Art of Our City

Field notes from KUOW's Marcie Sillman, covering arts and culture in Seattle. Tips? Email [email protected]

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At Detroit's Eastern Market street murals abound. Stroll the streets past idling refrigerated trucks and vintage brick buildings that house meat wholesalers and you'll be amazed! And awed.

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When you enter the installation at top left, part of Seattle Art Museum's current blockbuster "Infinity Mirrors," work by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, you feel like your feet float out from underneath you. Photographer Alan Lande, pictured above, was able to capture the miraculous lights in the dark mirrored box. And pink orbs with polka dots? Why not? "Infinity Mirrors" is at SAM through early September. Wear comfortable shoes, and don't miss it.

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What Would Betsy Ross Do? A new show ar Seattle's Art Exchange Gallery

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Seattle's weird soul is still alive under the gentrified veneer!

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Art is all around if you open your eyes to it. Sculpture on Double Bluff beach, Whidbey Island plus the glory of sun, saltwater and distant mountains.

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Seattle urban hike #1 through Ravenna revealed two city forests. This artwork on the left is by Sheila Klein, under Interstate 5. Artwork #2 by Mother Nature, inside Ravenna Park.

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Bailadores de Bronce: 'We want to be an example of the best that Mexico has to offer'

Adrian Olivas is a small, soft-spoken man who makes his living as a horticulturalist, nurturing plant life of all kinds. But three evenings a week, Olivas

This community-based dance troupe celebrates its 45th anniversary on Saturday. The performance, at Meany Hall on the UW campus, should be a treat.

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I love this painting by Robert Colescott, “Les Demoiselles D’Alabama: Vestidas.” It hangs in the Seattle Art Museum, on the second floor, just as you come up the escalator from the main lobby.

SAM has just announced a major new exhibition of work by Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall and Mickalene Thomas. The show, “Figuring History,” opens in February 2018. According to SAM’s announcement, Thomas will create new work for the exhibition. 

Here’s Thomas’ painting “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe: Les trois femmes noires.” Pretty great, eh?

And this is another work by Colescott, “George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware.”

So, if you didn’t get your tix to SAM’s big Yayoi Kusama show, “Infinity Mirrors,” you have something to look forward to next winter.

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Flashmob Nürnberg 2014 - Ode an die Freude

I don’t know about you all, but I needed a little reminder of the power and beauty of the human spirit. 

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'The world is ending, yes. But you have seen it end, and begin again in the morning'

When Azura Tyabji stepped up to the microphone at a community forum this spring, most of the audience members had no idea what to expect.

Oh my gosh, I loved meeting Azura Tyabji! She has so much talent. Click through the above story to find audio and video of Azura reading her work.

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Can we discuss those fouettes? Seattle's Carrie Imler is fierce

Update 6/6/17, 3:25 p.m. PT : A ballerina’s career ends when most of the rest of us are just getting good at our jobs. Professional dancers are usually 18

Two and a half years ago, I produced this profile of Pacific Northwest Ballet Principal Dancer Carrie Imler. She was just beginning her 20th season in Seattle, a remarkably long career for a ballerina. Last year, Imler gave birth to her son Markus. Four months later, she returned to PNB and danced her heart out all season. 

This weekend marks Imler’s last onstage; on Sunday, she’ll perform in PNB’s Season Encore. Carrier Imler, we will miss you!

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Landmark Theaters chain shutters two Seattle cinemas

The Landmark Theater chain has closed Seattle’s Seven Gables Theater and the Guild 45th Theaters, effective immediately.  In a Tweet, Landmark announced that the theaters would undergo renovation, with no details about timelines or even if the venerable art houses would reopen. The Tweet directed local cinephiles to the Crest Cinemas, in Shoreline.

Calls to Landmark offices in LA were referred to a NYC publicist who could provide no further details.

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Ballet Dancer Leaps Onto Subway Tracks and Lifts Man to Safety

Gray Davis, an American Ballet Theater dancer, rescued a 58-year-old man who the police said was pushed onto the tracks in the 72nd Street station on Saturday.

I knew ballet dancers were superheroes! woo hoo!

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Bold

A short portrait documentary about a male ballet dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Batkhurel Bold retires next weekend. This lovely little documentary gives us a peek behind the tall, strong dancer we’ve watched for more than two decades.

Bold, we’ll miss you!

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Swan Lake - Act 3 Coda Fouettes with Carrie Imler

Principal dancer Carrie Imler and former PNB Principal (currently a Principal with Dutch National) Casey Herd in rehearsal excerpts from Swan Lake's 3rd Act ...

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Carrie Imler is BAD ASS!  And she’s about to retire. So...if you want to see a fierce dancer, catch her this weekend and next at McCaw Hall.

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What do you do if you stink at soccer? Theater, if you're Phillip Chavira

Seattle’s Intiman Theatre has a simple mission: To present work that is relevant to our times and as diverse as the community itself. Intiman recently

Intiman Theatre starts its 2017 season this weekend with a new production of the play “Barbecue.” 

Find more about the season here.

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‘Seattle is dead’: Mourning the potential loss of Black Dog Forge, Pearl Jam’s birthplace

The building that houses Black Dog Forge, and which includes the basement where Pearl Jam first played together, is up for sale. Now band members and other artists hope whoever buys the building preserves its history.

Nicole Brodeur, thanks for this reminder of another piece of Seattle’s rich cultural history.