Sou’Wester Arts is delighted to welcome artists Lindsay Costello & Erika Callihan whose exhibition What Else is Here? will be featured in our Gallery Trailer & Red Bus Microcinema April 14 – July 6. We hope you will join the artists for an opening reception with coffee and galettes on Friday, April 14 from 11:11 a.m. – 1:11 p.m.

What Else is Here? will be the culminating body of site-responsive work created by artist-friends Lindsay Costello and Erika Callihan during a week-long residency at the Sou’Wester. They’re thinking about rest, play, trust, the writing of Annie Dillard, and nature as a resource in healing C-PTSD. The exhibition will include a textile piece, soundscapes, paintings, and process drawings, plus a separate activation of the Red Bus Microcinema with Lindsay‘s diaristic 8mm nature films. Visitors will be invited to engage with the exhibition and the surrounding landscape through various creative and somatic prompts. 

Starting as a solo musician from late 2017 to 2021, Darla Rae (front person of Craetorus) has been making moves to push for inclusivity and diversity in the music scene since. Their lyrics are described as contemplative, with tinges of catchiness, but enough to leave you with catharsis and a yearning for self reflection. Musically sounding in the likes of jazz, r&b, psychedelia, prog rock and avant garde indie, they’ve somehow made a conglomeration of it all to make Craetorus’ sound distinct of others. Releasing their first single, “Ivy” in April of 2019, they’ve been on the path to musical discovery since with the recent support in May of 2022 from Jon Garber, Lychen Gipaya, Ryan Anthony Brooks, Nico Mitchell and Danilo Martinez. Catch them soon with an EP release in 2023 titled, “Odes”.

Eelgrass is a marine flowering plant that helps store carbon, reduce erosion and provide shelter and spawning areas for a host of marine wildlife in bays and estuaries across the globe, including right here in Willapa Bay. Eelgrass is also the name of a longtime musical collaboration between Lara Pacheco, Dan Swenson, Bobby Hayden and Todd Summers. They play folky-tonk-pop with psychedelic vibes and call Portland, Oregon home.

Kendall Lujan: Presented by Sou’wester

The striking talents of rising Portland talent Kendall Lujan will be impossible to miss in the coming year. Her indie-operatic voice stratifies songs through octave runs, making moody, melodic folk rock. Early 2023 we’ll have her first EP. To rise out of Portland’s flush music scene is no easy feat, Lujan has been making herself heard by singing harmonies in AC Sapphire’s backing band The Shoulderpads and now with a new duo with AC called “Caliko”.

In her latest project Lujan steps out in front of the band. Many folks introduction to Lujan will be “Another”, a song of lingering desire that floats Lujan’s vocal range over a small symphony of archtop guitar and strings. Her strengthy voice –which ranges from mountain holler to bird-like warble, seems to hang in the air. She sings a song about retracing steps to the point where love was lost, and resolves to regain that trail in another life.

Lujan opens the moody “Dot My I’s” solo, fingerpicking guitar, giving us a chance to hear her commanding voice. Layered vocals and gentle driven drums join Lujan in a pocket groove. Enjoy her lyricism as she asks “how can these memories be so sweet, and other times only sting?”Lujan comes to Portland from the upper-left-most corner of rural Washington. She’s had bands before but the time of the pandemic created an opportunity for Lujan to do things differently. She moved to Portland, and saw the isolation of relocation and lockdown as a chance to really dig into her own songs. The trained piano player picked up a guitar. 

Lujan’s song’s concentrate on growing up, and figuring it out, and she  turns experience into a story to make the point. The natural singer and songwriter put together a band with Micah Hummel (drums) Sam Arnold (bass) and recorded at the Map Room in Portland with Dominik Schmidt producing.

Lujan is peaking on “Forget Me Knots” , a crossover capable song incorporating elements of country, indie, folk, and pop. Crooning clearly over vibrato, reverb, pedal steel asking, romantically, “how long will it take for you to be sitting next to me?” with a release date of February 10th.

Lujan’s first self titled, EP Kendall Lujan is out march 2023. 

~ Sean Jewell

American Standard Time Records

Forest Veil is the solo work of Portland, Oregon multi-instrumentalist/producer Monica Metzler. Following the echoes of her elusive muse, Forest Veil makes mystical psych-folk that maps the emotional terrain of humanity and its place in the cosmos. Melding a voice that sounds like smokey quartz with psychedelic guitar riffs and enigmatic lyricism, Forest Veil’s sound evokes a haunting nostalgia for other worlds. Though she primarily writes on her own, Forest Veil records and performs with others. An avid guitarist for over 20 years, Forest Veil’s music showcases virtuosic guitar shredding and dynamic musicality.  Forest Veil’s music has been placed in Coach ads, movies, and TV shows such as Blacklist.

The Barbaras is a country/doo-wop band, featuring sisters, Weezy and Sallie Ford.  They released a full length record “Oh My God Barbara” in September 2022. They will be playing at The Sou’wester with Jeff Munger (guitar), Jamie Greenan (Pedal steel), and Mark Robertson (bass/ producer). 

Yawa, also known as Amenta Abioto, is a songwriter and producer from Memphis,TN and currently based in Portland, OR. In her one-woman performance, she builds vocal and instrumental loops from synth, drum machine, and kalimba creating atmospheric textures. Yawa surprises and tantalizes audiences with mind bending ideas while skipping vocally from soul-shaking gospel to smooth jazz. Her music is boldly mystical and soul-fired, and her raw live performances invoke elements of both theatrical and magical surprise. “

“Portraits, Men in Ballgowns, Sound, We Will Be Heard” by Scott Braucht

Sou’Wester Arts is thrilled to welcome filmmaker Scott Braucht whose program Portraits / Men in Ballgowns // Sound / We Will Be Heard will be featured in a special exhibition celebrating Pacific County Pride in our Red Bus Microcinema.

On view at The Sou’Wester’s Red Bus Theatre

May 29 – July 14, 2023.

Opening reception Monday, May 29 6-8p with a special acoustic performance from musician Khaelo Dé.

Jeremy Ferrara: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

There is an innate tenderness about Jeremy Ferrara. His good nature is inescapable, and anyone within earshot of his quavering voice and quiet guitar is likely to swoon in sympathetic reaction. He’s a folksinger, and a song-diviner. His music is as fun as it is finely detailed. His new album Everything I Hold is exemplary of this style. Produced by Mike Coykendall, the LP features just Jeremy, his guitar, and voice, on eight songs that fill the listener with wonder, empathy, and joy.