Arts

Glacial Expressions
Local scientist and painter Jill Pelto spotlights climate change in a multi-artist show at Slip Gallery
The divide between the arts and sciences is long-fostered and well-documented. From elementary school onward, children are often singled out for their penchant for math or artistic ability and guided toward classes — and later careers — that align with their right or left brain tendencies. For Jill Pelto — a local climate scientist, painter,…

Conru Foundation Launches Seattle Prize Masters Fellowship
Effort seeks to cultivate early career artists
After a successful run in the tech world, engineer and entrepreneur Andrew Conru, founder of the namesake Conru Foundation, is leaning in to one of his personal passions — art — with the launch of the Seattle Prize Masters Fellowship. Announced recently through the Conru Art Foundation, the one-year program, according to a press release,…

Rethinking the Residency
Community-focused Actualize provides space and support to artists
One night in December 2023, industrial designer Kate Bailey sat down to dinner with philanthropists and art supporters Shari D. Behnke and Edie Adams. It was a routine get-together at Adams’ house — the three women, each deeply involved in Seattle’s creative community, had grown close, bonding over their love of art. Adams and Bailey…

Quincy’s Legacy, Live
Garfield Jazz honors one of their own with a one-night-only tribute at Jazz Alley
Here’s a bright spot on the calendar: Garfield High School’s award-winning jazz program will perform at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley on April 7 in tribute to one of their own — Quincy Jones, Class of 1950. The fundraising concert, titled, The Birth of a Band! Garfield Jazz Tribute to Quincy Jones, focuses on the era from…

Cascadia Art Museum Lands a Game-Changing Gift of Timeless Treasures
More than 75 rare Northwest paintings join the museum’s collection
What did the Aurora Bridge or South Lake Union look like in the 1930s? Probably not the way you picture it. Before tech campuses and traffic jams, Seattle’s waterfront and cityscapes had a different kind of energy — one captured in some of the paintings now headed to Cascadia Art Museum. Thanks to a major…

Ai Weiwei’s Biggest U.S. Show Opens at SAM
The retrospective covers 40 years of the conceptual artist’s career
This week, the Seattle Art Museum opened the largest-ever U.S. exhibition featuring the work of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Spanning four decades of the artist’s career, Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei (March 12–Sept. 7) includes 130 works — a mix of sculpture, video, painting, wallpaper, furniture, and installation —…

Emerald City Comic Con: The Definition of Geek Chic
Paint. Armor. Glitter. Stilts. Wings. It’s a masquerade ball of super fandom.
A growing crowd of characters creates a palpable hum of geeky energy at Emerald City Comic Con, where “too out there” doesn’t exist. It’s a heightened world combining all things comics, video games, books, TV and movies, as tens of thousands of attendees come together to revel, admire and celebrate all things nerdy. It’s truly…

Battle of the Ballroom
Celebrities once again bust their best moves at Plymouth’s Seattle Dances
One of the city’s most entertaining and, well, fun events is right around the corner. Plymouth Housing’s 16th annual Seattle Dances takes place at Fremont Studios March 8. Modeled after the iconic show Dancing With The Stars, Seattle Dances pairs local celebrities with a professional dancer. It’s all in the name of raising money for…

Panels, Portals, and Power-Ups
MoPOP’s upcoming exhibit explores the evolution and impact of Asian comics
It’s hard to overstate the impact Asian comic art has had around the world. Manga, manhua, and other styles have shaped everything from movies to fashion trends. The stories go deep, the art is intricate, and no genre is off-limits. Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form is MoPOP’s newest exhibit and the biggest of…

Bending the Limits
From contortion school in Mongolia to Cirque du Soleil — Ninjin Altankhuyag found family under the Big Top
If you’ve ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show, you’ll know the performances are always filled with death-defying stunts and feats of great strength that will often have audiences gasping in both fear and excitement. There’s usually a contortion act featuring artists bending their bodies in seemingly impossible ways. And if you’re like me, just…

Preston Singletary: The Harmonic Alchemist
Multi-talented Seattle artist fuses sound, cinema and glass artistry
In Tlingit lore the raven is a supernatural being who steals the moon, sun, and stars from a powerful man. Seattle artist Preston Singletary can be forgiven if he is confused for the modern-day manifestation of the raven, also described as a shapeshifter in mythology. Singletary has been enlightening audiences the world over for decades with his…

Secrets of the Sound
A new mystery novel by local author Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum draws from her personal experiences
Writer Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum grew up surrounded by words. As children, she and her sister enjoyed falling asleep to their mother’s voice as she read books before bed, and their father — a Lutheran pastor and poet — spent every Sunday working on his sermons, reciting the words aloud as he wrote. “Being around a…

Rain and Red Lanterns
A guide to Lunar New Year events across the city
Midori in Japanese translates to “green.” Though born “green,” violinist virtuoso Midori Goto matured quickly into one of the most coveted soloists in the globe. Now 53 and referred to simply by a single name (achieving the status reserved for megastars like Madonna, Beyoncé, Adele, Prince, Shakira, Usher, Cher and others), Midori headlines at the Seattle Symphony performing Brahms Violin Concerto Jan. through Monday at Benaroya Hall. Midori will be…
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