Arts
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Public Art Illustrates the Coming of the First Hill Streetcar
Unidentified standing objects signal the city's new transit option
This article originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
If you’ve noticed a series of mysterious poles popping up in the Central and Chinatown–International districts, you may have wondered—are they not-so-subtle NSA spying devices? Beacons for drones? Signs of an alien invasion? The truth is out there, and while it’s perhaps less enigmatic, it’s exciting nonetheless. The silvery shafts are part of a public art installation heralding the new First Hill Streetcar, scheduled to open this fall. Designed by Seattle artist Claudia Fitch (whose blobular, oversize head sculptures adorn CenturyLink Field), the poles are both metaphorical and functional. Working with a sewing concept, in which the streetcar wires are the threads stitching the stops together, Fitch re-envisioned the poles that mark the stations and suspend the wires as needles. Some are festooned with abstract “beads”; others, like the one pictured, are capped with an “eye.” As you ride the latest in Seattle mass transit, picture yourself in Godzilla’s sewing basket.
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Rearview Mirror: Spinasse at Home, a New Spa Experience, and Seattle Mag’s Reader’s Choice Awards
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
YOUR VOTE MATTERS Everyone has a favorite restaurant, coffee shop, or local boutique. Call me old-school, but I will die on the hill that Caffe Vita has the best coffee in town. Disagree with me? Now’s your moment to speak up. Each year, we survey Seattle magazine readers, asking them to weigh in on everything…
Studio Sessions: Ling Chun
The Seattle-based artist brings playful color to ceramics and neon while exploring memory, transformation, and life between cultures.
For Ling Chun, creating begins with something sensed before it can be named. Working with clay, glass, light, and sometimes synthetic hair, the Hong Kong-born artist gives physical form to things that words cannot always hold. “For me, the magnitude of making goes far beyond the object that is eventually produced,” Chun says. “The object…
The Magic of PAX Is Stronger Than Ever
PAX West draws more than 100,000 people to Seattle each year. Co-founder Jerry Holkins reflects on what the gaming convention set out to change, how its community has grown and why gathering face to face still matters.
Access to game news as it was happening was difficult back in the day. Even with the advent of the internet, communication between game publishers and journalists was still a very elite affair. I used to fake credentials—via fax machine!—to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo, mostly just known as E3. It was simultaneously as loud…
Your Guide to Bumbershoot 2026
Navigate Seattle’s wildest end-of-summer weekend with 20 picks spanning Death Cab for Cutie, Blood Orange, wrestling, skateboarding and—obviously—movies made in 48 hours.
Four years after Bumbershoot returned with its quirkiness revivified, Seattleites broadly acknowledge the two-day multimedia extravaganza as a welcome finale to the summer festival season. Fests like Bumbershoot are designed around a choose-your-own-adventure model, but if you’re the kind of person who looked at this year’s sprawling lineup—featuring multiple bands, artists, and exhibits happening at…