A building to celebrate art, culture and community – this is the vision for the City of Auburn’s downtown Postmark Center for the Arts.
Remodeled from Auburn’s 1937 Post Office, this landmark building is now the architectural and historic treasure in Auburn’s downtown core that provides increased access to the arts and cultural education for the local and regional community.
The bustling Grand Opening in September of 2023 inaugurated the Postmark Center for the Arts as an accessible hub for all things creative. Steamroller printmaking with local printmakers, music performances on the newly constructed stage and the opening of the very first gallery exhibition titled “RENEWAL: Historic Roots and Artistic Growth” all contributed to the energetic atmosphere of Postmark’s first day. The winter months that followed were booked with weekly arts classes, a new BRAVO at the Postmark concert series, as well as a popular Cookie and Craft session preceding Auburn’s annual Santa parade.
In this first year since opening, Postmark Center for the Arts has offered an abundance of free arts programming. Weekly free artist drop-in sessions are well-attended and see creatives gathering in the Postmark’s classrooms to work on their personal projects and mingle with other artists. On Fridays, Postmark staff create a fresh still life to draw from, and a skilled Gongbi watercolor artist and teacher helps those seeking inspiration or painting advice. The new “Second Saturdays” program, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Auburn, offers free monthly, all-ages arts and cultural experiences, crafts, performances, and demonstrations.
The beautiful light-filled Postmark Gallery features a quarterly rotation of art exhibitions ranging from curated shows, open-call group exhibitions, and community projects. With the closing of the inaugural juried group exhibition “RENEWAL: Historic Roots and Artistic Growth”, Postmark looked forward to collaborating with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe for “Muckleshoot: Alive and Strong”, featuring the work of artists Isiah Corwin, Julie James, Sam Obrovac, K. Saladin, Tyson Simmons, Joyce Starr, Donny Stevenson, Keith Stevenson and Gail White Eagle. These nine skilled artisans and artists displayed wood carvings, woven regalia, paintings, designs, beaded items, and more. Master Weaver Gail White Eagle held demonstrations for traditional weaving techniques, and Muckleshoot Carvers Obrovac, Simmons and Keith Stevenson hosted a carving demonstration and studio tour.
Following this exhibition was the highly anticipated curated show by Marita Dingus, titled “SISTAHS”. This would feature four Pacific Northwest artists of African descent, including the curator herself, who all create art using a diverse palette of materials. The gallery was filled with intricate quilts by Brenetta Ward, mixed media assemblages with found materials by Debra Harris-Branham, large fabric and beeswax encaustic collages by Jite Agbro, and Marita’s ceiling-to-floor figure created with cast-off objects. Artists Brenetta Ward and Harris-Branham hosted a very well-attended Bits and Bobs workshop creating small, mixed media assemblages followed by an artist and curator talk.
The gallery is currently showcasing “Postmarked: Connecting Communities,” an exhibition featuring hundreds of postcards created by our artistic neighbors, young and old, near and far. In honor of Postmark’s upcoming one-year anniversary, this exhibition intends to capture the uniqueness and diversity of its own growing community, with a focus on themes of space, place, and identity.
The upcoming exhibition at the Postmark Center for the Arts Gallery will be a group exhibition titled “A Familiar Taste”, curated by Clarissa Grace Gines – a show highlighting narratives from artists of color through the lens of food and cultural foodways. Chosen artists will display their work speaking on the topic of their own food and culinary culture experience. This exhibition will feature an event with local chefs and opportunity for interactivity in recipe sharing.
The Postmark Center for the Arts has brought along with it many new opportunities for artists. Postmark’s Vault Gallery offers an unique gallery space for artists to be paid a stipend to create innovative installation art on a rotating basis annually. The new Postmark Programming Grant gives artists and the community the chance to envision and create arts and cultural programming at the Postmark. Also new this year is the Artist Project Support Grant, which provides funding for an individual artist or artist group proposing an arts project that directly benefits the Auburn community. Artists creating handcrafted items for sale have the chance to apply to be a part of the Postmark Gift shop, and the newly established Holiday Art Market coming up this November, giving people the chance to come shop for unique artist-made treasures!
It has been a wonderful, saturated year full of art, community, and creativity at Postmark Center for the Arts. The spark of new community collaborations, the effusive enthusiasm of visitors to the gallery, and the excitement of the City of Auburn team in guiding this space into a flourishing future is palpable. Here’s to another year of building community and Auburn’s arts and cultural growth!
