Seattle Art Museum - Seattle, WA
- Jonathan Elmore
- Sep 23
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 minutes ago
My trip to the Pacific Northwest wouldn't be complete without going to an art museum. Any trip would be missing something if I didn't hit at least some kind of collection. In Seattle I was fortunate enough to have time to go see museums for Art, Pop Culture, Bonsais, Kurt Cobain, and Mt. Rainier. It was a great trip. This post is in three parts since The Seattle Art Museum was almost like three different great museums. It will be the Ai Weiwei Exhibit, Modern Art, and Native Tribal Art and Artifacts. Here we go!
On the last day, I went to the Seattle Art Museum. I didn't realize that it was the last day to see the collected works of Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist, documentarian, rebel, and activist. At the Museum of Pop Culture, I saw the last days of the Nirvana exhibit and here at SAM, I saw the last day of the Weiwei exhibit. I feel incredibly lucky to have been in Seattle when I was. The Museum gods were smiling on me I guess.
The Ai Weiwei exhibit was on the top floor of the three story building so we decided to start there. It was pretty impressive. Not only the volume of work that was on display, but also the breadth of different styles of work that he's done like photography, wood, porcelain, paintings, marble, and even Legos. There was a display of the cell he was held in by the Chinese government for being an outspoken activist. Well, they said it was tax evasion, so he was held for 81 days and interrogated at length. Then his passport was destroyed. Someone hit a nerve! Anyway, his exhibit was wonderful. If you're ever in a place where his work is being shown, you should try to go. I'll share the photos from his show and then photos from the rest of the museum further down.
The second part of this post is the fine art aspect of the museum. Some people's definition of "fine" is different that mine, but that's a whole other discussion. Here I'm basically talking about paintings and sculptures. You'll get the idea. The collection that SAM has is impressive. It isn't heavy on any one genre or era. It quite adeptly covers art from all over the world and from many different time periods. It was great to see a Mark Rothko down the hall from a sculpture of Aphrodite. It really made the visit seem complete. Here are some works that made me pause and snap a pic.
Finally, here is the Native Art section. As with most Native American cultures, the Pacific Northwest Tribes have their own history, customs, traditional clothes, and art that vary from Tribes in other parts of the country. This uniqueness makes this area of the museum special to me. It shows the vibe that the Tribes have contributed to this part of the US. Like the Tribes here in Oklahoma, they're an integral part of the things we see everyday. There is also modern works from members of the tribes, and it makes me glad there are more artists around to bring us great things. I loved this part of the museum. It was so great. And, of course, I had to take an selfie with one of the pieces of art!
