Skip to content

The Must List: Merry Mutts and Meows, Fantagraphics Turns 40 and Geekcraft Expo

By Seattle Magazine Staff December 8, 2016

1216_icemen

Must Meow
Merry Mutts and Meows
(12/10, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.) Hosted by Pawsitive Alliance, a local nonprofit that seeks “to help end the killing of adoptable dogs and cats in Washington by increasing adoptions, supporting spay and neuter program and improving pet retention,” this free holiday adoption event at Magnuson Hangar will feature over 100 homeless dogs and cats looking for their furever home. Prospective pets will be up to date on vaccinations, spayed or neutered and those adopted go home with a goodie bag. Purrfect! pawsitivealliance.org

Must Party
Fantagraphics Turns 40
(12/10, 6-9 p.m.) The 40th birthday bash for Fantagraphics Books celebrates the publication of the 600-page printed oral history We Told You So: Comics as Art with live music and wild stories from or about famous artists, such as Peter Bagge, Ellen Forney, Jim Woodring, Art Spiegelman, and Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, whose Love & Rockets was ranked number one by Rolling Stone as the greatest graphic novel of all time (excluding superhero comics). The comics art show stays up through January 11. fantagraphics.com 

Must Craft
Geekcraft Expo
(12/10–12/11, times vary) Not just a crafts show, this is a curated show of handmade creations by and for geeks: Star Wars undies, Scooby-Doo wallets, outrageous heels, Chain Saw Massacre pillows and mugs that read, “I’m just saying nobody has ever seen me and Wonder Woman at the same time.” geekcraftexpo.com

Must Sniff
Willy Wonka in Smell-O-Vision
(Through 1/2, times vary) Enjoy Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in Smell-O-Vision. Sing along with such classics as “The Candy Man” and “Pure Imagination” while devouring bags of treats, and reflect on how the film might have played if it had starred Peter Sellers—whom author Roald Dahl wanted to cast—rather than Gene Wilder. siff.net SARAH MURPHY 


Must Behold

Winterfest Ice Sculpting
(Saturdays through 12/31) “Art is not eternal,” said author Ken Kesey, and that’s extremely true of sculptures by Chan Kitburi, the Marysville postman who won the 2015 World Ice Art Championship, and Janson Iwakami of Renton’s Amazing Ice Sculptures. Kitburi and Iwakami carve their visions—quickly—into specially made crystalline ice outside Seattle Center’s Fisher Pavilion each Saturday between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, creating new designs every time. You can watch them carve from noon to 2 p.m., and then contemplate the finished sculptures, which remain on display throughout the day. seattlecenter.com/winterfest JAKE LAYCOCK

Follow Us

Spring Arts Preview: Visual Art

Spring Arts Preview: Visual Art

New exhibitions across Seattle offer plenty of reasons to spend an afternoon gallery hopping.

Pioneer Square’s First Thursday crowds may be getting the headlines, but the city’s visual arts scene stretches far beyond one neighborhood. From Belltown to Ballard to Capitol Hill—and even down to Tacoma—galleries and museums are presenting new exhibitions that reward a slow look. Here are the shows we recommend seeing this spring. Indira Allegra: The…

Spring Arts Preview: Theater

Spring Arts Preview: Theater

Stages across the region are hosting everything from intimate productions to beloved Broadway favorites.

This spring’s theater lineup runs the gamut—from a Tony-winning drama at Seattle Rep to a velvet-roped cabaret in Capitol Hill and the return of one of Broadway’s biggest musicals. These productions offer a look at the range of work happening on local stages right now. Hurricane Diane Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George, Hurricane…

Spring Arts Preview: Dance

Spring Arts Preview: Dance

This season’s dance offerings put storytelling at their forefronts.

With all the recent buzz around Pioneer Square’s post-pandemic awakening, a lot of people are claiming that the arts are back. In our opinion, they never went away. Seattle’s dance community has continued building new work, from longtime local creators to internationally known choreographers. This spring brings returning classics, world premieres, and festivals highlighting artists…

Earthen Art-Rock

Earthen Art-Rock

Seattle trio Mt Fog’s music is, at turns, dreamy and feral.

There’s a concept in psychology called “nominative determinism,” where people may be drawn to pursue a career in a field suggested by their name—a substitute teacher named Mr. Fillin, or a polar explorer named Daniel Snowman, for example. It’s a condition that seems to mostly affect Batman villains (you can’t just name your child E….