BLOGS

√ CheckList: 5 cheap things that look like fun

Blog: Culture Check

If you’re not careful, the holiday hubbub can whup you numb as a Nutcracker. All that frenetic rushing and effusive gushing. Pretty soon you just want to wrap yourself up in a dark, quiet gift box and wait for the credit card bills to arrive.

So take a break from shopping during this first hectic weekend of the season by visiting some of the Wenatchee Valley’s more hushed and soothing locales — the art venues that offer beauty, creativity and inspiration amid the season’s commercial whirl. Of course, bring your wallet just in case, because a lot of this stuff is for sale.

Five favorite (and affordable) places to view art this weekend are:



√ Two Rivers Gallery — Downtown is sprinkled with interesting art spots, but Two Rivers offers the most eclectic mix of local works. The display of top-notch sculpture (see photo above of "Old Laughing Fool" by John Bower), ceramics and paintings also showcases pieces by novice artists — all members — publicly showing work for the first time. Check out the gallery’s Holiday Gift Sale, a special collection of pieces priced under $100. Hours this weekend: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Location: 102 N. Columbia St. Info: 888-9504. Free.

√ Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center — The soft, dim lighting of the strikingly designed, info-packed traveling exhibit “Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices” offers hushed stillness galore amid the earnestness of strident suffragettes. It’s a good place to sit and ponder life’s struggles and, right down the hall, peruse fossilized seashells and railroad lore. The museum’s gift shop offers tons of fun and artful items, many of them on local themes. Hours this weekend: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Location: 127 S. Mission St. Admission: adults $5, kids $2. Info: 888-6240.

√ Robert Graves Gallery — We’ve got some wild and creative folks in our community, and evidence of this can be found at the gallery’s 33rd Annual Members Invitational Exhibit and Sale. Offbeat sculptures and ceramics, along with powerful collages and acrylics, make this one of the best members’ shows in recent years. Hours this weekend: closed Friday through Sunday, but open Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and through the week. Location: just off Ninth Street in Sexton Hall on the WVC campus. Info: 665-5977. Free.

√ Icicle Arts Gallery — Cashmere artist Bryan S. Miller mixes two- and three-dimensional works in a show of abstracts representing, mostly, the Wenatchee Valley landscape. Nice stuff that’s worth a look. The show is housed in two rooms of the Barn Beach Reserve, a magnificent old on-the-river house converted to museum, offices, gallery and gathering place. The sun porch, with spectacular river and mountain views, is a good place to catch your breath. Hours this weekend: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Location 347 Division St., Leavenworth. Info: 668-4663.

√ Riverfront Park Sculpture Garden — This month’s addition of a 7-foot bronze foot, complete with realistic tootsies, certainly contributes to making this one of Wenatchee’s more interesting spots to stand and look. The sculptures, river, nearby mini-railroad, downtown skyline and stream of people on the Loop Trail all add to the visual variety. Location: At the east end of the First Street pedestrian bridge in Riverfront Park. Info: 886-2016. Free.

CheckList is a weekly posting for Culture Check, a wenatcheeworld.com blog, where Mike Irwin writes about art, books, bad TV, oddball places and anything else he finds interesting. You can reach him at 665-1179 or irwin@wenatcheeworld.com.