Summer in the Northwest is best spent outdoors, but as the temperature drops and days shorten, indoor attractions regain their appeal. What better time to visit museums? And the museums are ready for us with exhibitions for every interest and age.
Imagine Children’s Museum expansion
Families won’t want to miss the new Imagine Children’s Museum which is reopening this fall after a $25 million expansion that added 33,000 square feet of new exhibition space. While all of the old spaces remain intact, the new wing will include two regionally specific interactive spaces that explore forests and aquatic ecosystems. New activity centers include an augmented reality sand table, tinker shop with real tools, arts space and engineering challenges.
Sept. 7-ongoing; Imagine Children’s Museum, 1502 Wall St., Everett; $22; 425-258-1006, imaginecm.org
“The Animation Academy” and “Fine Lines: Cartoons from the WSHM Collections”
A complementary pair of exhibits will open this fall at the Washington State History Museum. In October, “The Animation Academy” will explore the world of animation and storytelling, from hand-drawn cels and 3D zoetropes to the latest in CGI. Visitors can create their own stop-motion short. In November, “Fine Lines” will present cartoon illustrations from the Washington State Historical Society’s collections, many of which have never been displayed before.
Oct. 6-Jan. 12, 2023 (“The Animation Academy”) and Nov. 5-June 11, 2023 (“Fine Lines”); Washington State Historical Society Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma; $14; 888-238-4373, washingtonhistory.org
“Artificial Intelligence: Your Mind & The Machine”
Making its West Coast premiere at MOHAI, this traveling exhibit explores artificial intelligence from machine learning to voice recognition. Visitors learn what AI is, how it works differently from the human brain, and how it might evolve for both users and developers. Although the topic is complex, the exhibition is designed to be accessible to all ages and levels of technological skill, using hands-on interactives, games and puzzles.
Oct. 15-Jan. 8, 2023; Museum of History & Industry, 860 Terry Ave. N., Seattle; $22; 206-324-1126, mohai.org
“Spirit of Flight”
If summer travel woes have dampened your passion for air travel, “Spirit of Flight,” the Museum of Flight’s juried photography exhibition, may rekindle your travel lust. Each image in the exhibition reflects the photographer’s interpretation of the theme “the spirit of flight.” Selected from hundreds of global submissions by professional and amateur photographers alike, the 35 selected images, also viewable online, will be displayed in the T.A. Wilson Great Gallery. (While you’re there, check out the traveling exhibition “The Walt Disney Studios and World War II” that opened in the summer.)
Through Dec. 31; Museum of Flight, 904 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle; $25; 206-764-5700, museumofflight.org
“Mygration”
Sámi artist Tomas Colbengtson and Swedish artist Stina Folkebrant collaborated to create an immersive installation inspired by a little-known event in history that brought Sámi reindeer herders to Alaska in 1894 to teach their skills to Native peoples. The installation combines archival photographs and large-scale paintings to explore ideas about migration, herd mentality, time and history. Folkebrant will also create a new mural related to the installation for the museum campus.
Dec. 9-Mar. 5, 2023; National Nordic Museum, 2655 N.W. Market St., Seattle; $20; 206-789-5707, nordicmuseum.org
“Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design”
MoPOP’s Ruth E. Carter exhibition celebrates the work of the Academy Award-winning costume designer behind “Black Panther,” “Do The Right Thing,” “Malcolm X” and more. Carter’s designs over the past four decades have helped shape the Afrofuturism movement, adding dimensionality, flair and culture to the characters they clothe. The exhibit contains more than 60 of Carter’s garments from more than a dozen films, as well as an Afrofuturist art installation by Brandon Sadler.
Through January 2023; Museum of Pop Culture, 325 Fifth Ave. N., Seattle; $27-$34; 206-770-2700, mopop.org
“Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee”
The Wing Luke Museum and the Bruce Lee Foundation have partnered to create a permanent Bruce Lee Gallery dedicated to the actor and philosopher who made the martial arts famous in America. The first exhibit in the space opened this summer with a digital interactive experience that focuses on the development of Bruce Lee’s philosophy, epitomized in the iconic line, “Be water, my friend.” The exhibit links Lee’s writings and filmography to his intense pursuit of knowledge through the contents of his personal library of more than 2,800 books, now permanently housed at the museum.
Through 2023; Wing Luke Museum, 719 S. King St., Seattle; $17; 206-623-5124, wingluke.org
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