Frye Art Museum Offers Education, Arts Programs

Now that the Frye Art Museum is officially open, it wants to get the word out on its education and arts programming. Art classes start Feb. 28, and free Sunday afternoon musical concerts start Feb. 23.

Art classes, to be given in the impressive, new education wing, are mostly one- to three-day workshops for adults and children. Among the offerings are "Introduction to Drawing for the Young Artist," a two-day workshop for children ages 9 to 13; "Methods and Materials of Oil Painting," a five-day workshop on oil painting for adults; "Watercolor for Teens," a two-day introduction to watercolor painting; and "Clay for Kids," a two-day introduction to ceramics for children 9 to 13.

Prices for the classes vary from $15 for some one-day workshops to $250 for an intensive, five-day oil-painting workshop for adults. Information: 622-9250.

The museum also is starting its free Sunday-afternoon musical concerts at 2 p.m. Feb. 23 in the museum auditorium. The program will feature music by Schubert, Brahms and Ravel performed by the Ladies Musical Club.

Two lectures also are scheduled. Richard Sundberg, chief architect of the museum's renovation, will discuss the remodeling and the history of the building at 7 p.m. Thursday. At 7 p.m. Feb. 20, the three conservators who cleaned up the Frye Collection before it was rehung will discuss modern conservation practices. The work was done by Chiara Carcano-Carl, Peter Malarkey and Bruce Miller.

It's a busy month for art talks and lectures. Tomorrow Hawaiian-based artist Masami Teraoka will talk about his work at 8 p.m. in the auditorium of the downtown Seattle Art Museum. The lecture is free to the public and will be sponsored by SAM and the museum's Contemporary Arts Council. Born in Japan, Teraoka has lived much of his adult life in Los Angeles and Hawaii and is known for his paintings that reflect both the traditional style of Japanese woodblock prints and American pop art.

Since the 1980s his work has often been about AIDS, though he retains his mixture of Japanese and American visual aesthetics. A nationally recognized artist, Teraoka most recently was given a 20-year retrospective at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

On Feb. 18, The Two Bells Tavern monthly art talk will feature Seattle artists Fay Jones and Elizabeth Sandvig being interviewed about their lives in art by John Boylan, art critic. The talk is at 7:30 p.m. and is free. The Two Bells is at 2313 Fourth Ave.

Also on Feb. 18, painter Robert Colescott will give a slide lecture in connection with ArtFair/Seattle at the downtown Bon Marche. Colescott will represent the U.S. with a one-man show at this year's Venice Biennale. Tickets are $15 and include hors d'oeuvres. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. and the talk at 6:15. Info: 506-4386.

On Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m., Martin Puryear, one of the nation's most respected sculptors, will speak in Room 120 of Kane Hall, University of Washington. His new sculpture on the UW campus will be dedicated earlier in the day. The lecture is free.

For those who prefer to party for a good cause, the University of Washington ceramics faculty and students are throwing their annual Mad Hatter's Exhibition and Party from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Ceramic and Metal Arts Building, which is near University Village. The building is at 4205 Mary Gates Memorial Drive. Entry to the party is $6, and ceramics and other art works will be for sale. Proceeds go to the Kottler-Noritake Endowment, which provides scholarships for ceramics students. Info: 543-0178.

"Catalan Masters of the 20th Century," Tacoma Art Museum's current show, appears to be breaking records for the museum. In the first two weeks of the show's 10-week run, the exhibit drew 15,000 visitors. The museum's most popular past show was the Rodin exhibit in the fall of 1995, which attracted 18,000.