In a gallery, people typically eye the art — not the other visitors. But on a Thursday evening at Seattle’s J. Rinehart Gallery last fall, one guest commanded all the attention: LadyBird, a Eurasian eagle-owl who traveled to the gallery for a special meet-and-greet.
Meggan Joy, a local artist who photographs LadyBird and other birds of prey for her digital photo collages of fauna and flora, thought an owl encounter would make for an amusing evening during her show.
“And it was,” said gallery owner Judith Rinehart. “We had a huge turnout of people that would probably not come to a fine art gallery otherwise.”
LadyBird isn’t the only one flocking to Pioneer Square for fun, after-hours art events lately. Fashion shows, tattoo sessions, meditation, bluegrass and Latin jazz quartets, craft afternoons, artisan maker markets, live indoor gardens, even best-in-show dog competitions: Seattle’s commercial art galleries are luring new and younger audiences with adventurous and interactive programming not usually seen in so-called “white cubes.”
Across the world, those kinds of galleries have long struggled to prove that they are inviting spaces, not rarefied art temples where you shan’t utter a word or make a peep — and certainly not laugh. And while artist talks or serious sit-down concerts have long been the norm, these new kinds of interactive, adjacent-to-the-art events are popping up around Seattle as brick-and-mortar galleries across the U.S. emerge from a dip in the art market and as sales increasingly move online.
Locally, as downtown foot traffic lags amid the city’s uneven pandemic recovery, gallerists are telling audiences: “Your presence is not a stain on the pristine white box. Here, we can have fun.”
That’s especially important now, with so much of our lives spent online, Rinehart said.
“If I can get somebody to come into the gallery and see a thing in person, it will affect them differently than seeing it online,” she said. “And if getting them into the gallery means we got to have some kind of other event, and that brings them in, great.”
Changing the tune
While museums (and some scrappy DIY art spaces) have long done this kind of “community engagement,” commercial galleries generally haven’t. By and large, museums are nonprofits with entire departments dedicated to such events, while galleries are small businesses that generally rely on sales of artworks, not ticket revenue or donations.
This also means that organizing events won’t be a panacea for a sector recovering from a turbulent market. Most are free, and ticketed event organizers only break even or send all revenue directly to performers. Plus, an uptick in foot traffic doesn’t necessarily translate to more purchases.
Still, galleries want to ensure the art gets seen and talked about. An event can be a great way to create another touchpoint with the exhibit beyond opening night, said AMcE Creative Arts’ A. McLean Emenegger — as well as another avenue for human connection.
“I want the gallery to feel alive,” she said.
On a recent winter weekend, for the show “As We Imagined,” exhibiting artist Jesse Reno performed a live electronic music set at AMcE, and this spring, during “Force of Nature” — a show celebrating the “glorious powers” of women and Mother Nature — exhibiting painter and textile maker Maija Fiebig will lead a pom-pom-making workshop (1-3:30 p.m., April 19). Emenegger is also organizing an artisan market featuring local makers for Mother’s Day weekend (noon-4 p.m., May 10).
Taking the art and artists seriously doesn’t mean your space has to feel serious, Emenegger said.
“There can be a perception of inaccessibility, or there’s the cliché of the person who sits behind the front desk and isn’t going to speak to you,” she said. “I don’t want that. I wanted to create something that sort of spills into a community, (where) you feel warm.”
Where you could dance, even. Last spring, Emenegger invited local bluegrass quartet Dave Keenan & Friends to play at the gallery.
“I don’t think you expect music in an art gallery like that, because it’s not necessarily tied to an exhibition,” she said. “It’s not cerebral and/or performative or conceptual. It’s just truly the joy and the energy of that experience. And people were dancing! I don’t think one is often (allowed) to dance in a gallery.”
And “why not?,” Emenegger said. At least “if there’s no ceramics on pedestals,” she added with a laugh.
Tattoos, meditation and mutts
From its wide glass windows to its industrial steel columns, shiny floors, and movable white walls, Pioneer Square’s Foster/White Gallery has all the trappings of a gallery you’d encounter in, say, New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. It’s about the last place you’d expect people to get a mermaid or tiger tattoo.
But that’s what was on the docket for February’s First Thursday, a night when Pioneer Square galleries and artist studios open their doors for an evening of after-hours exhibit-hopping. On Thursday, Colin O’Shaughnessy Tucker of Storm Bloom Tattoo will set up shop at Foster/White to transmit Casey McGlynn’s painted-on-canvas “Ideas for Tattoos” — on view on the gallery’s walls — to visitors’ skin. Visible through the front window, the live tattooing will become a performance of sorts.
Gallery owner Phen Huang said she didn’t plan on getting tatted. She did recently participate in another of her gallery’s growing roster of events, though: a guided meditation session to accompany Steven Nederveen’s exhibition, “Between Worlds.”
“We had chosen to put this together because all of the titles of the pieces in the exhibition had the word ‘breath’ in them,” Huang said. Plus, Nederveen talks about meditation as an inspirational force for his work.
Clientele, family, friends and strangers all sat down on chairs for two brief meditations, interspersed with a quiet moment to walk around and take in the art — mixed media paintings of waves lapping ashore.
“People expressly thanked us for having a free event that was grounding,” Huang said. “People even burst into tears. They were so moved.”
This spring, the gallery will unleash what’s sure to be a louder event: During “CLAP CLAP Clap Clap Clap clap clap clap clap DOG SHOW!” — a playful exhibit by ceramic sculptor George Rodriguez that pays homage to our fascination and relationship with canines — the gallery is organizing a dog show (2 p.m., May 3).
Bring your dog, have them participate in a series of categories such as tricks, costumes and runway — and the judges may even award your pup a best-in-show distinction. Participants get a ribbon; the winner will receive an award made by Rodriguez. It should be a howling good time.
Huang and her staff will make sure those ceramics are stable. She didn’t seem nervous about enthusiastic pooches knocking anything over.
“I think responsible dog owners will be careful to bring appropriate dogs,” she said.
Planting seeds
While fun-focused, these events are not a cheap ploy to lure folks to the gallery, nor an attempt to distract from the art. Local art dealers stressed it’s a way to “cross-pollinate,” provide educational opportunities about science and other topics, create more opportunities for people to find company and community, foster connections between visual artists, dancers and musicians, and give local musicians more attention and places to perform.
The main reason that Frederick Holmes has been organizing well-attended concerts in his gallery, Frederick Holmes and Company, is to boost the local jazz community: Holmes said 100% of ticket revenue goes directly to the musicians and all bar proceeds go to the collaborating Pioneer Square wine rooms and businesses. That people discover or rediscover Pioneer Square, or perhaps the gallery itself, is an additional benefit.
“It’s created more awareness of the gallery,” Holmes said. “Frequently, visitors will say, ‘I didn’t even know this was here.’”
Rinehart, who said she often hears from people who are surprised that the neighborhood is clean and safe, echoed Holmes’ sentiment.
“I want more people to tell other people how nice it is,” she said. “Tell other people: ‘Oh yeah, I had a great time. I went to this coffee shop … and there was a great little thrift store. And then I went and saw some art and I felt comfortable going into a gallery and not buying anything.’”
Those visits, most dealers said, won’t necessarily transform a cautiously interested visitor into a die-hard customer. But “it’s planting seeds,” Holmes said.
Maybe these same people will be in a position to buy a piece of art five years from now. Either way, Rinehart said that “it’s very much this brand awareness that we’re trying to get out there.”
That’s especially important as Pioneer Square, Seattle’s prime gallery district, continues to evolve post-pandemic. With the official opening of the renewed downtown waterfront this spring and the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, the area is poised to see even greater change — and a big bump in foot traffic.
“It’s going to affect the neighborhood. It’s going to affect the galleries,” Rinehart said. “I don’t see that as a combative thing (but) a, ‘What can we do? What kind of events can we have during that time?’”
Rinehart is considering more private events in her gallery, and even yoga and wine tasting.
“The outside-of-the-box thinking will continue,” she said.
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This coverage is partially underwritten by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The funder plays no role in editorial decision making and The Seattle Times maintains editorial control over this and all its coverage.