Our music critics have already chosen the 18 best music shows this week, but now it’s our arts critics’ turn to recommend the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genre—from Seafair Summer Fourth to Frida Fest 2019, and from Czech That Film to the Seattle Street Food Festival. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
Found something you like and don’t want to forget about it later? Click “Save Event” on any of the linked events below to add it to your own private list.
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Note: Certain recurring events may be affected by the holiday; double check event websites to be sure.
MONDAY
READINGS & TALKS
Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum and Gregory Spatz Reading
Award-winning Seattle short-fiction writer Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum will read from What We Do With the Wreckage, the recipient of the Flannery O’Connor Award and the PEN/O. Henry Prize, while Gregory Spatz will share What Could Be Saved, a collection of stories about “those who build, play, and sell (or steal) violins.”
MONDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ART
100
Amazingly, mischievous artist Ben Beres has curated 99 shows at the bar. Don’t miss the 100th, which will feature art by some favorites, like snarky Amanda Manitach, frenetically colorful Nikita Ares, and striking graphic illustrator Kelly Bjork, from past exhibitions.
Closing Saturday
ALL WEEK
PERFORMANCE
Wicked
Now is your chance to see the musical that, 16 years ago, made everyone remember musicals existed. You’ve heard the spiel—it’s the Wizard of Oz, except not boring, and sympathetic to the antagonist (the Wicked Witch of the West). Wicked is spectacular, especially if the cast you see has a Galinda (originally played by Kristin Chenoweth) with a lot of spunk. But, unfortunately for all of us, all of Wicked can’t be the bombastic, show-stopping “Defying Gravity.” And once “Defying Gravity” plays out and you’re absolutely sated, there’s a whole other act to sit through. Wicked is still good, and at some moments great. Especially if, unlike me, you haven’t seen it four times—or played a medley of the music in your middle-school wind ensemble. NATHALIE GRAHAM
VISUAL ART
Stay Gay: A Big Gay Art Show
Local artist/curator Jazz Mom has chosen some excellent Seattle-area queer artists to feature, such as rock musician/animator/sculptor Clyde Petersen, neon queen Nikita Ares, embroidery portraitist Michael Volz, and many others.
Closing Sunday
TUESDAY
COMEDY
Gabriel Rutledge, Claire Webber, & Josh Chambers Live
Local comics Gabriel Rutledge (a past winner of the Seattle International Comedy Competition), Claire Webber (whose comedy the organizers describe as “what happens if you pour the vocal fry and cadence of an NPR podcaster into the personality of a chihuahua raised by sensual wolves”), and Josh Chambers (one half of the comedy duo the Ballard Boyz) will each get some stage time.
READINGS & TALKS
Clarion West Presents Stephen Graham Jones
Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfeet) brings a robust style, a great love and knowledge of classics and tropes, and a knack for terrifying images to his horror and sci-fi novels and short stories. He’s taught at the prestigious Clarion West Writers Workshop and has won an NEA grant, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, a Bram Stoker Award, and many other laurels. This reading should be hair-raising in a wonderful way.
Threshold: Site Specific Poetry
Join the art organization Common AREA Maintenance to blaze a “poetic road map” from the museum exhibition After Preparing the Altar, the Ghosts Feast Feverishly to the newly renovated Town Hall. You’ll make brief stops along the way for poetry readings by local stars Jane Wong, Quenton Baker, and Chelsea Werner-Jatzke, as well as for writing prompts “regarding themes of place.” Once you’re at Town Hall, play with Timothy Firth’s interactive sound sculpture, enjoy cocktails, and take part in a discussion.
Women of the Bauhaus
German architect Kira Jungfleisch will talk about some of the most talented women to come out of the legendary Bauhaus school, one of the first academic institutions in Germany that “provided equal parts education rights for women and men.”
Your Voice, Your Choice: With Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
With lawmakers in states like Alabama and Missouri hellbent on taking away reproductive rights by banning safe abortion, pro-choice Washington congresswoman Pramila Jayapal made an impact by sharing her own abortion story in a New York Times op-ed. Join her for a night of conversation about body autonomy, where you’ll get the chance to share your own story.
TUESDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ART
Kevin Kauer: Nark
For many queers new to the Queen City, Nark Magazine’s photographs of Seattle queer parties are the first images that stand out to them about this city’s scene. They’re slick, gay, rowdy, hot—some would say intimidatingly so. But under the leadership of Kevin Kauer (with photography from Roman Robinson), Nark has captured much of the Seattle underground like no one else has. They are perfect archives of blissed out Seattle club kid moments. This show will dig deep into Nark’s archives, while also displaying club-inspired installations and new photography. CHASE BURNS
Closing Saturday
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
VISUAL ART
Annie Perkins-Rosenberg: Day and Night of the Soul
Local artist and healer Annie Perkins-Rosenburg makes nature-inspired, mystical drawings with pen, ink, gouache, and human hair. According to her, these images emerged from “trials, paranoia, pain, healing and learning.”
Closing Sunday
The Other Beauty
Celebrate weird loveliness on canvas by local artists like abstract painter Carolyn Hitt, collagist Kabriele Rosas, graphic artist Angelina Villalobos, and others.
Closing Sunday
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ART
Star Stories: Indigenous Latinx Art
Since March, the art showcase yəhaw̓ has been filling Seattle with gorgeous, diverse work from contemporary Indigenous community members. The show expands to this White Center gallery with a focus on Latinx creators “rooted in the memories of our ancestors and the hopes of future generations.”
Closing Saturday
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCE
Legend of El Dorado
Three women on a summer trip turn into sexy, fishnetted robbers on motorcycles in the cozy cabaret’s latest production, featuring all-new choreography and a soundtrack with singing by Brent Amaker.
VISUAL ART
Laurie Lee Brom, Syd Bee, Kari-Lise Alexander: The Visions of Graces
If you’re a lover of all things lush, goth, and feminine, you must visit Roq La Rue, which features portraits of gorgeous, moody women in lovely garments, slightly caricatured teary lovelies, and flower-twined memento mori. Reflect on the transience and richness of beauty and life and get into that elegantly melancholy mood.
Closing Sunday
THURSDAY
FESTIVALS
Seafair Summer Fourth
See fireworks choreographed to Seafair’s custom musical score at this Fourth of July favorite. While you wait for the sparks to go off, you can sip brews in a beer garden, graze from food trucks, enter a pie-eating contest, and enjoy live entertainment.
FOOD & DRINK
Plum’s Summer of Love 4th of July Vegan BBQ
This time of year, you can find smoky, sizzling grilled meats aplenty, but there aren’t as many options for our herbivore friends. That’s where this long-running plant-based cookout comes in, with fresh, summery vegan fare that includes a grilled corn station, a build-your-own taco bar, a “plant-loving” salad bar, an all-you-can-eat station of Plum’s famous proprietary “mac and yease,” and dairy-free frozen treats from Sugar Plum Ice Cream. Local musician Dave Byrd will perform, and guests can play games and have a chance to win thousands of dollars in prizes.JULIANNE BELL JULIANNE BELL
VISUAL ART
Don’t Look Away
Bring raw meat, vegetables, and other grill-ready items to this potluck-style BBQ to celebrate the release of Seth Goodkind’s new book Don’t Look Away, which is filled with illustrations paired with stories of victims of police violence (a portion of the proceeds will benefit Southern Poverty Law Center). You can also register to vote and write postcards to your representatives.
Looking for more Independence Day events? Check out our complete Fourth of July calendar.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ART
As In Also: An Alternative Too
Scott Darlington, Jen Elek, Eli Hansen, Amy Lemaire, Robbie Miller, Morgan Peterson, Jerry Pethick, Brian Pike, and others push the boundaries of glass art in John Drury’s follow-up to his New York City exhibition The Other Glass: An Alternative History.
Opening Friday
Leah Gerrard: Element
Leah Gerrard’s wiry creations speak to the delicacy—and rigidity—of the material. Gerrard incorporates the natural (rocks, wood, organic forms) into the metallic sinew of the wire, which is often suspended from rusty iron chains. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Opening Friday
Nine Years | Graceful Exit
It’s been a brutal year for art galleries in Seattle: We’ve lost Mount Analogue, the Alice, and now, it seems, Prographica is going the same way. Stop in on their last exhibition to see work by more than 20 artists who’ve been helped along in their careers by gallery owner Norman Lundin, who writes poignantly: “While nine years is not long enough, it will have to do.”
Opening Friday
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
COMEDY
Brett Hamil, Carlos Rodriguez
Beacon Hill denizen Brett Hamil, the host of the beloved politically focused talk show The Seattle Process, will tell jokes live.
FILM
Czech That Film
This mini-fest will bring award-winning and popular Czech films to Seattle for one weekend. Try Jan Hřebejk’s romantic comedies Deserter and Suitor, the historical drama Jan Palach (about the young man who famously martyred himself in protest of Soviet aggression), and the coming-of-age tale Winter Flies.
SATURDAY
FESTIVALS
Frida Fest 2019
Browse works by artists and crafters who’ve been inspired by Frida Kahlo, one of the most famous women artists who ever lived, and enjoy performances, visual art, a “Living Gallery,” food, crafts, and kids’ activities. Organized by Colectiva Noroeste.
PERFORMANCE
Ah, Yes, The Two Genders: Gendermania
For its latest sardonic drag roast of hetero-cisnormativity, Copious will host the “biggest, shade-throwingest, glitter-bombingest Draglesque Smackdown that Seattle has ever known,” in which nine “genders” like Zombies, Unicorns, Science, Religion, Marvel, and DC fight to the death for the title of “ULTIMATE GENDER.”
Live Bait: All-Live Drag Show
You’re used to seeing lip-synching at drag shows, but this aquatic-themed night will hit you with all-live performances from Anita Spritzer, Solana Solstice, Mae Flood, Lazy Susan, and Vincent Milay. Heavy Scene Macaque will host.
READINGS & TALKS
Janet Hardy: Impervious
Sex, kink, and polyamory expert Janet W. Hardy—the author of The Ethical Slut, The New Topping Book, and The New Bottoming Book—returns with Impervious: Confessions of a Semi-Retired Deviant, in which she shares five stages of her own kinky life.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
FOOD & DRINK
Seattle Street Food Festival 2019
The ever-popular curbside festival from Mobile Food Rodeo spreads over five city blocks and will gather more than 75 food trucks, restaurants, and pop-ups on the streets of South Lake Union for a night of large-scale gluttony. This year sees the addition of a stage for live music and upwards of 30 vendors hawking craft beer, cider, seltzers, cocktails, and more. JULIANNE BELL
