“It has lately been assumed that people no longer want to walk to local stores. This assumption is mistaken. … (T)his is because local stores are an important destination for neighborhood walks. People go to them when they feel like a walk as well as when they need a carton of milk. In this way (…) they draw a residential area together and help to give it the quality of a neighborhood.”
“We know that people enjoy mixing in public, in parks, squares, along promenades and avenues, in street cafes. The preconditions seem to be: the setting gives you the right to be there, by custom; there are a few things to do that are part of the scene, almost ritual: reading the newspaper, strolling, nursing a beer, playing catch; and people feel safe enough to relax, nod at each other, perhaps even meet.”
“On the Corner” is a reflection on the significance of the (individually-owned?) neighborhood corner store and cafe. Small in scale and apparently modest in means, our corner stores and cafes play a critical role in the way that we live, get by, stay healthy, and also provide a scene for us to connect with our neighbors.
“On the Corner” is a show of all new watercolors depicting urban scenes throughout Seattle, in Everett and New Orleans.
The show opens at Joe Bar in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on Thursday, November 12 and will be viewable through December 6, 2015. Opening reception Thursday, November 12 from 6-9pm.
*Alexander, Christopher, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. New York: Oxford UP, 1977. Print.