Livingston kept an eye out for fabric, and also metallic food trays, like those used for airline meals. She reworked the shiny gold pieces into jewel-like accents in large wall tapestries and quilts that she painted and stitched. 

“Surprise is something I treasure,” Livingston noted about her creation process. And it happened again and again, as when she found items like a plaid shirt and tackle box that reminded her of her father (and provided lures to hang from the tapestry). 

For Winska, it was gridlike wire objects (electric fan covers, closet shelving, dishwasher baskets) — many of which had been flattened into wavy forms that looked like frozen ripples. These she collected, painted white and combined into cloudlike assemblages that climb the wall “like a ghost or vapor, suspended and dissipating,” she said. 

She also found several huge chunks of Styrofoam, which she spray-painted iridescent colors and carved into topographic otherworldly landscapes.

Winska says the residency caused her to rethink the relationship between humans and things. “There’s so much history, story, layering that is carried in these materials — coming from so many homes — it’s like memorabilia.” 

Lastly, a few more ways to get the season started: 

< The Seattle Symphony kicks off with Ludovic Morlot conducting a centennial celebration of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (Sept. 14).

< On the Boards revs up with the West Coast premiere of Things Hidden Since the Founding of the World (Sept. 12 – 14), an exploration of an unsolved murder and internet rabbit holes by the Javaad Alipoor Company.

< Taproot Theatre gets things going with My Lord, What a Night (Sept. 18 – Oct. 19), about the real-world friendship between Albert Einstein and singer Marian Anderson.

< And the Puget Sound Puppetry Festival (socksonmyhands.org) returns with four days of puppetry programming (Sept. 11 – 14) in Columbia City, including a puppet slam, a giant puppet workshop and the reportedly naughty 21-and-over “beer and puppet theater.”