The Bellevue Arts Museum will be hosting the New Art and Sounds from the Pacific Northwest: Indie Folk exhibit from September 16 until January 29, 2023. The exhibit will highlight the Pacific Northwest’s unique artistic ecosystem, including craft traditions, pre-industrial cultures, and Indigenous and settler histories.

Similar to folk art, the works featured in the upcoming exhibit are handmade and frequently blur the lines between functionality and aesthetics. Featured in the exhibit is a playlist selected by Portland’s Mississippi Records, and woven baskets; tooled-wood objects mixed with works that are makeshift; and salvaged materials.

Cappy Thompson, who works with glass mediums, will have his work “Beekeeper” displayed, which is vitreous enamel reverse-painted on blown glass. “Feral Cat,” which includes acrylics with collage on hand-printed paper and oil pastel on canvas, will also be displayed at the exhibit.

“Beekeeper” by Cappy Thompson. Courtesy of Bellevue Arts Museum.

The indie folk genre will be applied to the entire Mississippi Records playlist, as the Pacific Northwest is home to many cultures that have adapted traditional folk music to the modern world, according to the Bellevue Arts Museum. All artists within the playlist are working class people, who all worked day jobs while producing music.

Fred and Toody Cole from rock-band, Dead Moon, ran a dollar store called Buckaroo, on top of construction and laundry work. Michael Hurley created music while working as a parsnip farmer and eight-track repairman.

Brian Mumford, of Dragging an Ox Through Water, works as a librarian and movie projectionist, while musician Ural Thomas still works a construction job at the age of 82, according to the Bellevue Arts Museum.

General admission tickets are $15. For more information visit https://www.bellevuearts.org/