Visual Art // Frye Art Museum Triple Threat
I will tell you two things about the Frye Art Museum in First Hill:
Admission is always free.
I don’t go there nearly enough given that it’s free.
But I wanted to put it on your radar this month because they have a particularly diverse set of three exhibits right now that offer something for everyone. Whether you stay for 30 minutes or 2 hours, head over to First Hill for an excellent rainy day activity.
MODERN DANCE // Donald Byrd: The America That Is To Be
When: Through January 26, 2020
Whenever I go out for ice cream (hello, Salt & Straw), I always get it in a cone because it feels like getting two treats in one. I felt the same way when I went to the Frye’s exhibit about modern dance choreographer, Donald Byrd.
Donald Byrd has been at the forefront of modern dance for over 40 years. He’s currently the Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater here in Seattle, but spent the 1980s and 1990s in New York City with his own company, Donald Byrd/The Group. And along the way, he has created over 125 dance works for many well-known companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and Dance Theater of Harlem. He’s also done work for theater and opera, including getting a Tony nomination for his work on The Color Purple.
The exhibit consists of video footage, images and costumes surveying Byrd’s career and highlights his use of dance to provoke discussion about challenging social issues, including race, gender and class. I particularly enjoyed the video footage of Byrd talking about why art is so powerful.
So if the exhibit is the first treat, the second treat is that if you go during the times listed below, dancers from Spectrum Dance Theater perform works in the space. The performances are only 20 minutes, but they are definitely worth it.
Tuesdays/Fridays 12pm
Saturdays/Sundays 3pm
Note that there are no performances on these dates: November 17, November 29, December 15, December 24–January 5
Pro Tip: It’s not free, but if you like what you see here, get tickets to see “Locally Sourced” at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, which includes a brand new work by Byrd. (Running November 8-17, 2019.)
PHOTOGRAPHY // Pierre Leguillon: Arbus Bonus
When: Through January 5, 2020
If you’re more interested in commercial photography or going back in time by looking at old magazines, this exhibit is for you. The exhibit consists of more than 200 images made or inspired by photographer Diane Arbus, whose photographs were featured in magazines, such as New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and Harper’s Bazaar, in the 1950s and 60s. She was best known for her street photographs and images of marginalized groups, but the exhibit also reflects her beginning as a commercial fashion photographer. Pierre Leguillon has pulled together the images directly from the publications in which they originally appeared and asks us to consider the role that visual media, like magazines, play in defining our past and present.
In addition to the photos, it’s also fascinating to read the magazine articles and advertisements that accompany them. There’s also some celeb-spotting in the photos. Keep your eyes out for Anderson Cooper, Mia Farrow and others.
Fun Fact: There are wooden shipping crates throughout the exhibit, which can be used for sitting, but are also the shipping crates for the exhibit itself. Love double-duty furniture!
PAINTING // Unsettling Femininity
When: Through August 23, 2020
If you’re looking for 19th and 20th Century European paintings from the Frye’s permanent collection, check out the Unsettling Femininity exhibit. This one presents paintings of women of all sorts – biblical and mythological figures, celebrities, actresses, peasants – and asks us to consider how gender can be a performance and what that performance says about the performer and the viewer.
Hours:
11–5, Tuesday–Sunday
11–7, Thursday
Closed Monday
Frye Art Museum
704 Terry Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
206-622-9250
www.fryemuseum.org