Museum visitors are invited to pound a nail into Yoko Ono's Painting to Hammer a Nail. While it might at first seem a destructive, physically aggressive act against the accepted traditions of painting and museums in general, in the end the concept opens up new potentials for painting, and for bringing others besides the artist into the creative act.

“Contemporary art fans will be thrilled to see some of the works on view… Visitors less familiar with contemporary art should find the premise easily engaging and, if nothing else, everyone should be entertained by some of the vicious and witty assaults on painting. Paintings are shredded, burned, unzipped, turned backward and pushed beyond recognition.” – Seattle Times

"I met Helga at Karl and Anna Kuerner's place, where I've painted for years. Karl's health was fading, and whenever one of my subjects begins to go, I find a younger subject.
It's like spring following winter.... I was entranced the instant
I saw her."

"I always remembered the hair on the back of her head. That spot on the back of her neck where the hair would start....
I peered at this part of her deeper and deeper. I became enamored of that spot."

– Andrew Wyeth to Thomas Hoving, 1995, 2002

Celebrate summer this Friday from 8 pm to midnight at the Olympic Sculpture Park with a unique mashup of art, music, dancing, spoken word and after-dark tours. This Remix features Breakdancing Ninja Clan, Roberto Ascalon and Paul Rucker, Friends of the Nib, DJ Freddy King of Pants, DJ
Colby b, David Schmader, Lindy West, PDL and a stage of internationally renowned recording artists curated by the Decibel Festival. The first 100 guests at the door the night of the event get in free! SAM members pay only $5.

Thursdays, October 1–December 10, 7:30 pm

They sell out "faster than a speeding black sedan," so get your Film Noir series tickets early! The dangerous movies featured: October 1, The Reckless Moment; October 8, Nocturne; October 15, Riffraff; October 22, Desert Fury; October 29, The Story of Molly X; November 5, Alias Nick Beal; November 12, Bigger Than Life; November 19, The Bad Seed; December 3, The Naked Kiss; and December 10, Games.

Series tickets go on sale Tuesday, August 18. Call the SAM Box Office at 206.654.3121 or Scarecrow Video at 206.524.8554.