Su Job has been an influential teacher to many,
a dear friend to many more and an inspiration to all.
          
 Join us for a tribute art show and Benefit Silent Auction
to help Su to cover the costs of her hospice care.
Auction items include works of art from Tashiro Kaplan artists,
619 Western artists, former students
of Su's from both Cornish College of the Arts, Gage Academy,
and the Art Institute of Seattle, and Su Job herself.
Bidders can obtain valuable works of art, and support this good cause.
Local caterers will serve hors d'oeuvres during the silent auction, 
Please join us, and spread the word,about this important charitable 
special event.
We are interested in involving anyone who has known Su throughout 
her monumentally talented life 
and career thus far. Donations of any kind are welcome. 
If you are an artist or supporter 
Please Support the Benefit.

Su Job 1956-2008

Posted by Jen Graves on Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 10:11 PM

When this month began, I was lucky enough to sit for a few hours with a very honest woman,
an artist, who was dying of cancer.Her name was Su Job. The story I wrote about her is here.

Now, as the month comes to a close, I have just gotten word that Su has died. 
She died, I'm told, in her loft at the Tashiro Kaplan building, at 7 pm on Christmas Day. 
No doubt she'd be proud to share that day of significance with Louise Bourgeois, 
the firecracker French American artist who was born on December 25 in Paris. 
Bourgeois is still living; she's just turned 97. Su wanted to go to Paris—she'd never 
been—before she died. 
She hoped to live a few months, and to make it, despite her weakened state, 
during that time. (I didn't doubt she would: she was a determined woman.) 
For all her equanimity about 
her life and her death, I still wish she'd gotten to do that one thing before she went.

Here is a tribute to Su from her former brother-in-law, posted just a few hours 
ago on the comments to the story I'd written. From everything I've heard, 
Su deserves many tributes.

Goodbye, Su.

 She was a woman alive with possibilities and so very many of them turned into realities.
We all have ideas but Su made the wildest of them happen. 
I was constantly astonished with the breadth of her ability to turn water and rocks 
into the most amazing wine and virtue—and, sometimes, even money! 
When she had an idea there was no stopping her—from miles away she came to her workplace via 
any possible transport (or none at all) and started cutting and sewing. 
For Su Job, all of life was a happening which she willed, built and enabled. 
Sharing her vitality and energy was an empowering privilege—her smile, her dance, 
her flowing raiment from her own hands, the colors of her life lit us all up.

 I was her brother-in-law for those 10 years and am so proud to think that perhaps
some of my few and paltry contributions to her life were so transmuted into the
lasting beauty of her creations and spirit—no small part of which is the inspiration 
which she brought to so many who knew her, loved her and learned from her. 
In the name of all that is good and enduring and worthwhile in life, 
and for my brother Steve who loved and believed in her and still does—


Goodbye Su.
Sam Bledsoe

Su Job on December 4, 2008

Su Job and the Artists Who Love Her

Before Su Job moved into the Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts in Pioneer Square,
she lived in a studio several blocks away that faced an alley teeming with drug deals:

 I wasn't there six months before 911 knew my name. Late one night when I was trying to sleep, 
two guys were arguing about a drug buy. I listened to them
for at least a half an hour and then said, 'Look, guys. He gave you two twenties. 
If the drugs are $30, you owe him $10 back.'

Best known for a soft-porn needlepoint project, Job was one of 50 artists who moved 
into the TK when it opened in 2004. She was thrilled:

 It's new and clean and all the appliances work. Best of all, I'm secure. 
I have room to work and a place to sleep. The rent will not go up, 
and I won't get kicked out when somebody rich buys the building.
It's my place as long as I live.

Job, 51, has terminal cancer. Even though she has insurance, it doesn't cover the late-stage 
nursing she needs to remain in her apartment.

While I'm loathe to support the idea of an art auction, this one - hosted by her neighbors - 
is by artists for an artist, and it offers the option of a 50/50 split. 
Also participating are Job's students from Cornish College of the Arts, Gage Academy, 
the Art Institute and Job herself.

Beginning with a preview in the afternoon on Saturday, Dec. 13, 
everyone is welcome to place bids at 6 p.m. 
on a wide range of art during the 
silent auction. It takes place at 310 S. Washington St. 
(formerly Davidson Contemporary in the TK).

Local caterers will serve hors d'oeuvres during the silent auction, and drinks will be available. 
Please join us, and spread the word, about this important special event. 
We are interested in involving anyone who has known Su 
throughout her monumentally talented life and career thus far.



Regina Hackett: P-I art critic

Posted November 18, 2008 5:41 p.m.