*"WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS" by Douglas Orr* *Opening Reception Aug. 15, 5-7pm at Minka* [image: 67732501_2919981261377505_562557784252481536_n.jpg] Join us for the opening of "Welcome to the Circus" by Douglas Orr on Thursday, August 15, 5-7pm at MINKA (821 Pacific Ave.). If you're weary of the ongoing political sideshow, we invite you to rest your orbs on this series of spectacular painted canvases - renderings of early-20th century circus posters - by Aberdeen-based artist and community activist, Douglas Orr. They perfectly, inadvertently, capture the spirit of the day without any direct reference to clowns or mute mimes of the elected kind. A California transplant to Grays Harbor County, Orr is seeding the local arts scene - among the first to do so since Kurt Cobain died 25 years ago - as co-founder of the Aberdeen Art Center and Alder Grove Gallery. He and his partner bought a 17,000sq. ft. building, and have dedicated half of it to the development and promotion of artists in Grays Harbor. The offer half is live-in studio space. Inside the two-story building they show art, work at reinventing aspects of community identity through creative events, and do - well, whatever they damn well please. While enjoying the relative absence of red tape, they are reeling in local artists, and their open calls-to-artists have attracted the occasional big fish from Seattle and beyond to help grace the walls of the well-apppointed gallery. They recently organized "Rain Glow", an indoor/outdoor, nighttime arts-and-music festival and light show that drew several hundred people into the street. Orr was happily shocked. As an urbanite now committed to the mossy environs of the Washington coast, the community activist finds himself rubbing shoulders with neighbors of varying political persuasion - but he seems to consider them more as difficult-but-engaging relatives rather than avowed philosophical foes. The arts center is a gem in the making, and Orr is reaching out to other area galleries to grow a sustainable network. He hopes that one day a Kurt Cobain museum of musical history will open as a focal point, giving travelers another reason to stop and support local businesses on the way to the beach. Given his acumen and enthusiasm for gritty small-town life in proximity to great natural beauty, it looks like Grays Harbor may one day add art to clam-digging on its list of attractions. Orr is in it for the long haul, and who said you can't win over folks with art and a beer (certainly no one familiar with Tacoma's own participatory arts scene, as well as that of other outliers like Bremerton, Edison in the Skagit Valley, and Tieton in eastern Washington, all of which are succeeding brilliantly). Please join us on August 15, 5-7 in welcoming Douglas Orr at MINKA. Upstairs at MU Gallery, a show by William Turner opens the same evening. MU curator Brian Ebersole invited the esteemed painter and his wife, Josie (a former Poet Laureate of Tacoma), to choose paintings that trace the long thread of Turner's career. The result is a handsome tribute to a fascinating man and one of Tacoma's most prolific and enduring talents. Minka/MU Gallery is located at 821 Pacific Ave. Questions? Contact minka@minkatacoma.com.