Taking paintings across the border
Although I am an American citizen, and there remains a free-trade agreement between the USA and Canada, getting a few paintings across the border to show in Seattle is a somewhat complicated and interesting process.

Three weeks before the exhibit, I pay a broker to create the paperwork listing painting titles, sizes, prices & weights.

Three days before the exhibit, I drive to the Pacific Truck crossing at 5 a.m. My Honda CRV is officially a “truck” and I have an official ‘Trucker license number’. Huge tractor-trailers are racing to merge into one line and my tiny SUV is crushed between them. My car is very vulnerable but more nimble, and I squeeze into the line.

When it’s my turn, I drive to the window – which is 10 feet above my car roof. I need to stand on tip-toes to hand over my passport and papers. Then I sit and wait while my car inspected, or sometimes x-rayed in a machine inside a covered shed with a 20-foot high roof. It’s always a relief to finally be waved through.

Party & receptions & shows
Thank you for reading this, and a particular thank you to those friends who came to my September receptions in Vancouver and Seattle!

For those who couldn’t make it September in Vancouver or Seattle, please see photos of the reception for 80+ Views of Mount Baker as well as installation views of Angry White Men, and I hope to see you next time.

Seattle brouhaha
September was a tumultuous month for me. I did not expect the backlash against the Angry White Men (AWM) exhibit. I considered there might be a public reaction, but instead it was fellow-artists, gallerists and left-leaning individuals who shocked me by wildly misinterpreting my exhibit in September, and haranguing and threatening the first days of the show.

I am profoundly grateful for what Seattle gallerist Greg Kucera wrote in early September, coming to my defense:

“David Haughton has produced a fine exhibition showing the underbelly of this country. Think of George Grosz’s paintings of the Nazis coming to power in the buildup to WW II Germany. And all manner of other protest art. Depicting them doesn’t glorify these people and their beliefs. It shows us who they are and what they mean to our world. This is the artist’s job.”

Things then settled down, but in the week before the reception on September 22, we heard a concerning rumor that a determined group were calling for a “meeting” to generate further community animosity toward AWM. We were forced to go to the police to lay out the threats that had been made, including threats of firebombing, ripping paintings off the wall and throwing them on the ground. However, in the end, nothing untoward happened; the reception was a great success, attended by friends and patrons as well as by Michael Wooff of the Consulate General of Canada, Seattle and some of his guests.

Nice painting available
Gallery 110 – The Holiday Show
December 6 – 29, 2018
Reception Saturday December 8, 4-7 PM

I took a particularly nice painting from the 80+ Views of Mount Baker series down to Seattle, titled Seattle Dawn – from West Seattle. Come see it at Gallery 110’s Holiday show which opens next week on December 6. You are also warmly invited to the reception on December 8.

Please note the holiday show is different than most shows. Collectors buy the artwork right off the walls and take it home, so come early!

Seattle Dawn – from West Seattle, Acrylic on Multimedia Artboard, 2018. 22 x 30 inches, $2800

I hope you’ll be able to come by and see my show at the Visual Space Gallery on Dunbar: 80+ Views of Mount Baker: Final Homage to Mount Baker. The show has been extended another week, through 5 PM on Wednesday, October 3. The gallery is open every day from noon – 5 PM.

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday September 26, 2018) I’ll be giving an Artist’s Talk: “Hokusai and Me”, at 10-11 AM

In addition to the Artist Talk, I’ll be the Visual Space Gallery from noon – 5 PM Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday each week. Please join me for a latte & banana bread and chocolate-espresso brownies! It would be lovely to see you.

Yukiko Onley will attend the Gallery the other days while I’m down in Seattle at my other show – Angry White Men.

80+ views of Mount Baker: Final Homage to Hokusai
September 13 – October 3, 2018
Visual Space Gallery, 3352 Dunbar Street, Vancouver, BC

I’m happy to say the last set of 8 paintings for my Vancouver show 80+ Views of Mount Baker: Final Homage to Hokusai are now complete and can be seen here on my website.

80+ VIEWS OF MOUNT BAKER – A Final Homage to Hokusai
September 13 – 26, 2018
Visual Space Gallery, 3352 Dunbar Street, Vancouver
Reception: Saturday, September 15, 2018, 5-7 PM
Artist’s Talk: “Hokusai and Me”, 10 AM Wednesday September 26, 2018

Brandon Thiessen will be hanging the series of more than 50 paintings this Wednesday, September 12. More than 40 are being shown in Vancouver for the first time. The exhibit opens at noon on Thursday, September 13.

We’ve got delicious food being planned by the most excellent caterer, Chef Claire, for the reception this coming Saturday, September 15. Please come!

Let me know (RSVP) if you are coming to the reception so I have enough wine, food, glasses etc. Let’s celebrate together the final installment of this homage to Hokusai, my artistic hero.

If you cannot make the reception, the show will be open noon–5 pm daily September 13 – October 3. It has been extended by one week. I’ll be there most days noon–5 pm and we can share a latte, cup of tea or, if late enough in the afternoon, a glass of wine, and catch up on life. Email me at haughton-art@shaw.ca and let me know you will drop by, or surprise me.

SEATTLE

I’ve had a very interesting 48 hours since my show opened on Thursday. As you may remember, the full title of the show is Angry White Men: Explorations of the Face of Evil.

The gallery press release states, “Combine paintings of Notorious Women and Angry White Men and something explosive will occur: slap-stick comedy, melodrama or tragedy.”

I had thought there was a risk of attack from right-wing wackos. Nope! Not so far, at least!

Instead, a DJ, a few local artists and the owners of two small galleries in the same building have launched a coordinated attack. They somehow concluded that I am a “Nazi sympathizer” (because “my paintings were not ugly”). They were uninterested in dialogue – they would be satisfied only if I gave in to their coercion and took away labels, prices and, indeed, the ENTIRE SHOW from the gallery walls and the Gallery110 and my websites. The gallery owners have encouraged a remarkably unpleasant Facebook trolling campaign against Gallery 110 in an attempt to censor the exhibit.

Gallery 110 is a ‘happening’ place right now. Consider traveling for a romantic and adventurous weekend in Seattle – come to the Artist Talk or the Reception.

Angry White Men
Gallery 110, Seattle
September 6-29, 2018
Artist Talk: September 21, 5-6 pm. “Why Paint Angry White Men?” – “Why Paint Notorious Women?”
Reception: Saturday September 22, 6-7 pm

Let me know (RSVP) if you are coming to the Reception so we have enough wine. I will be providing subsidized covered parking directly across the street from the Gallery from 4 PM until 7:30 PM. Thank you for your support!

Yours, David

You are invited to two very different exhibitions of new work in Seattle and Vancouver in September 2018. Angry White Men further explores the Faces of Evil Series, while 80 View of Mount Baker completes the Mount Baker series. Both feature artist talks and opening receptions with refreshments.

ANGRY WHITE MEN – A Continuing Exploration of the Face of Evil
September 6 – 29, 2018
Gallery 110 at 110 Third Avenue S., Seattle WA 98104
Reception: Saturday, September 22, 2018, 5-7 PM – please RSVP to haughton-art@shaw.ca
Artist’s Talk: “Why paint Angry Men?” 5 PM, Thursday September 20, 2018

A new series of provocative paintings features portraits of neo-Nazis, livid gun advocates, and disenfranchised, resentful and angry protesters. Rich with texture, they capture the rage and violence of angry white men as they express their frustration, desperation and fear towards people who are not like them. The images are taken from news photos in France, Hungary, Bosnia, Poland, England, Scotland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada and the USA.

Angry White Men is showing at the same time as Notorious Women – an exhibition of paintings by my Gallery 110 colleague Li Turner. Her beautiful and provocative works provide an interesting counterpoint to mine. The reception will be 5-7 PM, Saturday September 22, 2018. Please come! I will be mailing invitations, but as of this moment, consider yourself invited, and please RSVP if you are coming. NB: It’s an excuse for a romantic weekend getaway, even if my works explore darkness, the city of Seattle is beautiful!

80+ VIEWS OF MOUNT BAKER – A Final Homage to Hokusai
September 13 – 26, 2018
Visual Space Gallery, 3352 Dunbar Street, Vancouver, BC
Reception: Saturday, September 15, 2018, 5-7 PM – please RSVP to haughton-art@shaw.ca
Artist’s Talk: “Hokusai and Me”, 10 AM Wednesday September 26, 2018

This will be the final installment of the series with at least 25 new works, as well as over a dozen shown only so far in Seattle. View works as they as added to the website.

Please plan on attending the reception on Saturday September 15, 2018. Come share some excellent food, a glass of wine, and toast the “old man crazy about painting” with us. Email me and let me know you are coming!

ASKING FOR HELP
Gallery 110 in Seattle is where I have been able to exhibit my more difficult work – the Kindertotentanz, Bad Guys and now, Angry White Men. It is a small, artist-run, non-profit organization. I am asking you, please, to make a donation. We are raising funds with a goal of $5000, which will fully fund two 18- month Gallery 110 memberships for young artists. Your donations will give them the opportunity to work and exhibit with our non-profit gallery community. Any donation – large or small – will help! Donate safely using the Paypal “Donate” button on the Gallery 110 website.

With great affection, David

Michael Abraham and I are having a very successful show in Seattle. It continues until this Saturday. We hope you’ll be able to come by this week if you haven’t had a chance. Please see a mention of our exhibits on Vanguard Seattle.

Over 350 people came through on First Thursday. Some actually gasped when they saw the works, which was a great compliment. On Saturday, March 3 over 90 people attended our reception hosted by the Consulate General of Canada, Seattle – represented by Michael S. Wooff, Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner, and Bryce Campbell, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Services Officer.

Visit me this week!
Let me know if you can come this week! Visit with me over a cappuccino (or a cup of tea) and have a piece of brownie or banana rum-raisin bread. I’ll be in the gallery on Thursday March 29 noon – 5 pm through Saturday March 31. Michael will be coming down on Saturday afternoon and the show will be over at 5 pm on Saturday.

Please view our work online at www.haughton-art.ca, www.michaelabraham.com and/or www.gallery110.com. If you are seriously interested in a particular work you see online, contact me or Michael and you can reserve it.

I’m looking forward to the next exhibit in Vancouver in September. I’m planning to add at least 20 new works to the 40+ Views of Baker Series. The reception will be Saturday September 15, 2018 at the Visual Space Gallery on Dunbar – please mark it in your calendar now!

Please come to my open house! If you’d like to preview my Seattle exhibit while the paintings are still in Vancouver, visit the purple house in New Westminster this Sunday afternoon, February 18 from 1-4 PM. Come have coffee, tea or a glass of wine with us. Email me and let me know.

Michael Abraham, the well-known Vancouver area painter, will be showing his paintings at Gallery 110 in March as well. If you don’t yet know his magical-realism works, I strongly recommend you seek them out. They are very strong and highly collectable.

If you cannot make it south, take a look at our work online at www.haughton-art.ca, www.michaelabraham.com and/or www.gallery110.com.

Kits Media has posted the last nine finished paintings on my website and on Gallery 110. The paintings will travel south on February 23.

Please note: If you are interested in a particular work you see online, contact me or Michael and you can reserve it before the show opens.

An excuse for a journey to Seattle
40+ views of Mount Baker: Homage to Hokusai is scheduled for March, 2018 and will include many new paintings of Mount Baker. Hokusai extended his 36 Views of Mt. Fuji series by 10 works; I am taking similar license with my arithmetic, but am adding 19 new works to my series.

The Consulate General of Canada, Seattle will be sponsoring the reception for the show on Saturday, March 3, 2018 from 5-7 PM. Parking will be available at cost ($10) across the street from Gallery 110 at 117 Third Avenue South.

I am mailing invitations this week. Why not have a romantic weekend getaway! Please RSVP if you are coming.

40+ views of Mount Baker: Homage to Hokusai
March 1-31, 2018
Gallery 110, Seattle, Washington
Reception: Saturday, March 3, 5-7 PM – please RSVP to haughton-art@shaw.ca
Artist’s Talk: “Hokusai and Me”, Sunday, March 10, 2018 Note change of date!

Hoping to see you soon. With great affection, David

View from Deception Pass III

At 0700 on Sunday October 29, 2017, at the end of my last overnight shift in Pediatric Emergency, I packed up some photos, handed away my medical textbooks, and cancelled my medical license. As of that moment I became a full-time artist.

A donation – an opportunity in February 2018
I have donated View from the Balcony IV from the 40+ Views of Mt. Baker series to the silent auction at the 23rd annual For Children We Care gala on Saturday, February 17, 2018. If you are interested in making a donation to BC Children’s Foundation in support of the Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children Enhancement Initiative, and want a memento of the donation, consider attending the gala and bidding high enough to get this painting. Or contact Joanne Poon at joanne.poon@bcchf.ca and ask how you can bid. The bidding should start at regular price of the work: $1300.

An excuse for a journey: my exhibition in Seattle – in March 2018
40+ views of Mount Baker: Homage to Hokusai is scheduled for March, 2018 and will include many new paintings of the sacred volcano known to First Nations as Koma Kulshan, or “white sentinel crater”. Michael Abraham, another Vancouver area painter, will be showing his paintings as well. The Canadian Consulate for Seattle is sponsoring the reception on Saturday, March 3, 2018. Please come! I will be mailing invitations as well, but as of this moment, consider yourself invited! Please RSVP if you are coming. It’s an excuse for a romantic weekend getaway!

40+ views of Mount Baker: Homage to Hokusai
March 1-31, 2018
Gallery 110, Seattle WA
Reception: Saturday, March 3, 5-7 PM – please RSVP to haughton-art@shaw.ca
Artist’s Talk: “Hokusai and Me”, Saturday March 10, 2018

I share a view of studio preparations for my March 2018 exhibition 40+ VIEWS OF MOUNT BAKER: Homage to Hokusai. If you’d like to preview the show in the Vancouver area, please attend an open house Sunday afternoon, February 18 from 1-4 PM at the purple house in New Westminster. Come have coffee, tea or a glass of wine with us. Email me and let me know you are coming.

With great affection, David

The show is up! Brandon Thiessen and his colleague Cole did their usual magic and the exhibition is beautifully hung and lighted. I’m sending a few images as they made the magic happen.

Fresh flowers are in the vases. I’ve got music playing and a kettle to make tea. Lyne made killer chocolate-expresso brownies for me to share with any visitors.

The show opens tomorrow at the Visual Space Gallery on Dunbar (between 17 & 18th) and runs for two weeks until the afternoon of Wednesday, September 27.

The show will be open everyday noon-5 pm. I will be there every day except Monday, September 18.

You’re invited to celebrate at the reception this Saturday, September 16, 4-7 pm.

There will be most excellent nibbles made by Chef Claire.

On Sunday, September 24, you are invited to an artist talk “Hokusai and Me” at 2 pm.

I hope to see you all one day during the next two weeks! With affection and respect, David

A preview of frantic preparations for my September 2017 exhibition!

40 VIEWS OF MOUNT BAKER: Homage to Hokusai

September 14-27, 2017
Visual Space Gallery, Vancouver
Reception: Saturday, September 16, 4-7 PM
Artist’s Talk: “Hokusai and Me”, Sunday, September 24, 2017

I’m on Quadra Island with friends and family, and painting a few hours each day. All are started… it’s the finishing that I’m working on. I’m excited about the arrangements so far, including –

• I’ve arranged for the show to be professionally hung by Brandon Theissen and Co.
• I’ve alerted Chef Clare to provide fantastic food and her gracious catering team for the reception.
• Graeme Warren of Westart is preparing his excellent floating frames for the works.
• I “volunteered” my sister and nephews to address invitation envelopes (if I have your mailing address, you should receive one shortly).
• I’ve booked adverts in Preview Magazine and the Georgia Straight.
• Mia Johnson of Kits Media, my website maven, has posted nine of the finished paintings on the web.

Now I’m hoping that you will come to the show!

View from Straight, off Whidbey Island. acrylic on multimedia artboard, 2017, 7 x 18 inches

If you live far away, I hope you’ll take the time to look at the new paintings online.

Please come to the reception Saturday September 16, 4-7 PM.

Let me know if you’d like to preview the show Wednesday late afternoon September 13 – after the show is hung, but before it is officially open (the “vernissage” in Europe).

I’ll be giving an Artist’s Talk on “Hokusai and Me” on Sunday September 24, 2017.

With great affection, David