this photograph by Galen Ward (Icefield - No Dumping) will be displayed on a 30″ x 40″ lightbox at McLeod residence.

Tick tock. Are you still shopping? Scouring the stores for a perfect gift for that discerning person on your list? Others have already mentioned the benefits of waste-free giving. To those lists I add the suggestion of a membership at the McLeod Residence. I first saw the space last month and was really excited about its potential. When I dropped back in earlier this week, my enthusiasm for it multiplied to near-hyperbolic levels.

What, exactly, is McLeod Residence? There are several related answers to that question. It’s the realization of the teenage ambitions of Buster and Lele Mcleod, back before those were their names. It’s a new Belltown art gallery that will be opening to the public for the first time on the first Friday of 2007. There will be lasers, classic northwest art, and large-format new works presented on slick lightboxes mounted on cozy dark walls. Someday soon, half of it will be a bar, too. You’ll go there to hang out with your old friends, meet new people, and it will feel like an extension of your living room. All of the meeting and conversing and sharing ideas that have become second nature online will be translated back into the real world in unexpected ways. Probably over drinks.

While you’re there, if you have a pulse, you will marvel at the sexiness of the wallpaper in the foyer as soon as you walk up the grand stairway from street level. Seriously. It is so good that it rivals Chapel’s upstairs for the city’s best wall coverings. You’ll gather with people around a touch screen and suddenly your picture will be on the internet. [flickr] If you like the furnishings or the decorations enough, they are likely to be for sale.

mcleod interior // photo courtesy miss_eagle_eye [flickr]

And all of this is all just you’re just visiting! But if you buy yourself a membership [#], look out! Members will have bottle service, will become inventors and namers of a drinks, and will have the privilege of accumulating monthly tabs. They can host a party in the beautiful space for free. Members will no longer trouble themselves with staying home to wait for the UPS driver to ring — packages can be sent to the Residence. An exclusive room with rare Abstract Expressionist painting by William Ivey will be open only to members. But the best of all the perks might be use of the McLeod name. It is awfully catchy, isn’t it?

Yes, you’ll notice that there are a lot of McLeods involved with this project. The name is not by birth or marriage, but by choice, coin flips, and court documents. Is it a creepy death cult? The official word position is that it most certainly is not. Instead, it is an invitation to extraordinary living. At the introductory price of $50 ($200 for life), it might be the best gift you give yourself or a loved one this year.

At the very least, add yourself to the mailing list and you might hear about a fun party.

If you’re interested in reading something more coherent and less gushy, might I recommend their press release? [mcleod]

Related posts:

1. enfaming the locals : mcleod opens notables
2. friday agenda: mcleodaversary, more crocodile unscrewing
3. GQ visits Seattle
4. brief/developing: the king is dead. long live the king?
5. Experiences make better gifts: the museum membership edition