2012

Ceramicist's confections wrapped in a warning
The Globe and Mail - Tom Hawthorn [April 25]

Dirk Staschke
Hi-Fructose Magazine - Nastia Voynovskaya [vol. 23]
"Staschke is sensitive to the network of emotions and impulses that the sight of overwhelmingly tantalizing objects evokes."

Contextual Healing: Making Mends from Mountains of Salt to Atomic War and Back
The Stranger - Jen Graves [April 10]

Currently Hanging: Paul Villinski's Diaspora of Vinyl LPs
The Stranger: Slog - Jen Graves [April 5]

Healing power of art featured in BAM exhibit
Bellevue Reporter - Gabrielle Nomura [March 24]

Mary Lee Hu: Cutting Loose
American Craft Magazine - Jessica Shaykett [April/May]

'Making Mends' at BAM: healing and more
Crosscut.com - Judy Lightfoot [March 9]
"… a deeply thoughtful, fulfilling aesthetic experience."

Eye-popping ceramic art at BAM, the Henry and beyond
The Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch [March 4]
"Both [BAM and Henry Art Gallery] challenge notions of what ceramics are for and what can be done with them."

BAM jewelry show shines with craftsmanship, glamour
The Seattle Times - Nancy Worssam [February 17]
"Gold and silver jewelry worked so dramatically and precisely that the sparkle astounds, delights and amazes."

2011

The Chic of the New: Furniture from the Mad Men era at BAM
Seattle Weekly - Brian Miller [November 30]
"… pure furniture porn for mid-century modernists."

George Nelson show at BAM full of midcentury moments
The Seattle Times - Gayle Clemans [October 28]
"… the most ambitious design exhibition hosted at a local institution since… 2005."

BAM's 'Travelers': postcards from the edge
The Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch [September 16]
"Go to 'Travelers' for the giant sugar coach, the passport fantasy, the sagging vehicles, the looming tent and, above all, those entertaining snow globes – true souvenirs from the land of the outlandish."

John Cederquist at Bellevue Arts Museum
artdish [March 31]
"... the illusion of depth is seductive."

Review: Terra-cotta warrior meets American pop art in 'Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey'
The Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch [March 30]
"Loosing your way through Zang's ceramic melting pot couldn't be more delightful."

Wanxin Zhang
Seattle Weekly - Brian Miller [March]
"Look carefully and you'll note the historical incongruities..."

TAM's Rock Hushka bleeds on his art at Bellevue Art Museum
The News Tribune - Rosemary Ponnekanti [February 7]
"A boundary-breaking show."

2010

Seattle artists Linda Davidson and April Surgent: mosaic mavericks
The Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch [December 9]
"there's an eerie grandeur to the way she zeros in on the ephemeral nature of urban life: the way pedestrians slip past one another, the way the city landscape itself is in constant flux, the way human presence and brick-and-mortar background merge into a single, interpenetrating entity.... Solid outlines keep giving way to blurry echoes, and the overall effect is extraordinarily complex and rich."

Ginny Ruffner's art blooms at Bellevue Arts Museum and on film
The Seattle Times - Gayle Clemans [October 23]
"Ginny Ruffner, a pioneering glass artist and beloved figure in Northwest art, is a lot like her work: strong and delicate, amusing and cerebral, and downright lovely in a slightly twisted sort of way."

Artscape: Clay Throwdown! Explores Ceramic Art in the Northwest
KPLU - Katherine Banwell [October 3]
"The pieces they've created are so varied and dynamic that it's hard to believe they all began as simple blocks of clay."

Some smashing ceramics are on view at Bellevue Arts Museum's "Clay Throwdown!"
The Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch [September 2]
"The range of subjects and techniques on display in 'BAM Biennial 2010: Clay Throwdown!' at the Bellevue Arts Museum is striking. And the quality of the best work is stellar."

A Parent's Review: Bellevue Arts Museum 'The Art of Discovery'
Seattle's Child - Laura Spruce Wright [July]

'Art of Discovery' at BAM lets the rest of us in on the fun of interacting with art
The Seattle Times - Nancy Worssam [June 24]
"As Callahan once said, 'We can say all sorts of things about painting. It doesn't matter what it means to me, instead of what it means to you.' This is an exhibit to delight your eye and encourage you to find that meaning."

Five years after rebirth, Bellevue Arts Museum on firmer footing
The Seattle Times - Nicole Tsong [June 17]

Translucent felt opens 'window into process'
The News Tribune - Rosemary Ponnekanti [June 11]

Sometimes shoes are just fantasy
JTNews - Emily Keeler [March 18]
"Levine's shoes, some of which were inscribed with the wearer's name, were a labor of love. In a 1969 New York Post interview, Levine said, 'with so few things real, like the taste of orange juice, there is a longing for quality.' ... Levine's name has since been overshadowed by industry giants, yet her reputation as a revolutionary in the world of shoes lives on in high fashion circles and, for a limited time, in Bellevue."

Beth Levine: First Lady of Shoes
Seattle Weekly - Erika Hobart
"These are styles that even Lady GaGa would pause before donning.... It's fashion over function at its finest. As Levine herself once explained, her niche was creating shoes that 'nobody needed, but everybody wanted.' Indeed."

Bellevue Arts Museum puts its best foot forward with Beth Levine shoe exhibition
The Seattle Times - Moira Macdonald [February 25]
"Walking through the exhibit and seeing the shoes, arranged like delicious morsels in whimsically themed groupings (such as "Flora and Fauna" or "Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend"), makes you want to stick your feet in the art - a rare experience in a museum."

Jewelry fans "Indulge" at BAM
The Bellevue Scene - Krystal Woodard [February 10]

Jewelry marketplace brings crowd to Bellevue Arts Museum
Bellevue Reporter - Krystal Woodard [February 8]

Bellevue Arts Museum gets $15,000 grant from Paul Allen Family Foundation
Bellevue Reporter - Lindsay Larin [February 4]

Bright Days Ahead For Bellevue Arts Museum
The Seattle Times - Editorial [January 16]

2009

BAM exhibits feature enamelist and master wood carver
Woodinville Weekly - Deborah Stone [December 14]

Retrospective reveals Jamie Bennett's wide range of enamel work
The Seattle Times - Nancy Worssam [December 11]

Celebrating a ceramic-arts innovator
The Seattle Times - Gayle Clemans [November 6]
"One of the things I love about going to the Bellevue Arts Museum, with its emphasis on craft, is that I know that the work on view will usually be well-made. I'm a fan of concept and theory in art, but it can be a treat to really look at materails and forms and marvel at how things are made. The current retrospective of work by American ceramic sculptor Robert Sperry (1927 - 1998) does not disappoint in this regard."

Artfully Sound: Northwest art creates meaning in the materials
Reflections - John Kinmonth [November]

Bellevue Arts Museum redefines the portrait
Another Bouncing Ball - Regina Hackett [August 12]

Arts fairs draw 320,000 people to downtown
Bellevue Reporter - Lindsay Larin [July 27]

BAM's ARTSfair one of nation's top 10
Bellevue Reporter - Lindsay Larin [July 25]

Bellevue portrait show goes above and beyond
The Seattle Times - Gayle Clemans [July 24]
"I must confess that I wasn't expecting to be blown away by "UberPortrait," but the visually and conceptually charged objects are deeply compelling, having been forged by artists who employ diverse techniques and media that are often associated with craft: ceramics, painting on metal, wood carving. It's a wonderful example of how the Bellevue Arts Museum, with its focus on contemporary art, design and craft, is in a unique position to present finely wrought and unexpected shows."

It's art fest weekend in Bellevue
The Seattle Times - Madeline McKenzie [July 23]

Bellevue's big weekend: Three arts fairs to bring thousands of people downtown for annual event
Bellevue Reporter - Lindsay Larin [July 22]

New BAM exhibit explores multifaceted world of portraiture
Woodinville Weekly - Deborah Stone [July 6]

Bellevue Arts Museum - from feathery wood and floating glass to a holy man in a phone book
Another Bouncing Ball - Regina Hackett [June 2]
"Portland's Judy Hill is an artist who dares to repeat herself. For decades she has fashioned the same figures in colored glass and raku, which is not, in contemporary art, thought to be a good thing. For her, it is."

Bellevue Arts Museum makes sense of its galleries
Another Bouncing Ball - Regina Hackett [June 1]
"Now, halfway through 2009, everything clicks: the art, the space, the flow, the light and the installations. BAM is the ultimate come-from-behind institution. It's surely the only art museum to have announced its own death, shut down and revived its own corpse a year later, in BAM's case, with a craft-driven mission."

Michael Peterson sculptures answer the call of the wild
The Seattle Times - Nancy Worssam [May 29]

Books, Unbound: A soon-to-be cultural relic is savored, sculpted, and reclaimed
Seattle Weekly - Adriana Grant [May 20]
"Paper also straddles the line between art and craft nicely in this show…"

Northwest wood sculptors in new exhibit at BAM
Woodinville Weekly - Deborah Stone [May 10]
"Peterson's sculptures are elegant and bold works of art. The exhibition allows viewers the opportunity to experience the sensual and poetic qualities of wood, while also providing a visual timeline of the evolution and revolution of one man's artistic trajectory."

Quilts, books take center stage at BAM
Northlake News - Deborah Stone [March 9]
"The exhibit [American Quilt Classics] is a dazzling display of color and design, demonstrating the fine skills and widespread imagination of the quilters featured (many of whom are anonymous). It is a sensory treat for viewers combined with a fascinating glimpse into the past."

Breaking Books Open: In a new show at the Bellevue Arts Museum, texts are taken apart, reassembled and turned into art objects
Eastside City Arts Magazine - Jonathan Shipley [March]
"[Books undergoing adaptation for survival] This adaptation is in clear view at the Bellevue Arts Museum's exhibition, not only with the transformative power of an artist to take a text and turn it into sculpture, but in the way in which each artist produces something stunningly unique.... In contract to the dominance of the screen, the exhibit at BAM focuses on the physicality of the printed form. the tactile sense of the book - the papers, the covers, the glue."

Sherry Markovitz
Art in America - Michael Duncan [March]
"Doll sculptures and recent paintings on paper and silk] These more off-the-cuff works are resonant allegories, taking her project into more personal realms through loose references to childhood, marriage and family life. Markovitz's glittering, heartfelt works deserve to be better known."

An unsettling, yet remarkable, display of books
The Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch [February 27]
"Much of the work on display in the Bellevue Arts Museum's new exhibit, "The Book Borrowers: Contemporary Artists Transforming the Book," is rich, provocative and even beautiful."

Bellevue Arts Museum showcases weavers, including Tacoma woman
The News Tribune - Rosemary Ponnekanti [January 23]
"Every so often I pop into Bellevue Arts Museum, and whenever I do, I realize I should go more often. Don't be fooled by the museum's focus on craft: This is a place that does exactly what good art should do - it blurs the boundaries."

On Her Sleeping Weight
The Stranger - Jen Graves [January 22]
"Toland's sculptures are a reassurance to those who are made uncomfortable by skill in art. Skill can be obnoxious; it can be shallow. But great skill is invisible. And at that point, where Toland is working with Milk for the Butter Thief, all the world falls away from the art as you look at it. There is nothing else."

"Intertwined" pushes boundaries of basket making
Woodinville Weekly - Deborah Stone [January 5]
"Viewers will be amazed at the intricacy of the works on display, as well as the sensory qualities inherent in each piece. And they will come away with a newfound appreciation and broadened perspective of this masterful art form."

The Urge to Keep Building: A recent visit to the Bellevue Arts Museum revs up the imagination
Eastside City Arts Magazine - Bond Huberman [January]
"It also makes me thankful to the Bellevue Arts Museum - for taking advantage of its Eastside orientation to do something a little different, like displaying a rocking chair on a pedastal in the lobby."