Meeting planners organizing a Seattle event will have a trio of amazing art exhibitions for their attendees to savor in the New Year.
Gauguin Gets Exotic
The Gauguin and Polynesia: South Pacific Encounters exhibit will be on display from Feb. 9 through April 29, 2012 at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). This is the first exhibit to bring Polynesian studies to the center of an exploration of Paul Gauguin’s art, revealing the dynamic relationship between the work of the great European artist and the Polynesian art that he encountered when he moved to the South Pacific islands in 1891. With approximately 40 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Paul Gauguin and works from Pacific island cultures, the exhibit will reveal the influence of Polynesian art and culture on Gauguin’s work in unique depth. At the same time, the exhibit will explore a fuller history of Polynesian art as it responded to the dynamic exchanges between Pacific Island peoples and Europeans throughout the 19th century. Group and individual tickets are on sale now.
Chihuly’s Garden and Glass
The Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition is being built on Seattle Center’s 74-acre campus and is expected to open in spring 2012. The exhibition will showcase the glass sculpting of Washington-native Dale Chihuly. Artwork including a comprehensive collection of glass, sculpture and other media is slated to be displayed in both interior and exterior exhibits. The interior exhibit will highlight the wide variety of Chihuly’s work; the exterior will feature Chihuly’s Gardens and Glass exhibitions, previously presented at venues throughout the world. The exterior will also include a 40-foot Glass House structure with Chihuly artwork suspended from the ceiling.
Tut, Tut, Tut
The Pacific Science Center will host the West Coast debut of Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs, May 24, 2012 through Jan. 6, 2013. This is the largest King Tut exhibition ever shown on the West Coast, featuring more than 100 objects from both the tomb of King Tut and from royal and private tombs and temples of important rulers throughout 2,000 years of ancient Egyptian history. In addition to these artifacts, many of which have never been seen in North America, the exhibition will offer the opportunity to learn about King Tut’s life and death through recent CT scans of his mummy. Group tickets for this exhibition are now on sale.