Librarians Volunteer at Foundation

Two wonderful Librarians, Randi Mason and Vicki Ruskin, have volunteered to organize James W. Washington's collection of books.  The Washington Library has significant holdings by African American authors.  The books span from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. 

Color, by Countee Cullen is a good example.

Countee Cullen was born in New York City in 1903. He was raised in a Methodist parsonage. He attended De Witt Clinton High School in New York and began writing poetry at the age of fourteen. In 1922, Cullen entered New York University. His poems were published in The Crisis, under the leadership of W. E. B. Du Bois, and Opportunity, a magazine of the National Urban League.  In 1923, Harper published his first volume of verse, Color, and he was admitted to Harvard University where he completed a master's degree.

Artist in Residence Jite Agbro

Jite Agbro was a Washington Artist in Resident during the coldest part of the winter.  She trudged through the snow, built fires in the wood stove and had to work extra hard to warm up her bee's wax at the beginning of each visit.  Jite has been working on a series of work in encaustic and silkscreen, an unusual combination, with beautiful results.  Her work features scientific schematics, words, letters and bianary sequences of penny sized holes. 

See some of the new work that she created in the Washington Studio at her web site, jiteagbro.com

Photo by Hayley Young

Daniel Minter's Stone Sculptures

Daniel Minter, our first artist in residence, has posted photos of a few of the stone sculptures he made during his residency back in March 2008.   Daniel chose stones from James Washington's back yard to carve. These where stones that Mr. Washington had picked up from around the state to use at a later time.  We call these piles of stones, Mr. Washington's bone yard.  Daniel also used Washington's tools to make these sculptures.

Judges to Pick Artists for 2009

Panelists form the local art community will pick from applicants for this years Washington Call to Artists next week.  Local artists and educators Larry Calkins, Terri Rau and art historian and writer Susan Platt will choose six artists.  The panel will select three for the King County residencies and three for the State residencies.  

Look for the results in early April.