Want more? Here’s everything we recommend this month: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Performance, Film, Food, and This & That.
‘Everything, Everywhere, All at Once’
MAR 5–APR 25
This spring marks the 60th anniversary of Foster/White, one of Pioneer Square’s longest-standing fine art galleries. To mark the occasion, they’re bringing out a little bit of everything: works by some 55 represented artists, installed salon-style throughout the space. Alongside work by local legends such as Alden Mason and artists associated with the Northwest School, Foster/White’s roster spans a wide range of contemporary practices—from George Rodriguez’s ponderous ornamental ceramics and Ilana Zweschi’s algorithmic dances on canvas, to Eric Louie’s sheening metallic landscapes, and Casey McGlynn’s rough-hewn, punk poems gushing color. Word has it there will be cake on First Thursday. (Foster/White) AMANDA MANITACH
‘Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest’
MAR 5–AUG 2
Featuring over 150 works, the SAM’s newest exhibit chronicles a rapidly changing 20th-century Seattle as told by artists who questioned the environmental and social impacts of industrialization through the visual language of social realism, surrealism, and abstract expressionism. Among these artists were the Northwest School’s Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, Guy Anderson, and Morris Graves. I am most excited to see works from the unsung painter and Seattle-via-New York City transplant Yvonne Twining Humber, known for incorporating touches of Impressionism into her vibrant cityscapes. (Seattle Art Museum) AUDREY VANN
‘Let There Be Light’
OPENS MAR 13
The appetite for figurative work has grown ravenous over the past decade, eclipsing nearly all else (I jest—but bring back the conceptual weirdos and prankster-philosophers, please). That said, Let There Be Light is poised to be a blockbuster exhibition of figuration, curated by local artist-célèbre Anthony White. White’s own practice—steeped in fetishized beauty and objects of desire—draws from art-historical figurative traditions, often staging languorous odalisques refracted through a male-on-male gaze. Featuring work by 20 artists from Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, and Seattle, this exhibition pushes figuration into the murkier terrain of the abject—a place where beauty melds with grotesquerie and the absurd. (Cannonball Arts) AMANDA MANITACH
Eric-Paul Riege: ‘ojo|-|ól’
MAR 14–OCT 25
The soft sculptures of Eric-Paul Riege aren’t quiet objects—their presence inscribed in space is monolithic and monumental, and when brought to life through movement, they become instruments of sound. Riege, who is Diné, has built a practice of collaging and reworking elements drawn from Navajo weaving and jewelry-making traditions, ultimately constructing large-scale, hanging installations that sway, ripple, and jingle when touched. For this exhibit—his largest solo show to date—Riege researched collections of Navajo artifacts held by Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and the University of Washington’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. What emerged is an immersive environment that envelops the viewer while quietly unsettling institutional narratives of Indigenous culture. (Henry Art Gallery) AMANDA MANITACH
Unpoetry
MAR 19
Unpoetry, organized by Eric M. Acosta, is not your everyday open mic night; defying tidy description, it descends from a lineage of happenings and communal experiments where performance, poetry, and visual art collide. This year marks Unpoetry’s fourth anniversary and its third season collaborating with the Frye Art Museum, activating the galleries through ekphrastic intervention. This evening’s performances draw inspiration from works on view by Priscilla Dobler Dzul and Camille Trautman, and while the particulars are still gestating (there are rumors of a wall of CRT televisions, live video augmentation, and immersive soundscape performance), the lineup features multidisciplinary artist Arabella, composer Eddie Mospan, poet Caleb Thomson, and interdisciplinary collective Til the Teeth. The after-party is down the street at the Hideout. Where else in this city will you find ekphrastic-themed drinks and NA uncocktails? (Frye Art Museum) AMANDA MANITACH
More
New Nordic: Cuisine, Aesthetics, and Place Through Mar 8, National Nordic Museum
Susan Meiselas: Crossings Through Mar 22, Photographic Center Northwest, free
Tininha Silva: It’s Not What I See, It’s How I Sea Through Mar 25, J. Rinehart Gallery
Gala Bent: A Woman Awash Through Mar 25, J. Rinehart Gallery
Future Forward: crisscross Through Mar 29, Mini Mart City Park
The One-Two Punch: 100 Years of Robert Colescott Through Mar 29, Tacoma Art Museum
Indira Allegra: The Book of Zero Through Apr 4, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, free
Boren Banner Series: Camille Trautman Through Apr 12, Frye Art Museum, free
Priscilla Dobler Dzul: Water Carries the Stories of Our Stars Through Apr 19, Frye Art Museum, free
Project NW: Ralph Pugay Through May 17, Tacoma Art Museum
Haunted Through June 7, Tacoma Art Museum
Jonathan Lasker: Drawings and Studies Through Sept 27, Frye Art Museum, free
A Room for Animal Intelligence Through Jan 2027, Seattle Art Museum
Ten Thousand Things Through Spring 2027, Wing Luke Museum
Ivy Jacobsen: Into the Wild Mar 5–28, Patricia Rovzar Gallery
Fred Holcomb: Fast Forest Mar 5–28, Harris/Harvey Gallery
Service/Symbiosis Mar 5–Apr 18, Actualize AiR and SOIL
Aimee Lee: Tethered Opens Mar 6, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
Crafting Futures: Emerging Artists Invitational Opens Mar 6, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
George & David Lewis: Deeply Rooted Opens Mar 6, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
Interwoven Narratives Opens Mar 9, M. Rosetta Hunter Art Gallery, free
Tethered: An Artist Talk with Aimee Lee Mar 14, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, 3 pm
Any Body: An Exploration of the Body in Abstract and Figurative Art Mar 19–May 2, Magnuson Park Gallery
Water Ways: Healing the Circle of Water and Life Opens Mar 26, Schack Art Center, free
Bootsy Holler with KEXP DJ Troy Nelson Mar 30, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm, free
Kiliii Yüyan: Guardians of Life: Indigenous Science, Indigenous Wisdom and Restoring the Planet Apr 1, Town Hall Seattle, 7:30 pm
Ongoing
Pioneer Square Artwalk Every first Thursday
Capitol Hill Art Walk Every second Thursday
Georgetown Art Attack! Every second Saturday
Chris Kallmyer: Song Cycle Ongoing, Seattle Art Museum
Gossip: Between Us Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum
Legacy: Highlights from the Permanent Collection Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum
Qiu Zhijie: Map of the History of Science and Technology Ongoing, Olympic Sculpture Park, free
Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan Ongoing, Seattle Art Museum
