Costume season is upon us, and whether you’re planning a movie night with Michael Myers or putting the final touches on your Louvre-robber get-up, consider pausing to contemplate the power of the mask. It’s remarkable how even a simple piece of cloth over the face changes both external and internal perceptions of a person — how masks can make you feel invisible or invincible, or impart the fleeting sense of an entirely new identity.
The transformative power of masks is on full display at the Frye Art Museum, which is hosting the first U.S. survey of work by Kwakwaka’wakw Hereditary Chief Beau Dick (1955 - 2017). Insatiable Beings (through Jan. 18) is a stunning display of some 40 exceptional masks and puppets by the master carver, plus 15 “forest spirit” masks made in homage by his apprentices.
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Based in Alert Bay, a small island community in northern British Columbia, Dick made works specifically intended to be worn in rituals and ceremonies, including potlatch events. Banned across North America from the late 1800s through the mid-20th century, potlatches continued in secret until the restrictions were officially lifted. Dick considered them the “best form of resistance” against Western whitewashing.
In Kwakwaka’wakw and many other Indigenous cultures, masks aren’t just theatrical, they embody the spirits of mythological figures and ancestors. Coming from a long line of carvers, Dick was known to listen to the raw wood — to find out what it wanted to be before he dug in with his own interpretation. Then, using red or yellow cedar, acrylic paint and horsehair (which makes for spectacularly long eyebrows), he created masks to carry the stories of his heritage.
Dick’s “Bookwus” (alternately “Bukwass”) masks represent the supernatural “wild man of the woods” who guards the forest while looking for souls to steal. The counterpart “wild woman of the woods,” or “Tsonoqua,” is no less ominous, with a tendency to capture and eat naughty children. The artist’s 2016 take on Tsonoqua is particularly daunting, at an enormous (76” by 52”) scale.
Several of Dick’s masks incorporate a clever pulley system that allows the wearer to manipulate the features while worn. This includes clappable wooden jaws in the many-beaked “Moogums” mask — used in ceremonies to purge urges from cannibalist to capitalist.
While Dick rooted his masks in First Nations culture, he was also comfortable breaking out of traditional formline design to incorporate diverse artistic influences — from Japanese Noh masks to Caravaggio paintings to pop culture. That’s what tips this exhibition from ethnographic history into contemporary art, and what makes it both fascinating and convincing in terms of the meaning a mask can carry.
For Seattle, spooky season stretches well beyond Halloween weekend — the scariest element of which this year may be setting the clocks back. We’ll still be snacking on that “just in case” extra bag of Fun-Size Snickers when, whammo, it’s back to 4:49 p.m. sunsets on Sunday. What a scream.
But there are plenty of current art shows to match the mood, and in the process help us appreciate (or at least get through?) the Big Dark.
You can start at the Tacoma Art Museum, where the new group show Haunted (through June 7, 2026), features film and photography with an uncanny vibe. That includes Steve Gilbert’s photographs of Kelsey Fernkopf’s neon installations — glowing geometries that resemble portals you could disappear into. See also the captivating “Garden Digital Carpet,” a ruglike projection by Seattle-based Iranian artist Maryam Dehbozorgi, in which design elements flutter and shift beneath your feet.
Also newly opened at TAM is Uncanny Twilight (through June 7, 2026), a solo show of work by Northwest painter Cable Griffith. In his work, Griffith presents local nature through a curious lens — sometimes pixillated, as if through a kaleidoscope or old computer program, sometimes surreal, as in a dream or video game. Brightly painted, bulbous ovals often float through his scenes, resembling alien flora. With a lush palette, Griffith dissects the hues of nature and serves them back to us with a curious electricity that demands a second look.
At the Henry Art Gallery, Spirit House (through Jan. 11, 2026) presents 34 artists from the Asian diaspora whose work pokes at the scrim between life and death. Reincarnation, hauntings and offerings populate this diverse collection. I’m particularly fond of several architectural works that touch on how buildings hold onto ghosts and memories. That includes Do Ho Suh’s striking installation Doorknobs, in which he created delicate textile replicas of the doorknobs he has gripped at various homes and studios. See also the fantastic, fruit-filled altars by Stephanie H. Shih and Cathy Lu.
Roq La Rue Gallery can always be counted on for art with an unsettling edge, and the new show Fantasmagoria (through Nov. 1) delivers. The works in this group show — devoted to strange illusions and hallucinations — depict vampire bats, skulls of all sizes, witchy women, tempting demons, a “Mysterious Mr. Hagstone” and one “Unnecessary Octopus."
Ghost Gallery, which haunts the echoing halls of Pacific Place mall Downtown, is featuring original gouache-on-paper paintings by Seattle artist Niki Quist, aka Gloomy Grove (through Nov. 9). These ghosts are less eerie than endearing, decked out in simple sheets and alternately walking in the rain, reading, having a tryst and floating through foggy fields of flowers.
A few blocks away, you’ll find an enchanting Bestiary (through Nov. 2) at Orcas Paley. The tiny shop is always packed with artful objects, and is currently hosting a terrific group show of largely local artists whose work leans into the unearthly. See Saya Moriyasu’s adorable ceramic creatures, Eve Cohen’s compellingly creepy fabric creations, Ursula Brookbank’s delightfully weird wire insects and much more, all cleverly arranged among the brimming shelves.
And to address the sense of dread coming from inside your own head, check out Seattle artist Jen Ament’s Headtrip at Madrona’s Spectrum Fine Art (Oct. 30 - Dec. 20). These boldly graphic oil paintings suggest split selves, mystical moments and the inner voices that sometimes scrap with each other. The three titular works are each dominated by the silhouette of a head, filled with cartoonish competing thoughts, from ghosts to ice cream to artwork... to so many counted sheep. Other pieces offer a sense of lightness — a flying rabbit, floating candles, sunny orbs — but as ever, life’s mysteries remain.
ICYMI: Art by Northwest: Season 2 is fully fledged and flapping around! If you haven’t yet caught up, check out these eight amazing artists working in printmaking, ceramics, glass, oil painting, scientific illustration, mask carving and forest-floor photography — and in the process glimpse the beautiful and diverse natural landscapes across the state.
