Staff Picks
Art truly is everywhere, and if you’re in Seattle, there’s a high chance you’ll find it in your neighborhood, too — art spaces are scattered across the city, perhaps even in your backyard.
Here are a few exhibits worthy of leaving your winter cocoon.
“Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei”
If you don’t know Ai Weiwei from his Lego brick paintings, perhaps you’ve seen the famed ancient-vase-smashing photo or remember when he filled a museum hall with thousands of porcelain sunflower seeds. The Chinese dissident artist, who makes sociopolitical art with a pop bent (or is it the other way around?), is a longtime crowd pleaser.
In addition to Ai’s career-spanning exhibition, “Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei” (March 12-Sept. 7), at its downtown location, the Seattle Art Museum will also show a major Lego work at the Asian Art Museum (March 19-March 15, 2026).
Various dates; Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., Seattle; $19.99-$32.99; 206-654-3100, visitsam.org/weiwei
“Portmeirion”
It feels a little unusual, at first, to sit on a piece of art. But on a recent afternoon, I plopped down on an electric-blue daybed slash artwork titled “Florentine Pietà as Daybed for Unlikely Poets” by Seattle-based sculptor Dawn Cerny. From modest materials like plywood, pegboard hardware, keys and enamel paint, Cerny crafts humble and humorous pieces that play with art history, domesticity, design and artifice in a way that feels light without lacking depth.
For more sedentary fun: In March, the museum is opening a new “Parlor,” a part-lounge, part-experimental installation with custom décor and furnishings by Jayme Yen.
Through June. 22; Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., Seattle; free; 206-622-9250, fryemuseum.org
“Ebb Bayley: Son of Bird Inferior”
Have you heard of Wren’s Day? During the yearly Irish custom (which likely stems from ancient pagan rites), people dressed in straw regalia capture and bury the “king of all birds” to summon good luck for the year ahead. In this new show, artist Ebb Bayley assumes and subverts this ritual, painting protoplasmic bodies reminiscent of the plant wreaths used in the procession.
But wait — are those extension cords amid the buried bird bones? Yes: Bayley also buries a bug-out bag, which have become talismans of sorts for some, an ideology even. Amid apocalyptic times, “Son of Bird Inferior” opens up questions about ritual, safeguarding and the future.
March 6-April 19; Specialist Gallery, 300 S. Washington St., Seattle; free; specialist.gallery
“Julia Freeman: Hellmouth”
With a crazed gaze, the monster bares its teeth, threatening to swallow us whole. With this oversized display of medieval stained glass inspired by her son’s drawings and historical depictions of the Hellmouth — an ancient emblem used to fan the flames of fear and religious doctrine — Seattle artist Julia Freeman draws parallels to contemporary propaganda, “authoritarian spectacle” and mechanisms of control and fear. Inside the mouth, a red video of Elon Musk’s TED Talk, “A Future Worth Getting Excited About,” plays on a loop while a soundscape by local musicians Stephan Blount and James “Chance” Bridges amplifies the disorientation.
March 8-April 12; Das Schaufenster, 6019 14th Ave. N.W., Seattle; free; annamlasowsky.com/dasschaufenster
“Thinking of Angels”
Cobalt and aqua and cyan and Tiffany: the blues in Cappy Thompson’s dreamy enamel-on-glass paintings plunge deep and ripple far. The acclaimed artist, an expert in medieval techniques such as enamel-painted and wheel-engraved glass, shows off her mastery in this new show. With this new work, Thompson — inspired by folkloric traditions, esoteric philosophies and religion — focuses on painted glass panels glued to an aluminum surface, which shimmer with a mythic, ancient power.
March 8-April 19; studio e gallery, 609 S. Brandon St., Seattle; free; 206-762-3322, studioegallery.net
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.