SAM Noir by Manuel W. from the Seattlest Flickr pool. more ›

Seattle Art Museum will be home to one of 2012's must-see art exhibitions. Hooray! more ›

Another year means another chance for the Greater Seattle area to devolve into a sweaty, lumbering mass of sharp elbows and screaming children, all so we can pay upwards of thirty dollars to get into a Seattle landmark that would be totally free any other weekend of the year. I'm talking of course about Bumbershoot, which you should totally bail on for one of the following exciting, reasonably priced films. more ›

Seattlest has got your back when it comes to making the most of your night at Seattle Art Museum's hugely popular Remix series. more ›

It's been said around town the last few days, but it is worth repeating. Seattle would be a much different kind of city without the philanthropy and largess of Bagley Wright, who passed away suddenly of a heart attack Monday night at the age of 87. more ›

What's more American than loving art? Probably a lot of things. But if you're looking to skip the fireworks in favor of films, books an visual displays that still celebrate the Land of the Free, we've got you covered there, too. more ›

COWBOY POETRY: Baxter Black is well known in much of western America for his work as a cowboy poet on NPR. This modern poetry legend is also a large-animal veterinarian. The Arizona-based Black is visiting Elliott Bay Book Company to read and perform from his newest book, Lessons from a Desperado Poet. It's part how-to book, part-memoir and draws from his experiences while home on the range. more ›

What, you didn't know it was International Museum Day? Shame on you! Don't worry, Annie's got the scoop on where to celebrate in Seattle. more ›

A surprising departure in the Seattle art scene, DUI offenders are about to have a lot more in common with Lindsay Lohan, and rough news for higher education in Washington. more ›

Hey, straggler! This is your last chance to take a peek at the Seattle Art Museum's biggest show EVER before it closes on Monday, January 17th. more ›

Black Friday is two days away, huzzah, bringing with it hordes of extraordinary deals for Seattle's savviest shoppers. Planning to shiver on the sidewalk in front of Old Navy on 12 a.m. Friday morning? Well class it up, Charlie! Seattle's arts groups are running special Black Friday deals, too. Contact the individual arts organizations for full details about each offer. more ›

This exhibit will cover every phase of Picasso's career,from his early 20th century forays into painting to work from the 1970s just prior to his death. The exhibit is only possible because the Musee Picasso, which houses much of Picasso's work, has closed for renovations -- otherwise these paintings would be viewable only in Paris. more ›

Tonight's the Seattle Art Museum's First Thursday event, which means you can get in free after hours. If you haven't seen the SAM's current exhibition of Alexander Calder mobiles, you're missing out -- Calder's work is truly stunning: miniscule mobiles that could double as earrings, towering monstrosities teetering precariously on a single lever, and beautifully abstract visual art. more ›

Long gone are the days of showing up to an empty SAM After Hours event and damning yourself for thinking it might have been cool this time. On the contrary, if you felt the bar scene was a little empty last Friday night, SAM might owe you an apology (and a reason to go ahead and mark your calendars for February 26th). more ›

In true West Coast style, this event is stripping away all barriers of exclusivity and getting its "do-gooder" on by making the event free and donating all profits from their raffle to Art Corps for kids. more ›

Bumbershoot: Cement (and lament?) the fact that summer is over with the last day of Bumbershoot 09. Drown your sorrows in music, art, and funnel cake. Make it a Metric Monday. more ›

DARK: Samuel Ligon, writer and editor of the Spokane lit mag Willow Springs, comes to town tonight to discuss his new collection of short stories. In Drift and Swerve, Ligon runs his characters through the gamut of contemporary American personal hells: drugs, abuse, sexual longing, spiritual emptiness. As is often the case, it's the book's black humor and the author's cutting prose that keep it from being a cruel slog-fest of a read. Ligon appears with Sam A.J. Rathburn and Amy Schrader, two recent Willow Springs contributors, who will also read from their work. more ›

Michael Darling, the Seattle Art Museum's curator of modern and contemporary art, has assembled a surprisingly cool show with , which opened last weekend at SAM and runs through Sept. 7. The post-WWII period saw the apex of high Modernism in painting with the abstract expressionists, led by the likes of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. They took the Modernists' radical approach to painting to the utmost extreme, by actually separating the brush from the canvas and completely rejecting representational art. At the same time, though, a new group of painters were laying the groundwork of Postmodernism, and were searching for new ways to break free of the canvas. more ›

NONCONFORMIST INDIE ROCK GOD: That's right, Destroyer (aka Dan Bejar aka the "unofficial" wine-swilling member of the New Pornographers) is in town tonight, ready to baptize the new Crocodile with...frankly, you never quite know with Dan. One recent album, Destroyer's Rubies, opened with an over-nine-minute track, with Bejar announcing portentously, "Cast myself towards infinity, trust me, I had my reasons." Trouble in Dreams was summed up as "shitfaced" by Pitchfork, who also called Bejar an "untouchable wizard." What a character! If you haven't had a chance to visit the new Croc yet, this show is as good a reason as any. more ›

• Seattle Transit Blog is mad as hell about the legislature backing out on I-90 light rail funding and they don't think you should take it anymore. East side! West side! Let's make a light rail rumble!
• Will fancy eats joint Sitka & Spruce really move from Eastlake to Capitol Hill? CHS polls readers, fans flames of rumor.
• Publicola's Morning Fizz abandoned links and announced that a "dynamic woman" had joined the Mayoral race. April Fools!

Wall Art - Child by archie.timbol more ›

Katelyn is airborne, on her way to Turkey (!!!) for the month. This weekend, she'll be exploring Istanbul by her lonesome. She plans on geeking out over all the religious history and food-related sight-seeing she can pack into four days before she flies down to the Mediterranean coast for the next leg of her adventure. more ›

We used to think Andy Warhol's work was amusing. more ›

Author John Updike was at Seattle Arts & Lectures this week. The upcoming SAL appearance of Annie Leibovitz (November 19) is sold out. Michael Pollan (January 12) is almost sold out. more ›

POLITICS JUNKIE: The jury's still out on whether or not McCain is going to display how capable he is of handling politics and governing at the same time (i.e. the job of the president) by showing up for tonight's debate in Mississippi. But, the Presidential Debate Commission will be there, a giant pool of reporters will be there, and his opponent Barack Obama will be there ready and willing to turn the whole thing into a town hall meeting if that's what has to happen. Oh, the drama of the whole thing! Tune in at your own home, at your friends' houses, or at a number of locations around town that will be holding watch parties. (UPDATE: McCain has decided to show up, after all. We'll refrain from commenting and leave that all up to you.) more ›

Like it's not embarrassing enough to just trip and stumble in a public place. A young visitor to the Seattle Art Museum suffered even further embarrassment by tripping and falling into a world famous work of art. The stumbling Seattlite damaged Double Elvis, a piece by Andy Warhol. According to the Slog's report on the incident, the SAM's spokesperson said the piece had been dented and was sent to the museum's conservators for repair. more ›

It's the first Thursday of February, which means that the Seattle Art Museum is open "After Hours," and entrance is free. Their Art for All musical guest is okanomodé, and provokes this cross-pollinated promotional copy:

Melding composition, style and genre with the skill of Basquiat blending color, okanomodé spins song into frenzy and makes magic with his tongue.

Francophiles attending the Beaujolais Nouveau gala in Bellevue Friday will have the chance to bid on more than a dozen travel packages (tickets to Paris? ho-hum...) as well as some rare and valuable works of art. An original lithograph by the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is likely to draw the most interest. more ›

National film festival correspondent Kyle Anderson on Seattle's other one more ›

It seems every blogger in the Pacific Northwest is singing the praises of the Seattle Art Museum after their reopening. It'd be fun to be the contrary voice that slams the whole affair but really, we don't have it in us - we loved the SAM this weekend as well, so chalk this one up in the "yay" column. more ›