Margo Vansynghel | The Seattle Times

February 6, 2025 at 6:00 am

The unusual ways Seattle galleries are drawing crowds

How are live owls, tattoo demos and meditation sessions related to art? These are just three ways that Seattle galleries are attracting new visitors lately.

A large piece of “Middle Fork,” at center foreground, is taken down from the Seattle Art Museum lobby by two teams, one from the museum and one brought in by the work’s artist John Grade, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Seattle. Clockwise from left, Jenia Hryhorieva, Michael Milano, Andrea Ramsay (at center inside sculpture), Andrew Malcolm and Sam Kuniholm (back to camera).

February 4, 2025 at 6:00 am

SAM’s massive tree sculpture is leaving. Here’s what will replace it WATCH

“Middle Fork,” John Grade’s giant tree sculpture that has hung in the lobby of SAM since 2017, is coming down. The museum announced its replacement...

Seattle journalist Eric Scigliano in Discovery Park.

January 28, 2025 at 6:00 am

Eric Scigliano, eclectic writer on Seattle, art, elephants, dies at 71

Scigliano, a globetrotting journalist whose home base was Seattle, authored nonfiction books and countless "compelling and hopeful human stories."

Pioneering Seattle artist Ginny Ruffner is shown last year in this photo. She died earlier this week at age 72.
(Courtesy James Harnois)

January 23, 2025 at 3:00 pm

Pioneering Seattle glass artist dies at 72

Ginny Ruffner, the Georgia-born glass artist who found a second home and international renown in Seattle with her glass art, died Monday at 72 years...

Buildings in Seattle
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January 22, 2025 at 6:00 am

Seattle Symphony’s CEO resigns

After more than six years at the helm, Seattle Symphony and Benaroya Hall president and CEO Krishna Thiagarajan is resigning.

Inga shows how the accompanying scent makes vivid the video loop artwork on the wall.

Fischersund: Faux Flora is a new exhibit at the National Nordic Museum. The Icelandic family-run art collective, founded by siblings Jónsi, Inga, Sigurrós, and Lilja is an immersive multimedia exhibit that integrates scent, sound, sculpture, 3D-graphics and photography. 228330

January 20, 2025 at 10:00 am

From Ansel Adams to mini golf: Seattle’s must-see winter art events

From photos by Ansel Adams to intriguing works by emergent talent, here’s a bundle of ideas to enjoy Seattle’s visual art scene this winter.

Bellevue Arts Museum’s new Executive Director Kate Casprowiak Scher welcomes members and speaks about Evolving Abstraction, a new exhibit at the museum, Friday, April 26, 2024.

This past February, the Bellevue Arts Museum pulled the fire alarm. To survive a “dire” financial crisis and avoid closure, the museum needed $300,000. According to our investigation, this is not the first time. BAM’s issues predate the pandemic and are much more endemic. Interviews with more than 20 former and current employees, board members and artists, as well as internal documents and public records, paint a picture of a nonprofit that has been deeply struggling for years.

Dogged by debt, over-optimistic financial forecasting, over reliance on a small group of funders, cash flow problems and leadership issues, the museum patched holes by creating new ones at every turn. It made payroll but left artists and the local businesses it contracted for services unpaid for months and something about PSE turning the lights off. It borrowed against its building, its only significant asset, likely exhausting all credit options. Promises to raise endowment funds, a financial nest egg from which nonprofit institutions can draw, were never fulfilled. Kate will try to break the cycle.
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January 8, 2025 at 11:10 am

Why the Bellevue Arts Museum executive director stepped down

Kate Casprowiak Scher, Bellevue Arts Museum executive director, has stepped down. BAM, which continues to sort out financial woes, announced the news Tuesday.

January 2, 2025 at 10:00 am

Local art stars, a SAM blockbuster and more: top 2025 Seattle art shows

Art shows big and small will come to Seattle in 2025, from Ai Weiwei to Preston Singletary and beyond. These are the year's must-see exhibits...

A portrait of A.L. and her dog Zero is taken at LifeWire’s Hope Starts Here apartments on the Eastside Friday, Dec. 13, 2024.
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January 2, 2025 at 6:00 am

At this shelter, abuse survivors don’t have to make an impossible choice

Domestic violence survivors often delay fleeing because they don’t want to abandon pets. A new, pet-friendly shelter could provide a local solution.

Marcela Soto beats a drum to support the striking Seattle Art Museum Visitor Service Officer (VSO) Union Friday morning in front of the Seattle Art Museum in downtown Seattle, Washington, on November 30, 2024. 228549

December 11, 2024 at 3:06 pm

SAM security guard union agrees on contract, ending strike

After two years of bargaining and a 12-day strike, Seattle Art Museum and the union that represents its security staff agreed to a contract deal...