Instagram story viewer> @assemblyfair> Tagged

assemblyfair

@assemblyfair

2.1K

followers

149

following

Seattle has a new art fair.
July 22nd — 26th at West Canal Yards

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

One year today at MoNA ✨

Feeling blessed and a great sense of belonging working at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA. There’s so much I’ve accomplished, learned and continue to learn about working in a non-profit. From fundraising campaigns, memberships, communications, design, event coordinating, and more! I love my team, my MoNA family, and simply being surrounded by such an amazing art community. I look forward to seeing what’s to come in the near future. Thank you for having me💙

#museumofnorthwestart #artmuseum #museumwork #coordinatorlife #pnw

3

12

Field Note / #Art 02 — Why is the Art-Fair Format Being Rethought — from Seattle to Doha?

Last month, I visited the inaugural Assembly Art Fair in Seattle. Even getting there felt unlike arriving at a typical fair: a red ART FAIR sign pointed past gravel, warehouses, loading docks, and a parked forklift. Inside, galleries occupied spaces closer to small exhibitions than tightly packed booths, with broad passages opening toward the waterfront.

That openness made me think about the density of most large art fairs. Of course, that density serves a purpose: bringing so much art and so many people together creates extraordinary efficiency. Still, can that same efficiency work against sustained attention? Even when buying is part of the visit, how much room is there to really look, talk, and develop a relationship with a work?

Assembly seemed to experiment with that balance. It remained unmistakably a marketplace, but left more room for looking, conversation, and buying to unfold together.

And it isn’t the only fair reconsidering the familiar booth-and-aisle model. This year, fairs of very different scales have experimented with less dense layouts, more focused presentations, and curatorial formats. Art Basel Qatar was a particularly striking example. I wasn’t there, but its inaugural edition also moved away from the conventional booth grid, organizing individual artist presentations under the theme “Becoming.”

The motivations were very different: Assembly grew from a local, gallery-led effort to rethink the scale and economics of a fair, while Qatar was building a new regional platform. Yet alongside similar changes elsewhere, both seem part of a wider shift in how art fairs are taking shape.

Perhaps the more interesting question is: what changes when the market stays intact, but the experience around it is redesigned?

7

2

This past month, I have been exploring things I feared on the Vashon island, but also a lot that I love. I attended the Seattle Art fair and Assembly, and I must say Seattle is active!

Beading was very slow as expected but a memoir is brewing!
Picking shells, kayaking, hiking, reading, researching, and sometimes just being still.
A lot was achieved and many more hereafter!

Thank you Vashon island @vashonartistresidency @cathysarkowsky @heather.dwyer.colvos 🙏🏽

3

2

Great day trip with the group to see the @seattleartfair and @assemblyfair
Thank you Heather!
#seattleartfair #seattleart #assemblyartfair #vashonartistresidency

51

3

Last weekend was Art Fair weekend in Seattle. It was a heady, busy weekend for Seattle art lovers with the 10th edition of the Seattle Art Fair at its massive Lumen Field Event Center home and multiple exhibitions occupying four floors of the immense nearby Railspur Studios. It was also notable for the inaugural edition of @assemblyfair, a small (only 17 galleries, mostly from Seattle but also Portland, LA, and Dallas), highly-curated art fair within West Canal Yards, where I’ve attended multiple art openings at its anchor tenant @travergallery. Traver Gallery and @gregkuceragallery spearheaded the Assembly Art Fair and it provided an alternative to the traditional art fair experience; instead of a crowded, overstimulated, attention-competing trade show atmosphere, the loft spaces at West Canal Yards were thoughtfully and marvelously laid out like art galleries, allowing for a less hurried, less congested, more introspective engagement with the art. The boutique, curated art fair trend has been growing in the art world; for example, one of Expo Chicago’s satellite art fairs in April was Neighbors, which exhibited 15 galleries within a four room Art Deco apartment built in 1914. My wishlist for Assembly Art Fair next year would include more programming like talks and panels and inclusion of international galleries to expose Seattle to what art-making is happening in the rest of the world, but as I said in my initial Instagram story, if art fairs were rated like fine dining restaurants, Assembly would, on its first year, already be Michelin-starred. There were lots of art to see but my favorites were:
Photo 3- Ko Kirk Yamahira’s fabric sculpture that complemented his enormous, showstopping installation at Seattle Art Fair @studioegallery
·Photo 4 - The late Dinh Q. Le’s Epson inkjet print @elizabethleachgallery
Video 5 - The buzzy LA artists The Perez Brothers’ acrylic paintings @charliejamesgallery
Photo 6 - Kwonny’s vivid, eye-popping painting @fosterwhitegallery
Photo 7 - Lisa Jarrett’s striking piece that incorporated head scarves and synthetic hair weaves to comment on beauty standards @russoleegallery
Video 8 - Theresa Wingert's meditative installation

22

3

My top 10 from @assemblyfair. 💃🏻

#artfair #artcollector #artcurator #artadvisory #artconsulting

22

1

The dust has settled @assemblyartfair || 🧡🩵
The seven intense days it took to build out our space only took one day to disassemble. That’s a wrap!

Last Wednesday we not only had the pleasure of seeing our space come to fruition but the Assembly Art Fair in its entirety came together. With esteemed galleries from near and far, the talent was on display and thousands of visitors came through to see it all.

Thank you for joining us, for sharing your experiences and for your support of the arts. Thank you to our colleagues, collectors, exhibiting artists, and new friends alike. We loved being a part of this inaugural event.

Exhibiting Artists:
Amber Cowan
Yool Kim
Michelle Robinson
David Rice
Amy Spassov
Peter Combe
Erik Andor
Barry Masteller
Kit King
Jeff Peters
Deane McGahan
Erik Hall
Shoichi Okumura

3

24

My painting at @assemblyfair in the @lvdesignandgallery suite. Many thanks to Laura Vincent Design & Gallery, well done, such a beautiful collection of art. #maryannpuls

69

5

Had such a great time at Assembly Art Fair @assemblyfair 🎨 Loved seeing work from 17 galleries, meeting local artists, and exploring the beautiful space (amazing waterfront venue).😻😻
-
-
#artfair #gallery #seattle #waterfront #pnwartist

298

6

During my perusing of the Seattle Assembly Fair spectacular peace called “THE FLAT CIRCLE” By Glassblower Peter Hermanson @hermansson_p caught my eye. Made during his residency at the Museum of Glass, within two weeks time would be in full display at the Trevor Gallery during the inaugural Assembly Art Fair. Hardly alone, the team assembled Is fully deserving of complete praise for there beautifully choreographed waltz. I look forward to visiting you Peter. @bencobb_glass @gabefeenan_glass
@nrdglass @kelliot123 @siivini

110

4

THE FLAT CIRCLE
Made during my residency @museumofglass
That piece ended up at @travergallery who presented it @assemblyfair two weeks later!
Together with the incredible hardcore team:
@bencobb_glass
@gabefeenan_glass
@nrdglass
@kelliot123 @siivini

#graal #swedish #glass

2k

81

So much action / so many paintings! A great afternoon spent at the new Assembly Art Fair! West Canal Yards is the perfect architectural setting. It was very cool to see a new take on the art fair model. 👏 @assemblyfair @travergallery

———

Featured Pieces:
Amber Cowan, ‘Soft Simplicity in Bittersweet Orange, Lemon and Mandarin’ @amber.cowan
Storm Tharp, ‘Acid Test’ 2026 @stormtharp
Terran last gun, ‘There Are Many Beautiful Places to Discover’ 2026 @terranlastgun
Kristen Miller ‘By Instinct/Falling’ 2025 @kristenmillerstudio
Fay jones, ‘Portrait: Sonia Delaunay, David Siquelros, Fay Jones’ 2024
Erika Rothenberg, ‘America, a Shining Beacon to the World’
Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen , ‘tell your body it’s not at work’ @ryannaprojects

125

2