It’s a busy week for art in the Emerald City. The summer’s flagship event, the Seattle Art Fair opens its eighth iteration this week with a bevy of new programs, collaborations, and creative partnerships. Held once again at the Lumen Field Event Center, the fair is just a stone’s throw away from Pioneer Square, where many of the city’s prominent galleries reside, and public art nonprofit Forest For the Trees has several activations planned for the weekend. Further uptown, at the corner of Fifth and Pike, the much anticipated Actualize AiR will open its doors to the public, revealing artist studios, two galleries, and a coworking space. Below, we look deeper into this week’s happenings at the Art Fair and beyond.

Seattle Art Fair

Back again with more than 90 galleries from around the world participating, the Seattle Art Fair runs July 25–28. Packed full of programming, from the second-year New Artists / New Collectors section to the usual grid of booths, the fair offers opportunities for everyone from first-time browsers to seasoned collectors. “Attendees can expect a vibrant array of exhibitions, performances, and interactive experiences,” says fair director Kelly Freeman. “New highlights include public projects featuring installations by Maria Gaspar, Epiphany Couch presented by Dreaming in Public with Nato Thompson (artistic director of the fair), and Michael Leavitt presented by Mini Mart City Park. We will also showcase an inflatable sculpture by Michael Rakowitz, ceramic and mixed-media sculptures by Emily Counts [presented by studio e gallery], and a multidisciplinary installation, The Casspir Project, by South African artist Ralph Zimon.”

Lumen Field Event Center, the Seattle Art Fair, founded by the late Paul G. Allen, has grown to be one of the most anticipated events of the summer.

Photo courtesy of AMP

In addition to new works on site, the Seattle Art Fair will host a series of events—workshops, panel discussions, and live performances — at venues around the city, including Gallery 4Culture, the Wing Luke Museum, Mini Mart City Park, Kirkland Arts Center, and others. “This approach allows us to integrate the fair more fully into Seattle’s cultural landscape and provide attendees with the opportunity to explore the city’s vibrant art scene,” Freeman says, noting that “Seattle’s art scene is distinguished by its innovative spirit and deep connection to both the natural environment and technological advancements. The collaborative ethos within Seattle’s art community fosters an inclusive and supportive environment for artists, making it a nurturing ground for creative experimentation and cross-disciplinary projects.” Ticket, offsite, and gallery information here.

New Glass Review 43 Pop-up Installation at the Seattle Art Fair

New this year, the Corning Museum of Glass will present a pop-up installation of selected contemporary glass artists and projects from its annual “exhibition-in-print,” New Glass Review 43. Tami Landis, curator of postwar and contemporary glass at Corning, has invited a selection of Seattle artists featured in the publication to show their work at the fair. Landis has a history with the region, having moved here in 2019 with her husband and taking on the role of museum educator at the Western Gallery of Western Washington University in Bellingham.

“After a few years, I left that role to pursue independent work, and this is where I finally got to start meeting more artists in the region,” Landis says, noting that she worked as a high school ceramics teacher, a curator for ArtsWA, and a studio manager for a sculptor. “Community-based projects became important to me and so I began meeting with as many artists as possible in the area.”

Landis joined the staff at the Corning Museum of Glass last year, and in December, Art Market Productions (the company that owns the Seattle Art Fair) reached out with an interest in pursuing a more glass-focused initiative. Having a strong familiarity with artists, and particularly the glass scene, in the region, Landis eagerly agreed. The artists included in the pop-up are Anna Mlasowsky, Bri Chesler, Morgan Madison, Eriko Kobayashi, and Matthew Szösz. “(Their work) demonstrates a range of technical innovation and creativity in contemporary glass,” says Lands. “These artists represent a range of conceptual strategies and technical experimentation, from pâte-de-verre realism to somatic glass activated through performance. Just as the publication is not comprehensive of the field, this too is just a glimpse into the vast network of artists working in glass in the Pacific Northwest—let alone the world.”

Forest For the Trees

For the past two years, non-profit public arts organization Forest For the Trees (FFTT) has activated the historic RailSpur building in Pioneer Square, installing multiple floors of art, hosting packed parties, and providing a platform for a young, emerging, and experimental scene. Returning for a third year, the ARTXIV-produced FFTT is expanding beyond the walls of RailSpur with a host of news programs. Evolving last year’s Exterior Framed Art initiative, piloted in RailSpur Alley, FFTT is partnering with local building owners and neighborhood organizations to bring 20 new exterior-mounted public art surfaces to Pioneer Square.

“The goal of that program is to expand the idea of art walk to more than 12 days a year,” says ARTXIV founder Dom Nieri. “We wanted a way for the public to access artwork on a more consistent basis and hopefully discover more galleries and spread the energy around Pioneer Square.”

Artist Kevin Cosley removes the tape to reveal his vibrant piece as part of the Pioneer Square mural project, spearheaded by ARTXIV and Forest For the Trees.

Photo courtesy of Forest For the Trees

Inside RailSpur, a handful of events and debuts are slated for the weekend. A group exhibition, SPATIOTEMPORAL, will explore the concept of human movement through urban space. “Most of the participants have roots in graffiti,” Nieri says. “This is their opportunity to display their fine art practices.” A new retail concept, Neighbors Hardware — an artist supply store and lounge opening in collaboration with Primo Art — will soft launch on July 25 with a live performance by local girl sludge rock group Muñeca.

Finally, starting on July 24, the public will have an opportunity to view the art collection of the forthcoming Hotel Westland (set to open in early 2025). Featuring more than 30 artists, many of them regional, the collection was curated by ARTXIV and produced over three months through a residency program on the fifth floor of the Railspur. Full schedule of events here.

To outfit Pioneer Square’s future Westland Hotel, slated to open in early 2025, art consultancy and production agency ARTXIV curated a group of 30 artists who produced more than 50 works for the space.

Photo by Forest For the Trees

Actualize AiR

Seattle’s old Coliseum Theater has been many things. Built as a state-of-the-art cinema in 1916, the building spent many years as a Banana Republic store before a brief, but ultimately failed, stint as an arts space last year. This summer, the grand old venue at 500 Pike St. is getting a second chance to return to its artistic roots with the launch of Actualize AiR, a woman-run-and-funded space with more than two-dozen no-cost artist studios, galleries, a coworking space, and a tool library and materials exchange. Founded by artist Kate Bailey, philanthropist Sheri Behnke, and art supporter and ergonomist Edie Adams, Actualize AiR hopes to be a supportive resource for Seattle artists and a boon to the downtown core. This weekend, be among the first to see the studios in action, with an open house that will pull back the curtain on the work of resident artists such as Mary Anne Carter, Storme Webber, and Drea Harper. Tickets here.