Inside Seattle Museum Month

By Shalini Gujavarty

Seattle Museum Month has begun! That means you can enjoy the cultural benefits of the Emerald City without stressing about admission prices; from now through February 29, over 40 museums are half-price. See some of our museum picks below and check out all that Seattle Museum Month has to offer here.

Seattle Art Museum 

Seattle Art Museum presents Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic (February 11 – May 8). The exhibit is an overview of Wiley's 14-year career and features 60 paintings, sculptures, and stained glass pieces. Wiley is renowned for his photo-based portraits of African Americans that wink knowingly at old masters.

Morpheus, 2008, Kehinde Wiley, American, b. 1977, oil on canvas, 108 x 180 in. Courtesy of Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California; Sean Kelly, New York; Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris; and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. © Kehinde Wiley.

Pacific Science Center

Don't miss the Tropical Butterfly House at Pacific Science Center, where the temperatures are in the low 80s and exotic colors abound. Watch the butterflies fly, sun themselves and feed among tropical flowers. See new butterflies emerge in the chrysalis viewing window.

Frye Art Museum

Admission is free at this jewel box of a museum that houses the personal collection of Emma and Charles Frye. Charles Frye, a meatpacker who died in 1940, provided in his will for the museum—which opened to the public in 1952. The collection's strength is in representational painting and sculpture from the 19th century.

Photo of Frye Salon by Mark Woods

Experience Music Project

Seattle is a hub for major video game studios, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Experience Music Project pays homage to the alternative scene with the Indie Game Revolution exhibit. The exhibit is midway through a two-year residence and will close in Fall 2016. 

Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI)

Macklemore, Shabazz Palaces, and THEESatisfaction are all stars that have emerged out of the Seattle hip-hop scene. MOHAI explores the legacy of these and earlier acts such as Sir Mix-A-Lot. The Legacy of Seattle Hip-Hop exhibit (through May 1) encompasses many facets of the Seattle Hip-Hop scene, including graffiti, deejaying, break dancing, production, and emceeing.

Photo by Nicole Wilson

Henry Art Gallery

Seattle's center for contemporary art showcases the figurative and abstract art of James Welling from February 13 to June 26. Over four decades, Welling makes constant references to the history of photography.

Bellevue Art Museum

Worth the scenic drive across Lake Washington to check out this contemporary museum that features Washington artists. The current exhibit Camp Fires: The Queer Baroque of Léopold L. Foulem, Paul Mathieu, and Richard Milette (through February 14) explores the concept of "camp" as manifested in the works of three important francophone Canadian ceramic artists.