DESTINATION
The Seattle Asian Art Museum
By David Yamaguchi, The North American Post
As is probably true for many readers, it had been years since I had last visited the Seattle Asian Art Museum on Capitol Hill (“Cave Art,” napost.com, 2016). Closed for several years for extensive renovation, it was slated to reopen to the public in February 2020, but didn’t owing to the pandemic.
Now open again, SAAM makes for a great rainy day, spring activity. The back — formerly largely occupied by its auditorium — is the main area that was remodeled and expanded, retaining its beautiful art-deco design in the front.
Only after seeing the renovation did it occur to me that art museums are necessarily cave-like, to protect art from fading in the sun. Yet like coming up for air while snorkeling, one finds that wandering through the museum’s new brightly lit back areas provides respite from the dark. They impart the visitor with renewed energy with which to dive into the next cavern — the next museum room — to see what treasures await therein.
1400 E Prospect St.
Admission: “pay as you wish”
FREE on the last Friday of each month
www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/asian-art-museum
