A Day as an Intern at SAM

Seattle Art Museum on Sep 2 2011

We’re saying goodbye to the last of our summer interns. Here’s a little about Alex Wade’s experience at SAM in his own words.
-Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

By Alex Wade

My alarm goes off at 7:30 am. Of course I hit snooze for those oh so crucial extra five minutes.  Then it’s off to the shower.  I get dressed and walk to the bus stop.  It’s 8:13 am and the 345 arrives a few minutes late like always.  I take my seat and ride to the Northgate Transit Center where I hop on the 41.  I get off at my stop and walk through the tunnel.  As I continue through the tunnel, I can see the light  (figures huh?).  I come out of the tunnel at 2nd and University right in front of SAM. It’s an impressive building and I always feel important as I swipe my card key to get into the employee entrance.  The security guard says, ”Hi Alex” as I sign in and type my pin code into the computer. Then it’s off to the 5th floor, a floor you would never expect existed unless you worked at the museum. A floor where everything that keeps the museum going is thought of, implemented and carried out.

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Surf’s Up! Catch a Wave Film Series Contest

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 30 2011

The sun is out, and we’re celebrating by giving away a pair of tickets to this September’s film series, called Catch a Wave: The Art of Surf Culture. All you have to do is leave a comment that answers the following question. We’ll pick the winner out of the correct answers and let you know who won on Friday, September 2. Start guessing!

Which of these writers have written about surfing?

  1. Alexander Hume Ford
  2. Jack London
  3. Mark Twain
  4. Tom Wolfe

Good luck!

All Roads Lead to SAM: New and Improved Visitor Information

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 24 2011

At the suggestion of one of our customers, SAM’s online visitor information just got tricked out. In an effort to encourage people to use different forms of transportation and to make it easier to find us no matter where you are, we’ve added several links to maps that show people how to bike, bus and even walk to SAM Downtown, the Seattle Asian Art Museum and the Olympic Sculpture Park. Some of the exciting new features include:

  • Bike rack information (did you know that there are bike racks at all three locations?) as well as maps that have bike and bus directions.
  • Links to three different public transportation sites with a SAM location already entered as the destination, as well as a link to Metro that lists all the buses that go nearby.

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Dear SAM: A Love Letter From a Summer Intern

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 17 2011

Dear SAM: A Love Letter From a Summer Intern

Dear SAM,

I usually begin letters more eloquently than this. There’s usually a smooth intro, a “how do you do,” a nifty tidbit about my life. But brutal honesty is all that’s coming to mind now and I think we’re now close enough for that. So here it goes: I am going to miss you immensely. And here’s why…

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Beauty Shot Fridays: What is one of your favorite summer explorations?

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 16 2011

The Stranger’s Jen Graves is on to us.

We like exploration.

In fact, we like it so much that it’s the focus of this week’s Beauty Shot Fridays question:

What is one of your favorite summer explorations?

Send your photo response to beautyshots@seattleartmuseum.org by 4 pm Friday. Our favorite entry will win two tickets to “hitRECord
at the Movies with Joseph Gordon-Levitt” on August 23 at the Neptune Theater.

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7 Tips for Having an Awesome Time at SAM Remix

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 12 2011

1. Print your tickets at home.
We’ll admit it: the Will Call line can be a little slow. So we suggest you print your tickets at home and skip it altogether.

2. Get in the right line.
The PACCAR Pavilion will close at 4:00 pm and the park will close at 6:00 pm to the public. The doors for Remix will open at 8:00 pm. Print-at-home ticket buyers enter at Western Avenue and Broad Street. Will Call ticket holders and ticket buyers enter at Broad Street and Elliot Avenue (near the Neukom Vivarium).

3. Bring cash and your ID.
There isn’t an ATM machine at the Olympic Sculpture Park. We suggest picking cash up before coming to the park. The nearest ATM to the park is located at Ellington Grocery & Deli, corner of First Avenue and Clay Street.

Remix is an 18+ event. All guests 21 and older will need to show ID at the two ID Check stations in order to receive a wristband to consume alcohol. There will be one ID check station at the main entrance on Western and Broad and a second ID check station along the Z path. Look for the white tent with lights.

4. Wear warm clothes and comfy shoes.
The weather forecast for Remix is sunny with temperatures in the 70s. However, once the sun goes down, it can get a little chilly at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Ladies (and some gents), remember that you will be a park with grass so we would advise against wearing heels.

The first 50 people wearing gingham will get into Remix for free. The first 50 line will be at the Western Avenue and Broad Street entrance.

5. Know where the restrooms are located.
Inside the PACCAR Pavilion, there are restrooms available for use. Additionally there will be temporary facilities along the Z Path in the park.

6. Carpool, bus, bike or take a taxi.
We encourage using public transportation or cabs to the Olympic Sculpture Park. The parking  garage will be closed to the public there is some street parking and several pay lots surrounding the Olympic Sculpture Park.

7. Reap the benefits of being a SAM member.
Get the VIP treatment at the Remix Members Lawn. Perks include the opportunity to mix and mingle with Remix artists, and a first-class viewing area of performances in the Gates Amphitheater.

Not a SAM member? Join tonight! Turn your Remix ticket in for $10 off a new SAM membership. Offer good on Student- ($30) through Patron-level memberships. Please present your Remix ticket at the Membership Table or Members Lawn to redeem this offer. Offer good onsite only during Remix.

Get to Know the Olympic Sculpture Park After Dark at Remix

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 11 2011

Get to Know the Olympic Sculpture Park After Dark at Remix

At SAM Remix on August 12, experience the Olympic Sculpture Park in new and unexpected ways with highly-opinionated tours led by artists, Remix co-hosts and special guests.

  • 8:30 pm: Steven Vroom, Executive Director & Curator of Exhibitions, 911 Media
  • 8:45 pm: Erin Fetridge, Canoe Social Club, Remix Co-host
  • 9 pm: Sharon Arnold, Artist and Youth Program Manager, Gage Academy
  • 9:15 pm: Julie Parrett, Landscape Architect
  • 9:30 pm: Susan Robb, Artist
  • 9:45 pm: Stephanie Pure, American Institute of Architects Seattle, Remix Co-host
  • 10 pm: Kathy Lindenmayer, One Reel/Bumbershoot, Remix Co-host

Tours will meet on the Mosley Path near Dante’s Inferno Dogs. If you don’t have your Remix tickets yet, click here to buy them now!

-Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

Photo: Robert Wade

Art You Can Touch, Throw and Smell at SAM Remix

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 9 2011

My co-workers and I were talking about the upcoming SAM Remix at the Olympic Sculpture when someone mentioned that there would be artist-designed cornholes at the event.

I must admit that the term “cornhole” made several of us first think of this, but we soon learned that cornhole is actually a bean bag toss game, which fits in nicely with this Remix’s county-fair theme. Remix cornhole will feature play boards designed by Troy Gua and Dumb Eyes.

One of the best things about Remix is that you get the chance to experience art in unexpected ways:

  • Contribute to a collective massive paint-by-numbers landscape, and watch the image take form as the night progresses.
  • Join Seattle artist Nicholas Nyland and guests for a journey to the East Meadow. Illuminate the path with luminaria and admire the sunset from Gretchen Bennett’s sculpture, The Jetty.
  • Witness the newest iteration of Carolina Silva’s Air Below Ground, a series of actions composed by the artist to take place on, in and around her wooden platform and frame sculpture.
  • Sample the Olympic Sculpture Park’s signature scent, created by artist Susan Robb. Inspired by the park’s geography and art, the artist’s “spritzers” will offer Remix guests the chance to wear the scent of their choice.

So not only will you be surrounded by the amazing art of the Olympic Sculpture Park, you’ll have the opportunity to create, share and talk art all night long at SAM Remix. Click here to buy your tickets now!

-Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

Love Takes SAM by Storm

Seattle Art Museum on Aug 8 2011

Love Takes SAM by Storm

SAM’s hallways recently echoed with joyous shrieks and laughter. Although perhaps a common occurrence, the aura of joy and excitement was not from a new art piece or an exhibition opening or even a Soundsuit…

It was a marriage proposal! A young man named Storm Bennett proposed to his long-term girlfriend Stephanie in the hall of the Seattle Art Museum in a most creative way… Read More

Satisfaction Guaranteed for Thursday at the Park

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 28 2011

Satisfaction Guaranteed for Thursday at the Park

FINALLY—we’re going to have nice summer weather for this week’s “Thursday at the Park,” an evening of live music, art and food at the Olympic Sculpture Park from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.

I’m really looking forward to seeing hip-hop duo THEESatisfaction perform. Their energetic beats and tight rhymes are sure to get the crowd dancing.

Tonight’s “Art Hit” tour will feature On-Site artist, Gretchen Bennett, who will discuss her temporary work installed in the Olympic Sculpture Park. Coinciding with the event is the launch of Bennett’s new Publication Studio book, Windfall Alphabet, which showcases recent work by the artist, as well as an essay by New York-based art critic and writer, Jill Conner. The tour meets in the PACCAR Pavilion at 6:30 pm.

After the tour, maybe you’ll be inspired to make your own art. This week’s art activity is creating abstract pendants. Materials are supplied, and all ages are welcome to participate.

Say aloha to Pai’s Food Truck, which will be making its first appearance at the Olympic Sculpture Park this summer. Pai’s serves Thai-Hawaiian dishes, such as lemongrass huli huli chicken. Veraci Pizza, Whidbey Island Ice Cream and our very own TASTE will provide other yummy bites. This week’s doughnut from TASTE pastry chef Lucy Damkoehler is sweet cheese empanada. I had some last week, and while I don’t think they’re anything like an empanada, I would definitely say that they’re delicious.

Sweet cheese empanada doughnuts from TASTE Restaurant at the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park

See you at the Sculpture Park in the sun!

-Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

Photos: Robert Wade, Madeline Moy

Top photo: Specter by Gretchen Bennett

Beauty Shot Fridays: Summertime Sun and Fun

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 27 2011

Beauty Shot Fridays: Summertime Sun and Fun

In hopes of procuring more sun from the sky this week, we asked people to send us photos of their summertime fun in the sun. Photos did not have to be of Seattle or from this summer but could be of anything sun- and summer-related. I’ve selected a few of our brightest submissions from last week and written some of my thoughts on them… Read More

Applications for Betty Bowen Award Due August 1

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 24 2011

Applications for Betty Bowen Award Due August 1

The annual Betty Bowen Award is now in its 33rd year and, as the application deadline nears, the Betty Bowen Committee is looking forward to awarding a cash prize to a visual artist living and working in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho. The application is available at callforentry.org and the deadline for submissions is August 1. Over the years, this award has had an impact for artists in our region, and it reflects the commitment Betty Bowen had in supporting the vision of contemporary artists in her time. We wanted to share some insights into the strength of this memorable advocate for the visual arts in our region.

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Contest! Eye on India Prize Package

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 11 2011

Contest! Eye on India Prize Package
  • As part of the Eye on India Festival, we are gearing up for the Words on Water series happening tomorrow and Wednesday evening at the Seattle Asian Art Museum featuring some of India’s most notable writers in conversation with American writers.

Our wonderful partners, Elliott Bay Books and Tasveer have helped us to put together a great prize package that includes:

  • A pair of tickets to Words on Water series (July 12, 13) at the Seattle Asian Art Museum at 6:30 (brought to you by SAM’s Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas)
  • A pair of tickets to hear Amitav Ghosh, in Kirkland/Seattle on either Oct 17-18  (brought to you by Elliott Bay Books and Seattle Arts and Lectures)
  • A pair of tickets to the Independent South Asian Film Festival  October 7-9 (brought to you by Tasveer)

To win: simply tell us your favorite work of Indian literature or film via this blog or SAM’s Facebook post about the contest by tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.. We will randomly select a winner tomorrow morning.  Thanks!

-Cara Egan, Director of Public Relations

Silva Thinks Outside (and Inside) the Box

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 5 2011

Silva Thinks Outside (and Inside) the Box

On-Site, the second summer exhibition at SAM’s Olympic Sculpture Park, brings together new sculptures by Gretchen Bennett, Nicholas Nyland, and Carolina Silva.

Silva titled her sculpture Air Below Ground. The wooden platform and frame, as well as a series of actions the artist has composed to take place in, on, around, or underneath the sculpture were conceived specifically for the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Silva, who will create a number of installations in the structure throughout the summer, is interested in the process by which sculpture is defined, engaged with and realized. An evolving work, her activities will engage a variety of materials, including lights, sound, fog, clay, and balloons that will expand viewers’ interaction with a sculptural object, one that is in a constant state of transformation.

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A Call to Color

Seattle Art Museum on Jul 5 2011

A Call to Color

If you haven’t been to the Olympic Sculpture Park lately, you should go. Not only is it summer in the park but Trenton Doyle Hancock’s, A Better Promise—an art installation in the PACCAR Pavilion—is especially mesmerizing and animated when the bright sunshine manages to peek out of the clouds and shine into the pavilion. Ironically, this is partly because of its numerous colorful raindrops but partly it’s because of the giant vitrines full of plastic lids that sit below the installation.

As part of the work, Hancock issues a “call to color” by encouraging visitors to bring their own morsels of color—in the form of plastic bottle caps—to the park and drop them into the work of art. Nine large-scale “earthbound” vitrines have been placed on the floor in front of the hand sculpture. On the face of each of these nine containers, there is a teardrop cut-out where plastic bottle caps can be deposited by color. Visitors are encouraged to bring plastic bottle caps ranging in all shapes and sizes from detergent bottles, to clear water bottles to the black and white caps from drink bottles.

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Thank You

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 30 2011

Thank You

This is my final week as the museum’s Director.  When I inaugurated SAM’s blog in September of 2009, I imagined that this would become a place for demystifying the inner workings of an art museum.  I hope it has served this purpose on a few occasions.  My colleagues have certainly made good use of SOAP as a space for sharing their deep expertise as well as their great enthusiasm for what is happening everyday at the museum.  I’d like to use this, my last SOAP contribution, as a chance to offer reflections on what has transpired at SAM recently and why I am humbled by the experience of having served as a leader here.

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Spend Your Summer with SAM

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 30 2011

Spend Your Summer with SAM

People in Seattle make the most of the all-too-short summers and so does SAM! We’ve got a diverse array of art exhibitions, events and experiences at all three of our sites this summer. Whether you’re interested in Bollywood, baseball, yoga or landscape painting, we’ve got you covered.

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Beauty Shot Fridays!

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 29 2011

Beauty Shot Fridays!

From the PR Office at SAM comes a new and fun project called “Beauty Shot Fridays.” In order to promote Beauty & Bounty and Reclaimed, we are asking our Facebook Fans to send us photos in response to a weekly question that is based on themes in the exhibitions.

We will update our question on the SAM Facebook page every Monday by 3pm and submissions will be uploaded to the page every Friday by 4pm. If you’d like to send a photo submission (captions are welcome too!), please email beautyshots@seattleartmuseum.org

Our question this is week is: where do you find beauty and bounty in your day?

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GiveBIG Donors Contribute $30,000 to SAM

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 27 2011

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the GiveBIG campaign, to all who donated to SAM, and to The Seattle Foundation for making this incredible day of philanthropy possible.

Generous donors contributed more than $30,000 to SAM on GiveBIG day. These dollars will be stretched even further by The Seattle Foundation’s matching funds. WOW!

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Winning, SAM style

Seattle Art Museum on Jun 25 2011

Winning, SAM style

The Seattle Art Museum won first prize in the 2011 American Association of Museums Publications Design Competition for our “Kurt” exhibition poster designed by SAM graphic designer Rebecca Nickels.

While a certain actor’s career took a nosedive, SAM won a number of awards recognizing the outstanding work of our Communications team.

American Association of Museums Publications Design Competition
May 2011

  • Posters category: KURT poster
    First Prize
  • Educational Resources category: SAM Kids Events Campaign
    Honorable mention
  • Invitations category: PICASSO Suite of Invitations
    Honorable mention Read More
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