Cloudy With a Chance of Joy
A new sky of smiling clouds floats in the Seattle Art Museum’s main lobby
By Sarah Stackhouse July 8, 2025
The latest installation at SAM is hard to miss: 40 big, grinning clouds now hover above the Brotman Forum, the museum’s main entrance space. Each one is four feet wide and made of white plastic, designed to look like it’s drifting gently overhead.
The piece is called Little Cloud Sky, created by FriendsWithYou, a Los Angeles–based duo made up of Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III. Since 2002, they’ve built playful, oversized sculptures and immersive installations meant to spread joy and spark connection. This is their first long-term museum installation.
The smiling cloud itself has been a recurring figure in their work for over 20 years — a symbol, they say, of “peace and connectivity, with a calm joy that can be felt universally.” In a past version of the installation at London’s Covent Garden, they described it as “a portal into a happy place where joy and harmony are waiting for you.” FriendsWithYou’s aim is to invite people to pause, look up, and imagine a more friendly world together.
The cloud also floated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018. Their latest piece, The BAND, is a set of five fuzzy, interactive robots on view at the Cleveland Public Library.
Little Cloud Sky is free to view anytime during museum hours — no ticket needed. Just walk into the lobby and look up.
Follow Us
Holiday Hunt in Pioneer Square
A daily ornament drop turns December into a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt.
The holidays tend to bring out the kid in all of us. And if opening presents and eating too many treats weren’t enough, there’s also a scavenger hunt in Seattle’s oldest neighborhood. Pioneer Square’s Holiday Ornament Scavenger Hunt has returned for its third year. Twenty-five handblown glass ornaments—all made at Glasshouse Studio—are hidden across 25…
Chit-Chat Kids
Phone a friend.
Twenty years ago, before everyone walked around with a device in their pocket, kids used to call each other on a landline—often tethered to the kitchen in their home. It was a simpler time, when parents didn’t have to worry (nearly as much) about a potential predator contacting their child. Nowadays, things are different, which…
A Plate for Pickleball
The design celebrates the state’s official sport. Additional plates are on the way.
Washington served up a new license plate last week, honoring the state sport of pickleball. In the works for three years, it’s the second of seven specialty plates to hit the market since getting approved by lawmakers earlier this year. “We’re thrilled to see our efforts become reality,” says Kate Van Gent, vice president of…
Seattle-Based Agency Brings Real Voices to NBC’s New Campaign
DNA&STONE built the project around candid conversations to understand what audiences want from reporting.
“I turned off news altogether. I want to be able to form my own opinions. Just tell the truth.” These lines open NBC News’ new national campaign, a 60-second ad that drifts over forests, farms, neighborhoods, and cityscapes while Americans talk about how worn out they feel by the news. The landscape carries the conversation…