‘While You Were Out’ inspires wide range of postcard art for SPSCC’s annual exhibit

What happened “While You Were Out”? Artists answer that question in a fascinating variety of ways in South Puget Sound Community College’s Fine Art Postcard Exhibition, opening Wednesday at the Minnaert Center for the Arts.

“There’s a fill-in-the-blank quality to the show,” gallery coordinator Sean Barnes told The Olympian.

Working with paint, pen and ink, clay, wood, fabric and more, 104 artists filled in the blank with answers realistic (you went sailing) and fanciful (you missed the rabbit wrestling match), sweet (a baby bird was born) and sour (your wife got pregnant).

There are 247 works in the eighth annual show, which welcomes artists of all ages and abilities to submit postcard-sized pieces that are auctioned off to benefit The Gallery.

It’s a popular show, attracting participating artists and their families and friends, art lovers looking to buy a new piece, and the curious to its opening and closing receptions, which feature live music and refreshments. It’s also a reflection of the state of the world.

“The show and its themes really tap into an artistic collective unconscious,” Barnes said. “That sounds like a grand statement, but it really does. It’s an idea generator.”

At least two major themes emerged from that unconscious: “the cat got into trouble,” and “the world got into trouble.”

The cat-themed pieces could be thought of as the artistic equivalent of the ubiquitous animal videos. They’re funny, or cute, or outrageous, or some combination thereof. (There are mischievous dogs, too, and the aforementioned pugnacious rabbits, by South Puget Sound art professor Joe Batt, but cats were most popular — or least popular? — among the participating artists.)

There are cats eying canaries and cats ready to pounce on toilet paper, cats exploring outer space and one very personified fellow wearing a coat and clutching a bouquet of yellow tulips, perhaps preparing for a date.

The Olympian did not count the cats, but you might want to — particularly after you peruse the pieces that explore the state of the world. That’s how those videos work, after all.

The show includes commentaries both direct and subtle on politics and the environment — on what’s been happening while people in general were out, whether that’s spaced out, or out of their bodies, or simply looking in another direction.

Barnes pointed to Charles Pitz’s elaborate wooden vitrines, each trimmed with shells and displaying a shell that can be illuminated by an LED bulb.

“They point to environmental catastrophe, because those vitrines are so ornate that they’re like little reliquaries,” Barnes said. “That is his intent, that these are these little shrines to dead sea life. He’s commenting on environmental change and ocean acidification.”

Susan Christian’s assemblages — showing trees against a blue sky, with some upside down — might not do so overtly, but they’re making a political statement too, she told The Olympian.

“While you were thinking about other things, Donald Trump came along,” she said. “While you were out, the world went out of joint.”

She sees that everywhere, she said. “People are very concerned. Whichever side we’re on, we’re thinking, ‘Wait a minute, who’s minding the store?’ ”

“While You Were Out,” she said, “is a brilliant theme, and it’s unleashed a lot of good-humored criticism.”

And a lot of good humor, too. Gail Ramsey-Wharton considered tackling the environment in her work, too, and then decided to go with something silly — and dark.

She answers the question in words as well as images on three cards, inspired by Edward Gorey, the late illustrator known for such macabre works as “The Gashlycrumb Tinies.”

“While you were out,” one says, “your imaginary friend disappeared.” Another reveals that a spider has been laying eggs in the sugar bowl, and the third proclaims, “While you were out, nobody noticed.”

“They’re all kind of mean,” Ramsey-Wharton told The Olympian.

She’s submitted work to the postcard show every year.

“I really like themes,” she said. “I have lots of artist friends who do cards, and they say, ‘They don’t send them back if you don’t follow the theme,’ but I like it. It’s like a puzzle you can solve.”

Fine Art Postcard Exhibition

• What: “While You Were Out,” South Puget Sound Community College’s eighth annual exhibition showcases the work of well-known artists and novices alike, all working in a postcard-size format. All the works will be offered in a silent auction to raise money for the gallery.
  
  
• When: Wednesday, Jan. 2, through Feb. 1. Opening reception is 6-8 p.m. Jan. 4. Closing reception is 6-8 p.m. Feb. 1. The gallery is open noon-4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, excluding holidays.
  
  
• Where: The Gallery at the Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College, 2011 Mottman Road SW, Olympia
  
  
• Admission: Free
  
  
• More information: 360-596-5527, spscc.edu/gallery