SEATTLE — Where Seattle's Central District, Yesler Terrace and Chinatown-International District neighborhoods come together, nearly a dozen diverse artists and groups have turned Tapestry Apartments into a living gallery. It's part of a growing trend to bring art alive where people live.
"It does make the buildings more appealing, more beautiful," Marita Dingus said.
Here, history is told through the eyes of local artists like Dingus and Lisa Myers Bulmash.
"I wanted to remind people that this has always been a growing and changing community," Myers Bulmash said.
Black History is not just a month here, it's a key part of the building's interior design. Myers Bulmash's work is called "Grab the Brass Ring." It uses found objects - an old suitcase reimagined as a picture frame, spools of thread, historic photos - to highlight the neighborhood's multiculturalism.
"Black people, Japanese people, Jewish people, Indigenous people," said Myers Bulmash, "All those shifting waves of people."
Dingus created a towering sculpture of children laughing in the rain.
"The idea of making colossal children, to me, is pretty wonderful," she said, laughing at the thought of it. "So that's what I have: Two very large children."
Both women have used items salvaged from the old curtain factory that once stood here at 12th and Yesler.
"When the curator told us that we were going to get a chance to go on the old site and start salvaging things, I was like, 'Oh ho!'" Bulmash said with delight.
Through pieces that tell stories about this neighborhood, Dingus and Myers Bulmash are looking back to move ahead.
"In order to know your future," Myers Bulmash said, "you have to know your past."
The artwork can be viewed at a reception Thursday, February 8, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. RSVP at this link. Tapestry Apartments is located at 104 12th Avenue in Seattle.