By Amy Smith, UW News Lab

For the second year in a row, Bherd Studios and Tasty Delectable Collectibles will be exhibiting an all-women-artists art show beginning Friday, Feb. 10.

Titled "Pretty, Sexy, Dirty Girly", the exhibit features 20 artists from around the Pacific Northwest at the two galleries, which are located only a few blocks apart from each other on Greenwood Avenue.

The “Girls Gone Wild” show, at Tasty, will showcase artwork in a variety of materials and mediums, said Sheri Hauser, owner of Tasty and curator of the show.

“I’ve got an artist that uses skate decks—broken skate board pieces. I’ve got an artist that paints on cabinet doors,” she said. Another artist, Sarah Chambers, paints in glitter, a medium Hauser calls “unusual.”

Down the street at Bherd Studios (pronounced “be heard”), the exhibit will also display a wide range of art mediums, including a video installation and live performances on opening night.

“It will have a lot of fun angles to it,” said Michele Osgood, co-owner of Bherd Studios, including a burlesque show by Seattle artists Cherry Manhattan and Lyla la Coeur.

The video installation, “Dance. Pants. Revolution,” was developed specially for Bherd’s exhibit, said Siolo Thompson, curator of the show. It is a collection of 16 short videos of and by artist Maggie Schneider, dancing in her underwear while listening to music through headphones.

Schneider, a visual artist who works in a variety of mediums, took dance and movement classes in preparation for this video installation, said Thompson. She will do a live performance during the opening night party.

“It’s not about voyeurism and exhibitionism,” said Thompson. “It’s more about ourselves as private sexual beings—than about how others see us as sexual beings.”

“It will be interesting to see the interaction between the viewers and what they think of the performance,” said Osgood.

The show as a whole is about female sexuality, Thompson said. “It’s about women reflecting on what it means to be sexy, instead being dependent on media to tell us what it means.” The artists participating in the exhibit come from diverse backgrounds and range in age from 16 to 50, which, Thompson noted, invites completely different takes on female sexuality.

Although Bherd Studios has done an all-women’s show for three years, last year was the first year that Tasty joined in, said Hauser.

“It was really fun. A lot of people talked about it, a lot of people wrote about it, a lot of people blogged about it,” Hauser said of last year’s event. So the pair decided it was a no-brainer to do it again this year.

Hauser acknowledged the risk of titling her show “Girls Gone Wild.”

People “think of underage girls showing their tops and kissing each other drunk,” she said, “but if you take away the connotation, it was really, I thought, a fun name to represent a group of artists who are cutting edge, they are not afraid to take chances. Some of them paint slightly on the gothic or alternative side of subject matter. It just seemed like they are, they are girls gone wild. The name is more about representing the artists and their spirit and their free nature.”

At the opening night event, Bherd Studios will also be promoting “Buy Dirty for a Clean Cause,” raffling off selected pieces of artwork, two tickets to the Seattle Art Museum and Bherd original T-shirts. There will also be a collection station where attendees can drop off new socks, laundry soap, toothbrushes and other hygiene items. The proceeds from the raffle and the collection station will go to Urban Rest Stop, a downtown facility where individuals and families in need can use restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. The drawing for the raffle will be held at 9 p.m. the evening of the event.

All of the artwork, except the live performances, is for sale. The prices range from under $100 to $500, which, Osgood noted, keeps original artwork within the grasp of budding collectors.

“Think of what you would spend just framing a print, that wasn’t even original. You’re spending close to $75 on that,” when instead, you “could have an original piece of art from a local artist who could be an up-and-comer, that might even be worth something later,” she said. “I think it’s really exciting.”

Meet the artists at the opening night parties at Tasty Delectable Collectibles and Bherd Studios on Friday, Feb. 10th, from 6 to 10 p.m.

“Girls Gone Wild” shows Feb. 10-March 6 at Tasty Delectable Collectibles, 7513 Greenwood Ave. N.

“Pretty, Sexy, Dirty Girly” runs Feb. 10-March 2 at Bherd Studios, 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Suite 1.