In other words, Refract: The Seattle Glass Experience (Oct. 17 - 20) is here to prove that if the phrase “glass art” brings a single image to your mind, you haven’t seen enough of it.
This city is shining with glass. Some 700 glass artists live and work in the region, thanks to longstanding glass centers such as Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and many hot shops — glassblower hot spots — in Seattle and around Puget Sound. The region is widely considered the glass-art capital of the U.S.
A joint effort of Visit Seattle and the Chihuly Garden and Glass (Dale Chihuly being a founding father of Northwest glass), Refract convenes more than 100 events and 70 artists for gallery exhibits, live demos, studio visits and other displays of glass in its multitudinous forms.
The sixth annual event includes an outdoor neon installation at Pier 69 — because those colorful bent tubes full of gas are glass art too. Far West (Oct. 18, 5 - 8 p.m.; ages 18+), features work by Seattle artist Kelsey Fernkopf, whose neon geometry suggests portals to another world.
I experienced a previous installation of Fernkopf’s work last year, at the inaugural Light the Forest event on Pilchuck’s wooded campus. Encountering his simple shapes — glowing and elemental — among the trees was a magical experience I won’t forget. So I’m eager to see how his work looks and feels at the water’s edge.
(Heads up: Pilchuck’s next Light the Forest event is Nov. 9 -10 and features local glass artists Megan Stelljes and KCJ Szwedzinski.)
“Proto Kelp,” an environmental installation by Seattle glass artist Kait Rhoads, is on view at Method Gallery. (Brangien Davis/Cascade PBS)
Among the many free exhibits included in Refract are several venues known for giving regular attention to the ever-evolving medium. Stonington Gallery in Pioneer Square is hosting its annual exhibit Luminosity (through Nov. 30), which celebrates Northwest Native glass artists, including superstars Preston Singletary, Dan Friday and Raven Skyriver.
Traver Gallery downtown is hosting three contestants from Season 4 of the popular Netflix series Blown Away — a highly bingeable glassblowing reality competition that regularly features Northwest artists.
Taking its name from the show, Blown Away (through Oct. 27; artist mixer Oct. 18, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) features work by Morgan Peterson, Gemma Hollister and Karen Willenbrink Johnsen and reveals how very different glass art can be: comical, political, goth or ecological.
And in Traver’s second gallery, Intentionally Accidental (through Oct. 27) features Danish artist Tobias Møhl’s stunningly serene glass vessels, which appear weightless and possibly formed of feathers.
Also downtown, Vetri is showing Line Surface Volume (through Nov. 3), a playful collection of glass objects including text-engraved vessels by Ben Beres and Andi Kovel’s colorful “superchunk” cups that look as if encrusted in Jolly Rancher candies. At the Design Within Reach store, stop in to see Silica (through Oct. 30), a show by Seattle artist Jorge Cainas, who combines silica (a key component of glass), crystal, copper, rock, bones and other finds into intriguing sculptures.
Gallery Mack’s Northwest Glass Exhibit (through Nov. 9; reception Oct. 19, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.) features local experts in the form, including Paula Stokes and Paul Cunningham. At Method Gallery, you’ll find the aforementioned green glass lungs, as well as a room draped in glass seaweed by Kait Rhoads for Proto Kelp (through Oct. 19; artist talk Oct. 19, 2 p.m.).
“Mod Candy Cloud,” by Seattle glass artist Nancy Callan, is part of her show ‘Forces at Play’ in Tacoma. (Museum of Glass)
Seattle Art Museum’s new exhibit Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams (Oct. 17 - Jan. 19, 2025) features a huge collection of work from the Baltimore artist’s 50-year career.
I’ll write more about this remarkable show in a forthcoming newsletter, but for our glass theme I’ll note that many of Scott’s figural sculptures are made with astonishingly intricate glass beadwork, and some larger pieces feature blown-glass bodies (and Buddhas) as well. At the press preview, while explaining her desire to “investigate the translucency of glass,” Scott nodded to a glassblowing residency she had at Pilchuck in 1992.
Tacoma’s Museum of Glass is a required stop for any glass tour, and is currently featuring a couple of new shows by Seattle artists — both of whom approach glass with playfulness, but through entirely different styles.
In Forces at Play (through Sept. 1, 2025; curator tour Oct. 20 at 1 p.m.), longtime glass artist Nancy Callan, who studied glassblowing with maestro Lino Tagliapietra, shows appealingly liquid forms that alternately resemble hard candies, luminescent creatures from the deep and graph paper that has dropped LSD.
In a neighboring gallery, Bri Chesler presents Untamed: The Anatomy of Desire (through March 30, 2025), in which she channels the swamps of her Florida childhood into a gooey glass garden. Using pinks, oranges and purples, she creates a florid botanical fantasyland that drips with the innate desire to reproduce.
Even if you catch just one or two of these shows, you’ll be expanding your understanding of glass.
Seattle singer Grace Love will perform at The Royal Room as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival. (Jason Tang)
Musical interlude
October’s music calendar speaks to another art form Seattleites enjoy exploring to its farthest reaches.
• The 36th annual Earshot Jazz Festival (Oct. 17 - Nov. 3; multiple venues) has arrived, with its customary array of enticing concerts and tough choices.
Tomorrow night (Oct. 18), for example, you’ll have to decide between excellent Seattle artists: the Skerik and Ahamefule J. Oluo Ensemble, featuring, respectively, a mad scientist of the saxophone and a trumpet maestro (Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.); and R&B songstress Grace Love (The Royal Room, at 8 p.m.). Splitting yourself in two is recommended.
• Emerald City Music, known for its innovative approaches to presenting classical music, kicks off its ninth season with American Sketches (Oct. 18 in Seattle; Oct. 19 in Tacoma). Esteemed Seattle violinist Kristin Lee will play short works from the late 19th century through 2017 (think Joplin, Gershwin and Bloch) in an intimate, laid-back setting.
• Seattle Symphony musicians are leaning into Halloween vibes, playing the live score for a double-feature screening of Bride of Frankenstein (1934) and Young Frankenstein (1974). Yes, of course your outfit should include fake bolts stuck to your neck! Just remember: It’s pronounced Frankensteen. (Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.)
And finally: “What Would You Say” about a certain Seattle musician getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this weekend?
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