Arts
Arts: Seattle’s Architect of Light
Italian-born artist Iole Alessandrini explores the beauty and emotional impact of working with light
How many colors do you see?” Artist and architect Iole Alessandrini asks me this on a cold, windy evening in late February. We’re sitting in an attic-like nook in her apartment at West Seattle’s Cooper Artist Housing, a 36-unit former school that has been transformed into an affordable live/work space specifically for artists. I’m looking…
Sea to shining snack: Seattle’s seaweed syndicate
Hot superfood kelp has arrived in Seattle by way of an unexpected treat
Travis Bettinson wants people to fall in love with kelp. His organic, gluten-free, and vegan puffed kelp snacks, Seacharrones, hit the market last March with a mission to create a sustainable product that bucks the stereotype that seaweed can’t be crave-worthy. With consumers a lot less salty about the idea of sea-based snacks, thanks to…
Dining in Seattle – Back to the Table
The growth of Seattle's Indigenous food space reclaims the origins of North American cuisine
At Seattle’s newest Indigenous-owned restaurant, ʔálʔal Café (the Lushootseed word means “home” and is pronounced “all-all”), diners can enjoy dishes from tribal nations across the United States. There’s wild rice from the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota; chocolate from the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma; maple sugar and syrup from the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Maine; blue…
Arts: From Screen to Stage at Pacific Northwest Ballet
As part of its 50th anniversary, Pacific Northwest Ballet presents work from its pandemic choreographers, including two world premieres
Three years ago — like much of the world — Pacific Northwest Ballet was forced to shut its doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Company members, choreographers, and musicians hunkered down in their homes, hoping for a short quarantine that would allow them to get back into the studio quickly. As we now know, that…
Books: R&B and the origins of Northwest rock-‘n’-roll
‘Stomp and Shout’ details how Black and youth culture shaped the Northwest sound
YOU KNOW THAT SEATTLE was the birthplace of grunge. You may not be aware that the city also boasts a distinct offshoot of rockin’ R&B that took hold back in the late 1950s. In his newest book, Stomp and Shout: R&B and the Origins of Northwest Rock and Roll, historian Peter Blecha tells the story…
MOHAI honors Black Architects
Traveling Exhibit Highlights Innovators Who Broke Barriers
Seattle’s iconic Museum of History and Industry, or MOHAI, is the first venue outside Chicago to host the national traveling exhibit, From the Ground Up: Black Architects and Designers. The exhibit runs through April 30. The exhibit serves as a narrative of the evolution of architecture produced by African American architects across the U.S. and…
How to Fix Seattle’s Music Scene
Why Seattle isn't the music city it once was and how we can change that
In September 2017, I founded Dan’s Tunes, a small publication focused on showcasing Seattle’s local music scene. Throughout the past five years, I have spent countless hours talking with musicians, artists, and other industry folks about the state of the current music climate in Seattle. When we’re on the record, everyone always has nice things…
Min Jin Lee on taking 28 years to write a novel
Insights on life and writing from the bestselling author of Pachinko
Min Jin Lee is a little freaked out about her next novel — a “stupidly” ambitious project about what education means to Korean people across the globe. “I want to stop,” she told me on a call, laughing a bit at her own obsessive nature. As with her previous two books — Pachinko and Free…
Your Favorite Authors Might Very Well be in Seattle this Weekend. Here’s How to Catch Them
The nation’s largest literary conference will be hosted March 8-11, and includes hundreds of offsite events around town.
Book lovers, rejoice: there’s a good chance one of your favorite writers will be out and about Seattle in the next week. You may even be able to catch them giving a free talk at one of your local bars or cafés. From March 8-11, more than 8,000 authors, poets, educators, and editors will descend…
Seattle Celebrates Black History Month
A guide to events happening throughout the city in February
From the Northwest African American Museum to the Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle residents have an abundance of opportunities to celebrate the achievements of African Americans in February during Black History Month. The annual celebration began in the United States in 1976. Countries around the world also celebrate the month. Here’s a guide to events…
Book Excerpt: Marmots May Be Running Out of Time
New book explores endangered species in Pacific Northwest
In her debut as a book author, Josephine Woolington turns back the clock to examine events that have shaped Pacific Northwest wildlife in an effort to provide a deeper sense of place for those who call this unique and beautiful region home. Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest sheds…
Seattle Artifacts: The Mystery of Chief Seattle’s Death Mask
Is it real? Where did it come from?
In different parts of the world, and throughout the course of history, death has been memorialized in a variety of different ways. One of the more intriguing was death masks. Typically, a wax or plaster cast was made of a deceased person’s face, which then served as a model for sculptors when creating statues and busts. …
The Art of Weathering Winter: Foraging, Bathing, and Gold Dust
Two Seattle chefs on the soothing hobbies that get them through the winter
Though I’ve lived in Seattle nearly my entire life, the early winter sunsets, which fall like a set of blackout curtains over the world, never fail to feel like a curse. This year, though, I wanted to challenge myself to find a better way to get through it. Could it be an opportunity to surrender…
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