Seattle, in May
Last month, I went to Seattle for two days for a workshop.
I arrived on Sunday around noon. Since everything closed early, my plan was to go to the art museum and then the public library. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have time to go to Pike Place while it was open.
![King Street Station with taxis in front](/img/2019/06/king-street-station.jpg)
![Looking down at some outdoor brick steps](/img/2019/06/steps.jpg)
![Looking up at the corner of a tall building. In front flies an American flag](/img/2019/06/tall-building-flag.jpg)
![Looking up at tall glass buildings](/img/2019/06/buildings-up.jpg)
![Street view of a white building with tall windows](/img/2019/06/white-building.jpg)
![The side of a brick apartment building with small windows](/img/2019/06/brick-building.jpg)
![Street intersection](/img/2019/06/street-crossing-2.jpg)
![Van driving through a street intersection](/img/2019/06/street-crossing.jpg)
![Looking up at a tall white building with many windows](/img/2019/06/tall-building.jpg)
Seattle Art Museum
What if I can’t find the art museum? I thought, but luckily the building had the words ART MUSEUM on it in big letters, so I was not lost.
![Side of the museum that has the words Art Museum etched in big letters in the surface](/img/2019/06/sam-outside.jpg)
![Lobby of the art museum where a big installation that looks like a tree trunk with branches hangs sideways from the ceiling](/img/2019/06/sam-inside.jpg)
There was a coat check, so I dropped off my backpack (which you’re not allowed to wear in) and put my sketchbook and water (which I later learned you also wasn’t allowed to have inside) in a tote bag. Since it was relatively dark, I didn’t take any film photos inside the exhibits.
I was fortunate to visit on the last day of the Jeffrey Gibson’s exhibition, Like a Hammer.
![Text woven into a colourful textile](/img/2019/06/gibson-baldwin.jpg)
“American history is longer, larger, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.”
— James Baldwin
![Thin vertical strips hanging with words written on them. The strips form a rainbow](/img/2019/06/gibson-rainbow.jpg)
DON'T MAKE ME OVER
The rest of the museum was varied and beautiful—I wish I had more time to go through everything more slowly.
![Painting of a black woman in a blue dress](/img/2019/06/sam-saint-woman.jpg)
Saint Woman
Amy Sherald (2015)
![Bronze scuplture of religious figures](/img/2019/06/sam-lamentation.jpg)
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
Massimiliano Soldani (1714)
![Sculpture of a bird](/img/2019/06/sam-raven.jpg)
Lkaayaak Yell S'aaxw (Box of Daylight Raven hat)
Tlingit, Taku village, Gaanax.ádi clan (1850)
![Sculpture of an animal head with large curved horns](/img/2019/06/sam-crocodile-headdress.jpg)
Crocodile headdress
Nigerian/Cameroonian, Cross River, Ejagham
Seattle Public Library
![Side of a building on a steep incline](/img/2019/06/street-incline.jpg)
Downtown Seattle turned out to be quite sloped, and I walked a few blocks uphill from the museum to the library.
I had seen photos of the library online, but I forgot how extraordinary it was, until I took the escalator up to the third floor, and the glass wall slowly revealed itself to me.
I switched my film here and I forgot to change the ISO setting on my camera, so most of my interior shots came out underexposed and dark. But here are the few that didn’t:
![Outside of the library's slanted glass windows](/img/2019/06/library-outside.jpg)
![Looking up at the bottom of the escalator. It's neon yellow with the word escalator written on it in big letters](/img/2019/06/library-escalator.jpg)
![Looking out the diamond shaped window panes at a building across the street](/img/2019/06/library-windows.jpg)
The fourth floor was entirely red, which was amazing and eerie and disorienting.
![Down an empty allway that's painted from floor to ceiling red](/img/2019/06/library-red-floor-1.jpg)
![Empty hallway that's floor to ceiling red](/img/2019/06/library-red-floor-2.jpg)
I walked around the bookstacks, which the library calls the Book Spiral. The escalator/stairs situation was confusing and I wasn’t sure how to navigate around.
I ate lunch/dinner at Cortina during happy hour. I picked it because at this point a headache was forming and I wanted to go somewhere that was enroute to my hotel.
![Empty bar at a restaurant with many alcohol bottles lined up on wooden shelves](/img/2019/06/cortina.jpg)
![Theatre exterior that's showing Westside Story.](/img/2019/06/westside-story.jpg)
After eating, I went up to my hotel to check in and lie down for a bit. I hadn’t been to a hotel in a long time, and it was novel to be somewhere by myself.
![View of tall buildings through the hotel window](/img/2019/06/hotel-view.jpg)
![Mirror photo of myself](/img/2019/06/hotel-selfie.jpg)
pike place (after hours) + the pier
I made my way down to the water. Pike Place had closed by now, so I only passed through.
![A bike leaning against a lamp post](/img/2019/06/bicycle.jpg)
![Gate covering an entryway with the sign 91 and 1/2 on it](/img/2019/06/gate.jpg)
![Farmers Market neon sign at the public market](/img/2019/06/farmers-market-sign.jpg)
![Looking up at the side of a brick building with a small balcony](/img/2019/06/balcony.jpg)
![Empty hallway in the public market with neon signage](/img/2019/06/restrooms-sign.jpg)
Seattle has a lot of bike sharing, especially around the pier, but I opted not to try it out as it was quite busy and I didn’t want to fight another app sign up and payment workflow.
![View of downtown buildings from the pier](/img/2019/06/pier.jpg)
![Looking up at the ferris wheel](/img/2019/06/wheel-up.jpg)
![Ferris wheel on the pier beside the water, viewed from a distance](/img/2019/06/wheel.jpg)
![Horse drawn carriage](/img/2019/06/horse-carriage.jpg)
![The words 'Hulk Smash' taped on the window of a building](/img/2019/06/hulk-smash.jpg)
Miner’s Landing was interesting and had an entire carousel inside.
![Neon sign of The Crab Pot](/img/2019/06/crab-pot.jpg)
![Arcade games with neon lights](/img/2019/06/arcade.jpg)
![Indoor carousel](/img/2019/06/carousel.jpg)
![Closeup of a horse on the carousel](/img/2019/06/carousel-close.jpg)
Afterwards, I went to McDonalds and then back to my hotel to watch the new Game of Thrones episode 🔪🔥
Day 2
![4 books on a table with a notebook, water, and some food](/img/2019/06/tufte-books.jpg)
I was in Seattle to attend Edward Tufte’s course, Presenting Data and Information. I was fortunate to have my company sponsor my attendance.
The course ended in the afternoon, and I dropped by General Assembly to meet a Twitter mutual. It was cool! Sometimes I hate being as Online™ as I am but also each time that I meet someone I know from the internet is a cool moment.
![Looking up at a big building with lots of windows](/img/2019/06/building-wide.jpg)
![Mirror selfie in a circular convex mirror on the street](/img/2019/06/convex-mirror.jpg)
![Street view of a white building with trees in front](/img/2019/06/5th-ave.jpg)
![Street view of a dark brick building](/img/2019/06/general-assembly.jpg)
![Crosswalk with a woman standing on the other side](/img/2019/06/university-st.jpg)
I stopped at a cafe patio to change my film, and there was a woman sketching passersby. I thought about it, and decided to ask her if she had drawn me while I was sitting there. She hadn’t, but we briefly chatted. She works at a television production company and asked me if I came there to draw a lot. I told her I was a tourist.
![Looking up a tall glass building](/img/2019/06/building-glass.jpg)
![Various buildings and a construction crane](/img/2019/06/crane.jpg)
leaving
![Archway in Chinatown](/img/2019/06/chinatown.jpg)
I didn’t have time to explore Chinatown, so I quickly went through to visit Kinokuniya. It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t spend much time here though, because the ten minutes I did spend I ended up buying three shiba inu things 🥺
I took some photos from the train window, but they all turned out too dark and/or blurry.
![Coastline from the train](/img/2019/06/water.jpg)
The view of the water was pretty spectacular, but unfortunately couldn't be captured on film. This is as good as it gets.
final thoughts
- A day wasn’t enough to spend in Seattle—I managed to visit only three places (the art museum, the library, and the pier). I’ll be going back in a few months for a more leisurely three days, in which I hope to go to more museums, the market, and the university.
- I think I took too many photos of the same streets and angles and buildings. I need to get better at composition and being more creative.