Hi there, I’m Sofie from Germany. This winter/spring I am interning at ArtWorks to see how this organization functions and to learn more about the Washingtonian art scene. I have seen the awesome murals all over Seattle and was amazed by them. Being part of such a great program fills me with pride and makes me feel a little more like a Seattleite!

Last Thursday the UA youth got to experience something different: Instead of painting, making art and learning about various techniques in our studio, we went on a field trip to the Pioneer Square Art Walk.

For some of the kids this was the first time in an art exhibition looking at someone else’s art work. Therefore it was great that Brandon Roache, the teen’s program coordinator, previously talked about looking at art, taking it in, judging it and communicating emotions and thoughts that it might provoke. Questions like When does something become art?, What was the artist’s intention? or simply Do I like this or dislike this? were discussed openly and there was no right or wrong answer to any of the questions.

Our first stop was at the Treason Gallery, where the artist Devin Liston currently presented his solo exhibition. The kids liked the mixture of graffiti and choppy yet detailed portraiture and pointed out that one of the paintings, the Conducter (2017) which is a mixed media on wood panel, reminded them of the gum wall. This was a very logical observation for sure!

Our next exhibition visits included the Greg Kucera Gallery, the Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission Gallery as well as the Foster/White Gallery, where the kids discussed a mixed media work that showed a Pacific Northwest landscape. They tried to grasp the artist’s reason of fading the two sides of the art work but in the end were brutally honest and said that he “probably tried to be creative or something…”

It was definitely a fun afternoon with unexpected yet brilliant reactions of our youth! I look forward to the upcoming mural projects!