Art Up/Open Up monthly art walk begins Friday, Dec. 12

Greenwood/Phinney finally gets its own monthly art walk beginning Dec. 12 with the inaugural Art Up/Open Up. From 6-9 p.m., numerous businesses in the neighborhood will stay open and some will offer specials.

For example, Gaspare at 6705 Greenwood Ave. N. is offering a three-course meal for $22 from 5-10 p.m. A Muse Art Stamps at 7107 Greenwood Ave. N. will let people create a free holiday gift tag. Next door to Gaspare, Francine Seders Gallery will feature a number of works, including this 1988 lithograph by the late great Jacob Lawrence:

John Osgood and Michele Persinger, owners of art gallery and clothing store Bherd Studios, are putting a lot of time and effort into the new art walk. They recently moved their studio from 315 NW 85th St. to the new Greenwood Collective at 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., and they volunteer at the North Seattle Boys & Girls Club for the “Art Up” program, which is the new Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce program that focuses on engaging teens in art. The Bherd folks will be working with the teens on upcoming mural projects next year.
Future art walks will be the second Friday of each month. A map of that month’s participating businesses will be on the Chamber’s website, with symbols designating what type of art is at each location. Art event listings include visual art, live music, literary readings, and performance art.
In addition to the art walk, the Chamber is partnering with the Boys and Girls Club to create a “Snowmen on Parade” fundraiser. The wooden snowmen will be decorated by local artists and Boys & Girls Club members, then will be displayed along Greenwood Avenue North and auctioned off the night of the Dec. 12 art walk. Dunn Lumber donated the wood and Roger Brockway from He Saw Her Paint cut them out. Here are several snowmen just waiting for artistic inspiration:

And here’s one painted by John Osgood of Bherd Studios:

All proceeds from the sale of the snowmen will go to the Boys & Girls Club to purchase memberships for kids whose families are unable to afford the annual fee.