Met Recap: Seattle Arts and Entertainment in 2014

VISUAL ART

• Seattle Art Museum put the power of pop art on display in Pop Departures.

• Tacoma Art Museum underwent a major expansion to house its new collection of Western American art.

• The artifact that inspired the Seattle Seahawks logo found its way back to Seattle.

• Your Feast Has Ended at Frye Art Museum offered a stunning look at personal style.

• Asian Art Museum explored art deco’s influence on Japan.

• The playful flair of Spanish mater painter Joan Miró shined at Seattle Art Museum.

• Frye Art Museum let social media curate an exhibit. The results were less than spectacular.

• Bellevue Arts Museum showcased the first solo museum exhibit of Dan Webb’s wooden works.

• We took an in-depth look at art dealer Francine Seders’s legacy.

• Seattle Met invaded the Frye for our “Fall Fashion” shoot.

MUSIC

• Macklemore and Ryan Lewis won four Grammys. Kendrick Lamar is probably still upset.

• Seattle Symphony had a moment in the national spotlight thanks to John Luther Arthur’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean.

• April marked the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.

• Outkast’s long-awaited reunion proved well worth the wait, as the duo’s Sasquatch! Festival performance proved to be the best festival set of the year.

• Bumbershoot moved the main stage back outdoors to Memorial Stadium and it made for a better festival.

• The Comet Tavern reopened, but without the old divey vibe and constant concerts.

• We really liked Tacocat. Really.

• Beyoncé and Jay-Z had a family night on the town at Safeco Field.

• Capitol Hill Block Party was as summery and crowded as ever.

• Shabazz Palaces took us on another cosmic audio journey in the form of Lese Majesty.

• A drug-related death marred the Halloween EDM festival FreakNight.

• Jenn Ghetto tried to make us cry with S’s Cool Choices. She seceded.

• We made two more free Seattle Met Mixtapes featuring Seattle’s best new music. Get ’em.

THEATER

• As the best production to hit the Seattle stage this year, The Suit fit perfectly at Seattle Rep.

• The Intiman Theatre Festival successfully undertook the daunting task of producing all of Tony Kushner’s epic Angels in America.

• The Book of Mormon returned for another hilarious run at the Paramount.

• Seattle Rep went all-in on Robert Schenkkan‘s Lydon B. Johnson plays All the Way and The Great Society and the results were both artistic and financial successes.

• Washinton Ensemble Theatre’s Ed Downloaded embedded memories in our brain.

• Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales brought uproarious laughter to Seattle Rep with The Vaudevillians.

• Language shaped the dystopian world of Satori Group’s Returning to Albert Joseph.

• The touring production of Once captured the musical magic of the acclaimed film.

DANCE

• Amy O’Neal used breakdancing to break gender norms in Opposing Forces.

• Pacific Northwest Ballet’s star dancer Carla Körbes announced she’ll retire in 2015.

• After years of development, Zoe | Juniper debuted BeginAgain at On the Boards.

COMEDY

• The Colbert Report ended, which meant television lost its best character.

• Chelsea Peretti discussed her violent comedic influences before recording her standup special One of the Greats (the best standup special of the year).

• The new Parlor Live Seattle brought more national standup acts to the heart of the city.

• Andy Daly talked about the comedy that fueled his new show Review (the show’s episode “Pancakes. Divorce. Pancakes” is the single best half hour of television this year).

• Bob Odenkirk talked about A Load of Hooey (that’s his book’s name, not a comment on the interview).

• Someone in Bellevue made a salmon cannon. Thankfully, John Oliver was on top of this hard-hitting news story.

• Mike Birbiglia will close out 2014’s comedy year on New Year’s Eve at the Moore Theatre.

FILM

• Richard Linklater discussed the creation of his acclaimed epic Boyhood before it screened at SIFF.

• Seattle’s own Chris Pratt became a legitimate movie star thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy.

• Both the Cinerama and the Egyptian Theatre (SIFF Cinema Egyptian) reopened their doors.

• Almost Live! alum Bob Nelson earned an Oscar nomination for his Nebraska screenplay.

• Lynn Shelton made her most star-studded feature yet in the refusing to come of age film Laggies.

• With the help of Kickstarter, Scarecrow Video became a non-profit in order to survive.

• Megan Griffiths’s Lucky Them was partially a cinematic love letter to Capitol Hill and Seattle music.

• In an initially unpopular move, Kate Becker took over as the director of Seattle’s Office of Film and Music.

BOOKS & TALKS

• Seattle’s G. Willow Wilson broke new ground in the world of major comics with her teenage Muslim version of the superhero Ms. Marvel.

• Amanda Knox is now writing the news, not making it.

• Local comics imprint Fantagraphics survived through tough times thanks to an outpouring of fan support.

• Between books, Ken Jennings returned to Jeopardy for the “Battle of the Decades.”

• The Art of Racing in the Rain author Garth Stein returned with A Sudden Light.

• Oprah came to KeyArena and did Oprah things.

VIDEO GAMES

• Infamous: Second Son brought a digital version of Seattle to life on the PlayStation 4.

SPORTS

• In case you missed it, the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. We basically devoted a whole issue of Seattle Met to the squad.

• We told the story about how Tacoma landed golf’s 2015 U.S. Open.

• The Mariners were actually good! But Felix Hernandez got robbed of the Cy Young Award.

• In (and after) the NFC Championship game, Richard Sherman made sure America knew his name.

• Washingtonians competed in the Winter Olympics in Sochi (wait… that was this year?).

• Macklemore got his own Mariners bobblehead. Because of course he did.

• Ben Gibbard played a lot of basketball in the new the Postal Service film. We analyzed his game.

GOODBYES

• Seattle Repertory Theatre lost its two leaders when artistic director Jerry Manning unexpectedly passed away and managing director Benjamin Moore retired.

• Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla left the band after 17 years.

• Pacific Northwest Ballet dropped the final curtain on Stowell and Sendak’s Nutcracker.

• Burdened with financial problems, Balagan Theatre closed its doors.

• PNB principal dancer Kaori Nakamura took her final bow.

• After more than three decades at the job, Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins left his post.

• Indie rockers the Lonely Forest called it quits after playing Bumbershoot.

• Our office became substantially less fashionable with the departure of Seattle Met‘s longtime style editor Laura Cassidy.