Kirkland Arts Center is pleased to present, Sundays, an exhibition featuring new paintings by Washington artists Michelle Forsyth (Pullman) and Brian Goeltzenleuchter (Seattle). Sundays, presents 77 watercolors by Forsyth and Goeltzenleuchter that depict images from the Sunday New York Times and of those who read it. Despite its difficult content – stories detailing the conflict in Iraq, impoverished children, Sudanese genocide, etc – the Sunday edition of the New York Times is also a typical leisure item for the well-educated. Sundays investigates and reflects this paradox, showing actual Sunday Times readers engaging in their weekly rituals as well as the images of war, political intrigue, fashion and sports that the newspaper typically contains. Michelle Forsyth ’s Sunday Paintings consists of 53 watercolor paintings –one from each Sunday in 2006— painted from three-dimensional collages of images from the Sunday Times. Forsyth had no foresight into the images printed in the Times, and the paintings range in subject matter from violence and disaster to wealth and pleasure. Forsyth’s work examines the realm of leisure set against the images of suffering that permeate the world’s news. As with most U.S. newspapers, the New York Times contains at least one image of military action, death or some form of

human suffering, yet reading the Sunday Times is a leisure activity. The sheer volume and broad subject matter suggest that readers should relax and spend time perusing its pages.

Brian Goeltzenleuchter ’s Sunday Portrait series is a multimedia, multi-sensory engagement with loyal readers of the Sunday New York Times. Goeltzenleuchter posted a classified ad in Seattle newspapers and established a network of Sunday Times readers that he could paint. He met with each participant individually at the location of their choice, conducting recorded interviews to document their Sunday Times rituals. The end product of this year-long project features 24 watercolor portraits of Times readers and an audio collage that reflects on those who consume the often times horrific stories and images in the Sunday Times and the context in which they do so.

Sundays is funded in part with support from 4Culture, Premier Properties, Artsfund and individuals.

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Michelle Forsyth received her MFA in painting at Rutgers University in 2001. She has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Canada including Deluge Contemporary Art ( Victoria, BC), Hogar Collection Gallery ( New York, NY), Third Avenue Gallery ( Vancouver, BC) and Shift ( Seattle). Forsyth is currently an assistant professor of painting at Washington State University.

Brian Goeltzenleuchter received his MFA in visual art from the University of California, San Diego in 2001. He has been a resident artist and the Banff Center ( Banff, AB) and Grafisch Atelier Utrecht ( Utrecht, Netherlands). He has exhibited at Gallery 500 ( Portland, OR), Sushi Performance and Visual Art ( San Diego, CA) and Huis Voor Beeldende Kunst ( Utrecht, Netherlands). Goeltzenleuchter is currently an assistant professor of art at Central Washington University.