Arts + Culture Enhancements to Your Other Rainy Endeavors
By Amy Musser
W A T C H:
Hotel by the River
An aging poet who senses the end is near calls upon his two estranged sons to join him at a hotel by a river. A simple premise for a film shot simply in black and white, Hotel By The River reveals realms beyond the ordinary day-to-day existence of its characters. How do our lives define us? What do they mean? Ponder the power of coincidence, the kindness of strangers, and what heals us vs. what ails us. Unadorned language and low-key camera work harken back to French New Wave cinema with all the unassuming poetic tenderness that Korean Director Hong Sang-soo is known for. Playing through the end of April at Northwest Film Forum.
W I T N E S S:
Light Ways
When the world seems bleak, art is there to guide us in our experiences of beauty, sadness, joy. Let this show be a beacon toward the light, giving us space to bask in the ethereal, the magic. Light Ways features four artists who harness light in a variety of ways; to define, emphasize, construct, etc. Artists Emily Counts, Marisa Manso, Stephen Nachtigall, and Jessie Rose Vala’s works run the gamut of styles, from illumination through stained glass to bright radiating neon but all are linked by light. On display now at Soil Gallery through the end of April.
E A T + D R I N K:
L’Oursin
When L’Oursin first opened two years ago, it joined the ranks of a small group of Seattle restaurants/wine shops with outstanding natural wine programs (including Bar Ferdinand and Vif, to name a few). Now this little gem of a restaurant is up for a James Beard nomination for Best Wine Program, but it’s worth noting that everything about this restaurant shines and stuns, from its whimsical drinks, like a bitter Kir Royale perfectly balanced by a touch of Fernet and Vermut Blanco, to an imaginative and beautiful French x Northwest menu that handles its seafood, housemade charcuterie, and local produce with equal parts sensitivity and exuberance.
If you find yourself lured into L’Oursin, take a moment to think about the poetry that is the menu. Witty cocktails, like Girlfriend in Tacoma, are delightfully unexpected and refreshing, glasses of crisp white wine transport you to a solitary walk on a cloudy beach, wearing a camel coat with salty sea glass in your pocket, and bites of rapini are so perfect that it’s like eating a brassica for the first time. Every flavor at L’Oursin feels novel in its orchestration. Stop in on a Monday for their special Uni Burger, stay late, and be prepared for a sudden onset of “beginner’s mind.” L’Oursin is open for dinner service seven days a week.
R E A D:
The ABC's of Bauhaus Design and Theory by Ellen Lupton, J. Abbott Miller
“No one wants to walk into a bar and not know who Itten, Klee, Kandinsky, and Albers are. It will be a Bauhaus summer and this is a wonderful, clear, and buoyant text.”
Shop this book and other special finds at Peter Miller Books.
304 Alaskan Way S, Post Alley, Seattle, WA 98104