Curator / Marsha Sleeth

SOIL at Lead

Carol Bolt
Jay Bryant
Laurie Cinotto
Bill Fellows
John Kieltyka
Sean Miller
Martha Parrish
David Rainey
Kathleen Stone
Bethany Taylor
Eileen Ward
Mary Zeran

July 3 – 30, 1995
Reception / Thursday, July 6, 6–8pm

Location / Lead Gallery, 1303 1st Ave.

Redefining our place on earth…SOIL is a group of Seattle artists seeking to establish a cooperative gallery. Lead is the generous venue for SOIL’s collective Seattle premiere.

_
Our first exhibition was at Lead Gallery and included work by SOIL members as curated by Marsha Sleeth. I met Marsha through artists John Kieltyka and Monika Lidman. Sleeth's gallery was a casual place to meet and she was always fun to talk to. She also sold coffee and had her poodle Lucy hanging around so it was always a pleasant meeting spot. Bethany and I lived across the street and enjoyed the shows she put on in her silver hallway gallery and First Avenue window display space.

Lead was directly across the street from the Seattle Art Museum and was a hip little showplace. The Lead show helped us envision ourselves as a group and gave us a taste of things to come. Bethany Taylor and Katy Stone both sold work.

The most important outcome of the show was the resulting trust and partnership that happened within Lead and SOIL. Within a year Lead expanded and gave SOIL a sublet on another floor in the Erikson Building. The two spaces expanded one another's audiences and we formed a great relationship. In many ways, SOIL could never have become what it is without the help of Marsha Sleeth and Lead.

Text by Sean Miller