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Art Beat: Writers, improv, youth poetry slam, drawing trees and Jane Austen costumes

By
Nahline Gouin

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Spotlight: Writers-in-Conversation featuring Mitchell S. Jackson

Thursday, March 12, 6-7:30 p.m.

Cascadia Art Museum, 190 Sunset Ave. #E, Edmonds

Tickets: $14

Cascadia Art Museum welcomes Mitchell S. Jackson, winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing, to Cascadia’s Writers-in-Conversation series.

Jackson’s debut autobiographical novel, The Residue Years, narrates the difficulties of life in a Black neighborhood in North Portland. He won a Whiting Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. His essay collection, Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family, was named a best book of 2019 by 15 publications.

Joining the conversation is Seattle author and series host Michael N. McGregor, who will talk with Jackson about his books, background and writing life. 

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Spotlight: Edmonds Center for the Arts presents Impro Theatre’s ‘Jane Austen Unscripted’

Saturday, March 28, 7:30 p.m.

Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave. N.

Pre-show talk: 6 p.m. (attendees should add the pre-show talk to their cart at checkout)

Workshops: Saturdays, March 14, 21, 28

Tickets and event registration

Calling all improv fans! Get ready for a night filled with spontaneous wit, swooning romance and delightfully scandalous surprises in a Regency romp where no two performances are the same.

Step into the world of Jane Austen with two immersive, educational workshops and a mini soirée, all leading up to the performance of Impro Theatre’s Jane Austen Unscripted.

Presented in collaboration with Costumers of Color and the Washington Regency Society, the workshops are designed to introduce participants to Regency-era fashion, crafts and social pastimes.

In connection with this performance, ECA offers a selection of free events that are open to the community. Free with registration, no experience required. For ages 18+.

Jane Austen Costume Workshop Series

Saturday, March 14, 10 a.m. to noon

Workshop 1: Bridgerton on a Budget

Saturday, March 21, 10 a.m. to noon

Workshop 2: Games Galore!

Saturday, March 28, 3:30-5 p.m.

Workshop 3: Costumers of Color Mini Soirée

Intro to Improv with Impro Theatre

Saturday, March 28, 1-3 p.m.

Discover the joy of improv in a free two-hour workshop led by Impro Theatre before their performance of Jane Austen Unscripted.

Impro Theatre and School is a nonprofit that aspires to change the world through joyful artistic engagement by performing, teaching and expanding storytelling through unscripted theater.

For more than 35 years, Impro Theatre has been constructing fully improvised plays inspired by influential genres, playwrights and authors. Its performers and faculty are professional actors, writers and directors with decades of experience in theater, television, film and improv.

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Upcoming Art Happenings

Youth Poetry Slam Competition

Deadline extended to March 16

Ages: 13+

Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA) invites poets across the Puget Sound region to share their voices. WE SPEAK, the ECA’s annual celebration of spoken-word poetry and storytelling, returns and organizers are seeking imaginative performers to take the stage.

This year, the call for artists is open to experienced performers and first-time spoken-word performers alike. Applicants are asked to submit a video sample of an original piece that reflects what matters most to them. There is no theme.

Finalists will be selected to perform their work live on the ECA stage during WE SPEAK on Friday, May 1, 2026 and will receive recognition through scholarship awards. Finalists will also take part in a workshop at ECA in the weeks leading up to the event with a local poet mentor.

For questions about the competition or submission process, email diana@ec4arts.org.

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“Western Red Cedar” by Kathleen Moore. (Courtesy of Cole Art Gallery)

Drawing Trees with Kathleen Moore

Thursdays, March 12 to April 9, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Cole Art Studio, 107 5th Ave. S., Edmonds (located in the lower level of Cole Gallery)

Level: All levels

Cost: $325

Registration and supplies list

Join artist and instructor Kathleen Moore for a five-week journey into the magic of drawing early spring trees. Moore will guide students through the essential skills that make art come alive by learning to see more clearly, understand form and light and draw three-dimensional trees and branches with confidence and accuracy.

Students may use their own photos of favorite trees or Moore can provide photos to sketch from.

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Third Thursdays: Art Walk Edmonds

Thursday, March 19, 5-8 p.m.

Downtown Edmonds

Printable map

Art Walk Edmonds (AWE) is a monthly community event that runs all month long. Every third Thursday, participating businesses open their doors to showcase local and regional art, giving the public a chance to meet the artists and see new work.

(Courtesy of Northwest Junior Pipe Band)

AWE is sponsoring the Northwest Junior Pipe Band (NWJPB) and on Thursday, March 19, during the Art Walk, the NWJPB will fill the streets of downtown Edmonds with music.

Highlight: Poetry reading by Priscilla Long and conversation with Bethany Reid

Thursday, March 19, 6 p.m. 

Edmonds Bookshop, 111 5th Ave. S.

Priscilla Long will read from her newest collection, Cartographies of Home: Poems, followed by a conversation with Edmonds poet Bethany Reid. The program will close with a book signing and an informal discussion.

The book cover art is from an original painting, House of Dreams, by Edmonds Bookshop owner, Michelle Bear.

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Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop 

Edmonds Bookshop, 111 5th Ave. S.

Friday, March 27, 9:30 a.m.

Free

Author and illustrator Katherine Castano from Snohomish is this month’s featured author at Edmonds Bookshop. She will be reading from her first picture book, Remy, Where Are You? featuring a girl and her pet snail. 

This story takes readers on a twisty, turny, slimy journey through the forest and teaches young readers the importance of making new friends and keeping the old. There will be a child-centered activity following the reading.

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(Courtesy of Graphite)

Art Talk with Mitchell Albala: Seeds of Abstraction

Tuesday, March 31, 7-8 p.m.

Graphite Arts Center, 202 Main St., Edmonds

Free. Registration required

We all know an abstract painting is when we see one, but what makes us read it that way? Landscape painter, instructor and bestselling author Mitchell Albala will discuss how the formal elements of any painting – shape, color, pattern and composition – are prioritized differently in abstract and semi-abstract paintings than they are in representational works.

Albala’s presentation is ideal for art lovers, collectors and those who want to gain a fresh understanding of where representation leaves off and abstraction begins. The event includes a slide presentation and discussion, including original works available for viewing.

Albala is an award-winning landscape painter, workshop instructor and author. His semi-abstract and atmospheric landscapes have been exhibited nationally and are represented in corporate and private collections.

He is also the author of two of the best-selling books on landscape painting, Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice and The Landscape Painter’s Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color.

*If you would like your event included in future Art Beat listings, email Nahline Gouin at nahline.gouin@gmail.com.

Based in Edmonds, Nahline Gouin is a freelance writer, ceramicist and arts advocate with experience in art museums and performing arts centers. She continues to create with clay, homeschool her son and write as a creative practice.

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