Last year, I wrote about Seattle Art Fair’s buzzy uptick in energy and doubled-down commitment to the local creative community. With the 9th edition opening this Thursday, everyone is eager to uncover what awaits at the Lumen Field Event Center — and beyond. 

“We’re expecting that energy to grow even stronger this year,” says Seattle Art Fair director Kelly Freeman. “We’ve placed a renewed emphasis on regional partnerships, working with institutions like the Museum of Glass Tacoma and Pilchuck Glass School, to shape a program that invites deeper connection, exploration, and dialogue. Much of that centers around glass, a material with deep historic and cultural roots in the Pacific Northwest.”

More than 85 galleries are set to show work at the fair — including 27 from Washington and 15 first-timers from around the Pacific Northwest — with additional exhibitions, talks, and community events happening off site throughout the weekend. Unlike many international art fairs that can feel overwhelming, out-of-touch, and frankly, stuffy, Seattle’s version balances big names, emerging galleries, and offers a more laid-back approach to viewing and buying art. The long and the short of it is that Seattel Art Fair draws a fun crowd. People actually dress up. Gallerist, collectors, students, and enthusiasts mix and mingle, and, in a city where it can be hard to get anyone out on a Thursday night, people show up. 

“The fair is designed to be accessible and thought-provoking, and that blend of audiences contributes to its unique energy, welcoming art aficionados and first time art-lovers,” Freeman says. No matter which category you fall into, there will be something for you to discover this weekend, but if you’re looking for a little nudge in the right direction, check out our most-anticipated highlights below. 

GLASS GALORE

The Pacific Northwest has long been associated with the craft of glass blowing, and for the second year in a row, the Seattle Art Fair is putting the medium front and center, with a handful of programming focused on the art. “Visitors will be greeted by live glassblowing at the fair entrance thanks to the Museum of Glass and Pilchuck’s Mobile Hot Shop,” Freeman says. “Inside the fair, Corning Museum of Glass debuts a neon sculpture by Seattle’s own Kelsey Fernkopf, and Pittsburgh Glass Center presents Nine Lives, a powerful group show.”

Vanishing Point: Kelsey Fernkopf, Steve Gilbert, Seatac Airport 2023

Photo courtesy of Kelsey Fernkopf

Fernkopf, a longtime Seattle resident, has garnered attention for his straightforward, minimal work, which he often inserts in natural or urban landscapes to gorgeous results. “The visuals are beyond dynamic, let alone the physical experience of coming upon a neon form in the midst of a landscape of ferns — truly stunning and captivating,” says Tami Landis, curator of postwar and contemporary glass from the Corning Museum of Glass, who will moderate a panel between Fernkopf and local curator/artist Tommy Gregory. Fernkopf’s brand-new large-scale neon installation, Constellation 3, will debut at the organization’s fair pop-up. “[His] practice is compelling as it transforms the luminous medium away from its traditional function and into an abstract, free-standing design,” Landis continues. “The installation will include various colors and shapes that will overlap and intersect in space, culminating in an immersive display.”

TASWIRA GALLERY WELCOMES CRISTINA MARTINEZ

Founded by Avery Barnes, with its brick-and-mortar opening in Pioneer Square at the end of 2024, TASWIRA Gallery is celebrating its sophomore exhibitor showing at the Seattle Art Fair with the announce an exclusive acquisition of works by multidisciplinary artist Cristina Martinez. “Her current artistic phase, characterized by beautifully simple yet vulnerable silhouettes, showcases a practice I’ve admired for years,” says Barnes. “An authentic expression of her feelings and a remarkable ability to find beauty and joy in the everyday.” The two women, along with publicist Anna Miya, are focused on creating access to art for collectors of all budgets, ages, and art experience levels. 

Cristina Martinez with her signature colorful work behind her.

Photo by Nick Beeba

“We’re both committed to making art feel less intimidating and more connected to real life,” says Martinez, whose work is unapologetically colorful, bold and rooted in her personal history and experiences as a woman with Black and Mexican heritage. “We’re not just thinking about traditional collectors; we’re thinking about anyone who sees themselves reflected in these stories of resilience and everyday beauty. The fair gives us this incredible platform to connect with collectors and art lovers who might not have found their way to a traditional gallery setting yet.” 

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

People love to talk about art. This year, Seattle Art Fair has a dynamic lineup of panels, Q&As, and artist presentations, from reflections on balancing motherhood and a creative practice to a discussion, presented by Henry Art Gallery, about rethinking archives through a queer lens. One highlight, a conversation between local photographer Rafael Soldi and multidisciplinary artist Tarrah Krajnak, both born and raised in Peru. Krajnak’s work is currently on display as part of the Frye Art Museum’s Boren Banner Series, which invites artists to create billboard-scale work for display on the museum’s east façade, facing Boren Avenue. “[The series] turns the museum inside-out and also 180 degrees,” says Soldi. “It brings the exhibitions out to the streets and engages the previously-austere back of the building. This makes the experience of transiting Boren Avenue more enjoyable. The Frye has been a gem of Seattle’s cultural landscape for almost 75 years, in big part because it has always been free. The Boren Banner is an extension of that commitment.” He and Krajnak will talk about their relationships with Lima, and photography’s role in memory and narrative. 

Tarrah Krajnak. Body Configurations (Lima) 03 & 04, 2024. Gelatin silver print. 18 7/8 x 18 15/16 in. © Tarrah Krajnak.

Photo courtesy Zander Galerie, Cologne

“Over the last decade Tarrah and I have engaged in many conversations about our shared — and distinct — relationship to Peruvian identity, photography, language, and memory,” Soldi says. “Tarrah uses her own indigenous body to examine the political, historical, and psychological forces embedded into the architecture of a city. The resulting images are visually arresting, disorienting, and at times otherworldly — a selection of works are on view at the museum through Sept. 28th as well as on the Boren Banner!”

THE RED CHADOR

An exciting addition to this year’s fair is the participatory installation, The Red Chador: Becoming Rogue, by Cambodian-American artist Anida Yoeu Ali. Created more than years ago in Paris as a response to the global rise of Islamophobia, the piece features the chador, a garment worn by some Muslim women to cover the head and body. At the Seattle Art Fair, visitors will have the opportunity to choose from a rack of chadors — made from a range of textiles sourced from the open-air markets of Phnom Penh and Bangkok — try one on and snap a photo in the selfie booth. A selection of the photos will gradually appear in the space, making the participants part of the art itself. 

Artist Anida Yoeu Ali, creator of The Red Chador series.

Photo courtesy of Anida Yoeu Ali

“It means a great deal for me to present this iteration of The Red Chador series at the Seattle Art Fair given the geo-political context of this moment,” says Ali. “I want to offer people a reprieve from all the horrors we are seeing unfold as Muslim bodies are literally being bombed to bits, particularly women and children. This iteration of The Red Chador series offers one tiny moment where we can have fun and try to be fabulous together, to remind us of our shared capacity to love and understand one another.”