First Thursday Exhibitions & September Programs
Virtual and In-Person Happenings at Blue Sky - September 2021
As we head into fall, we are excited to bring you two new exhibitions, virtual and in-person artist talks, and extended Labor Day hours during Art in the Pearl.
Image © Gary Burnley, Hudson, 2018
Image © Al J Thompson, Looking Up, 2019
First Thursday, September 2
Join us for extended evening hours from 6 - 8 PM.
Join us as we celebrate the opening of Gary Burnley’s exhibition, The Known World, and Al J Thompson’s exhibition, Remnants of an Exodus.
Blue Sky is pleased to announce the 2020 Critical Mass Solo Exhibition, The Known World by Gary Burnley. In his series of unique photo-collages, Burnley constructs images that layer our memory with revered representations of beauty, power, influence, identity and social status into unlikely, chance encounters with other images. Burnley's intention is to craft alternative parables that invade and challenge the immortality and purity of long-held Western cultural profiles, ideals, and attitudes.
Blue Sky is pleased to announce Remnants of an Exodus, a first solo exhibition by Al J Thompson featuring photographs from his monograph of the same name. Remnants of an Exodus is a love letter to Thompson's second home — Spring Valley, NY, a Caribbean immigrant community, 40 minutes from New York City. Thompson observes and experiences change firsthand, as the community undergoes a dramatic shift in both demographic and political landscapes. In turn, he finds Spring Valley fraught with insecurity and uncertainty but bound by love.
Image © Gary Burnley, American Stories #2, 2020
Thursday, September 2: Artist Talk with Gary Burnley
5 - 6 PM. For the health and safety of the artists, Blue Sky staff, and attendees, we are limiting the number of attendees at the talk. Registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Gary Burnley (American, b.1950) received a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA from Yale University. A Photolucida Critical Mass 2020 Top 50 Selection, Burnley was the 2020 Blue Sky Solo Show Winner. His work is part of museum and private collections including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, and Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN. Solo and group exhibitions include Aperture Gallery, NYC, Elizabeth Houston Gallery, NYC, SALON, Florence, Italy, among others. Burnley has been the recipient of artist fellowships and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Connecticut, New York State Council on the Arts, Creative Artist Public Service Program, NYC, The MTA, NYC and Bi-State Development, Saint Louis, Missouri.
Extended Labor Day Hour for Art in the Pearl
Saturday, September 4, 2021, 12 - 5 PM
Sunday, September 5, 2021, 12 - 5 PM
Monday, September 6, 2021, 12 - 4 PM
Image © Al J Thompson, Smoke Break, 2019
Wednesday, September 8: Artist Talk with Al J Thompson
5 - 6 PM via ZOOM
Al J Thompson (Jamaican-born, b.1980) settled in the immigrant community of Spring Valley, New York in 1996. His time spent in college studying Graphic Arts helped shape his core values in visual communication and community. Seeing the apparent decline in his old neighborhood eventually led him to his first monograph, Remnants of an Exodus.
Thompson has been involved with a number of group exhibits and commissioned for companies such as Weill Cornell University, Under Armour, Moët Hennessy, NYC GO, Kaiser Health News, The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, and New York Times. His work made several appearances in PDN, BOOOOOOOM, Lenscratch, British Journal of Photography, The Guardian, National Geographic, Italian Vogue, NPR, Buzzfeed, Lensculture, Rocket Science, Float Magazine, GUP, C-41, among others.
Take a Look & Take a Listen
Visit Nine Gallery @ Blue Sky, closing this month, the photographs of Bill Will. Featuring the work of Kay Slusarenko in September.
Pay a visit to the South Wall of the historic DeSoto Building, to see the first public art project in the state dedicated to LGBTQ+ community achievements and progress! We celebrate Never Look Away, a project supported and sponsored by PrideNW.
View and Support your 2021 Pacific NW Drawers Artists. See works and read artist statements on the website, or buy a photograph to start or build your collection! Take in a thematic exhibition from Out of the Drawers, also on view in the Blue Sky Library. Did you know you can also catch a slideshow of our 2021 Drawers Artists from our front window monitor?
Catalogs for purchase! When you stop by the gallery, you can go away with a new book for your collection. On sale this month: Justyna Badach’s Blue Sky Book, Land of Epic Battles and Proxy War ($16); Ingeborg Gerdes’ Blue Sky Book from the 1976 Exhibition, Early Travels ($30); and ML Casteel’s American Interiors (signed, $40). Visit Blue Sky Books for many more options!