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Get Blown Away: Seattle’s Glass Art Scene Takes Center Stage
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2026 issue of Seattle magazine.
Now in its 8th year, Refract Seattle is the region’s premier celebration of glassblowing—arguably the most famous visual art genre in the Pacific Northwest. Pioneered by names like Dale Chihuly, Ginny Ruffner, Lino Tagliapietra, and Preston Singletary, glassblowing has remained among the area’s most prolific creative outputs, with contemporary talents such as John Hogan, Julie Conway, and Granite Calimpong taking the baton to lead the next generation of artists.
Refract returns this October for four days of hands-on workshops, live glassblowing demonstrations, studio tours, group exhibitions, and more. Stay in Seattle to visit the Chihuly Boathouse and take a class at Blowing Sands Glass, or venture farther afield to visit Julie Conway’s Everett studio, see an exhibition on Bainbridge Island, or visit the Tacoma Art Museum to view work from its Studio Art Glass collection.
Refract Seattle 2026 runs October 15-18. Find more information here.
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Kishi Bashi Is Ready to Feel Everything
Ten years after Sonderlust pushed his music in a new direction, he’s bringing the pivotal album to The Crocodile—and playing it in full for the first time.
Back in March of 2012, I snagged a last-minute ticket to see Of Montreal at the Showbox. As amazing as Kevin Barnes and company were, along with tourmates Deerhoof, the biggest impression made on me was the opener, Kishi Bashi. Armed with little more than a violin, a loop pedal, and a pristine voice, Kishi…
Seattle’s Artists of Color Expo Offers an Inside Look at the Creative Life
The October 9-11 gathering features live art-making and hands-on workshops, with Seattle artist Damon Brown delivering the keynote.
More than 100 artists participate each year in Seattle’s Artists of Color Expo & Symposium (ACES), which brings exhibitions, artist talks, live art-making, and workshops under one roof. Visitors can learn a technique from an artist or hear how a childhood memory became the starting point for a piece. This year’s event takes place October…
Seattle Author Kristen Millares Young Follows Her ‘Desire Lines’
Blurring the lines between desire and expectation, her debut memoir explores what women inherit, sacrifice, and claim for themselves.
In her debut memoir, local author Kristen Millares Young dives straight into precarious experience of being a woman. Blending myth, history, personal essay, and travelogue, Desire Lines (Red Hen Press), out October 6, is an unflinching look at the challenge of balancing one’s own desires with the demands of motherhood, marriage, and work, and the…
Rearview Mirror: Big Laughs at Seattle Rep, a Sloth Surprise, and a Good Read
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
AGREE TO DISAGREE Earlier this week, I took my teenage daughter to see Eureka Day at Seattle Rep, and we both loved it. Jonathan Spector’s Tony-winning comedy is set at a progressive private school in Berkeley, where the people in charge insist on reaching agreement before making decisions. Then a case of mumps forces a…