What's the idea behind Storefronts Seattle?

Check out this article on why Storefronts Seattle is good for small business and community revitalization. IDEA Odyssey is proud to be a part of this win-win effort for Seattle Chinatown International District.

Fill Our New Space!

It's official: We'll be opening our doors at 666 S. Jackson Street, right in the heart of the International District! As part of the Seattle Storefronts project, we've been granted temporary residency at this fabulous location.

Come find out how to submit work for our first juried show, how to become a member and more about IDEA Odyssey at either of these two informational meetings:

Tues., May 3, 6:30-8:30 pm or
Sat., May 7, 10:30 am-12:30 pm
at Idea Space in the Bush Hotel
409 Maynard Ave. S.

(The entrance is at Hing Hay Plaza, just to the right of the main double doors. Look for the bright yellow walls inside.)

Please pass this along to other artists you think would be interested in joining our exciting odyssey.

Carina

What's an "idea"?

This evening, it occurred to me that I didn't know how to articulate what an "idea" was. Here is the opening few paragraphs of the Wikipedia to help out. It does a fine job giving a general sense; no need to recreate it.

In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images. Many philosophers consider ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings. In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place.

As artists, our ideas formulate and materialize into works of creativity. Every idea is creative - whether or not it is manifested through watercolors, graphite pencils, words on a computer screen, or beautiful conversations over wine. To me, I imagine that we are all artists, each masters of our most cherished tools.

IDEA Odyssey: The Next Big "IDEA"

International Examiner has called us the 'The Next Big "IDEA"'!

The recently posted article is all about us, and gives the brief synopsis of how we came to be and what's coming up next.

Read the full article here:
http://www.iexaminer.org/arts/big-idea/

Opportunities Sprouting Up All Over

IDEA Odyssey Gallery aims to be a resource for emerging artists. In that spirit, we'll post information on various artist opportunities. Good luck!

Artist Trust's EDGE program helps artists ramp up the business side of their art through this intensive professional development opportunity. http://artisttrust.org/index.php/for-artists/opportunity/artist_trust_edge_professional_development_program_for_visual_artists The deadline is fast approaching: April 18th.


Bellevue Community College's Gallery Space is accepting proposals for exhibitions for its next academic year. http://bellevuecollege.edu/artshum/galleryspace/apply.asp Deadline is May 1st.

4Culture's ArtSparks has a call for submissions to bring a wide range of art experiences to Occidental Park in the heart of Pioneer Square. http://sitespecificarts.org/projects/artsparks-call Deadline is May 4th.

The James Washington Foundation is accepting applications for two levels of artist residencies. http://www.jameswashington.org/application.html Deadline is May 9th.

We'll be posting our own call for submissions soon, so stay tuned.
Carina

With the advent of spring comes new life

We had our first three artist informational meetings last month. It was our opportunity to connect with artists and to share our vision for IDEA Odyssey. We had some great initial conversations with folks about collective dreams for the gallery and the International District.

We have also been busy working behind-the-scenes on creative, operational, and funding fronts. It's been a lot of work for Carina, Minh, and myself. We look forward to when the gallery is fully functioning as a collective in the upcoming months! Based on conversations with artists, it appears there is a lot of interest for the artist-supported/artist-supportive gallery we envision. We suspect the membership will grow quickly once we're ready to officially come "on-line".

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for a Call for Artists announcement in the upcoming weeks. This will be open to all artists in the Seattle area.

Finally, we will be holding two additional informational meetings next month. They will be on Tuesday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 7 at 10:30 a.m. to accommodate those who were not able to make our March meetings. Details to come.

With the excitement that spring ushers in,

SuJ'n