August marks the fourth year of writing about the Visual Arts on the web. The project started out as an experiment to see what could be done with this new technology. The Internet still is terra-incognita to most of the planet, but the potential is still there.

The Web is a tremendous grassroots revolution. All those people coming from very different directions achieved a change. There's a tremendous message of hope for humanity in that.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee in Independant 17 May 1999

The Internet is an elite organization; most of the population of the world has never even made a phone call.
Noam Chomsky in Observer 18 February 1996.

I started Vroom Projects with the idea of using the internet as a way to celebrate the act of making that so many people around me were doing. Jamisen Ogg was the first inspiration for the first Vroom Project. He has since moved to Chicago and studied at the School of the Art Institute where this year he earned an MFA. In his painting and his prints, he sees what we see and don't see by bringing the common into the realm of the rarified world of art. His work "Public Saftey" for example, was inspired by staring out the window of a car on a cross country road trip.

This spring I documented the impressive debut exhibition of Keith Tillford. The VR panorama of the James Harris Gallery captured the gist of the installation but nothing replaces going to the gallery and viewing things first hand. For me, Tillford's work is like a system of beautiful visual languages which sing out to the viewer in an unique and joyous way. To talk with this artist, I have had at times to work very hard to keep up with one of the most gifted minds I have ever met in my lifetime. I am already looking forward to his next exhibition.

Beth Sellars, Curator in charge of Suyama Space invited me to document with VR panorama the Installation done by the folks at Lead Pencil Studio. The acres of string which filled that space, made building the VR a challenge. The artists also did a time-lapse video of the installation which was recently added to the story. I always count on Beth Sellars and Suyama Space for the most unique and innovative sculptural installation in Seattle. The opportunity they provide to artists in Seattle and beyond is quite a boon for fans of sculpture.

The trio of Sutton, Beres, and Culler have had a busy time of it. With a GAP grant from Artist Trust, they created the piece "Trailer Park" and towed it around Seattle last summer. Their year long Artist in Resident gig at Consolidated Works produced on of the best exhibits of their work last December. This spring they took up a Artist Residency at the Bemis Center in Omaha, NE. Documentation of that work appeared last month at the Joe Bar Cafe on Roy Street in Seattle. I have known these guys for eight years and with every new exhibit they always amaze me with their innovation.

Lance Wakeling & Crew dotted the cityscape on Capitol Hill last summer with the A-board project. Artists, such as Sam Trout, created little visual metaphors that just seemed to pop-up on the sidewalk. With a xerox map, you could walk around and see some of the young talent which populate the Seattle Art's Scene and give it electric vitality. The trend for young artists in Seattle is to eschew the staid Gallery scene of Pioneer Square and create their own opportunities to exhibit their work.

Nowhere is the trend better exemplified then in the creation of 1506 projects by the trio of Bashor, Bergmann, and Molzan. By finding a storefront on Olive Way, they can exhibit their own work and art that they enjoy. Not just a Gallery, the space has become a touchstone for keeping up with what is new and current in Seattle. The next exhibition at 1506 projects will feature some of the finest Video Art produced in Seattle.

Video is probably the one serious strength of the Seattle Art's Scene. With MacArthur genius Gary Hill as a citizen, we certainly have a leg up. Through the leadership of Bob Campbell and Heather Dew Oaksen of Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle has become populated with many young artists who work in this new medium. When visual artists like Joe Gray, and the musicians of the Monktail Creative Music get together great things are bound to happen. I predict in the years ahead video and Seattle will become as one.

As I look forward to another year of looking and writing about art, I am sure that I will continue to be inspired by the art that is all around us.