Seattle Art Museum

My office is only a block away and I can’t believe I’ve never been to the art museum except to the gift shop and the cafeteria. Now that the museum has had its grand reopening I will have to try and get there.

SAM has hired a new curator of contemporary art and a new deputy director of programs. Expect to see some amazing programming once they re-open.

I look forward to their expansion and also the sculpture park they’re building. Mostly I go to shows, I’ve especially enjoyed many from the last few years.

I was a guard-you know, one of those people that stand and look really bored and occasionally tell you to check your dripping umbrella. I liked this job because it basically required no skills that an inanimate object couldn’t perform. Stop people from walking into the gallery they were setting up (wall), don’t let people touch the art (alarm), giggle when people talk about how Leonardo painted the Sistine Chapel (laughing box). I spent the time there memorizing Shakespearean sonnets and the Sermon on the Mount, and napping in the break room when I could. The people I worked with there were really interesting-all aspiring (but perhaps failing) artists and crazy people of the best type. I left after college to get a “real” job in customer service at Amazon on the night shift… and most people thought I was crazy giving up what I had to work for a cult.

Unfortunately, other than an occasional good show, I see no reason to visit more than once a year since 75% of the stuff has been exactly the same since 8 years ago.