ArtX Contemporary (formerly ArtXchange Gallery) is celebrating 30 years on the scene! I spoke with Cora Edmonds, the founding director, about her main motivation in creating the gallery. It is a cultural bridge, a community-driven space. It was founded before the internet put international connections at our fingertips, but ArtX Contemporary is still unusual in its commitment to international engagement, both through artists based in Seattle and those living in other countries.

Edmonds was born in Hong Kong and moved to Seattle when she was twelve, so she grew up bilingual. The idea of immersion in another culture has expanded into world-wide interests, but with a particular emphasis on Southeast and rurl Asia. 

She and her husband have created Namaste Children’s Fund, that provides “quality education for girls in rural and under-served regions of Nepal.” Edmonds’s famous photo of a young child offering her a “namaste” many years ago was the starting point for this endeavor. Edmonds is also an excellent photographer.

A group show opening December 4 celebrates the 30th anniversary of the gallery with almost 50 artists contributing to the show. The show offers a cross-section of the artists that the gallery has shown and worked with since its founding, reflecting its deep commitment to diversity. Many of these artists are now well-known in Seattle and beyond, such as Pakistani-born Humaira Abid who was supported for many years by ArtXchange. Edmonds also spoke about her deep and on-going engagement with the indigenous artists of Australia, and an exhibition coming up to coincide with a major show of Australian Indigenous Art at the National Gallery in Washington D.C.

The artists in the anniversary exhibition have deep connections to other cultures. For example: Fulgencio Lazo divides his time between Seattle and Oaxaca; Lauren Iida lived in Cambodia for over a decade; June Sekiguchi has created works inspired by her travel in Southeast Asia; Tatiana Garmendia was born in Cuba, Juan Alonzo makes reference to his Cuban roots, and Michelle Kumata paints images of the Japanese internment and its aftermath. 

Alan Lau, who has the current exhibition at the gallery (on view until November 15), spends several months in Kyoto, Japan each year. His show titled “Walks Along the Kamogawa: The Kyoto Series Part I” gives us moody and lyrical paintings in sumi, watercolor, and pastel on rice paper. The Kamogawa is a river that runs through Kyoto. Along its banks the paved sidewalks form the “city’s playground.” People do calisthenics, jog and walk, as well as make impromptu solo music. 

Lau’s paintings are abstract: “in the clearing” suggests loosely-spaced trees that hang in space, leaving a resonant empty space at the bottom. Many birds (“tracing migration patterns of small birds”) live along the river, including ducks, herons, coots, and gulls—even hawks swoop in.

The paintings refer to different places as well, such as “arctic ledge” with its cool grays, and “that day by the sea” which suggests the movement of water. 

Two artworks, “in the peach orchard” and “trapped within my garden of longing (in memory of peach blossom spring),” are entirely different in stroke, texture, and color, although they both reference peach blossoms. Reciting only the titles of these works, all written in lower case by the artist, suggest a poetic enchantment in themselves.

We can imagine the artist in Kyoto, in his “makeshift studio in my in-laws’ house…the only room in the house where the sun filters in…adobe walls are covered with a white wash now crumbling away in flakes and splotched with smudges of sumi ink from my painting.” (The quotes are from Lau’s own artist statement.) 

In October, Lau invited three musicians to respond to his work. Esther Sugai played a dragon flute, Geoff Harper his bass, and the sound artist Suzie Kozawa carried a bowl through the audience using a rolling ball to make a soft sound. The music gave us, almost magically, another entry into the paintings.

Alan Lau’s new book This Single Road. Postcards and Notebooks From Kyoto includes drawings, text, and handwritten letters. A book launch takes place at the Gallery on Saturday, November 1, at 2 p.m. Alan is to read selected passages from the book, accompanied by a soundscape performance by Susie Kozawa. This event is free and open to the public.

Be sure to attend the 30th anniversary celebration on December 4, from 5-8 p.m.

Susan Noyes Platt

Susan Noyes Platt writes for local, national, and international publications and her website, www.artandpoliticsnow.com.

ArtX Contemporary, located at 512 First Avenue South in Seattle, Washington, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.artx-contemporary.com