BY DOUG MACKEY

From Wikipedia: “The 100th monkey effect is an esoteric idea claiming that a new behavior or idea is spread rapidly by unexplained means from one group to all related groups once a critical number of members of one group exhibit the new behavior or acknowledge the new idea. The behavior was said to propagate even to groups that are physically separated and have no apparent means of communicating with each other.”

That’s kind of the idea, at least. Artist Lynn DiNino, who founded its namesake event in Tacoma back in 2005, likens the concept to this: First the cops start ticketing ALL speeders on Schuster Parkway. After 100 tickets, damn near everyone in town knows to cool their jets on the waterfront.

However you think about it, the 100th Monkey Tacoma, revived from years of dormancy by Shawn Foote and friends, returns June 8th with a silver linings-themed event at Courthouse Square. DiNino has been featured in the revived Weekly Volcano, but not so Mr. Foote, until now.

Born in Tacoma in 1974, Shawn Foote has always had a creative side. “I was always artistic in high school,” he says. “Drew a lot. Loved comic books and cartoons. I thought I’d be a Disney animator or something, then found myself as a stockbroker living in Tacoma.” He quit the financial industry in 2005, spending time in Seattle operating an art studio in Pioneer Square. “I was up there for five, six, seven years. But I had a house (in the Tacoma area). I rented it out but eventually moved back down here around 2009.”

Foote is in his sixteenth year as an art teacher now, at Challenger High School in Spanaway, where he lived as a child. “I love it. It’s wonderful. The kids are great. They push me, I push them. Their ideas are very inspiring, so I steal some of their great ideas. The energy’s awesome and vibrant, so it allows me to be carefree with my demonstration and just show them some things, and some of those things lead into the art that I end up showing.” Shawn works in a variety of media, among them painting, collage, sculpture, and music, often focusing on themes involving war.

Away from the classroom, Foote “just tried to work my way into part of the art community and helped the 1120 Creative House kicked off with Spaceworks. And then the 100th Monkey came about.”

The 100th Monkey project in Tacoma, is, by their own succinct definition, “A Tacoma arts tradition. Art parties with a collective conscience.” Shawn was oblivious to it, having lived up north for years. “I didn’t know anything about it!” In 2014, “Willow Estridge and Kat Hubner contacted me and told me, ‘We’d like you to launch the rebirth of 100th Monkey.’” Since then, they “basically have had a show every year since. At least one. One year, we had two.” Covid-19 put a bit of a damper on things, but the Monkey persisted.

“With James Tucker, Brendan Cummings, Jennifer Moore, and some others, we started a group called the Tacoma Artists’ Collective. Scott Nelson and a few friends, we all met every Sunday at a studio, and we would put on art events. We contacted 6th Ave, Tacoma Downtown, a number of venues downtown. And me and the TAC spearheaded those events and learned about Lynn (DiNino). I’m just trying to expand my community in Tacoma. She’s been great and very supportive.”

This will be the first 100th Money party since a 2023 event at Oliver Doriss’s Fulcrum Gallery and will be “in sync with the second annual Planet of the Arts, put on by Residual Arts. There will be music and dancing and poetry and, I don’t know, twenty artists or more, spoken word artists… We can also expect a performance from rap group Triple Nickel.”

In his studio, Shawn has an old issue of the Weekly Volcano from 2011 that features one of his art pieces, along with a write-up. “The connection is still alive with the Volcano! I’m glad it’s being brought back.”

Promotion of the group and its events is multifaceted. “Our team of artists sends friendly invites, calls to art, trying to get the word out and get people engaged. We have a 100th Monkey Facebook page we drive everybody to , so we can keep track —and there’s a database. We’ve got a new website—you can enter information and get on the mailing list.”

“Since we’ve taken the reins it’ll be a little different than it was,” Foote recognizes. “A theme is established by the people organizing it. We deliberate, and all of a sudden, a theme emerges. This particular one is ‘silver linings.’ We wanted something uplifting after we’ve gone through so much despair over the last (few) years. All these 100th Monkeys have been about the human condition—the environmental, destructional junk that’s going on, and overcoming it—and this one will be seemingly more…the bright side.”

“I’m really proud of the shows that have been put together,” Foote adds. “It’s always great when you have fifteen or twenty artists involved and their friends come, and the next thing you know it’s like, wow, there’s a good turnout, paople are hanging out, sharing ideas and talking about the art, and just engaging with the community, you know?”

But his team, he stresses, is open to all ideas and participants. “It’s an open call. Anyone who wants to participate can. We haven’t turned anyone down, there’s no jury. The curation is usually a couple people who take the lead on this, and people can contribute multiple pieces!”

As for the 100th Monkey Tacoma’s future? “To be perfectly honest with you, I never intended to be spearheading it by any means. It fell into my lap in a way. I love to curate. I love to hang art, and I was always there to do it. (But) I want others to take the reins. If anybody in town wants to throw a 100th Monkey, I would think that would be the vibe of the 100th Monkey effect. We just need to keep the fire burning, keep the flames going and grow it.”