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Arts Leadership Lab at Benham Gallery on 1st Avenue in downtown Seattle was the place to be last night. Lots of art and artists. Put on in co-production with La Sala, Latino artists of Seattle are featured in the current show.

I meet many artists along the way, and last night I got to see some of Wanda Benvenutti’s photographs. Poignant and action-packed, they are. Juan Alonso was there but he left before I could meet him. It would have been nice to make his acquaintance because I bought a visit to his studio in Pioneer Square in May at the Artist Trust Benefit Art Auction on Saturday 2/7. There are still spaces, so you could join me for $100. Do you know how once you hear someone’s name they keep popping up? That is how it is with Wendy Call. Haven’t met her yet, but now I own her book Telling True Stories. She has been working with Nirmala Singh-Brinkman, Artist Trust’s EDGE Coordinator, on EDGE Professional Development for literary artists, which starts next weekend. I did meet Victoria, a student at UW who showed me the Peruvian prints she loves at Benham Gallery. We looked at a scene in a courtyard picturing three generations of folks around a game where you throw coins in a frog’s mouth. They are gathered under a vine with huge casavas hanging from it, some men drinking a beverage traditionally made from corn by women, Victoria explained. It is a print from 1931. I met Bob Flor, a poet looking forward to becoming a playwright in his retirement, and writing about the Filipino/a experience. His working life involved writing grants for Metro transit. He put together the first program for domestic violence victims to use King County transit for free. Writer Catalina Cantu, Bob’s fiancée, pointed me toward several wonderful prints of Frida Kahlo. It was lovely to see Hugo Ludena, publisher of Latino Cultural. Hugo has a great story about having a lifetime of photographs in boxes, receiving a GAP to catalog the work, transforming his self-image as an artist, and getting representation by Greg Kucera Gallery!

Is it the beauty of a blog that I don’t have to have documented all of the details to share this rich experience?

~Sheila