Take a peek inside a West Seattle artists’ sketchbook!

Naomi Cox, an illustrator and designer, has gathered up a collection of fresh sketches to share with Dubsea’s guests and the White Center community. Living just blocks from her favorite coffee shop, Naomi found Dubsea to be the perfect spot to pull out her sketchbook and travel watercolors. This sketch from Dubsea, accompanied by more sketches and paintings from everyday life, can be seen displayed at Dubsea August 15 – September 14.

More of Naomi’s work can be found at http://www.spillstudio.com/.

Students from Neighborhood House’s afterschool tutoring program at White Center Heights Elementary in grades 1-6 have been working hard to prepare personal narrative stories and either photo illustrations or graphics to help tell their stories.

Writing has helped us look at where we came from as a clue to where we’re headed. We’ve been working to record our stories so we can share them with you, so join us in celebrating our young writers!

Come out and get to know your neighbors. Hear the personal narratives told live by some of the students themselves on Saturday, Jan 15th between 6- 9 pm.

See Sarah Fox’s comments on White Center Blog .

That’s right folks, he’s back visiting us for another awesome night! Decker will be filling our shop again with the sound of  his musical talents. Accompanying him are two local Americana/Folk artists Ben Fisher and Mount Forgotten. We are so excited for this event to be happening. You can not miss it!

Want to hear what they sound like?

Decker: www.deckermusic.org

Ben Fisher: www.myspace.com/benbfisher

Mount Forgotten: www.myspace.com/mountforgotten

Needing some fine modern folk rock in your life? Look no further than Dubsea Coffee, this coming Saturday7-9 pm to satisfy.

Brooke Trisler, local singer & songwriter based in Burien, plays here live!

Get a taste of what you’re in for at:
http://www.purevolume.com/brooketrisler

Join us for another free, family friendly, night of live local music, and invite your friends!  You’re welcome to RSVP via our Facebook Events Page, or to just come on by.

Max N’ Me Studio

Sept 15 – Oct 14, 2010

Max is a seven-year old artist living with a form of autism known as Asperger’s, and “me” is Max’s co-artist and mother, McNall.  “Two years ago,” McNall explains, “Max didn’t show affection, or want to be touched.  He also didn’t talk much, play with others, draw or color, respond nicely to questions, sleep through the night, use the toilet, drink from a cup, eat anything except ham, cheese, and raspberry juice, ask for what he wanted, or participate in outings without seemingly random raging temper tantrums.”  Max is a changed person today, McNall notes, “an amazing, quirky, interesting, delightful fully functional member of society.”  Max’s transformation is surely due in no small part to the love and dedication of his mother and other caregivers, but McNall admits there are other factors at work she cannot pinpoint.  She says they still struggle when it comes to “motivating Max to learn,” as he “doesn’t cement concepts unless he can grasp why its important to HIM to learn.”

The mother-and-son art project emerged out of this particular challenge.  Max wanted his own money to buy legos, and his mother wanted to teach him about “money, reading, writing, drawing, and design, while also celebrating his unusual way of looking at the world.”  Together, Max and McNall have created a whimsical and inspiring line of art pieces that showcase each of their artistic talents.  Using donated scraps of material—wood, metal, cloth, beads, et cetera—Max designs each piece, and McNall artfully sews the pieces together.  The resulting creations are quirky, lovely, and more often than not, powerful statements about the work of being human.  Check out their website here, and visit Dubsea Coffee between Sept 15 – Oct 14th to see their collaborations up close and personal.

Dubsea Coffee’s featured artist from August 15 – Sept 14, 2010 is Jeanette Jones.

Jeannette’s oil paintings are a complex tapestry of images that require second and third looks to discover the hidden portraits contained within.

Join us the evening of Saturday August 21st from 7-9 pm to celebrate her lovely works and meet the artist herself.

See more of her work at:
http://www.jeanettejonesart.com

Artist Reception: ANNE JENNINGS “A to Zambia” | Saturday July 17, 2010 7-9 PM

ANNE JENNINGS is our upcoming featured artist, showing “A to Zambia”, a photographic exhibit of her family’s life in Zambia.

The ‘fight against malaria’ is what brought the Jennings family of four to Zambia in March 2008, where malaria deaths have declined by 66% as of April 2009 (World Health Organization). As the Jennings family got ready to set off on this mission, their grandparents gave them a Sony DSLR to document the journey and as insurance that they would not miss a moment of their grandchildren’s experiences and life abroad.

The grandparents expected to see photos of school plays and soccer matches but what they got instead were not only photos of daily life, but photo essays on trips to Coffee plantations, Safaris in South Luangwa, camping trips on the Kafue River, football factories, microfinance banks, and much, much more.

The Jennings family now lives in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, where they say daily life is not too different from living in Seattle. They wake in the morning and start their day off with a fresh cup of coffee, rush the kids to school, head to the grocery store, or to the office, have lunch meetings with friends, school pickups, PTA meetings, Saturday soccer practice, and etc.

“What keeps us there is the beautiful climate, an easy (though frequently frustrating) expat way of life, and endless opportunities to work, learn, and grow. The collection of photos we chose to share with you is a glimpse of life in Zambia. Thanks to Dubsea Coffee for the opportunity to share this small bit of our life with you.“ – Anne and Todd Jennings

http://villagechicken.blogspot.com/

Join us after White Center’s Jubilee Days festivities and RSVP to this event on our Facebook page!

AMANDA KAY HELMICK | June 15 – July 14

Artist Reception | Saturday June 19th, 7-9 pm

“Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known, toward what is arcane and concealed”  Kahlil Gibran

I paint to create backdrops – to create depth in the flat plane, and to challenge what art is.  My undisciplined eyes rip, score, sew and drill into a canvas that is not sacred.  The paintings are vessels – holding discarded and repurposed objects and transforming their existence to a life of beauty and admiration.

Painting with acrylic becomes necessary because it dries fast – milk paint adds depth, color and texture. I drill holes in the frame to support the objects, haphazardly rip the canvas, and messily sew to seal it up again. The addition of shiny, pointy objects, or strange fabrics, wooden doodads and heavy metals become the frenzied finish.

I have become emboldened by canvas since I started painting 10 years ago. Oppressed and silenced at the time, a childhood friend’s unexpected death set my creativity free. Timidly, I would dot the canvas with primary colors, or paint swirls of complimentary colors.  I also renewed my love of still photography during this awakening.  Multitudes of nature photographs opened my eyes to structure and texture, things I imitate in my paintings. I have no formal training, but credit experimentation and observation as my artistic education.

This new series of paintings reflect the latest exploration of my creative journey. My starting place is still photography, heading straight to jewelry making and sewing, rounding the curve into painting and creating Super8 films.  I use all of these elements in this latest series.

- Amanda Kay Helmick

To see more of her work online visit: http://www.junkartkin.com

Seattle Youth Alliance, aka SeaYA, is hosting a fundraiser at Dubsea Coffee for a trip to the US Social Forum in Detroit. Come support these young local artists in their community activism on Sat. June 12th, open later from 6-9 pm! Get all the details below..

Open mic sign-ups are at 6:30pm. Performance begins at 7pm.
Also featuring local visual artwork for sale.

Suggested donations:
$4 youth
$7 adults

This event is a fundraiser for SeaYA (Seattle Youth Alliance). We are a contingent of youth and adult allies that are fundraising to go to the US Social Forum in Detroit at the end of June. The Social Forum is a gathering of activists from all over the United States and beyond who are committed to creating a better world. Our youth delegation is going to ensure that young people’s voices and their empowerment is part of this movement building process.

For info on the 2010 U.S. Social Forum check out: http://www.ussf2010.org/

Facebook users can RSVP on our event page!http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124588127571720

Hey Kids!

I’ll have some new paintings and drawings up mid-May to mid-June at my favorite cafe, Dubsea Coffee!

How’s about you and your fam join me for the opening party on Sunday afternoon, May 16th?

There’ll be snacks and an art activity and maybe even some boogie-ing…

Bird Eating Deer is the umbrella alias of the various artistic undertakings of Jameson Hubbard.  Currently living in Seattle, WA, Jameson loosely attends the Gage Academy of Art.  Primary interests regarding subject matter: The age-old question of man’s relationship with nature and the consequent friction; the role of animals in contemporary and past societies and the meanings applied to them; native cultures, primarily precolonial.

Join us Saturday evening from 7-9 pm to welcome Jameson Hubbard’s new work into Dubsea Coffee and meet the artist himself!   His large scale wood block prints, along with drawings and paintings will grace the walls from mid-April through mid-May.  Looking forward to Saturday!

To see more of his work online visit: www.birdeatingdeer.com

Hye Young Kim has been mapping every day life and questioning the spiritual existence of humans in contemporary society.  Her narratives are created with the intent that understanding self-existence will help people to gain compassion and a dynamic interconnectedness to the communities in which they exist.

We invite you in to welcome Hye on Saturday, February 20 between 7-9 pm.  Come enjoy the art, the music by Michael J. Olsen, who will be spinning Korean music, and speak personally with Hye to learn more about her work and narratives.

Learn more about her at www.hykimstudio.com.