New Ohno Gallery To Feature Works Of Sculpture

People who've had business dealings with Dale Chihuly's organization know Bryan Ohno. From 1991 to early this year, he was a business manager for Chihuly's ever-growing art empire. Ohno was especially known for his Asian connections; he is the reason why the lobbies of luxury hotels and corporate headquarters in many major Asian cities now display wall-sized Chihuly glass installations. By the time he left the Chihuly organization, more than a quarter of Chihuly's sales were in Asia.

Now Ohno has struck out on his own. His Bryan Ohno Gallery in Pioneer Square has been open about a month. Located at 155 S. Main Street, just around the corner from Occidental Plaza and galleries Foster/White, Davidson, and Grover/Thurston, Ohno says his aim is to show primarily sculpture and to build a clientele that is both American and Asian. He will change shows every two months.

His first show is carved glass work by Philippine artist Ramon Orlina, and it signals Ohno's interest in something besides Northwestern glass art. Though Ohno does not intend to only show glass sculpture, when he does show glass, he says he will concentrate on artists, both regional and international, who have not necessarily embraced the neo-Venetian aesthetic popularized by Chihuly and Pilchuck Glass School. Orlina's work, for instance, is abstract and organic, suggesting more the bronze and wood sculptures of George Tsutakawa than the baroque, delicate beauty of many Northwestern glass artists. It is the first time Orlina's work has been shown in the U.S.

In January Ohno will show ceramic sculpture by a German artist. In the spring he will show glass work by a Chinese artist. He also plans to remount his gallery shows in Asia, thanks to cooperative business relationships he has with Asian galleries. Before going to work for Chihuly, Ohno for 15 years ran his own art gallery in Tokyo. (He showed contemporary American art.)

A native of New York who holds a degree in ceramic art from the University of Puget Sound, Ohno moves easily around the Pacific Rim. He notes that his current passport shows that he's made 40 visits to Japan in the last five years and 20 to Taiwan. At a time when the Pacific Rim is still the world's most vigorous, rapidly growing economic block, Ohno seems well-positioned to take advantage of the pan-Pacific market.

Besides showing Asian, European and non-Northwestern American artists in his gallery in Pioneer Square, Ohno says he also is representing some of the Northwest's best-known glass artists in Asia. Besides continuing to help Chihuly sell work in Asia, he said he is representing other glass artists including Richard Royal, Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, and Martin Blank in Asia.

Andrea Friesen started a gallery in Sun Valley, Idaho, 10 years ago, and expanded her Friesen Gallery to Seattle six years ago. (Here in Seattle it's in the Washington Mutual Tower diagonally across Second Avenue from the Seattle Art Museum.) But when her landlord in Sun Valley raised her rent again, she decided to move. With the help of some Sun Valley clients who also happen to be building contractors, she has built her own gallery directly across the street from her former one. It's on the corner of Sun Valley Road and First Avenue in Ketchum. She's having her grand reopening, and her 10-year anniversary celebration, in late December.

As a grand re-opening exhibition, she's showing work by 10 of what she calls her "favorite artists." Included will be work by Seattleites Martin Blank, Steve Jensen, Dante Marioni, William Morris and Richard Royal. As the Sun Valley dealer of many of this city's best-known glass artists, the opening of Friesen's new Sun Valley gallery, which she describes as a bigger and better showcase for art than her former space, is a welcome event for a number of Seattle artists.