Rearview Mirror: Storytellers in Clay, Wild Seattle, and an Alaskan Feast I'll Never Forget

CLAY RELATIONS

I went to see the Seattle Asian Art Museum’s new Kondō family exhibit expecting beautiful ceramics, and there are plenty. What I didn’t expect was a fascinating story that starts with samurai. Long before pottery became the family trade, earlier generations guarded Kiyomizudera, a historic Buddhist temple in Kyoto. That role vanished when Japan ended the samurai system in the 1870s. Kondō Yūzō’s father later encouraged him to find a practical craft, and he began learning pottery at age 12. He would go on to become a Living National Treasure, Japan’s highest honor, for his mastery of sometsuke, the blue-and-white porcelain technique.

Installation view of The Kondō Family: Storytellers in Clay at Seattle Asian Art Museum, 2026.

Photo by Natali Wiseman

The Kondō Family: Storytellers in Clay gathers 60 works by Yūzō, his sons Yutaka and Hiroshi, and his grandson Takahiro. Each built on the family’s techniques in his own way, and seeing the work together makes those influences especially interesting to trace. Takahiro’s near-life-size ceramic self-portraits, made in response to the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan, are especially striking. He believes art can be a force for change. I love that, and of course I agree—even artists working alone are in conversation with those who came before them and with the world around them. You can see that so clearly in this incredible exhibition.

The Kondō Family: Storytellers in Clay is on view at the Seattle Asian Art Museum through Jan. 3, 2027.

A group of women in white dance on stage with raised arms as people in yellow shirts and musicians with drums stand in the background.

Photo by Sunny Martini

POP-UP CULTURE

One of the best things about Seattle Center in the summer is heading there for one thing and stumbling into something completely different. Through September 26, Artists at the Center is bringing free pop-up performances to the Mural Amphitheatre, Upper Northwest Courtyard, and Cornish Playhouse Courtyard. The shows are free, but the artists are paid. The program also provides stages, equipment, and production support. Since it began, more than $530,000 has gone to local artists and arts organizations, helping roughly 1,100 performers reach new audiences.

Check the schedule here, or just wander over and see what you find.

Photo courtesy of Hachette Book Group

WILD WITHIN REACH

In Seattle, wildlife has a way of barging into the day. An eagle might sail over the freeway; a crow will definitely steal the bag of chips you left unattended. Roddy Scheer’s new book, Wild Seattle: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around the Emerald City, is about spotting those moments and knowing where to find more. Scheer, a Seattle-based environmental journalist, photographer, and former Seattle magazine contributor, pairs wildlife intel with seasonal outings and practical tips. He also leads Agua Verde Paddle Club kayak tours from Portage Bay through the Montlake Cut toward the Arboretum, where herons, turtles, beavers, and river otters might show up.

Wild Seattle: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around the Emerald City is out now from Timber Press.

Outdoor grill with sausages, bacon, and vegetables cooking over an open fire, set up on cinder blocks with a natural landscape in the background.

Courtesy of Fireside Feast

FEAST YOUR EYES

I just got back from a three-day trip to Ketchikan learning about Alaska oysters—how the cold, pristine water slows their growth and helps produce firm, plump, briny oysters with beautiful deep cups. They were incredible, and I ate enough to lose count, but one of the meals I keep thinking about came on our last night. We boarded small buses and headed a few miles out of town, then up a gravel road to Fireside Feast, an outdoor dining experience overlooking the Tongass Narrows. Tiki torches marked the way, and we were welcomed with mugs of hot salmon chowder—the best I’ve ever had, thick with smoky salmon and sweet corn.

Four plates of food with meat, sauce, carrots, and potatoes on a wooden picnic table with drinks, glasses, metal pitchers, and utensils, outdoors on a gravel surface.

Photo by Sarah Stackhouse

We grabbed beers and iced teas and settled at a picnic table with the bay spread out below us. The sun hung low, making everything glow, and the wind tossed our hair around. The five-course dinner included warm rolls with cinnamon honey butter, smoked reindeer sausage, salmon with chive beurre blanc, shredded beef with red wine gravy, and roasted root vegetables, much of it cooked over the open fire. We finished with s’mores. It was 70 degrees with blue skies, and nearly every Alaskan we met reminded us how lucky we were, which we definitely knew.

These days, the world seems determined to remind us of everything separating us. That night, it felt so good to sit in a forest beside the water with people who had all shown up for delicious food, easy conversation, and the pleasure of being together somewhere beautiful. Should you find yourself on a cruise stopping in Ketchikan, book this dinner.