Arts

16 Best Things To Do in Seattle in May 2018

16 Best Things To Do in Seattle in May 2018

Our hand-picked list of best bets for entertainment this month

12 Minutes Max delivers the unexpected with performances such as choreographer Seth Sexton’s “DYBBUK”

Must List: 'Familiar,' MoPOP's 2018 Pop Conference, Bacon and Beer Classic

Must List: ‘Familiar,’ MoPOP’s 2018 Pop Conference, Bacon and Beer Classic

Your weekly guide to Seattle's hottest events.

MUST SEEFamiliar(4/27–5/20) Actress Danai Gurira may be known for her roles as Michonne on The Walking Dead and Okoye in Black Panther, but her skill as a playwright—notably for her 2015 play Eclipsed, about female sex slaves to a rebel leader in Liberia—has generated its share of acclaim. (Eclipsed was nominated for multiple awards and…

Art Zone's Nancy Guppy Stretches Her Creative Canvas with First Solo Art Show

Art Zone’s Nancy Guppy Stretches Her Creative Canvas with First Solo Art Show

"The Further Adventures of Snippity Snap" opens at Solo Bar in Lower Queen Anne on May 3.

This article appears in print in the May 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe. It’s not hard to find the playfulness Nancy Guppy brings to her weekly TV show—Art Zone with Nancy Guppy (cable channel 21; online at seattlechannel.org)—in her own art. But which of her collaging techniques came first? Building a program with artists of all kinds…

Ellen Forney on the "Book That I Wished I Could Have Had"

Ellen Forney on the “Book That I Wished I Could Have Had”

The Seattle graphic artist and illustrator's new book is a road map for those struggling with bipolar disorder

In 2012, Seattle graphic artist, longtime The Stranger contributor and Cornish instructor Ellen Forney brought out Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me, her acclaimed memoir-in-comics of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and its impact on her creativity. Her new follow-up, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life (Fantagraphics, $19.99, out May 15) is a sort of companion, packed with nuts-and-bolts…

A Rare Citywide Exhibition Celebrates Michael Spafford

A Rare Citywide Exhibition Celebrates Michael Spafford

The polarizing painter's work is on display all around Seattle through May 26

This article appears in print in the May 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe. Even more interesting—and more fun—than the substantial list of awards on painter Michael Spafford’s résumé (from a Rome Prize to a Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award) are the controversies in his bio. A professor at the University of Washington School of Art (from 1963…

Inside the New Nordic Museum: Behind the Scenes for One of Seattle's Most Anticipated Cultural Openings of the Year

Inside the New Nordic Museum: Behind the Scenes for One of Seattle’s Most Anticipated Cultural Openings of the Year

The Nordic Museum’s new home is a stunning architectural showpiece where everyone can be Nordic for a day

An architectural rendering of the new museum on Market Street, opening May 5

Sneak Peek at MoPOP’s New Marvel Exhibit, Opening April 21

Sneak Peek at MoPOP’s New Marvel Exhibit, Opening April 21

Transport yourself into the Marvel Universe at MoPOP

One of the most anticipated MoPOP exhibits is finally opening its doors to comic and pop culture fans. Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes opens to the public this weekend with a two-floor, 10,000 square foot exhibit, the largest to date at MoPOP. The exhibit uniquely tells the story of Marvel, from the very first comic…

Must List: Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes, Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, Duwamish Alive

Must List: Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes, Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, Duwamish Alive

Your weekly guide to Seattle's hottest events.

MUST NERD OUTMarvel: Universe of Super Heroes(4/21–1/6/2019) Billed as the largest exhibit ever staged at MoPop, Universe of Super Heroes is here to save the day, with more than 300 pieces of memorabilia, including iconic costumes, props and artwork from the adventures of Doctor Strange, Captain America, Black Panther, Spider-Man and others. Don’t be surprised…

These Seattle Artists Are Exploring China's Sociopolitical Transformation

These Seattle Artists Are Exploring China’s Sociopolitical Transformation

Lauren Yee's play "The Great Leap" and poetry by Western Washington University's Jane Wong address China's "Great Leap Forward"

This article appears in print in the April 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe. There’s a darkly comic pun in the title of Lauren Yee’s play The Great Leap. Set in 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square protests, it follows an American college basketball team that travels to China for an exhibition match, during which a…

How Seattle's Wave Press is Celebrating National Poetry Month

How Seattle’s Wave Press is Celebrating National Poetry Month

The Pulitzer Prize-winning local poetry press is celebrating with four new titles

This article appears in print in the April 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe. “It’s moving, but you can’t predict where it’s going to be next,” said poet Eileen Myles in a 2012 interview, reflecting on why Seattle’s Wave Books chose the perfect name.   The poetry press launched in 2005, morphing out of the former Massachusetts-based…

Must List: Pacific Northwest Ballet's 'Emergence,' Orcas Island Literary Fest, Lindy West: The Witches Are Coming

Must List: Pacific Northwest Ballet’s ‘Emergence,’ Orcas Island Literary Fest, Lindy West: The Witches Are Coming

Your weekly guide to Seattle's hottest events

MUST EMERGE Pacific Northwest Ballet: Emergence(4/13–4/22) For Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, whose 2009 work Emergence gives PNB’s spring show its name, inspiration came from insects: How do organisms build social structures? More specifically, how might this be a metaphor for a ballet company? Pite’s approach was collaborative: “Get everyone contributing material: delegate, divide and conquer…[a…

Jessi Harvey Strings Together ‘Things That Break’

Jessi Harvey Strings Together ‘Things That Break’

A Seattle composer’s ambitious cross-genre collaboration has potential but isn’t quite there yet

The “murmuring marimba” during a rehearsal of Jessi Harvey’s ‘Things That Break’

Must List: Brunch Run, An Evening with Anne Lamott, VegFest

Must List: Brunch Run, An Evening with Anne Lamott, VegFest

Your weekly guide to Seattle's hottest events.

MUST DINE AND DASH Seattle Magazine Brunch Run(4/7) Bring your friends and start the day right at the fourth annual Seattle magazine Brunch Run. The 5K dash begins at Magnuson Park and continues along Lake Washington. Waiting at the finish line will be brunch foods from 15 local Seattle restaurants and a variety of boozy…

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