A Look Back at THRIVE
From Executive Director Alaina Stocker
On November 12th, 2022, 50 arts supporters, artists, and friends gathered at The Rendezvous in Belltown to check out some original art, hear presentations, and enjoy live music. We called the event THRIVE: A Visual Arts Fundraiser Evening, and here’s a post of some highlights I experienced alongside the videos and photos collected from the event. Thank you so much to those who purchased tickets and attended (and to those who purchased for low-income artists!); it was so nice to see you all beautifully dressed up and enjoying a night out celebrating art.
Pictured: the lovely Aria, Esther, and Tori at THRIVE on November 12, 2022.
I am very excited to organize more fun, unique ways of building community through the Living Artists Collective. If you haven’t had a chance yet, please make a donation to help create grants for low-income artists to stay in Seattle…
…which brings me to the first highlight: between ticket sales, donations, and art work sales we raised enough to give away our first round of artist grants soon! This will happen before our next event; more on that in the coming month.
Pictured: “Girl with Rose” hanging in dining room at The Rendezvous.
Congratulations to Sami Ariaz, who sold his piece Girl with Rose for $4,000! What an amazing accomplishment. This was Sami’s first event with LAC, and it was a joy getting to know him as we packed up his piece for shipping to Virginia. It made it there safe and sound, whew!
The Music
Pictured: Natalie playing cello in front of two pieces, "Sunbathing I" by Raili Jänese and “پنجره های روح (windows of the Soul)” by Yasiman Ahsani.
It was such a treat to have Natalie Mai Hall on the cello plus her partner in NV Electronica, Vince Bachman, to open up the show. The rich sounds they produced filled the intimate Jewelbox Theater space so beautifully.
Half-way through the show Natalie performed solo, doing interpretations of the original artworks that were on display in the dining room of The Rendezvous. This was a very special, unique experience for the artists and those viewing the works. Visual art and music are often kept so separate from each other, and with these interpretations Natalie offered a type of collaboration that is not often experienced.
Here is a compilation of some music from the event, including NV Electronica’s performance and Natalie’s art interpretations:
The Presentations
The THRIVE presenters were Andrea Paz, Esther Loopstra, Nina Yarbrough from 4Culture, and Kati Simek.
Andrea shared how her work has developed by way of making non-high art and collage. She introduced us to Hannah Hoch and Femmage (feminist collage), a movement known for "taking back means of art production via process rooted in feminism".
Pictured: Andrea Paz presenting at a microphone in front of a screen projecting information on herself and Hannah Hoch.
Kati Simek helped us understand the connection of creative work to the environmental. She was inspired by her work to clean up local parks through parkpunks.org to utilize natural subjects in her visual artwork.
Pictured: Kati Simek presenting at a microphone in front of a screen projecting her title screen, “Art as Environmental”.
Esther Loopstra, visual artist and coach took us through her journey of how she went from burnout to creative fulfillment. It was such an inspiration to hear from someone who has experienced a career in commercial art and design, found her way to teaching, and tried many avenues on the way to realizing creative goals. A personal creative understanding does not exactly present a step by step process like the grind of following a financial formula to make ends meet. What do you do when you come to the realization that you are best suited as “purely” a visual artist?
Here is a clip from Esther’s presentation recorded during THRIVE:
4Culture arts program director Nina Yarbrough blew everyone away with the truth that “the arts are seriously lacking in really essential things that artists, creative workers, cultural producers need in order to live and work here” in Seattle. She laid out succinct reasons to support the arts, share it with friends, and help low income artists stay in Seattle.
Do yourself a favor and watch this edit of her presentation. It’s about 9 minutes of your life that will change the way you look at supporting the arts. I’m not kidding: watch it!
Speaking about the Covid-19 pandemic, she wisely shared: “If the [creative people] who are responsible for making moments for healing and connection can no longer live in the cities that need them the most, then we’re never gonna get beyond this extremely traumatic, monumental experience we all have just gone through.”
Of the nonprofit industrial complex she shared her experience that “There’s way more money out there than is getting into the hands of people that need it, and it’s a lot of red tape.”
There’s a ton more gold nuggets in there; seriously, watch it!
Pictured: Attendees of THRIVE listening to presentations.
A special thanks to my friend Rahul Nayar, visiting all the way from Perth, Australia, who emceed our evening.
Pictured: Rahul on stage in a suit in front of the projected THRIVE intro screen.
Thanks so much to all who attended, showed their artwork, presented, and performed. Please consider a donation to support our programming and help low-income artists stay in Seattle.
Happy New Year! I’ll see you at our next Living Artists Collective event!
-Alaina Stocker, LAC Executive Director