View Our Facebook PageView Our Facebook PageView Our Facebook Page
Your Guide to Cultural
Arts in America
Art Museums, Theater, Dance
& Music Happenings in 90+ Cities!
or go to

Arts America Blog

What Gauguin needs is more cowbell

Seattle Art Museum is the only United States stop for Gauguin and Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise, a landmark show highlighting the synergy between Paul Gauguin’s work and the art and culture of Polynesia. The exhibition, on view through April 29th, includes nearly 60 of Gauguin’s brilliantly hued paintings, sculptures and works on paper, which are displayed alongside 60 illuminating examples of Polynesian sculpture. Organized by the Art Centre Basel, the …more…

Polynesia Lost: Gauguin’s Quest for Paradise

Double figure, ti’i. Late 18th century. Wood, 24 x 22 13/16 in. Society Islands, Tahiti. The British Museum, London.

Gauguin and Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise at the Seattle Art Museum tells not one powerful story, but two.

Rarely, if ever, has a major exhibition on post-impressionist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) dedicated such attention to the arts of Polynesia, which Gauguin discovered at the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris. Their primal, symbolic forms …more…

Gallery 110’s 2012 Juried Exhibition, Feb. 2-25

The First Thursday Art Walk in the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood is a popular Seattle institution. The first Thursday of every month, museums and galleries downtown keep their doors open late, admission fees are waived and studios welcome throngs of art enthusiasts. It’s a popular time for shows to open, and last Thursday was no different. ...more...

The Olympic Sculpture Park Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary

“Does anyone have a business card?” our docent asks.

Ripping the offered card carefully and expanding it to a rough Z shape, the docent explains how the project designers, Weiss/Manfredi of New York, came up with the Olympic Sculpture Park’s unusual layout. Voilà! ...more...

An Interview with Isaac Layman: A Seattle Artist Finding Paradise in His Own Home

Isaac Layman. Untitled, 2011. Photographic construction, ink-jet on paper. 95" X 59".

Isaac Layman has taken the art world by storm with his evocative, large-scale photographic constructions, which transform the banal into the hyper-realistic, haunting and enigmatic. Drinking glasses, used tissues, heating vents: Any object in Layman’s Seattle home can become the object of an intense visual meditation, captured over and over from subtly different angles by the artist’s high-resolution, …more…

Five Hot Seattle Art Shows to Catch This Year End

Time is running out for 2011, as it is for a number of top-notch Seattle-area exhibitions. If you’re yearning for a little culture fix to fill your holiday leisure hours, here are five shows to catch in the next few weeks: ...more...

Urban Craft Uprising Occupies Seattle Center Dec. 3-4

Searching for distinctive gifts to please the art lovers on your Christmas list? Look no further than this year’s annual Urban Craft Uprising Winter Show on Dec. 3 and 4, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. The Pacific Northwest’s premier independent craft fair will feature over 150 artists, designers and crafters, who stitch, knit, emboss, weld, sculpt, paint and print an astonishing array of artwork and hand-crafted …more…

The Tiptons Sax Quartet to Play Chapel Performance Space on CD Release Tour

If you love sax, then you’ll want to not let anything stop you from attending The Tiptons Sax Quartet and Drums performance at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepard Center. The show is at 8pm and it’s a suggested donation of $15 at the door. ...more...

Hot One Inch Action: Button Art and Social Interaction on Nov. 5

Trading art buttons at Hot One Inch Action might be the most fun you’ve ever had at an art exhibition.

Designed to promote social exchanges in a gallery setting, the “button show” features artwork by 50 local artists—printed on one-inch buttons. Participants can buy bags of random buttons, then trade with other attendees to snag their favorite pieces. If you’re adept at wheeling and dealing, you could take home the entire show. ...more...

U District Jazz Festival Coming to Seattle November 4-6

Seattle jazz heads take note: this Friday, November 4th, the U District Jazz Festival starts its three day run. There are different packages for tickets. The best deals are the early bird tickets: $35 for all three days (including a voucher for a free drink and any of the venues.)The festival is an expanded version of the U District Jazz Walk. Here’s some details from the Facebook page:

The University District’s …more…