The Engine Room Residencies: The Black Tones

Join The Black Tones for a live performance broadcast, the culmination of the band's artist residency that activate 
Gary Simmons: The Engine Room. Throughout the month of May, The Black Tones spent time in the gallery to rehearse, write, and experiment in the space. Now they are ready to share their creations!

Watch the live performance broadcast on May 29 at 6 PM via the Henry's YouTube channel. Preceding the broadcast, The Black Tones will host an Instagram live chat at 5 PM to talk about their residency experience—don't miss it! In-gallery public residency dates included May 2 and 16. 

Gary Simmons: The Engine Room, on view through August 22nd, guides the framing of this residency and its intention to center and support Black artists of Seattle’s creative scenes. At the center of the exhibition is Garage Band, a 24x24-foot installation inspired by suburban garage spaces and their associated mythos of inspiration, invention, and tinkering. Garages have long been spaces for DIY artists to explore their creative practices with relative freedom. The interest of this residency is to see how this exploratory, jamming space can be translated into a large, open museum gallery. Beyond Garage Band the exhibition also hosts a suite of new paintings and sculptures, as well as B Sides, a massive erasure drawing Simmons created for this exhibition that channels the songwriting of Jimi Hendrix—all fuel for the artists to be in dialogue with as they approach creating or re-creating in the space.

Invited artists will spend several days during the month of their residency (May, June, or July) within the garage installation and the gallery to tinker with, improvise, and share their musical craft in both private and public engagements. Each residency will culminate in a live-streamed performance.  

ABOUT THE BLACK TONES
Seattle-based rock ‘n’ roll band The Black Tones welcome audiences into their musical family every time they take the stage. Whether sharing an evening with the group as it opens for Weezer or Mavis Staples, or rocking a late night gig (with mother and siblings in tow) at a prominent Emerald City venue, to know The Black Tones is to be a part of their extended sonic kin.

Founded by twin siblings, Eva and Cedric Walker, the band has grown from humble beginnings in their grandmother’s basement to receiving accolades from outlets like KEXP, which named their debut LP, Cobain & Cornbread, the #17 album of 2019; The Seattle Times, which dubbed the group one of the 15 Most Influential Artists of the past decade; and NPR, which named the band one of Seattle’s 15 groups redefining the city. Learn more at theblacktones.com.

Gary Simmons: The Engine Room programs are co-organized by the Henry and LANGSTON, an arts & culture organization that guides generative programs and community partnerships that center Black art, artists, and audiences and honors the ongoing legacy of Seattle’s Black Central Area. Co-organization and production support for the Engine Room Residencies provided by Bubba Jones. The program is presented in conjunction with Murmurations, a Seattle-wide arts collaboration featuring a series of exhibitions, performances, screenings, community conversations, artist talks, and other programs co-developed between cultural organizations. Learn more about Murmurations and upcoming events at facebook.com/MurmurationsSeattle.