Poster Artwork by Iri Alexander

ARTIST CALL

We ask that our artists interpret this idea of the Sublime as personally or broadly as they wish. Whether you feel more inclined towards a traditionally romantic approach, a more modern abstract one, or something else entirely, we’d like to remind our artists that -as is the case with each of our galas- this theme is supposed to serve as a jumping-off point, and you are encouraged to be as traditional or as heterodox as you feel is right in your understanding of it.

The deadline for submitting art is April 15th. Please reach out to our curator Gabe at gabe.olylamplighters@gmail.com for submissions. All pieces can be sold according to a 60/40 profit split, a 50/50 split, or simply as a donation.

We hope you have had a wonderful start to your new year and that we will see you at the Olympia Lamplighters Spring Gala.

Spring Gala

June 3rd 6 - 9PM

Come join us for a night of art and community. The Olympia Lamplighters space will be hosting our gala on the 6th of May. Get your tickets here. With a new year starting, we’re looking to raise funds to continue our projects, add more, and celebrate our wonderful community and artists.

The Fall Gala is a fundraiser featuring a silent art auction, a raffle, and an end gala that helps us raise money for Olympia Lamplighters. Money received from the gala will go to scholarships for memberships and classes, updating and acquiring equipment for classes and general use, and towards paying teachers and community coordinators for further events and classes.

This will also be a last chance to bid on pieces and buy raffle tickets for our Silent Art Auction and our Raffle which will have gone on for a month by then. Raffle tickets can also be purchased down below where we’ll list all the prizes.

The Sublime

The Sublime is a broad but historically significant concept within the history of art. Neither a genre nor necessarily a movement in and of itself, the Sublime refers to a philosophical approach to art in which the artist seeks to inspire in the viewer a sense of awe or reverence at something much larger than the observer; Or, alternatively, a sense of dizzying discomfort or even fear in the face of something beyond easy comprehension. 

The Sublime as a concept has its origins in ancient Greek philosophy and is prevalent throughout various points of art history, but is most commonly associated with the Romantic art of the 18th and 19th centuries. The romanticists’ focus on the vast expanses of the natural world provided an ideal framework for expressions of the Sublime.

However, explorations of the Sublime have existed and continue to exist well beyond the scope of 19th century romanticism. While artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and J. M. W. Turner are still rightly cited for their contributions to understanding the Sublime in a romantic context, the Sublime has also been explored more contemporarily in the abstract. While the Sublime can certainly be understood through the endless landscapes explored by Frederic Edwin Church, so too can it be felt through the imposingly immense yet disconcertingly minimalist canvases of Barnett Newman. Even more recently the Sublime has started to become explored in relation to the digital, with the ever-growing expanses of the virtual world providing a relatively new avenue for understanding humanity’s relationship to that which feels larger than us. 

Raffle Tickets / TBA

Raffle Info:

  • You do not need to be present to win. We will contact you if you do.
  • The raffle ends October 22nd at 9PM
  • We will draw winners after that.

Silent Art Auction Gallery / TBA