ArtSEA: Brighten short, dark days with Seattle art and light shows

Sometimes a little perspective helps: The hearty folks in Fairbanks are currently experiencing fewer than four hours of daylight (can we even call that a “day”?). 

But if that doesn’t convince you that our own 8.5 hours of daylight are plentiful, there are multiple other ways to find light in these darkest days. Light shows are a-glimmer all over town (see below), and local galleries are providing their own ways to get lit. 

I recently visited The Vestibule in Ballard to check out the latest exhibit by Bellevue-based new-media artist Maja Petric. Specimens of Time (through Jan. 25; artist talk Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.) is a small but powerful show featuring Petric’s always-innovative approach to light art. 

The centerpiece of the show is “Burn,” a pulsing mystery that resembles something out of a sci-fi film. You have to walk through black curtains to see it: a large, suspended clear cube filled with striations of green-yellow light that constantly shift, sometimes flaring orange. It’s like looking into the neural pathways of an alien intelligence — and indeed, it has important things to tell us. 

In a video about the work, Petric says the piece is meant to convey “the experience of being immersed in the Pacific Northwest rainforest.” In the darkened gallery, it emanates a green glow familiar to anyone who has walked deep in local woods. Given wildfires and other environmental threats, Petric says she aims to capture this immersion in tree-filtered light rays “as if placing them in a test tube, to safeguard the transient beauty of unspoiled landscapes.”

Those flashes of orange-red are warnings. The cube incorporates real-time weather data to reflect climate change. “When the temperature exceeds historical averages,” Petric explains, “the sculpture turns red.” The resulting artwork is like lightning in a bottle.

Pioneer Square galleries are also twinkling with inklings of light.

At J. Rinehart Gallery, Seattle oil painter Kate Protage presents Sightlines (through Dec. 21). These atmospheric urban landscapes — many of them local views — are drenched in the indigo-black of evening. Streetlights, headlights and house lights bounce off water and windows, creating a yellow incandescence that draws the viewer close, like a flame.

At Greg Kucera Gallery, the group show Light Switch (through Dec. 21) features Northwest artists doing playful takes on “light.” The trio SuttonBeresCuller renders the tell-tale coil of an LED bulb in bronze. Claudia Fitch deconstructs a hummingbird into bright geometries of neon. Norman Lundin’s painting “Kitchen Window at Night” is soaked in stillness and edged with bright moonlight. Neon artist Kelsey Fernkopf, whose minimalist works hint at portals to another world, scripts a graceful shape in red glass tubing. And Emily Counts presents a ceramic bust of a woman whose eyes (and multiple mouths) radiate purple from within. 

Mysterious ceramic women also make an appearance at nearby Method Gallery, where Canadian artist Jai-Sallay Carrington is showing Reasoning with Demons (through Dec. 14; artist talk at 1 p.m. and reception at 3 p.m.). The light in this seemingly Arctic landscape is found in a pack of wolves whose eyes glint gold as they surround a part-wolf/part-woman hybrid.

Around the corner at Solas Gallery, Canadian artist Mark Templeton offers A Guide to Inner Light (through Dec. 21). This series of Risograph prints — shimmers of light in soft ditto-machine purple — come from a stash of discarded slides accompanying 1970s and ’80s meditation cassettes. 

Don’t forget the oodles of outdoor opportunities to step into the light:

From bright, bold favorites like Woodland Park Zoo’s WildLanterns (illuminated animal-scapes, through Jan. 19) to quiet, meditative meanderings like the Bloedel Reserve’s Silent Solstice Walks on Bainbridge Island (Dec. 18 - 22).

From the tiny, peaceful trees in Pacific Bonsai Museum’s Winter Bonsai Solstice event (BYO flashlight, Dec. 14) to Garden d’Lights, the Bellevue Botanical Garden’s floral-themed blowout featuring half a million lights (through Dec. 31).

From major productions like Enchant (the giant light maze at T-Mobile Park; through Dec. 29), to homespun traditions like Candy Cane Lane in Ravenna (now in its 75th year!).

Plus: loads of luminaria, including the Washington Park Arboretum’s Winter Solstice Walk (signature cocktail included with ticket, Dec. 20 - 21) and Green Lake’s annual Pathway of Lights (Dec. 14, 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.), the latter of which — weather permitting — will also feature a bevy of illuminated hot air balloons.

If you’re still seeking festive holiday events, you’ll find a sleigh full in last week’s (rhyming!) newsletter. We’ll end this edition with a few more of the many holiday art markets happening around town. They’re a great way to support artists — and in the process, build your reputation as an awesome gift giver. 

Black Artists Market at Seattle Opera Center (Dec. 14, noon - 7 p.m., singers performing 1 - 5 p.m.)

Holiday Pop-Up at Pilchuck Glass School’s Pioneer Square location (Dec. 14, noon - 6 p.m.)

Very Open House at Equinox Studios in Georgetown (Dec. 14, open studios 3 - 9 p.m.; music and performances 9 p.m. until late)

Scented in Seattle SoDo Holiday Market for perfume fiends (Dec. 14, 10 a.m - 6 p.m.)

Holiday Art Markets at Fresh Mochi and The Grocery Studios, two indie art spaces across the street from each other on Beacon Hill (Dec. 14 -15, 2 - 5 p.m.)

J Rock Studio Sale with ceramics by Jodi Rockwell (Dec. 14 - 15, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.)

Native Art Market at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center (Dec. 21 - 22, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.) 

And finally: The Holiday Guide at Davidson Galleries isn’t so much an art market as a seasonal online sale, but it’s a great one. These staff-recommended prints — from antique to contemporary — are all priced at $250 or less (many less!), which means you might pick up a gift for your own walls as well.