artists such as Betye Saar, Wendy Red Star, Louise Bourgeois, and many more. Exhibiting so many pieces in a relatively small space is a difficult task. For many other gallery spaces, the exhibition would have felt confusing and hectic, yet the BAM handles it incredibly well. There is a good flow to the gallery, with the pieces displayed in groups of several smaller subcategories: time, bodies, art history, meaning, subtext, and critique. With this method of display, the viewer feels a sense of cohesion, and it makes the task of displaying such a sheer number of pieces much less daunting. BAM is a smaller space, but this is by no means a negative quality. To an exhibition such as Positive Fragmentation, such a small and intimate setting lends itself well. It makes the exhibition feel all the more personal like the viewer has a greater opportunity to connect with the art, and it neatly avoids the hollow or empty feeling that certain larger spaces often have. Photo courtesy of Coco Allred

Read More

Little Women: A Modern Retelling

Review of Little Women at Seattle Rep
Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Prisha Sharma and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Anna Melomed

Rep Little Women Press 1

Upon entering Seattle Rep, the first thing that caught my eye was the small fireplace on the stage, plumes of smoke coming out from the top. Feeling like I was almost at home on an early Christmas morning, a soft flurry of snow descended upon the stage, delicately pirouetting in the air as the sisters called out for one another without being seen. Like cracking open a book, Seattle Rep's rendition of Little Women created an atmospheric marvel and a sincere retelling of the beloved story.

Through its many variations, I have fallen in love with the purity and innocence of Little Women, with its characters, setting, and timeless meaning. Rebecca Court, playing Amy, and Amelio García, playing Jo, both portray their characters flawlessly, captivating the entire audience. Their onstage chemistry is a testament to the intricate relationship between Jo and Amy, the constant bickering mirroring many sibling relationships. Being a focal point of the play, relationships, and connections are prioritized, yet the spotlight that was put on the sisters' relationships far outshined the one placed on Jo’s and Laurie’s intricate romance. Without any discernible connection between Laurie and Jo, it was difficult to feel any sort of actual heartache upon seeing her reject him. Their connection was more than just fleeting, and their knowing each other since childhood should have been something more time was spent on. This moment was to display a loss of innocence, and the stark reality Jo had to face in the ‘real world,’ where love did exist, where she had to make decisions concerning these issues. Katie Peabody, Rebecca Cort, Cy Paolantonio, and Amelio García in LIttle Women. Photo by Bronwen Houck.

Read More

Go Beyond the Great Wave: Hokusai, History, and the Art of Curation

Review of Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence at Seattle Art Museum
Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Kaylee Yu and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Members Anna Melomed and Kyle Grestel

P1311042 CC 1

Katsuhika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa (known more widely as The Great Wave) is an instantly recognizable icon of pop culture. Everyone knows the deep Prussian blue waves, crested with curling white seafoam, standing stark against a tan-tinted sky. In the nearly 200 years since the 1830-‘31 production of the piece, it has been studied, recreated, and studied again, with The Wall Street Journal even calling it “possibly the most reproduced image in the history of all art.”

But there is infinitely more to Hokusai’s legacy than this 10-by-15-inch woodblock print. Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa(Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), also known as theGreat Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjûrokkei), about1830–31 (Tenpô 1–2)Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, 11.17652Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Read More

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas: Nostalgic, If Not Timeless

Review of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at Fifth Avenue Theater

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Lorelei Schwarz and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Kyle Gerstel

Mkitaoka 5752 edited

When the faux snowflakes drift into the audience during the finale of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas from the 5th Avenue Theatre, it’s impossible to deny the magic of this show, the cable-knit sweater coziness of it all. Unfortunately, the chances of it snowing outside are slim to none, but you walk out of the theater convinced that life leans toward the magical, expecting a blanket of white to cover the city streets.

White Christmas, a stage adaptation of the 1954 movie musical of the same name, features holiday classics and angsty love songs alike. In the show, World War II veterans-turned-star singing duo Bob Wallace and Phil Davis decide (well, Phil decides and Bob is reluctantly dragged along) to follow another singing duo, the Haynes sisters, to Vermont.

Read More

December’s Kaleidoscope of Inspiration


Teen Editorial Staff December 2023 Editorial

Written by Teen Editorial Staff Members Anna Melomed and Daphne Bunker

Jakob owens qcr Dlzn T Kl E unsplash

It's wintertime! Even in Seattle's bleakest months of the year, vibrancy and inspiration are definitely not gone from Seattle’s arts scene. This month our writers will be putting on their explorer hats and experiencing art from around the globe. So join them on experiences ranging from Indonesian Gamelan to Nordic sculptures to contemporary Seattle experimentation.

Seeking to disrupt and reinvent, NextFest NW 2023 at Velocity Dance is a celebration of experimentation. Northwestern artists Maximiliano, Kara Beadle, Danielle Ross, and Sophie Marie Schatz present a singular yet cohesive experience from dancing, movement, and light. NextFest runs December 7-9 + 14-16, so don’t miss the contemporary event of the season at 12th Ave Arts.

Read More

LINEAJES: Unifying Cultural Identities Through Music

Review of Antonio M. Gómez: LINEAJES at Frye Art Musuem
Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Juliana Agudelo Ariza and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Daphne Bunker

1 LINEAJES

Amid the sublime paintings of Frye Salon, instruments wait in the middle of the room. They cast a poignant presence on viewers, the silence of the room awaiting the cacophony of their mellifluous sounds. Until March 10, 2024, visitors coming to the Frye Art Museum will get to experience LINEAJES, an exhibit focused on the dynamic histories and rhythms of these instruments around the world, taken directly from the collection of Antonio M. Gómez. The exhibit juxtaposes the past and the present, and how the upholding of timeless methods continues to evolve and influence how those instruments are played today. LINEAJES brings to light the artistry behind the design of the instruments, their undeniable impact on the unification of cultural traditions, and the distinctive sounds that have become part of our own identities.

Frye Salon is an ideal setting for the art found within. This venue consists of white walls that are adorned with beautiful paintings, mostly by European artists. These artworks cast a golden shine with their elaborately-crafted frames.

Read More

Fall Film Reviews

Review of films screened at TeenTix Partners this fall

Written by TeenTix teens as part of a Film Writing Challenge and edited by Press Corps teaching artist Jas Keimig

War Games Sheedy and Broderick on computer 750x430

A Classic Game of Chess

Review of WarGames screened at SIFFWritten by Teen Editorial Staff member Daphne Bunker

Read More

Maybe the Real Banana Was the Friends We Made Cry Along the Way

Review of Make Banana Cry at On the Boards

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Milo Miller and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Audrey Gray

Copy of Manuel Vasson Andrew Tay Make Banana Cry

At On the Boards’ show Make Banana Cry, the audience is part of the stage. It is an uncomfortably post-modern, avante-garde performance disguised as a simple dance and fashion show, set on a runway stage. Performers strut down paths patterned with Buddhist swastikas, in various states of dress and undress, holding a collection of props and using them in different ways. Sometimes they march slowly—sometimes to the point of unmoving—and sometimes they are explosively radiant in their color, movement, and expressiveness. Under the helm of producer/performer power duo Andrew Tay and Stephen Thompson, the six performers are accompanied by an ever-changing set of soundtracks, consisting of everything from Miss Saigon to frantic pop songs to what seems to be the rhythmic beating of helicopter propellers. This collection of sounds and cues is not random but very intentional, for the show is meant to be an out-of-the-box method for paralyzing a largely white audience with symbols and themes commonly associated with the appropriation of Asian cultures. The auditory design and wild costume choices enhance the discomfort put upon the audience. However, as the show experiments with imagination, it also discovers that entertainment and creativity do not always go hand in hand.

Upon walking into the theater, audience members are handed plastic foot covers so their shoes don’t scuff the stage; these remain on for the entirety of the performance. Then, the audience examines various items such as Chinese checkerboards and towering sculptures of oversized cup noodle packages before taking their seats. The audience then sits in silence as the performance slowly begins, and then rapidly escalates. The performers march, run, or crawl down the runway toting a variety of different props and wearing strange costumes that bend the definition of clothes. The costumes are continuously weird and eccentric—sometimes coherently so and sometimes like a jumble of the strangest outfits ever worn. The actors confront, speak to, and hand things to audience members, who are scattered around in clusters of rows throughout the stage. The goal of the actors throughout these interactions is to challenge the audience’s beliefs and ideas via motifs. However, the boldness, force, enthusiasm, and nakedness of the performers often serve less as vehicles for metaphor and more so as a visceral shock to the “universal Western prejudice” mentioned by the show’s program. As the show veers off the rails, the performers’ goals are put on display: to illustrate a history of racism against Asian cultures and to boast their own Asian-ness in pride. The show’s themes are pleasantly startling but the execution of them is ultimately unsustainable.

Read More

ENOUGH! Is the Start This Country Needs

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Daniela Mariz-Frankel

PR7 A2253

I was quietly taking notes in an eighth-grade Algebra class when I asked my deskmate if she ever thought about what she would do in a school shooting.

At first she said, “No.” Then tilted her head and said, “Sometimes.” Little did we know that a girl named Alyse sitting a few rows over would survive a shooting at her new high school.

Read More

How ENOUGH! Uses Theater to Discuss Gun Violence

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Mickey Fontaine

PR7 A2350

In America, gun violence has been rising since the 90’s, taking tens of thousands of lives in the process. It is undeniable that this has become a crisis; some have even called it an epidemic. Gun death has become so common in our culture it’s hard to find the motivation to create change. With another tragedy sweeping through the nation every month, how can there be hope for a better future?

This is especially prevalent for youth. This generation has grown up in a country plagued by gun violence, living with shooter drills, teen suicides, and accidental deaths, making this their everyday life. This makes youth voices critical in the discussion of gun violence.

Read More

Enough is Enough: Teens Challenge Gun Violence Through Theater

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Violet Sprague

PR7 A2403

ENOUGH! PLAYS TO END GUN VIOLENCE is a nationwide initiative to confront gun violence in a new way. Guided by teens with a passion for theater and activism, this festival is a collection of staged readings of six bold 10-minute plays written by students around the US. These plays are saying what needs to be said about the impact of gun violence and inspiring meaningful action in communities across the country. The performance takes place in 30 states, in 53 cities, all on the same night. These teen playwrights have turned to theater to avoid becoming just another statistic, and their plays make the statement: Enough is enough.

I attended the festival, produced by Seattle Children’s Theatre, The 5th Avenue Theatre, and The Alliance for Gun Responsibility, on November 6, with my dad and my friend Rhea Thombre (age 14, she/her). The seats in the audience were full of a whole collection of people. The tickets to the show were free, which ensured everyone who wanted to was able to attend—all different ages, abilities, races, joined together by a taste for change. As we sat there in the small theater, there was a sense of community, a we're-all-in-this-together feeling.

Read More

Nobody Lives Here Reflects the International District’s Past, Present, and Future

Review of Nobody Lives Here at Wing Luke Museum

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Lorelei Schwarz and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Anna Melomed

2023 Exhibits 3 PC Wing Luke Museum

The loud and constant sound of highway traffic plays over speakers at the Nobody Lives Here exhibit, but they aren’t the first thing you’d notice. After all, the sound is just a continuation of what’s heard through the entirety of the Chinatown-International District (CID): I-5, drowning out conversations across the street, live music, and storefront doorbells.

Multimedia artist and historian Tessa Hulls worked with the Wing Luke Museum (which was established shortly after I-5 was built through the CID in the early 1960s), to create an engaging and extensive collection. Her countless photos, newspaper articles, and interview transcripts explain how the highway fundamentally altered the CID and its residents’ lives. Tacoma Hotel being town down c 1960 Photo courtesy of Wing Luke Museum

Read More

Make or Break Tradition this Holiday Season

Teen Editorial Staff November 2023 Editorial

Written by Teen Editorial Staff Members Aamina Mughal and Daphne Bunker

Jan huber LYDQWA Sezog unsplash

This November, as the clocks fall back and the rain keeps falling, we at the TeenTix Newsroom are turning our attention to tradition: maintaining beloved ones and forging others that are fresh and new. With a TeenTix pass this month, there’s plenty of time to both return to classic stories and explore contemporary ideas.

At Seattle Rep, Little Women runs from November 10 to December 17, a staging of Louisa May Alcott’s adaptation of her own 1868 novel. Following the aspiring writer Jo March and her three sisters throughout each of their lives, Little Women centers on the joy of family. But the cozy community fun doesn’t stop with the play itself; the run includes dates with a Winter Market taking place in the Rep’s lobby, a double feature date in collaboration with SIFF Uptown, and more.

Read More

Wonders in the Woods: Outdoor Art With Impact

Review of Thomas Dambo’s Northwest Trolls
Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Hannah Smith and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Audrey Gray

Troll1

Danish sculptor Thomas Dambo dreamed big for the Pacific Northwest—but his dreams took giant, trollish form. His public art project Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King seeks to both highlight indigenous Coast Salish cultures and foster connections with his native Denmark. The project features six giant handcrafted sculptures across the region, each with its own pleasantly peculiar presence. From Vashon Island to Portland, Oregon, each troll invites viewers to appreciate the whimsy and beauty nature offers.

In West Seattle, a troll named Bruun Idun stands ready to serenade our resident orca families. This wooden giant has clearly been crafted with intention: everything from the flowing curves of her fingers to the roundness of her face demonstrates proof of Dambo’s artistic prowess.

Read More

Woman on the Roof: A Portrait of Depression

A review of Woman on the Roof at SIFF

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Mickey Fontaine and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Audrey Gray

Wotr1

Anna Jadowska’s 2022 film Woman on the Roof is a movie with a very enticing premise: an elderly woman decides to rob a bank. It’s a simple idea that holds considerable potential for a story. Woman on the Roof proves you don’t need a big plot to tell an effective story. It uses its resources conservatively to weave a deeply impactful narrative teeming with commentary on challenging topics, such as depression, domestic norms, life, and the Polish mental health care system. With its various accolades, stunning washed-out color scheme, and intriguing story, I went into the film with high hopes. Woman on the Roof transcended them in almost every way.

Mira (Dorota Pomykała) is a 60-year-old midwife leading a mundane life. She struggles with deep, existential sorrow, finding little happiness in her relatively stable life and feeling alienated from her family and society. The world shows her the bare minimum of care, keeping her alive but not allowing her to truly live. This is seen on both a personal scale, in her home, and in the systems of her society. She is desperate for connection but is shown only indifference. She feels alienated in her home life and burdened by housework. Out of desperation, she robs a bank with a kitchen knife but runs away. The consequences begin to spiral, and she must reconsider how she lives her life as she grows distant from her family and society.

Read More

“Perverse and wrong grabs people’s attention”

Interview with Valentine Wulf, Playwright for ENOUGH! PLAYS TO END GUN VIOLENCE

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Kaylee Yu

Valentine

“Enough is enough.” How often have we heard that appeal? Activists, politicians, and journalists alike use this catch-all, pithy saying to back any number of social injustices—often pairing it with a heaping serving of inaction. It’s cliché and overused. ENOUGH! PLAYS TO END GUN VIOLENCE, at Seattle Children's Theatre on November 6, begs the question: what if enough really is enough?

What if we confronted gun violence in a new, unpredictable way?

Read More

Youth Performer on Empathy, Activism, and the Value of Teen Voices

Interview with Hannah Smith, Performer in ENOUGH! PLAYS TO END GUN VIOLENCE

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Lorelei Schwarz

Alix 1

As she prepares for her roles at the Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) in teen-written plays about gun violence, fifteen-year-old Hannah Smith says the production process has been both informative and self-reflective. “This experience has made me realize that we do have voices,” she says, “and we will be listened to if we’re brave enough to use them.”

Smith, a Running Start student at Tacoma Community College, began acting last year at the Oregon Children’s Theatre before moving to the Seattle area. She’s part of a small class at SCT, along with two other teens. For the past six weeks, the group has been preparing to perform several short plays from ENOUGH! PLAYS TO END GUN VIOLENCE, which selects six pieces each year from young playwrights’ submissions to be performed at theaters across the country. The plays are slated to be performed for one night only, on November 6—exactly one year before the 2024 presidential election. Each play requires only a few actors or readers and provides a unique perspective on the issue of gun violence: one is about 911 operators trying to help during a shooting, while another tells the story of a girl who confronts the police in an attempt to save her brother from harm. Smith’s plays, Lightning Strike and The Matter at Hand, are similarly distinct takes on the issue.

Read More

She Marches in Chinatown: A Rundown and Review of the Remarkable Documentary

Review of She Marches in Chinatown at SIFF
Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Rowan Santos and edited by Teen Editorial Staff Member Daphne Bunker

Doc1

What appears to be an endless array of people is an ocean of film lovers lined up at SIFF Cinema Egyptian. Cultural Chinese ornaments decorate the theater, and as you enter, you’re welcomed by Chinese Drill Team members. They greet you with respect and friendliness, dressed powerfully yet elegantly. The intricate uniforms are designed with red and gold accents and an elaborate headpiece. Walking around the theater, you’re immersed in a vibrant community. The diverse audience converses with one another, expressing their admiration for and acquaintance with the renowned Chinese Drill Team. They all gather to watch the documentary She Marches in Chinatown, whether they have seen the drill team at festivals and parades, are former members, or simply want to enjoy a film about local culture. She Marches in Chinatown, directed by Della Chen, produced by Amy Benson, and edited by Dina Guttman, is a magical documentary entailing the story and 71-year history of the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team. The film showcases how the team was brought together and how the organization has empowered a group of young Chinese women. It beautifully tells the story of the team while tying together themes of community and women empowerment.

As the movie starts, the lights dim and the chants of their practice take focus. In unison, they march as the team captain leads. You are automatically allured and intrigued by the cinematography, the flashing fabrics, the vibrant colors, and the precision of their march. This film uses wonderful cinematographic techniques such as birds-eye views, worms-eye views, and slow-motion videography. The combination of birds-eye views and different perspectives makes you focus on their movement. The beginning of this film was aesthetically beautiful. The camera then goes on to show the girls of the team in a Chinatown playground, having fun after their practice, and talking amongst themselves. You are shown how well-bonded these girls are, as they’ve found their community through the team. You feel like a part of them like you’re there with them.

Read More

TeenTix Logo
Login
Sign Up

Login

Create an account | Reset your password