In response to summer visitor patterns, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) will experiment with extended evening hours this summer. Beginning June 30, 2023 to coincide with the opening of the Museum’s first ever juried exhibition, BIMA Spotlight, the museum will stay open until 8:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The effort builds upon BIMA’s success with extended hours on First Fridays and will continue through September 2nd. 

Not only will the galleries be open later, but the BIMA Bistro will be open and serve beer, wine, and snacks while the Museum Store will be open for shopping. This effort was inspired by recent shifts in visitor trends, with day-trippers coming to visit Bainbridge Island later in the day than in previous years. 

BIMA hopes that these extended evening hours will serve their local audience as much as tourists. “I’m excited to give this a try,” said Korum Bischoff, BIMA’s Director of Communications & Visitor Experience. “While I’m happy to give our tourists the ability to interact with the art and culture of our region, I’m even more excited to give our local and West Sound audiences different hours in which to visit. It can be hard to escape to the museum during your work day, and, let’s be honest, parking isn’t ideal during the day on summer weekends in Winslow.” 

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and Pegasus Coffee Partner to Create an Exceptional Visitor Experience 

The launch of the new coffee bar helps kick off the museum’s 10th Anniversary

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art is proud to announce the unveiling of a redesigned BIMA Bistro including a new Pegasus Coffee espresso bar. The launch of the new Bistro will be celebrated with a kick-off reception on Friday, May 5th. The BIMA Bistro is located in the heart of the museum, enveloped in the art of the Puget Sound region, and is known locally as the living room of the community.

In response to frequent visitor requests for espresso at the museum, the remodeled Bistro will now offer a full menu of espresso-based beverage options featuring Pegasus’ top-quality coffee, ethically sourced and roasted weekly on Bainbridge Island. The new coffee bar will complement Chef Stephanie Knutson’s rotating menu of artfully created and seasonally inspired Pacific Northwest cuisine. The Bistro’s updated look pulls from coffeehouse culture, using rich tones to create a cozy feel, and a salon-style wall featuring art from BIMA’s Permanent Art Collection.

“Coffee and art make the perfect pairing,” said Korum Bischoff, BIMA’s Director of Communications & Visitor Experience. “For years now, one of the most frequent questions we get at museum reception is whether the Bistro has espresso. We’re thrilled that the answer will finally be ’YES.’ The redesign of the Bistro space and partnership with Pegasus Coffee will enhance the overall experience for our visitors.”

In celebration of its 10th anniversary this year, Pegasus Coffee has also collaborated with BIMA to create a custom blend of coffee to be served and sold exclusively in the Bistro. The medium-roast blend features high-scoring coffees from Colombia, Sumatra, and Tanzania, and offers tasting notes of orange, spice, and subtle cocoa. The blend can be enjoyed exclusively at BIMA’s Bistro, and bags of whole bean coffee will be available for purchase at the museum’s gift shop and on the Pegasus Coffee website.

“We’re thrilled to partner with BIMA to bring together two Island institutions,” said Pegasus President and co-owner Matt Grady, “and to promote a space that Pegasus has long supported and inhabited – the intersection of great coffee, community, and the arts.”

The collaboration with the BIMA is part of Pegasus Coffee’s efforts to expand its presence on Bainbridge Island. The Coffee Bar at BIMA Bistro provides a convenient location for Island commuters and visitors alike to grab a high-quality cup of coffee just steps from the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal.

The Bistro is now open Wednesday-Monday 10am-4pm and Tuesday 10am-3pm.

CALL FOR ARTISTS

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art invites Puget Sound area artists to apply for the Museum’s first-ever juried group exhibition BIMA Spotlight. Submissions will be accepted from September 1, 2022, through October 15, 2022, via CaFÉ (CallForEntry.org). The exhibition opens on Friday, June 30, 2023, runs into September 2023 and is a cornerstone of BIMA’s 10th Anniversary celebrations. 

BIMA Spotlight will be a vast group exhibition filling the galleries on two floors (except for the Sherry Grover Gallery). In addition, one artist will be selected for BIMA’s Beacon Window Gallery – a two-story, 24-hour display space on the corner of Winslow Way and Highway 305. The Beacon Window Gallery Program includes a stipend for the selected artist (read more here). Artists may apply for both opportunities. 

Visual artworks of all media will be considered, with some limitations to the size and other variables, and will include film/video and visual artworks with performance elements. 

APPLY HERE

About the Jury Process

Jurors from the Puget Sound Region: 

• Eileen Jimenez (Seattle) – Indigenous queer artist, Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at South Seattle College. Elisheba Johnson (Seattle) – artist, poet, curator, and co-founder Wa Na Wari. 
• Ed Archie NoiseCat (Bremerton) – artist and instructor. 
• June Sekiguchi (Lakewood) – artist and curator 
• in addition to BIMA Chief Curator, Greg Robinson, and BIMA Associate Curator, Amy Sawyer. 

The BIMA Spotlight Jury will select zero (1) to three (3) works per artist. Artists will be notified of juried selections by November 30, 2022. 

EXHIBITION DATES:

Friday, June 30, 2023, runs into September 2023

SUBMISSION PROCESS:

Submission Dates:
September 1-October 15, 2022 

Only online submissions are accepted via CaFÉ. Application Fee of $25. The fee is optional and can be waived per need. This information is confidential and not shared with jurors. 

ARTWORK MEDIA AND OTHER CRITERIA:

Visual artworks created since January 1, 2018, will be considered. Artists may submit up to six works. One (1) to three (3) works may be selected by the Spotlight Jury. 

Artwork may be for sale (retail value not included on gallery labels). BIMA does not take a sales commission on gallery exhibitions and will refer interested parties directly to the artist. 

MEDIA FORMAT:

JPG or JPEG – Dimensions: 1200 pixels or greater on the longest side. CaFÉ may readjust your dimensions after entry to fit the limitations. Size: under 5 MB 

Film/video will be limited to 30 minutes in length. The Frank Buxton Auditorium will be used on a scheduled basis for film/video loops. For technical help, click on CaFÉ HELP and go to “Uploading: Image, Audio and Video Files.” 

BIMA SPOTLIGHT EXHIBITION PHYSICAL PARAMETERS and LOGISTICS:

2-dimensional, wall-mounted artworks should not exceed 72”h x 72”w. 3-dimensional artworks should typically not exceed 72″h x 72″w, but the jury may review other works for the feasibility of installation. 

BIMA SPOTLIGHT- BEACON WINDOW GALLERY: PHYSICAL PARAMETERS and LOGISTICS:

Two-story, 24-hour display space on the corner of Winslow Way and Highway 305. Dimensions: 22 feet high x 11 feet wide. The Beacon Window Gallery Program includes a stipend for the selected artist. Applicants for the Beacon Window Gallery can learn more and apply through this link. 

Artists may apply for both opportunities. 

APPLY HERE

BIMA reserves the right to exclude any artwork deemed too heavy, fragile, vulnerable, valuable, or otherwise not feasible to install or display. 

Artists are requested to communicate any questions/inquiries via email: spotlight@biartmuseum.org.

Eligibility: 

• Works created since January 1, 2018 
• Artists must be 18 years of age or older (as of September 1, 2022) 
• Film/video projects are limited to 30 minutes 
• Some size limitations will be in effect 
• Artist must live and work in the Puget Sound region 
• Artists who have had a solo exhibition at BIMA do not qualify 
• BIMA staff and board members are not eligible

APPLY HERE

Beginning September 1, 2022, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art invites Puget Sound area artists to apply for the Museum’s first-ever juried group exhibition BIMA Spotlight. Submissions will be accepted through October 15, 2022, via an online form on CaFÉ (CallForEntry.org). The exhibition will open on Friday, June 30, 2023, run into September 2023, and be a cornerstone of BIMA’s 10^th Anniversary celebrations.

BIMA Spotlight will be a vast group exhibition filling the galleries on two floors. In addition, one artist will be selected for BIMA’s Beacon Window Gallery – a two-story, 24-hour display space on the corner of Winslow Way and Highway 305. The Beacon Window Gallery Program includes a stipend for the selected artist.

Visual artworks of all media will be considered, with some limitations to size and other variables, and will include film/video and visual artworks with performance elements.

Led by BIMA’s curatorial team, guest jurors will help with the selection. To date, guest jurors include Elisheba Johnson (Seattle), Ed Archie NoiseCat (Bremerton), and June Sekiguchi (Tacoma).

Full details and criteria, with a link to the submission page, will be posted on BIMA’s website on September 1, but initial guidelines include:

• Works created since January 1, 2018
• Artists must be 18 years of age or older (as of September 1, 2022)
• Film/video projects are limited to 30 minutes
• Some size limitations will be in effect
• Artist must live and work in the Puget Sound region
• Artists may submit up to six works
• Artists who have had a solo exhibition at BIMA do not qualify
• BIMA staff and board members are not eligible

There will be an application fee of $25, although that fee may be waived at the artist’s discretion and that information will be kept from jurors. The BIMA Spotlight Jury will select zero (0) to three (3) works per artist. Artists will be notified of juried selections by November 30, 2022.

More details will be posted HERE on September 1.

At the request of BIMA Associate Curator Amy Sawyer, featured artist Blake Blanco recently put together a Spotify playlist to pair with his exhibition, We All Dream.

Break out those AirPods and come on down to the museum for an extra-special way to connect with Blake’s work. Can’t make it in? Listen on your own time and get swept up into Blanco’s world.

Listen now on Spotify.

BIMA is proud of the support has received from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for support of our community and cultural programming. This year, BIMA was featured in the Trust’s annual video series that tackled the subject of “Why The Arts?”

“For our 2022 Annual Video Project, we wanted to take a closer look at some of the ways the arts help the Pacific Northwest flourish and thrive and hear from some of the individuals and organizations who invest in this sector every day.”

Created by Windrider, the series explores everything from contemporary art to Native & Indigenous Art and Cultural Preservation, Performing Arts, and Arts for Children.

Thanks to Windrider and M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for including BIMA!

I was thrilled to be invited to create the accompanying soundtrack to BIMA’s Within/Earshot Jazz Festival this year.

Perusing the program of live performances, film, and lectures, I went to work weaving a tapestry of sound which highlights just a fraction of the rich fabric that is jazz. Here’s everything from the modern, improvised sounds of Ill Considered, Web Web, and Gecko&Tokage Parade—to the classic sounds of Betty Carter, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Burrell, and Ahmad Jamal—to contemporary beatmakers/producers like Makaya McCraven and Kansado.

Whenever creating a playlist, I dig in a bit to find female artists to supplement the imbalanced gender representation I see in nearly every music genre. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering contemporary artists like Aziza Mustafa Zadeh and Linda Fredriksson, learning more about pioneers such as Mary Lou Williams, and being floored by the Gloria Coleman Quartet.

Since 1986 when I bought my first Green Pajamas record at Cellophane Square, I’ve enjoyed supporting local musicians whenever and wherever I can. Here, shoulder to shoulder with artists from around the globe, are Seattle music makers like The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, McTuff, Eric Verlinde, and Industrial Revelation.

I hope you have been able to attend as many Within/Earshot events as you can, and that you’ll let this soundtrack be something to accompany you and well after this stellar festival. Enjoy.

Listen to the full playlist here!

Summer campers Fiona Livingston (9) and Evelyn Hale (10) were kind enough to give us a short recap of their week-long adventure exploring art and environment with instructor Pamela Dhramsey Lee. Thank you, Fiona and Evelyn, and we’re so happy to hear about all the fun you had at camp this summer!

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In camp, we’ve been working on different types of sustainable buildings. First we made drawings, second made paper models, then we made our buildings. We had to think about what to do with grey water and what we could do with solar power. We thought about how to reuse our materials both within our design and within our houses.

Sustainable = Economy + Environment + Culture, meaning our houses had to be affordable to build and to maintain. They have to respond to their environment and to support the culture of the people who live in them, such as courtyards for communal living.

We looked at buildings of architects Zaha Hadid, Shigeru Ban and Abeer Seikaly. Matthew Coates designed the building of Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. Matthew gave us a tour and we learned how to make a sustainable building look inviting. How to hide doors, play with light, and control sound – plus much more!

We learned that buildings need to survive earthquakes and protect the environment that supports them. We also took a tour of Matthew’s architecture studio Coates Design. There we learned many things you can do with houses!

We looked at photos in Earth from Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand which showed us environmental problems and environmentally based structures. The movement of dance can inspire architecture, so we studied some choreographic forms of Doris Humphrey. Lastly, we had an exhibition of our work. A lot of successes in one week here at BIMA summer camp!

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Learn more about BIMA 2021 lineup of summer camps here!

What do you hope grows in your life this spring?

Inspired by the imagery of Kimberly Trowbridge: Into the Garden and the beauty of native flora and fauna, seniors across Bainbridge Island contributed to this community art installation celebrating the abundance of spring. Collectively their sentiments of hope, joy, and connection flourish, coming together to decorate the leaves of a Pacific Dogwood tree. Visit this botanical banner hanging in the windows of BIMA’s Museum Store and take a closer look as you spot birds hiding in its branches and community wishes adorning its foliage.

The project was a collaboration with Island Volunteer Caregivers, as part of BIMA’s Creative Aging programming. If you would like to contribute a wish or dream for growth, but were unable to take part through IVC’s Art Kit initiative, please email creativeagining@biartmuseum.org, and we will craft and add a leaf in your honor.

On view through Sunday, May 16, 2021.

As part of the 2021 Momentum Festival, BIMA is once again partnering with our friends at Hiatus Magazine, an online compilation of quarantined teenagers’ most creative works. Throughout the two-week festival, we will be featuring pieces from Hiatus’ three issues that highlight our natural world, including written works featured here on BIMA’s blog and visual work featured as a #DailyMomentOfBeauty on our Instagram and Facebook feeds.

Be sure to visit Hiatus Magazine’s website to explore their most recent issue, Beginnings: Winter 2021.

Now on to today’s featured work!

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A Tiny Song for Brian Doyle by Adele Donovan

White-dust on the little woolen teeth of the spine and the clock stops in observation of the frigid ash cooled into bony tongues across our brows and for a burnished moment as thin as the flakes of Old Bay on our teeth the world slides into itself like honey, the page looming and rugged and red where the wind lashes it and smelling like a wasp’s-sting, that papery glove nestled between fronds of verdant scales and hornets rolling in the wild-fennel with infectious joy as their carapaces glisten black as the fetid pool where the flat-worms cavort in Last Summer’s leaves and the watchful birches start to peel their pale husks off and slough away their foliage and sing with the breeze bringing salt in from the Sound, creating over knife-faced barnacles and pungent bladders of rock-weed, mumbling a senseless reel in a voice of liquid bronze.

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Be sure to follow Hiatus Magazine at their Instagram and check out all the work on their website here.