While you should feel free to peruse all of the amazing art on your own, we highly encourage you to take part in one (or many!) of our guided art tours. SEAF 2018 art tours are led by carefully selected artists/art enthusiasts who take you on a journey throughout the festival, viewing art through their personal “lens”. By the time you’ve completed your tour, you’ll find that with erotic art, there’s more than meets the eye. Learn more about our art tours below, then take a look at our Festival Schedule to plan out your itinerary. Note: most tours start at the Art Buyer’s Lounge, in front of the Festival Store.
Friday Art Tours
Sophia Iannicelli is the Festival Director and the Executive Director of the Pan Eros Foundation. Sophia has been working with artists of all stripes in many different disciplines since 1999. Sophia uses she/her pronouns.
- Tour the the pieces that captured the Director’s attention. Sophia will share stories behind the creation or selection of some of the art in this year’s exhibition. 7:00PM
Jennifer Jigour’s style lends itself to the theatric, cinematic and dramatic. Although she works in various media, she has focused mostly on oil painting and watercolor illustration for the past five years. The subjects in her artwork reflects a deep interest in historical nostalgia mixed with deep intimate fantasies.
- The tension in movement in erotic art with special attention to the art work of Jennifer Jigour and select artists. 7:30PM
Friday and Saturday Art Tours
Andi S. is a Seattle local and this is their fourth year involved in SEAF. As a person who identifies as non-binary, who uses the pronouns ‘they, them, theirs”, Andi hopes to continue to broaden and educate others on the importance of non-binary folks and inclusion.
- Andi will talk about masculine body image and how as a non-binary person they personally struggle with body image. As we go through the art tour, Andi will also share conversations they have had with male identified folks and their personal struggles with society and expectations. Andi will also be referencing Festival artist statements to enrich this art tour. Friday at 6:30pm/Saturday at 2:00pm
Terry Johnson is a poet and painter. Each year, Terry gathers literary artists and gives them a preview of the visual art. From this preview, each author or poet creates a literary companion to pieces of visual art.
- Writers Wanderlust – Spoken-word Guided Art Tour: Spoken word performances by Festival 2017 and Guest Literary Artists, inspired by the exhibition art. Starting at the Literary Lair. Friday at 8:30pm/Saturday at 5:00pm & 7:00pm
Saturday Art Tours
Tamara Walling played a significant role in helping her husband, Monk, create the bondage rope company, TwistedMonk, in 2004. Ever since then, she has been – and continues to be – a consistent support to both the company and the rope community. She identifies as a geeky-rope-top-who-loves-coffee, and prefers she/her pronouns.
- Walling is excited to take you on a tour of her favorite pieces of art in the SEAF2018 exhibition. She very grateful to SEAF for providing a safe space for erotic art, and admires artists that take concrete steps to realize their vision. She feels that erotic art is powerful and can have a lasting positive impact. 3:00pm and 6:30pm
Claire Koenig is the niece of John-Franklin Koenig and care-taker of his legacy and art collection.
- A History of John-Franklin Koenig and how his travel and sexuality influenced his art. 4:00pm
John Santerineross is a world renowned photographer and dark symbolist. John is the festival’s newly inducted, Master of Erotic Art.
- Photography- is it art anymore? – A discussion on the changing world views on photography as a fine art. Come join John Santerineross as he discusses his views on how photography has changed in the eyes of the art world over the past decade. In today’s world of social media and instant gratification, where everyone with a smartphone can simply take a picture, has photography lost its legitimacy in the world of fine art? 8:00pm
Jim Duvall is a sexuality activist who has volunteered for many organizations over the years, including founding the Center for Sex Positive Culture and Seattle Erotic Art Festival, and served on the board of directors for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and the Pan Eros Foundation. Jim teaches on a variety of topics from consent to erotic photography to rope bondage all over North America. Currently, he works as a fine art photographer in Seattle, WA.
- Join SEAF founder and Master of Erotic Art, Jim Duvall for an art tour where they share thoughts about their art and the art of the festival. 9:00pm
Doreen Russell is an accredited Asian Art Historian and member of the Royal Asiatic Society. She has curated private collections, and assisted national & international museums, auction houses and leading exhibition venues. Her personal passion is creating jewelry from antique & vintage objects, which she markets under the “Madam Ming’s” label.
- Love & Lust in the Jade Pavilion: Expand your cultural perceptions and indulge your wanderlust. Madam Mings returns to SEAF this year with tantalizing Asian erotic pleasures and curiosities: Romantic Indian & Persian paintings, explicit & humorous Japanese woodblock prints, provocative Chinese Pillow Books, erotic calligraphy and original jewelry creations from antique & vintage erotic objects will be featured. Saturday at 8:30pm
Sunday Art Tours
SEAF 2018 Visual Art Jury: Tamara Walling, Daniel McGlothlen, Shayla M. Alarie, John Cornicello, and Vivienne Kramer
- Continue the conversation with the Visual Art Jury of SEAF 2018 about their thoughts about selecting the visual art exhibition. 2:00pm
Author and photographer Blair Hopkins (aka Wayfaring Photo) cut her teeth on the scene in Seattle shooting for burlesque production companies moved to New York City in 2010. She specializes in live music and events, with a secondary specialization in ad portraiture for erotic service providers.
- Join Blair for a discussion about her book, All In A Day’s [Sex] Work in relation to the art of SEAF2018. 3:30pm
All art tours are included in your admission to the festival.