Staff Picks<\/h2>\n
There are two types of people: those who wear their most sensible, hike-ready footwear to attend the Seattle Art Fair and the surrounding hubbub \u2014 a constellation of satellite fairs, exhibits and parties \u2014 and those who just want their outfit to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I personally love seeing the \u2019fits at the fair, so please stuff a pair of comfy shoes in a bag and go for fashion!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether at the fair or around Pioneer Square, July is prime time for people- and art-watching. Here\u2019s what you should see and where you should go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Agents of Change: 2026 Neddy Artist Award Exhibition\u2019<\/h2>\n
The Neddy Artist Award program offers one of the largest unrestricted awards for artists in the Pacific Northwest, two gifts of $30,000 and six of $3,000, to Puget Sound visual artists every year. All eight of this year\u2019s finalists are now showcasing their work in a show assembled by\u00a0the established local curator Ellen Ito, who has an excellent eye for weaving together ideas and visual narratives that may seem disparate on the surface. \u201cThese eight artists actively position their practices and themselves as agents of change,\u201d she writes in the exhibition statement. \u201cThey initiate transformation by challenging the status quo, each fostering innovative ways of thinking, operating, seeing, and feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through Sept. 12; The Behnke Family Gallery at Cornish College of the Arts, 1077 Lenora St., Seattle; free; cornish.edu\/behnke<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Did you know that one of the Pacific Northwest\u2019s biggest public art collections<\/a> is owned by the Port of Seattle<\/a>? Established in 1968 as the first airport public art program in the country, it has expanded into a wide-ranging collection featuring work by locally, nationally and internationally recognized artists, from Holly Ballard Martz<\/a> and Barbara Earl Thomas<\/a> to Sabine Marcelis and Soo Sunny Park. This exhibit, curated by the Port of Seattle\u2019s senior art program manager and curator Tommy Gregory, is a grand gesture amid the World Cup, Seattle Art Fair and First Thursday Art Walk that doubles as a PSA that a local nonprofit plans to print a comprehensive monograph featuring the Port of Seattle’s public art collection.<\/p>\n July 2-Aug. 3; Railspur Studios, 419 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle; free<\/em><\/p>\n This summer, the 10th edition of the art fair started by Paul Allen returns to the city\u2019s Lumen Field Event Center. This year\u2019s milestone fair brings back Seattle\u2019s Roq La Rue, Harris Harvey, Winston W\u00e4chter Fine Art and Woodside\/Braseth<\/a>, alongside a roster of international galleries. This year, the fair highlights textile and fiber art. Major cultural partners like the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum and galleries like J. Rinehart Gallery are showing Tininha Silva\u2019s immersive, site-specific fiber installation that simulates an underwater environment with floating hand-dyed forms and softly moving fibers that invite visitors to walk through the work, becoming a part of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hours vary July 23-26; Lumen Field Event Center, 800 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle; $49.98 for single-day tickets, $81.02 for fair passes; seattleartfair.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u2018Grand Gesture\u2019<\/h2>\n
Seattle Art Fair\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Assembly Art Fair<\/h2>\n