Hitting the road (and ferries) in search of summer art encounters

It’s not summer without a road trip, and in my book the best ones include an arts destination. So before your brain shifts into back-to-school mode, consider packing snacks and heading north to one of the many excellent exhibits and shows around the upper Puget Sound. Because it’s the Northwest, you can always pair an arts encounter with a nature excursion — which is pretty much chef’s kiss perfection.

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In Bellingham, light artist Kelsey Fernkopf is showing Luminous Glow (through March 7, 2027), which features his signature “neon landscapes” as photographed by artistic co-conspirator Steve Gilbert. Fernkopf bends glass tubing into minimalist geometric shapes in the studio, then he and Gilbert travel to undisclosed local locations and painstakingly stage and photograph the portal-like works at night — only to disassemble them as day breaks. 

On view at the Whatcom Museum’s aptly named Lightcatcher Building, the large-scale photographs of these eerie interventions are accompanied by an expansive, site-specific neon sculpture — a shape shifter that takes different forms as you move around it. 

If you go this weekend, you can also catch the Noisy Waters Mural Festival (Aug. 14-16), a live painting competition via 8’ x 8’ panels. Viewers vote for their faves and three winners receive commissions to paint permanent murals on Bellingham buildings, thereby adding to the urban arts landscape.

Everett makes for another easy arts stop along the I-5 corridor, and this weekend the Schack Arts Center is hosting the Fresh Paint Fest (Aug. 15-16), featuring 100+ artist booths, live entertainment and the popular “Float Find,” in which blown-glass balls are hidden around Waterfront Place for you to ferret out. 

At the Schack itself, see Present Tense (through Aug. 22), the organization’s 24th Juried Invitational, showcasing work by 70+ Northwest artists. Among the varied mediums here you’ll find work by textile artist Julie Sevilla Drake (profiled in Season 1 of Art by Northwest) and glass sculpture by Manolo Aguilera (coming up soon in Season 3 of Art by Northwest). 

Have I mentioned that the new season of Art by Northwest launches August 20? Perhaps only a few times. ;) As in past seasons, all featured artists are based outside of Seattle — which makes each episode its own little arts road trip of sorts. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile more options for a journey up north: At the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, Shadows of a Fleeting World: Pictorial Photography and the Seattle Camera Club is a revealing exhibit of photographs by the pioneering photography group (which I wrote about in July). 

La Conner offers two textile hits in one stop. The Museum of Northwest Art is showing Ross Palmer Beecher’s funny and fantastic mixed-media quilts in Speaking in the Vernacular (through Sept. 20). And just up the hill, the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum has three shows on view in its historic Victorian setting, including texture-forward, nature-inspired, undersea-appearing “FeltScapes” by Flóra Carlile-Kovács (through Oct. 11; artist reception Aug. 15) and a group show of six contemporary quilters working with traditional Korean patchwork techniques.

In tiny but mighty Edison, i.e. gallery is hosting a vibrant show of works by Seattle-born Northwest painter Joe Max Emminger. With a title in homage  to his father, Lonesome Joe (through Aug. 30; artist Q&A Aug. 15, 2 p.m.) features the artist’s simple yet intriguing style, developed over a 50-year career. 

And what about Whidbey? This weekend the island plays host to both the annual Whidbey Working Artists Studio Tour (self-guided, Aug. 15-16), with access to 48 local studios, and the Little Big Fest music and arts festival at the Langley fairgrounds (Aug. 14-16). If you stay through next week you might glimpse the Whidbey Plein Air Paint Out in Coupeville and on Camano (Aug. 17-24), wherein painters set up their easels in the outdoors.

And as if you needed a reason to visit the San Juan Islands in the summer, the Orcas Art Barn is hosting a show of 13 Orcas-based artists (through Aug. 22). Held at both the barn and the iolair residency space in Eastsound, Elements spans painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, paper, wood, metal and plant materials. 

Bonus points for Orcas-goers: Take an inter-island ferry to Friday Harbor, where the San Juan Island Museum of Art is showcasing the work of three stellar Northwest artists: photographer Imogen Cunningham, glassblower Raven Skyriver and feather carver (yes!) Chris Maynard.

For those sticking around the city this weekend, there’s a smorgasbord of options. 

< The Seattle Design Festival (Aug. 15-20) returns with talks, pop-ups and installations from design leaders, architects, artists and urban planners. SDF’s popular Block Party in Lake Union Park (Aug. 15-16) is an outdoor showcase of interactive installations, this year including: Olsen Kundig’s “Big Barrow,” which brings the forest back to the treeless park; Mithun’s “Sky Patch,” which envelops visitors in a meditative blue cube; a giant wind instrument from DLR Group; and a “slimelapse” sculpture from BRR architecture. 

< And for an epidermal design festival, there’s the Seattle Tattoo Expo (Aug. 14-16), which is back with hundreds of ink artists brandishing their skills, plus live tattooing, tattoo contests (best portrait, funniest, worst) and TrampStamps burlesque shows.

< Seattle theater collective The Feast (formerly known as The Williams Project) presents Artists Doing (Aug. 15), an evening of short performances by a very talented group of locals including musician Benjamin Hunter, dancer/drag artist Jody Kuehner, clown Bradley K. Wrenn and DJ/dancer Keyes Wiley. The show takes place in Pioneer Square at the Actualize Artists in Residence space. 

< PlantCon (Aug. 15-16) will be stretching its leafy tendrils across the Seattle Convention Center this weekend, with plantfluencers and plant exhibits and, I certainly hope, a few people in monstera costumes.

< Photographic Center Northwest is holding its annual Photo Zine and Book Fair (Aug. 16, noon-5 p.m.), a gathering of people who understand the sweet analog pleasures of photo-related zines, magazines, books and prints.

< St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill is celebrating 70 years of its much beloved Compline Choir (Aug. 16 at 9:30 p.m.). The tradition began with 12 men from UW who gathered to study and sing Medieval “plainchant” music (think: Gregorian chants). It has continued on Sunday nights all these years. Seven years ago, women were invited to join in song, establishing a female “expression” of the compline choir. For the anniversary, both choirs will perform together, in the incredible acoustics of St. Mark’s. Hint: Listening while lying on the floor is a trip, so bring a blanket.