Artist Profile

25 Stories

How Bellevue became home to Ukraine's ballet diaspora

This Holiday season, the Grand Kyiv Ballet, will perform “Snow White” at the Paramount theater in Seattle. But the Ukraine-based ballet company’s connection to the Pacific Northwest goes much deeper than this production.
Mike Davis
What does Bumbershoot mean to you? Seattle artists reflect on the festival's 50-year history

Last month, Bumbershoot announced its arts lineup. This week, they announced the highly anticipated music lineup, and as promised, it is heavy on the local front. The full lineup can be viewed here, but to get a feel for what the return of this festival means to artists who grew up in Seattle, KUOW caught up with a few hometown participants.
Mike Davis
A tale of two cities: August Wilson was born in Pittsburgh, but loved Seattle

Nationally, August Wilson is known as an award-winning playwright, whose work captivated the nation with authentic storytelling that breathed life into characters portraying African American life and experiences throughout the 20th century.
Mike Davis
Seattle's murals by henry bring joy, but it took decades to get there

Ryan Henry Ward passed through multiple episodes of psychosis, homelessness, drug addiction, and relapse on his way to become the highly sought-after muralist he is now.
Anna Boiko-Weyrauch
Local designer aims to turn Seattle into fashion hot spot

Worried you won't remember how to get dressed once lockdown lifts? Fashion desinger Jamen Lanogwa Saziru believes there's hope for Puget Sound style beyond fleece and flannel.
Kristin Leong

Patricia Murphy
'Attractive for an Asian man’: Photographer reframes Asian American masculinity

Chinese American photographer Andrew Kung is reclaiming representation of the all-American man one portrait at a time.
Kristin Leong
Another Covid shutdown delays museum show, but doesn't stop this Seattle artist

It’s taken 40 years, but Barbara Earl Thomas finally will have her first solo show at Seattle Art Museum. Covid willing.
Marcie Sillman
Nia-Amina Minor finds inspiration in the fight for racial justice

It's been a tough year for Seattle dancer Nia-Amina Minor, but she finds energy and inspiration from the fight racial justice
Marcie Sillman
Artist Aramis O. Hamer says her work has one message: Black lives matter. Period.

Seattle police officers cleared the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone earlier this week, but an indelible reminder of the occupation remains: the colorful Black Lives Matter mural that stretches along Pike Street near Cal Anderson Park. Aramis O. Hamer is one of 17 Seattle artists who collaborated on the mural. Each artist created one of the letters; Hamer painted the “V”.
Marcie Sillman
She screamed so loud she scared off a rhino, and other Patti Warashina stories

Patti Warashina is a ceramic artist, but during the pandemic, she’s been drawing a lot; pictures of herself drinking martinis, yelling at news coverage of President Trump, and kicking a giant, spiked coronavirus out of her house. “He’s fleeing away from me,” she says with a laugh, “because I’m worse than he is!”
Marcie Sillman

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