Carolyn Burt, “Sweet Onions.” Photo courtesy of the artist.

Promote art and feed the hungry – it’s a great combination, and 12 artists from the Proctor Art Gallery will be doing just that this Saturday morning at the Proctor Farmers Market. In a collaboration between the market, the gallery and the FISH Food Bank operating out of Mason United Methodist Church, the artists will create food-themed paintings and wood-carvings for the entire five hours of the market. Market-goers can donate into nearby collecting boxes to support the Art-a-thon, and all donations will buy

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Tacoma Art Place on the Hilltop. Photo courtesy Tacoma Art Place.

Among the many arts-group fundraisers in town, the one for Tacoma Art Place is more than a little unusual. The non-profit Hilltop community-based art center, which offers low-cost equipment, storage, classes and work-space to artists and the general public, is combining high fashion with budget materials for its annual fundraiser this Saturday at the Hotel Murano.

‘Inspired Elegance’ teams professional designers with aspiring ones from Goodwill’s Work-force (an employment aid service) to create a design from fabric and recycled items

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Dancer Joel Myers. Photo: Victoria Cooley.

For the fourth time, Tacoma contemporary dance whiz-kid Joel Myers is putting on the Joel Show – an evening of his own and others’ choreography. Myers, a principal artist with Seattle’s Spectrum Dance, is filling out his rising career with other top-notch companies like Seattle Opera, Bellevue Opera and DASS dance in New York, and his moves manage to combine terrific eye-candy with intense expression.

Until now the Joel Shows have been at the School Of The Arts theater, but with the recent space collaboration

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Mary Mann, “Boat.” Photo courtesy the artist. On view at the Gig Harbor Summer Art Festival this weekend.

Gig Harbor Art Fest

The Gig Harbor Art Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this weekend, which makes it the oldest local arts festival. Organized by the Peninsula Art League, it’s held on downtown Judson Street and features around 130 artists including painter Mary Mann. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. tomorrow, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Free. Judson Street, Gig Harbor. Parking and free shuttle at Gig Harbor Medical Pavilion, 6401 Kimball Drive, Gig Harbor. 253-265-8139,

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The Grand Impromptu Gallery in the Merlino Arts Building in downtown Tacoma has had its lease terminated by The Grand Cinema, which is planning to expand into the space occupied by the gallery. The expansion, which is in the planning stages, has left the members of the co-operative gallery with no immediate home after their final show “Rear View Forward,” which runs July 16-August 15.

“We’ve wanted to expand for years,” said Philip Cowan, director of The Grand. What encouraged the decision, Cowan said, was an extension to the year 2025 of the art cinema’s own lease from Merlino

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Careese Robertson, foreground, and Kathi Aleman in Lakewood Playhouse’s “Angry Housewives.” — Photo by Dean Lapin

If you were around the Northwest theater scene in 1983, you might remember "Angry Housewives." A musical about depressed housewives who form a punk band and get their guys’ respect, "Housewives" came out of nowhere (well, Seattle’s tiny Pioneer Square theater, anyhow) to have a record-breaking seven year run and international fame, touring the U.S. as well as having huge successes in Tokyo and London.

Since then, it’s been resurrected from time to time at

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The Grand Cinema’s free screenings of Hollywood favorites continues this Saturday with a 10:30 a.m. showing of “Shrek”.

The doors open at 10 a.m. but you don’t want to be late because the offer is limited to the first 100 people who show up.

Next up in the monthly series (which runs through December) is “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” on August 15.

For more information call 253-572-6062.

Quick – what’s a good way of influencing Tacoma’s art scene without making art or giving money?

Answer: Serve on the Tacoma Arts Commission. The Commission is a group of 15 volunteers which meets monthly and advises the City Council on arts-related matters. Things like who gets the AMOCAT awards, which projects get funding, where public art gets created, what arts events happen (like Art at Work Month) and how cultural policy gets implemented.

If this sounds like your thing, then apply now. The Commission has two vacant seats, and is looking for folks who are knowledgeable

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