Fall Arts | 14 Seattle artists on making art while the world falls apart

This story is part of Crosscut’s 2021 Fall Arts Preview.

Whether cutting your own bangs or creating new art, what is your proudest pandemic accomplishment?

Louie Gong Artist Entrepreneur	I learned to turn the living room lights off by throwing a pillow at the light switch while lying on the couch. If you try it, downward rotation on the pillow is the key.
Anthony White Visual artist	A lot happened that I am definitely proud of; a Neddy Fellowship, a solo exhibition.… Somehow I was able to follow through and hit my deadlines and be present and make it to the studio every day, especially when I felt mentally incapable. I’m just proud that I didn’t slip up. Things were at their ultimate low, but, damn, it definitely could have been so much worse.
Tomo Nakayama Musician	I released a new album [“Melonday”] in April of 2020, weeks after the lockdown began. All of the gigs I had planned to promote the album were canceled, so I pivoted quickly to host a livestream record release show from my house. I was shocked by how successful it was, and we sold out of the first pressing of the vinyl.
Kira Jane Buxton Writer	I started growing lion’s mane mushrooms! On purpose! It’s a fairly involved process that entails making a “shotgun fruiting chamber” and catering to every whim of some temperamental fungi. It has certainly made me an even worse conversationalist (“What are your thoughts on bacterial blotch?!”), but I am proud of my efforts. I also learned to cut my husband’s hair and cleverly misrepresented several large bald spots as “an edgy style.”
Sara Porkalob Theater artist	I've been able to focus on my physical lifestyle, and started weight training. I'm technically now a powerlifter and bodybuilder. I guess I'm most proud of the fact that I can squat and deadlift over 200 pounds.

Bao Tran Filmmaker	I finished a feature film [The Paper Tigers] and we released it in theaters! We’ve been on tour ever since and trying to make the most of it.
Eva Walker Musician	There’s three things I’m really proud of: No. 1 was marrying my best friend, Jake! No. 2: Honestly, learning more about my natural hair. I know this seems like a strange answer, but when you're Black and your country has only shown white hair and white shampoo commercials to you for over 30 years, it isn’t so strange. I’ve learned about curl patterns, oils, hair follicles, fine vs. coarse, porosity and I’m still learning. No. 3: Being on-air at my employer KEXP and doing programming [that] people seemed to really appreciate during the pandemic.
RYAN! Feddersen Visual artist	Completing “Mini-Tahoma,” a public art intervention on an approximately 175-by-30-foot defunct brutalist fountain [in Tacoma], from start to finish within the pandemic.
Tariqa Waters Artist Gallerist	Expanding [my gallery] Martyr Sauce to MS PAM (Martyr Sauce Pop Art Museum). I was able to take the trauma and frustration that I experienced this year working with establishment arts institutions and turn it into motivation to expand my own practice.
Vivian Hua Filmmaker Publisher	I've finally gotten preproduction significantly underway so I can shoot my next short film, Reckless Spirits, in December! It is a metaphysical buddy comedy featuring a Latinx gender-fluid performance artist and Asian American therapist and will be a proof of concept to help me create my larger feature later on.
Clyde Petersen Filmmaker Artist	I launched the Fellow Ship Artist Residency, a weeklong paid residency in a cozy camper trailer, two blocks from the beach on Guemes Island... I literally built an artist studio and a sauna in the forest. The project was created with the goal to provide a quiet space for queer and BIPOC artists to focus on their art practice, rest and organize for the future. I have hosted 30 artists so far, and it has been an incredible experience.

Top row, left to right: Anthony White, Louie Gong, Tomo Nakayama; Bottom row, left to right: Kira Jane Buxton, Bao Tran, Sara Porkalob.

Did you pick up any unexpected habits or hobbies during the pandemic?

Vivian Hua Filmmaker Publisher	I've definitely learned to cut my hair terribly and am now scared to go to the hairdresser since they are likely to be horrified.
Anthony White Visual artist	I noticed I was having a lot more conversations with myself out loud, haha. That was totally unexpected. I picked up a healthy habit of reading books, and started pole-dancing early in the pandemic, too. That has been fun.
Tariqa Waters Artist Gallerist	I wouldn’t necessarily call it a hobby, but during lockdown and with no factory assembly line at my service, I found myself cranking out over 20 giant ball-knocker beads by hand. I loathed every minute of it. It was so monotonous and time consuming, but the moment I was finished I immediately thought, “Ok, that’s done…. Now what else? How about two 3-foot disco balls!”
Tomo Nakayama Musician	My cooking improved greatly during the pandemic. I cooked through almost all of the recipes from Just One Cookbook, and experimented with a lot of ingredients and cuisines that were new to me. It was a way for me to feel like I was traveling and experiencing different cultures while stuck at home.
Clyde Petersen Filmmaker Artist	Microdosing, homesteading and watching FBOY Island.

Artist and gallerist Tariqa Waters recently opened MS PAM, the immersive Martyr Sauce Pop Art Museum, in Pioneer Square. (Tariqa Waters)

Kira Jane Buxton Writer	I attempted to make “moss art” by filling an oversized frame with bits of moss. Unfortunately, I lost interest halfway through, so it’s still languishing on my dining room table. It has become a cat bed and now there is moss tracked all over the house. Picasso probably had similar problems.
RYAN! Feddersen Visual artist	I dabble in many hobbies. But the most consistent return was to beading. I created a series of jawbreaker pins [beaded brooches] for family and close friends to symbolically mark the cyclical and personal struggles throughout these past 18 months. I recalled how jawbreaker candies were this kind of personal endeavor where you work through each layer. At points it’s sweet, but it’s often punishing.
Jody Kuehner Performer	I bought an accordion! I've never played an instrument, and in early 2020 I was feeling such a need for a creative project I decided I'd learn the accordion. I've been taking Zoom classes and it's so hard and I love it.
Louie Gong Artist Entrepreneur	I started wearing bandanas around my head as my hair grew out. Now I’m a collector of bandanas.

On a scale from ‘Does watching Netflix count?’ to ‘I made more work than ever,’ what was your pandemic experience like for art-making?

Jody Kuehner

Performer

So much of my work/process [as Cherdonna Shinatra] is based on playfulness, and I did not feel playful. My experience was lots of processing, not a lot of product. But the processing is what makes the art so it's all folded into each other.

Tomo Nakayama

Musician

I survived by throwing myself into the work of promoting my album and playing a ton of livestreams and engaging with my fans online. I also created new work in fits and spurts, but it was honestly really difficult to get in a creative mindset. I spent more of my time reading, walking and observing the world around me, which is a big part of the creative process. Also napping.

Justin Huertas

Theater/musical
artist

The running joke in our household is that I've never been this busy. Why did it take a global pandemic for me to be as busy as I've always wanted to be? I made a holiday special that served as a sequel to one of my musicals here in Seattle, The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion. The holiday special, which was filmed in quarantine on iPhones, was called A Very Merry Kraken Tea Party.

Clyde Petersen

Filmmaker
Artist

I have continued to make films in the pandemic. I am currently working on finishing my second feature film, Even Hell Has Its Heroes, a documentary about the Seattle band Earth. I fluctuate between “what is the point of anything” and “I hope the aliens that visit this planet in the future will see my films.”

Kira Jane Buxton

Writer

At the beginning of the lockdown, I developed what I believe is known to the medical and scientific communities as “pandemic pudding brain.” I spent most of the time lying on the floor. I wasn’t working out, and I developed the physique and posture of a well-boiled shrimp. Eventually, I started channeling a lot of what I was feeling (night terrors and incessant anxiety) into a new novel. Inflicting your anguish on a fictional character and making them suffer is surprisingly vindicating.

Louie Gong

Artist
Entrepreneur

I made one new piece [a painting titled “FOO, the Black Sheep”], which is 100% more than last year.

Sara Porkalob

Theater artist

I really haven't spent that much time during the pandemic making theater. Zoom theater is not exciting to me. I woke up many days thinking that I would like to sit down and finally write that play I've been putting on the shelf. At first, I felt guilty for not writing that play, considering I had so much time. And then I was like, “Why do I feel the pressure to write this play? I'm just gonna read a book today.”

I'm on Day 20 of painting every day for 30 days, which is pretty cool. I enjoy other artistic mediums and I know that once I start working again this time that I've spent appreciating other art forms will make theater better.

Cherdonna Shinatra, aka Seattle-based dancer, director and drag artist Jody Kuehner. (Lou Daprile)

What gave you joy or laughter during this past year and a half?

Clyde Petersen Filmmaker Artist	Seeing local films debut online was a highlight. Potato Dreams of America by Wes Hurley, The Paper Tigers by Bao Tran, Thin Skin by Charles Mudede and East of the Mountains by S.J. Chiro brought me happiness. I started taking ASL [American Sign Language] classes online and that has been a great experience as well — to spend time weekly practicing sign language with other folks over Zoom.
Eva Walker Musician	Oh boy, I’ve been binge-watching King of the Hill. I didn’t realize how much I had in common with Hank Hill, except for his social and political views. We both just really want a nice, uneventful day. Hahaha! Also Hulu is KILLING IT with the documentaries lately.
Louie Gong Artist Entrepreneur	Two hilarious sitcoms led by Native talent — Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs — set off a new era in Native representation in mainstream media. I’ve never been prouder of something I had nothing to do with! Shout out to the Native writers, producers and directors who slogged away for decades waiting for this moment — then slayed it. Stoodis!
Anthony White Visual artist	@offbrandheelz Instagram story compilation every Thursday evening.
Justin Huertas Theater/music artist	Recently, my partner, Tyler, and I started getting into The Goes Wrong Show. The whole conceit is that it’s a company of amateur performers trying to put on as professional a show as possible. Every possible thing goes wrong, but they keep their “cool” as much as they can. Just the act of them trying to continue and finish the play with dignity is the funniest thing. It makes me miss theater so much.

Top row, left to right: Vivian Hua, RYAN! Feddersen, Justin Huertas; Bottom row, left to right: Clyde Petersen Eva Walker, Olivier Wevers.

Olivier Wevers Choreographer	Puzzling. It has been such an escape from reality, total mindfulness and great company when you join friends.
Tariqa Waters Artist Gallerist	I was overwhelmed with pure joy when my son, DJ 9, got the opportunity to perform alongside iconic musical giants at an outside concert in Portland [in July]. Staying motivated and committed as a performance artist during such an unstable and dark time is no small feat, especially when your craft not only calls for public engagement, but large groups of people dancing closely together.
Tomo Nakayama Musician	@leendadong's Instagram. Her comedic Tik Tok vignettes are very relatable and brought me a lot of joy and laughs during quarantine.
Vivian Hua Filmmaker Publisher	I really enjoyed the TV series Euphoria, and was highly impressed with its vision and cinematography.
Jody Kuehner Performer	I watched every season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
RYAN! Feddersen Visual artist	“Looking for Tiger Lily” a solo [theater] show by Anthony Hudson / Carla Rossi. It’s an irreverent, yet earnest, exploration of growing up as a mixed-race Native within the dominance of white American culture. I found it funny, compelling and acutely relatable.

This past year, artist RYAN! Feddersen started making beaded brooches resembling cross-sections of jawbreaker candies as gifts to commemorate this moment. Like jawbreakers, she says, “at points it’s sweet, but its often punishing, devoid of nutrients, and entirely too much.” (RYAN! Feddersen)

Do you still believe in art?

Jody Kuehner Performer	I do believe in art. And as someone who's been a full-time working artist for 15 years, believing in art is not simple. I'm a person who has had success, I've toured, received big grants, residencies, all the things a successful artist should do and I'm now 41 and can't afford to pay rent or take care of basic needs. And this is the truth before COVID. Artists prepandemic were working within a system that wasn't really working — not enough funding and toxic relationships with presenters and organizations. The pandemic brought forward these issues tenfold.
Bao Tran Filmmaker	100%. We’ve retreated to art in the last year in an unprecedented way. I hope people will appreciate that the art has to be created by someone, and they put a lot of work into it and deserve fair compensation.
Sara Porkalob Theater artist	I think art is as powerful as it always has been. What has become more revealed to me is our white supremacist transactional culture, not really giving a shit about anybody but millionaires and billionaires…. The homelessness and the housing issue here in Seattle [are] continuing to grow while we are one of the wealthiest cities in America — that's not just ridiculous, that is unacceptable. I'm tired of talking about my medium as if it saves people when we don't have universal health care.
Vivian Hua Filmmaker Publisher	My whole life is predicated around the belief that I believe art is an amazing vehicle for personal and societal change. That has not shifted due to the pandemic. However, the bleakness of news in 2020 led me to realizing that arts journalism needs to be much more celebrated because it is a positive celebration of human creativity, and I thus restarted my publication REDEFINE. It's felt life changing and uplifting for me to just write about other people's artwork and provide something to offset the bleak news.
Eva Walker Musician	I ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE IN ART! I always will.

A photo collage of gallerist and artist Tariqa Waters riding a unicorn in front of her new art space, MS PAM. (Tariqa Waters)

How has the pandemic seeped into your work or changed you as an artist?

Anthony White Visual artist	It just further cemented the fact that community and collaboration are what keep the world going.
Kira Jane Buxton Writer	Unfortunately, I jumped the gun a bit and was already writing about a pandemic. During the pandemic I stepped away from the Hollow Kingdom series I am writing because a funny novel about a virus that wipes out the human race felt a bit on the old proboscis. The pandemic made me seek out humor and levity, and I’ve found that the new novel I’m working on is a lot fluffier.
Tomo Nakayama Musician	It has really altered my relationship to time. I feel less restricted to a rigid structure and more free to create whenever I feel the need.
Sara Porkalob Theater artist	People always talk about the magic of theater being live… [but] for many folks purchasing a ticket to see a show at 5th Avenue Theatre or the Seattle Rep is outside of their means. And even if they are able to purchase a ticket … getting to the city and then finding parking.... Theater is inaccessible as an artistic medium. I knew that prior to COVID; it just slapped me in the face every day when lockdown actually began. It actually had me rethinking what I want to do as a theater artist.... I'm like, ‘Goddamn, Sara, your ableism is showing. How did you not think before to fight for streaming rights so that people who couldn't otherwise see it can see it?’
Olivier Wevers Choreographer	Everything just became more personal. It really is driving my inspiration towards the core of our humanity. The work of an artist is to help us heal and cope, to bring people together, to dive inside ourselves and make us question our condition. I feel even more empowered to keep creating things, and produce visions that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

Sara Porkalob performs in her autobiographical play “Dragon Mama.” In early 2022, she’ll stage two Dragon Cycle plays at Café Nordo in a “farewell” tour, before she heads to Broadway for the 1776 revival. (Gretjen Helene)

Is there a type of ‘pandemic art’ you’re already tired of?

Eva Walker Musician	Ugh! I hated doing livestreams. I love live shows so much that the streaming was starting to irritate me a lot. I don’t like playing for just a single camera. It doesn’t laugh, cheer or even boo. I need a reaction!
RYAN! Feddersen Visual artist	NFTs. While the problem with non-fungible tokens isn’t isolated to art, until cryptocurrencies move to “proof of stake” and away from “proof of work” and the associated mining, the carbon footprint is mind bogglingly massive.
Tomo Nakayama Musician	I'm trying to get out of the mindset of thinking about the art we create now as "pandemic art." It's become clear that this uncertainty, the waves of things getting better and then worse again, is just how it's going to be for a while now. The only thing we can do is to keep creating!
Jody Kuehner Performer	I love that so many artists were able to shift into technology. And also I hate Zoom. I will never do a Zoom performance.
Justin Huertas Theater/music artist	Zoom readings. They're awful. Nothing beats the live, shared experience for me. Nothing beats the immediate reaction when I sing a funny lyric and someone laughs at it. Hearing sighs or applause. I'm an Aries sun, Leo moon, Leo rising. So the immediate validation and approval is really great.
Olivier Wevers Choreographer	Pandemic art? You mean all the free content created on social media for instant consumption, that turns no revenue for the artists creating it? I do hope that people will return to theaters and live shows, and that they won’t just think that art should be free.

Bao Tran’s martial arts comedy “The Paper Tigers” was released during the pandemic and is now available on Netflix (The Paper Tigers).

What art event/show/activity are you most looking forward to this fall?

Vivian Hua Musician	I just want to go dance in a cool, dark basement and feel safe about it! But also looking forward to Northwest Film Forum's Local Sightings Film Festival, which will celebrate Pacific Northwest film and mediamakers.
Anthony White Visual artist	The show I am curating, In Crystallized Time, has been years in the making, and I’m so excited to finally see it take shape in October at Museum of Museums. I am also excited about seeing my work alongside some of my favorite artists and heroes at the Frye Art Museum for their Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art, as well as Barbara Earl Thomas’ and Derrick Adams’ show, Packaged Black, at the Henry.
Eva Walker Musician	Doing lots of shows with my band [The Black Tones], if delta doesn’t cause them to be canceled.
Tomo Nakayama Musician	I'm playing a show with my full band at the Neptune on Sept. 18th. It's my first Seattle show since the pandemic began. I was hoping things would be better by now, but we're going to do our best to do it safely and have as much fun as we can together.
Clyde Petersen Filmmaker Artist	I am looking forward to my solo exhibition [Even Hell Has Its Heroes] at J. Rinehart Gallery, opening in September.
Louie Gong Artist Entrepreneur	Eighth Generation, the company I founded in 2008 and sold to the Snoqualmie Tribe in 2019, is moving into a new 30,000 square foot headquarters in October. That same month, around Indigenous Peoples Day, I’ll be announcing an artistic collaboration with one of the largest companies in the country.

Kira Jane Buxton Writer	I was tremendously excited and tried to get tickets for the Van Gogh exhibition: The Immersive Experience . It sold out, however, and I’m very vindictive, so I hope Mr. Gogh doesn’t experience any sort of notoriety. That said, if anyone has an “in” with Mr. Gogh, please contact my people. I am also contractually obligated to tell you that my new book, Feral Creatures, came out on Aug. 24th.
Jody Kuehner Performer	I'm looking forward to On the Boards’ New Now Festival and my continued love for the monthly TUSH at the Clock-Out Lounge. I am excited for two new works of mine that are in process — this fall we get to actually work on them in person!
RYAN! Feddersen Visual artist	I am extremely excited to open “Inhabitance” a major permanent public artwork in the newly constructed Concourse B expansion at the PDX Airport this November. It’s comprised of a Cloud Walk (glass), five lenticular Sentinels (metal) and incised Habitat tiles (wood).
Justin Huertas Theater/music artist	This fall, Lizard Boy is returning to the stage at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in the Bay Area. And then I am world premiering a brand new show at Arts West called We've Battled Monsters Before, with Rheanna Atendido. And in the middle of December, the film version of The Winter's Tale that we're creating now will stream through Seattle Rep.

three dancers in a rehearsal spaces touching each other almost like in a fight, caught in motion

Images from recent rehearsals for a new dance piece by choreographer Rena Butler, which will be performed by Whim W'Him during live shows this fall. (Whim W'Him)

Sara Porkalob

Theater artist

The ArtsWest season is very, very exciting. I believe the opener for this season is We've Battled Monsters Before, Justin [Huertas’] new musical. I'm excited for Beauty and The Beast at Fifth Avenue [January 2022], primarily because one of my friends is directing it, Jay O'Leary Woods. And then I’m excited to see live music outside. I don't really know anything that's going to happen, because everything's kind of in the air with the delta variant.

Bao Tran

Filmmaker

Seattle’s own East of the Mountains, and an action thriller Snakehead are releasing in theaters and video on demand this fall.

Olivier Wevers

Choreographer

Artists are leaving, and or moving on, dance studios are disappearing in Seattle, so I am proud and looking forward to bringing all the incredible choreographers this season to create new works for Whim W'Him.

If you had to write a speculative fiction story about a Seattle artist in the year 2025, how would you set the scene?

Eva Walker

Musician

“It was 108 degrees, and no one had air conditioning ... just a guitar and a ceiling fan….”

Vivian Hua

Filmmaker
Publisher

Sigh. The battle between artists reclaiming space in the city has been won by artists. All gentrifying corporate capitalist forces ... realized due to climate change and the ailing state of the world that they ought to be less evil!

Kira Jane Buxton

Writer

Pike Place sat in his writing room, battling an insidious case of writer’s block and lamenting that he’d been named after an Amazon warehouse that was once a lively market where people threw fish at each other. The words would not come. His creativity felt clogged. He stared out the window where a feral pack of robo-dogs deviled the streets. The cyber-dogs ran this town, and no one could do anything about it because of their steel jaws and lack of obedience programming.

An Elon Musk-cab whispered by on its daily mission to ferry travelers to Mars for no apparent reason. Pike Place watched a charm of surveillance drones as they flurried around the window, seducing him into sleep with their buzzy insistence. A chime of the city’s Big Boeing bells later, Pike Place awoke with a start and the euphoric realization that he was not creatively blocked after all! He had simply forgotten to plug himself in.

Tomo Nakayama

Musician

Everyone has a home, kindness and cooperation abounds, we're on our way to reversing the effects of climate change and racism, and the Seattle Mariners have won the World Series. It is good to be alive.

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Fall Arts | 14 Seattle artists on making art while the world falls apart

Whether cutting your own bangs or creating new art, what is your proudest pandemic accomplishment?

Louie Gong

Artist Entrepreneur

Anthony White

Visual artist

Tomo Nakayama

Musician

Kira Jane Buxton

Writer

Sara Porkalob

Theater artist

Bao Tran

Filmmaker

Eva Walker

Musician

RYAN! Feddersen

Visual artist

Tariqa Waters

Artist Gallerist

Vivian Hua

Filmmaker Publisher

Clyde Petersen

Filmmaker Artist

Did you pick up any unexpected habits or hobbies during the pandemic?

Vivian Hua

Filmmaker Publisher

Anthony White

Visual artist

Tariqa Waters

Artist Gallerist

Tomo Nakayama

Musician

Clyde Petersen

Filmmaker Artist

Kira Jane Buxton

Writer

RYAN! Feddersen

Visual artist

Jody Kuehner