Artist Trust has announced the recipient of the 2012 Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, and a new crop of fellowships.

Pat De Caro is the Twining Humber Award recipient. The honor is given to a female visual artist, age 60 or over, who has dedicated 25 or more years of her life to creating art. A Philadelphia native, she moved to the Northwest to study at the UW, where she received an M.F.A. in 1982. She receives $10,000.

The 2012 Artist Trust Fellowships, which each carry an award of $7,500, have been awarded to:
Literary Arts - Dianne Aprile, Langdon Cook, Samuel Green, Holly Hughes, Judith Kitchen, Matthew Nienow, Erin Pringle-Toungate and Derek Sheffield;
Craft - Sheila Klein, Kirk Lang, Rachel Rader and Deborah Schwartzkopf;
Media - Webster Crowell and Chris Jordan;
Music - Samantha Boshnack and Jovino Santos Neto.

The fellowship recipients were chosen from 419 applicants from around the state.

Patrinell Wright, founder and director of Seattle's world-renowned Total Experience Gospel Choir, has been chosen as the recipient of the "Cultural Treasure Award" by Seattle's Ethnic Heritage Council. Wright will receive the honor at EHC's Ethnic Springfest Friday, June 1.
Born in Texas, Wright came to Seattle in 1964, when she founded the Total Experience Gospel Choir. Wright also directed the choirs at Franklin and Roosevelt high schools. Over the years, the choir has traveled extensively, including trips to Japan and to New Orleans, where the members did hurricane relief work.
Springfest features dinner and entertainment by Wheedle's Groove, a circle of Seattle funk musicians celebrated on an album of the same name, which also showcased Wright when she was still singing pop music. Actor Daniel Niven will emcee.
Springfest takes place at 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 1 at House of Hong, 409 Eighth Ave. S., Seattle; $25-$55 (206-443-1410 or www.ethnicheritagecouncil.org).

(Jal Schrof)

Due to popular demand, Seattle Symphony has added a third night of "SSO Performs 'The Planets' " -- a concert that features a performance of Gustav Holst's work complemented by giant HD images of space from NASA. The concerts are July 12, 13 and 14. Ticket info here.

Also on the bill are 2 works used in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey": Ligeti's "Atmosperes" and Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra." Be honest -- can you look at images from space without hearing Strauss' fanfare in your head? Thought so.

Demand was so high at SIFF last night for the shot-in-Seattle feature "Safety Not Guaranteed" that some ticket-holders were turned away at the door.

SIFF artistic director Carl Spence explained that SIFF movies are very rarely oversold, but it does happen "when there is an error in terms of how many passholders are let in versus how many tickets are sold."

It just shows that there's a lot of interest in this time-travel comedy by Colin Trevorrow. It follows three fictional Seattle Magazine editors on an odyssey filmed in and around Seattle. The film scored big at Sundance this year, and the next (and last) SIFF showing on May 25 is also sold out.

If you want to see it, though, don't despair. It returns for a regular run here on June 8. If you want a whole list of SIFF films that are returning to Seattle later, go to Seattle Times movie critic Moira Macdonald's blog.

(Photo: "Safety Not Guaranteed," courtesy of SIFF.)

The city of Seattle is seeking candidates for the Seattle Arts Commission, the citizen group that advises the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs on "arts and cultural policy, advocates for arts initiatives and approves funding awards to artists and organizations." Arts commissioners serve two-year terms; they meet the second Tuesday of each month. To be considered, submit a letter of interest and resume via email to arts.culture@seattle.gov by June 29, 2012.

The Seattle Times' coverage of the newly opened Chihuly Garden and Glass (here and here) drew a lot of attention -- more than 10,000 online readers clicked on the review of the museum, published May 21. Anything about artist Dale Chihuly or his museum also brings out the commenters; some thoughtful, some misinformed, some accepting and some so mad that it seems a heart attack at the keyboard might be imminent. Herewith, a sample:

Many took issue with the price, like guiltybystander: "I'd rather spend $30 on a Discover Pass. Ol' Dale hasn't infiltrated our state parks yet and my family can use that pass time and time again all over the place. Nature creates its own art, even if it isn't incorporated and copyrighted." Speaking of parks, the unhappy camp had a lot of campers, like Schnitzengruben: "If it caught fire and melted into a sea of glass I would not be unhappy."

Shoreline Dawg raises a safety question: "What happens during the first Bumbershoot when a bunch of drunken festival-goers get in there. Probably not something good. "

Meanwhile, Rainy Daze takes the pragmatic view: "I was against using the Center real estate in this manner but since it's done there is no point in complaining. Let's find a way to make it profit making and still affordable for the local residents."

Then there are the Fun Forest folk, like nearorfar: "So sad for one of my favorites - RIP wild mouse memories..." Enduro wants such folk to grow up: "Forget the Fun Forest -- it's not that place of your memories and it wasn't ever going to be again."

LuckyMike likes having something for his age group: "..almost everything else at Seattle Center is directed toward children! I'm glad there is something new to replace the poorly attended "Fun" Forest, and that it can appeal to adults as well as children."

And Gobsmackin has clearly had it: "The joke is on Seattle - my birthplace - which cannot seem to shed its provincial yoke by knocking the guy who "made it". Chihuly is a rock star who got the glass ball rolling. Take it. And make more art, Seattle, and stop whining about who got theirs."

Along with the comments, the May 12 story had its own vigilant comment scorekeeper, Sal Ripple: "Out of now 88 comments: 81= - (many violently opposed); 6= +; and still 1 confused person from Atlanta."

(Note: The story eventually garnered 93 comments)

The owners of Traver Gallery said Monday that June 1 will be the last day for the Tacoma location on Dock Street. From the announcement: "We're very pleased to report that business has been strong in Seattle this year. Unfortunately, we haven't seen the same turnaround in Tacoma." The Tacoma gallery opened nine years ago and hosted more than 100 exhibitions, according to owners Bill Traver and Sarah Traver. They go on: "We are sad to leave our beautiful Tacoma space and to bid adieu to our wonderful neighbors here, but we are excited to make this move towards being a healthier, more sustainable gallery business."

The grand prize winner of the 3 Minute Masterpiece digital film contest was announced Saturday at a public screening at SIFF Cinema at the Uptown: "Godlizza," a fanciful monster movie starring a rampaging 2-year-old in a dinosaur suit.

"Godlizza," directed by Chad Perkins, of Renton, was one of 11 winners of the annual film contest sponsored by The Seattle Times and Seattle International Film Festival. As the grand prize designee, Perkins took home an all-festival pass from the 10 a.m. screening of winners.

"Alternative Energy," an animated film by Benjamin Davis, of Bellevue, was named the J. Michael Rima award-winner -- the best entry made by a director under 18 years old.

And Todd Gardiner's "Split-Minute" was voted the people's choice winner by Seattle Times readers.

You can still view all 11 winning films here. Congratulations to all the winners.