Skip to content

Painting the new Pike Place Market

A chance to make your artistic mark in the market's makeover

By Haley Durslag June 28, 2016

0716essentialshortspikeplace

This article originally appeared in the July 2016 issue of Seattle magazine.

Our beloved, bustling Pike Place Market is undergoing a major makeover, and July offers a chance for locals to contribute to its new look, scheduled to be revealed in 2017. From July 20 to July 24, Seattleites are invited to make their own marks on a collection of vibrantly colored panels. When the panels are finished, local artist John Fleming will arrange and install them to create a permanent, 250-foot-long work of art that reflects the bounty of produce and flowers found in the Market.

Fleming, who also created the “Grass Blades” sculptures outside Seattle Center’s EMP Museum, says he hopes the public collaboration project will capture “the beauty, soul and community of the Market.” To register for the free hour-long painting sessions, email mktfoundation@pikeplacemarket.org. Spaces are expected to fill up quickly, but if you miss your chance to take part, you’ll just have to wait and check it out when it’s installed on the historic wall on Western Avenue, across from the new MarketFront. 

 

Follow Us

Studio Sessions: Jo Cosme

Studio Sessions: Jo Cosme

The Seattle-based multimedia artist and 2026 Neddy Award winner challenges the postcard version of Puerto Rico and centers the persistence of its people.

Jo Cosme knows how seductive a postcard can be. The Seattle-based Boricua (Puerto Rican) multimedia artist works across photography, installation, video, sound, and interactive elements to examine and pull apart how Puerto Rico is seen, sold, and misunderstood from the outside. Trained in photojournalism, with a BFA in photography from Puerto Rico School of Fine…

Seattle's Drag Brunch Has History

Seattle’s Drag Brunch Has History

The city’s Sunday shows started long before the mimosas got bottomless.

There was a time not too long ago, when drag performances—now a mainstay of Seattle’s queer scene—were kept under wraps. And when brunches, complete with singing and dancing queens dressed in dazzling drag as you sipped mimosas, weren’t a Sunday staple.  During the 1940s and ‘50s, an era largely shaped by restrictive laws and bias…

Studio Sessions: Sangram Majumdar

Studio Sessions: Sangram Majumdar

Working at the confluence of history, culture, and various painting traditions, UW associate professor Sangram Majumdar is one of this year’s Neddy Artist Award winners.

Discover the art of UW professor Sangram Majumdar, a 2026 Neddy Artist Award winner. Learn about his inspiration and upcoming Seattle exhibition at Cornish.

Rearview Mirror: A Georgian Dinner, Sidewalk Sips, and One-of-a-Kind Clothing

Rearview Mirror: A Georgian Dinner, Sidewalk Sips, and One-of-a-Kind Clothing

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

A new life for old clothes To celebrate one year in its current studio, the FXRY—a clothing repair service available via in-person appointments, home pickup, or mail-in drop off—is dropping its first collection. A small batch of reworked pieces, Second Mark will feature 13 vintage barn jackets, cropped, chain-stitched, and renewed into a completely unique, one-of-one…