Posts Tagged ‘washington’
Hotel Max has a great sense of style and a great sense of play. Located in the heart of downtown Seattle, this boutique hotel has its finger directly on the city’s pulse. The hotel features stunning design elements everywhere from the lobby to the hallways, and the rooms boast original artwork by local artists. With its amiable staff and beautiful aesthetics, Hotel Max offers a contemporary vibe for travelers in the Pacific Northwest.
Building cityscapes out of pen, ink and watercolors, Gabriel Campanario can be seen throughout the streets of Seattle capturing the city’s subtle nuances and familiar landmarks both in the pages of his sketchbooks and in his Seattle Sketcher column for the Seattle Times. Even more inspirational is Gabriel’s dedication to the art of sketching. Seeking artistic community and a place to share and celebrate ideas, he spearheaded the Urban Sketchers movement, created to connect artists the world over through the art of sketching. With a network of sketch groups in over 30 countries around the globe, urban sketchers draw on location, immortalizing their cities through lines and colors, and visually sharing their adventures with each other and the world online.
Sketch by sketch, Urban Sketchers has grown and gained momentum, with the latest project resulting in a book filled with over 500 illustrations by artists of all backgrounds. The book not only showcases artists’ sketchbooks, but also discusses each artist’s inspirations, drawing process, and techniques. Inspired to grab her pen and watercolors and start sketching on the spot, Culture Vixen’s Gayle Wheatley caught up with Gabriel to find out more about his illustrated life.
Looking for the hottest spots to check out in Seattle? Here are some places you won’t want to miss:
Sleep
A trendy haven for design aficionados and the aesthetically attune, Hotel Andra (2000 Fourth Avenue; 877/448-8600; doubles from $229) in Seattle’s Belltown district brims with sleek Scandinavian design. Don’t miss the hotel’s inventive restaurant, Lola, which serves up creative combinations of Greek and North African cuisine.
It’s no secret that Seattle is a gourmet wonderland for foodies. Emphasizing fresh local ingredients, Pacific Northwest chefs are constantly seeking creative combinations of ingredients. Although you’ll fare pretty well in Seattle eating wherever you happen to be once your stomach rumbles, there is definitely something wonderful about staying at a hotel with a restaurant good enough to be a destination itself.
The following foodie hot spots combine luxurious hospitality with gourmet prowess:
Hotel Andra & Lola
For those who love modern design, Hotel Andra is a cozy refuge filled with chic minimalist furniture and trendy design accents evocative of the Pacific Northwest. Located in Seattle’s hip Belltown district, Hotel Andra sits at the epicenter of celebrity chef Tom Douglass’ culinary empire. Tempting aromas of Greek and North African treats waft though the hotel’s sleek Scandinavian-inspired lobby from Douglass’ restaurant Lola. The perfect spot for a late night snack or cocktails, Lola also serves mouth-watering spreads like kalamata~fig and Kopanisti~pistachio all day. Across the street are Douglass’ Dahlia Lounge and Dahlia Bakery, famous for their triple coconut creme pie, and around the corner you’ll discover sizzling pizzas at Douglass’ Serious Pie.
Celebrating Scandinavian Design in the Pacific Northwest
How do you make a splash in a city that oozes culture? Try playing Scandinavian design elements off Pacific Northwest ambiance utilizing two elements central to Seattle’s core: wood and water. What do you get? Iconic fish tanks filled with neon tetras and guest rooms accented in cobalt blues. A contemporary lobby outfitted in sleek, minimalist furniture that includes tangerine Arne Jacobsen chairs, natural wood tables, and high ceilings that show off floor to ceiling wood bookshelves and hanging twin lanterns. Add to the mix alpaca headboards, retro clocks, and FACE Stockholm bath products in all the guest rooms, then top it all off with an avant-garde celebrity chef restaurant that’s turning heads—and you know you’ve arrived at Hotel Andra.
Wild Yam Dreaming
I was absolutely awe-struck by the beautiful interplay of colors and sophisticated simplicity of brushwork in this amazing painting by Emily Kame Kngwarreye. One of the most prominent contemporary Australian aboriginal artists of all time, Emily started out working with batik and only got into painting much later in life when she was nearly 80 years old. Breaking from the predominant Aboriginal painting style of the time, her style changed several times over a short time span as she experimented with lines, dots, brushes, and color in new ways, paving her own unique path.
“Through this painting, we are transported to the center of Australia, to a flat, windswept settlement where outsiders might see only an expanse of red dirt. Our guide is an eighty-five-year-old woman whose eyes are full of observations and who has years of experience painting bodies for ceremonies. Emily Kame Kngwarreye discovered the lush fluidity of acrylics in 1988, launching her extraordinarily prolific career that is full of bravado in handling paint.” —Seattle Museum of Art
Photo by Gayle Wheatley
I finally got to see a couple of Walter Oltmann’s sculpted suits up close and in person this weekend at the Seattle Museum of Art. As part of an ongoing exhibit titled “A Quartet of Suits,” two of Oltmann’s sculptures, Caterpillar Suit I and III, sit across the room from a couple of Nick Cave’s suits.
Born in Rustenburg, South Africa, Oltmann creates fascinating wire sculptures by hand which incorporate African weaving traditions and often allude to insects. The sculptures pictured here are made of anodized aluminum and brass wire.
