TAM's building by noted architect Antoine Predock

Here is the list of artists for the 10th Northwest Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum. For the first time it will include our Canadian friends in British Columbia, something I've criticized all so called Northwest surveys for not doing. This year the survey focuses on "interdisciplinary art practices." Yes apologies are due... I'm on this list (believe me I did my best to dissuade them, it was a hilarious studio visit and I have criticized TAM a great deal for previous biennials).

The 30 artists are:

Cynthia Camlin (Bellingham, WA)
Pamela Caughey (Hamilton, MT)
Dana Claxton [Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux] (Vancouver, BC)
Harrell Fletcher (Portland, OR)
Flicker Art Collabratory [Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic (Vancouver, BC)
Wynne Greenwood (Seattle, WA)
Wendy Given (Portland, OR)
Gray & Paulsen [Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen] (Portland, OR)
Laura Hughes (Portland, OR)
Allison Hyde (Eugene, OR)
Abraham Ingle (Portland, OR)
Ariana Jacob (Portland, OR)
Jeff Jahn (Portland, OR)
Sean M. Johnson (Seattle, WA)
Susie J. Lee (Seattle, WA)
Benjamin Love (Boise, ID)
Kirk Lybecker (Portland, OR)
Jeremy Mangan (Fife, WA)
Matt McCormick (Portland, OR)
Kelly Neidig (Portland, OR)
TJ Norris (Portland, OR)
Paul Pauper (Seattle, WA)
Juliette Ricci (Tacoma, WA)
Paul Rucker (Seattle, WA)
Reza Michael Safavi (Pullman, WA)
Seattle Catalog LLC [Gretchen Bennett, Matthew Offenbacher, and Wynne Greenwood] (Seattle, WA)
Henry Tsang (Vancouver, BC)
Matika Wilbur [Swinomish/Tulalip] (Seattle, WA)
Jin-me Yoon (Vancouver, BC)
Joshua Zirschky (Portland, OR)

13 are from Portland.

According to TAM, "The 10th Northwest Biennial will examine the vital questions of who we are as residents of the Pacific Northwest, what we look like, and what are our aspirations for our communities. The Biennial will seek artworks that address the critical issues that underpin the larger issues of identity and community including the fluidity of regional identity in an age of global capitalism, increased urban migration, and the virtual diffusion of a discernible regional style. Because of the extraordinary complexities of these issues, The 10th Northwest Biennial will focus on the newly revitalized and resurgent forms of interdisciplinary art practices."

The painting represented here is definitely a nod toward revitalized practice, though, not sure decorative landscape was ever a lost art in the PNW. I'm thinking they might just as well left painting out of this picture.

Not to be misunderstood, there are a few great artists listed here. I'm glad to see some NW icons show up last minute. But can the younger socially engaged artists distinguish themselves without looking derivative? At the risk of sounding vague...perhaps.

Props to whoever suggested opening up the border a while back. Added vitality! Shows an interconnectedness (not a clique) between writers and curators.