Brangien Davis

Seattle

Arts and Culture Editor at Cascade PBS

Arts & culture editor @crosscut. Music maker @argumentband. Writer and cat scratcher at large.

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Articles

ArtSEA: NEA tells Northwest arts orgs their funding is “terminated”

1 week ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

Sent to NEA grantees (including those awaiting NEA-recommended funds), the after-hours Friday-night alert explained that the arts endowment “may terminate a federal award … if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.” The email included a list of new agency priorities, several of which seemed to suggest a surprising direction in funding, such as projects that: “celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence,” “foster AI competency,” “empower houses of...
Seattle writer Tessa Hulls wins Pulitzer Prize for best memoir

1 week ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

‘Feeding Ghosts,’ a graphic memoir, traces three generations of Chinese women across time and continents, trauma and resilience. A spread from ‘Feeding Ghosts,’ the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic memoir by Seattle writer/comics illustrator Tessa Hulls. (Macmillan Publishers) Seattle author and artist Tessa Hulls has won a 2025 Pulitzer Prize for her first book, Feeding Ghosts.
ArtSEA: The Pioneer Square gallery that’s gone to the dogs

2 weeks ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis |Gavin Borchert

Plus, “Ballard Opera Man” sings his swan song in Tosca at Seattle’s McCaw Hall. It’s the first day of May, and a pack of wild dogs has appeared in Pioneer Square. Some have sharp teeth, some have flowered fur, others are mixed breeds of an unusual sort — one has goat horns and another a human head. Thankfully these pups are the ceramic sort, sprung from the mind of artist George Rodriguez.
ArtSEA: The surprising Seattle connection to ‘The White Lotus’

4 weeks ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

Plus, local art shows with “opening sequence” vibes and three inventive takes on memoir. Seattle-based creative studio Plains of Yonder created the opening sequences for all three seasons of ‘The White Lotus.’ (Plains of Yonder/HBO) Presidential decrees continue to hit close to home, including executive orders threatening funding for public media, museums and libraries, and arts and cultural organizations.
ArtSEA: For Earth Month, Seattle artists show us what’s at stake

1 month ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

Plus, avant-garde performance takes local stages, from Cherdonna dancing through absurdity to Eddie Izzard doing Shakespeare. “Cougar Mountain,” by Seattle artist Jed Dunkerley, imposes the enzymes of consumption over scenes natural beauty. (Roq La Rue Gallery) April is Earth Month, and if at this point that feels like shouting into the wind (rather, into an extreme weather event), remember that this planet can use all the support we can muster.
The Newsfeed: Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’ but make it 650,000 Legos

1 month ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

At Seattle Asian Art Museum, world-renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei shows his massive toy-brick homage to the impressionist painter. The first thing that hits you about Ai Weiwei’s ‘Water Lilies’ is the electric colors — bright splotches of pink and orange bleeding into a purple/blue background. An homage to Claude Monet’s painting series of the same name, the piece is similarly Impressionistic.
ArtSEA: Traver Gallery christens a new arts hub on the Ship Canal

1 month ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

Plus, more big moves in Northwest arts and culture, including shifts at Seattle University, The 5th Avenue Theater and Pacific Science Center. A digital rendering of the new West Canal Yards complex, where Seattle’s Traver Gallery is the anchor tenant and hopes to draw other creative businesses. (Graham Baba) In a large industrial building abutting the Salmon Bay waterway, Vetri Gallery director Sheila Strobel recently gave me a tour of her new pop-up space.
ArtSEA: New Northwest things to do when the news is getting to you

1 month ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

With bonsai treehouses, a wooden womb, angelic paintings and an astrological symphony, Seattle arts events provide an escape from the headline churn. “Garden,” an enamel-on-blown-glass painting by longtime Seattle artist Cappy Thompson, is on view in her new show ‘Thinking of Angels.’ (Studio e) With the Trump Administration’s “flood the zone” strategy generating a constant stream of worrisome headlines, many of us are desperately seeking a pause in the pandemonium.
ArtSEA: Seattle art museums give pixilated political perspectives

1 month ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

Shows at the Seattle Asian Art Museum and National Nordic Museum take a pointillist approach to telling timely stories. Ai Weiwei’s “Water Lilies,” an homage to Monet’s iconic paintings, is made of 650,000 LEGO bricks. On view at Seattle Asian Art Museum. (Brangien Davis / Cascade PBS) Today marked the annual Daffodil Day at Pike Place Market — a sure sign of spring even if you weren’t able to pick up a few yellow blooms.
ArtSEA: Amid threats to forests, a Seattle show of endangered birds

2 months ago | cascadepbs.org | Brangien Davis

Signed on March 1, the mandate for “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” calls for logging of national forestland and directs the Endangered Species Committee to “streamline” consultation requirements to expedite timber production. The order conflicts with the Northwest Forest Plan, enacted in 1994 to protect old-growth forests, rivers and endangered species including spotted owls and salmon.