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November’s First Thursday brought over 350 visitors through ARTS at King Street Station

NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC performance. Photo by Marcus Donner.

On Thursday, November 7, over 350 community members joined us at ARTS at King Street Station during Pioneer Square’s First Thursday Artwalk! Visitors celebrated the opening of NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC and felt the art in Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers.

Musicians dressed in Indigenous Mexican regalia play instruments in the gallery under orange flowers
NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC. Photo by Marcus Donner.

Curated by EL SUEÑO, NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC is an exhibition of Mexican Indigenous art and heritage, featuring sculpture, film, and visual art. The collection stands as a tribute to the rich tapestry of traditions, colors, and stories woven by the Indigenous communities of Mexico and passed down to our present generation.

During the opening event, Hector Ivan Godoy Priske, a member of the Mexican consulate, shared inspiring words with the audience. Moving performances, live music, and an artist panel followed, keeping the community captivated as we celebrated Mexican Indigenous identity together.

A man in a suit speaks into a microphone and a woman stand behind and claps.
Gülgün Kayim (left), ARTS Director, and Hector Ivan Godoy Priske (right), Head Consul of Mexico in Seattle. Photo by Marcus Donner.

Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers challenges the traditional boundaries of art appreciation by inviting visitors to engage through touch. This exhibition comes to ARTS King Street Station to raise awareness about accessibility for blind and low-vision individuals in the arts while bridging the gap between visual and tactile art experiences.

Two women touch standing statues.
Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers. Photo by Marcus Donner

On First Thursday, gallery visitors were invited to experience the exhibition while wearing a sleep shade and using their sense of touch. Sighted guides from ReVision Arts took them through the exhibition, allowing guests to experience the art in new ways.

An elder woman guides a younger woman with a blind fold on to touch a wooden statue of a head.
Barbara Oswald (left), one of curators of Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers, leads a visitor on a sighted guide tour. Photo by Marcus Donner.

Check out the highlights below and see both the shows in person until Jan. 4, 2025. ARTS at King Street Station is free and open Wednesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., and until 8 p.m. on First Thursdays. The gallery is located at 303 S. Jackson St., Top Floor, Seattle, WA 98104.

Photos by Marcus Donner.


What to Expect

Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers is a tactile exhibition inviting visitors to engage with artwork through touch. The show includes 2D and 3D work including theatrical costumes; depictions of animals, animal skeletons, architecture, and mythic creatures; depictions of the human head and face and form, and other abstract imagery and sculpture.

NOCHES DE ANÁHUAC features 2D and 3D works, photography, and film that includes themes of history, nature, ancestry, tradition, ritual, and cultural heritage both past and present. Works depict the human form, objects of sacred, historical, and cultural importance, and abstract representations of ancestry and ancestral connections.

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