"One of the most aesthetically pleasing pieces is hanging milestone, metal and steel sculpture by Carla Grahn with floral and sunburst shapes in various shades of dusty pink and beige. It takes a stretch of the imagination to see how this represents a chastity belt, which I chalk up as a positive because most of the art in this show is too literal." South Sound Arts etc. - Alec Clayton Thursday, July 30, 2009

                                                

"Entrance Denied explores the underpinnings of desire through an iconic form - the chastity belt - recast by more than 20 artists including Carla Grahn, Julia Lowther, Dorothy Cheng, Frederick Park and Naomi Landig and many more. This exhibit is being shown in tandem with The Seven Deadly Sins at Mineral/Gallery 301." Metal Urge June through september 2009.

                                                          

Tamara, hanging out at Brasa with sculptor Carla Grahn's fine artwork (Seattle Times/Mike Siegel 2007).



GALLERY ZEITGEIST: 171 S. Jackson. New sculptures by Carla Grahn. Through June 6. Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday.

Davidson Contemporary: Carla Grahn’s sculptures are fabricated from found industrial metal objects – rods, nuts, bolts, bicycle chains, etc. – that are forged together and transformed into objects of beauty and intrigue. Her new sculptures, shown in this exhibition, are primarily created using hundreds of attached nails which are connected at the points and fan out to form ripples and waves. Owing to the obvious metaphor of nails as masculine objects, Grahn reverses or mutes the symbolism by fashioning them into soft folds and flower-like shapes. By subverting the intended use of the objects she uses in her sculpture, Grahn forces her audience to re-examine preconceptions and encourages them to see rather than merely look.

Marjorie: The bar has been moved to the front of the space, and is contained by the dynamic metal work of artist Carla Grahn.

                             

CAMPAGNE CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY WITH A BENEFIT ART SHOW

By Nancy Leson

Seattle Times restaurant critic

Campagne (86 Pine St., Seattle; 206-728-2800) is getting all dressed up for its 15th birthday next month with an invitational art exhibit featuring new works by employees past and present.

The show also will feature pieces by what owner Peter Lewis calls "friends of the restaurant." Before you think, "Yeah, yeah, every waiter's a starving artist and some of my best friends are artists, too," go see the show.

It opens Nov. 2, as part of the First Thursday art-gallery program, and runs through Dec. 1, when it moves to the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers to be auctioned at the 25th Anniversary Hutch Holiday Gala - a benefit for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Among the artist/participants is one of the city's finest waitresses, Carla Grahn, whose gorgeous metalwork is already incorporated into the decor at Campagne (see the bar rail and courtyard barriers) and at Brasa. (Love that entrance gate? It's hers.)

Celebrated Montana artist, restaurateur and Campagne-pal Russell Chatham will donate a lithograph. Grahn and Chatham's artwork, along with those of Jim German, Deborah Bell and Jasiu Nagrocki, is collectively valued at $20,000. All auction profits are going to cancer research.

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