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Spotlight: Cascadia Art Museum launches ‘Free to See’
Beginning Nov. 20, Cascadia Art Museum will offer free admission every third Thursday plus year-round free admission for all teachers.
Free to See celebrates the legacy of the late artist and educator Gary Faigin, who was a founding board member of Cascadia Art Museum and co-founder of Gage Academy.
“Gary [Faigin] often said museums should be accessible to everyone, especially [to] teachers and students,” said Cascadia Executive Director Sally Ralston. “Free to See honors that vision by opening our doors to the entire region and ensuring that Northwest art remains available to all.”
Through Free to See, Cascadia invites the public to explore its exhibitions and discover the artists who have shaped the cultural story of the Pacific Northwest.
By welcoming new audiences and strengthening partnerships with teachers and schools, the initiative reaffirms Cascadia’s role as a cultural and educational resource for the region.
Funding for Free to See and free teacher admission is made possible through a private donation, in honor of Gary Faigin.
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Spotlight: ‘Will Play for Food’ community fundraiser
Performances: Saturday, Nov. 15, 1 – 7 p.m.
Musicology Co., 420 5th Ave. S, Suite 107
Free; Edmonds Food Bank donations welcome
Donate online to Edmonds Food Bank
Local musicians are joining forces to fight hunger at Will Play for Food, a special fundraiser benefiting the Edmonds Food Bank. The event will feature an afternoon of live, in-store performances from Drea Marilyn, Emily McVicker, Thats Nokay, Wes Speight, Jess Pillay and Shelby Natasha.
“Music has the power to bring people together,” says event organizer and musician Jess Pillay. “As food insecurity rises in our local communities, now is the time to come together and help our neighbors. And why not enjoy some great live music at the same time?”
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Spotlight: ‘Objects of the Elements: The Art of Elsa Thoresen’
Exhibition: Dec. 3, 2025 – March 8, 2026
Cascadia Art Museum, 190 Sunset Ave. #E, Edmonds
Cascadia Art Museum presents Objects of the Elements: The Art of Elsa Thoresen, the first American exhibition and publication to feature the work of Seattle artist Elsa Thoresen (1906-1994).
Her father, a Norwegian immigrant, was a practicing physician in Seattle at the turn of the century before relocating to Minnesota where Thoresen was born. After the family moved to Oslo, Norway in 1920, Thoresen attended art school where she met Danish artist Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersen (1909 -1957), a fellow student. After developing a romantic relationship, the couple pursued their art education and married in Copenhagen in 1935.
She and her husband were at the forefront of the Surrealist movement in Scandinavia and were included in numerous important exhibitions throughout Europe. After relocating to Sweden in 1944 due to the Nazi occupation of Denmark, Thoresen developed a unique and personal visual language based on natural forms such as driftwood and fantasy landscapes.
After their divorce in 1953, she returned to the U.S. and moved to Seattle the following year. Although she had tremendous success as a Surrealist abroad, her Northwest paintings concentrated on lyrical and biomorphic abstractions, which she produced until her death in 1994.
A small exhibition of paintings and ceramics by Bjerke-Petersen will also be featured in the museum’s West Gallery.
The accompanying publication, Objects of the Elements: The Art of Elsa Thoresen, will be internationally distributed by the University of Washington Press.
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This Week in the Arts
A curated calendar of upcoming art exhibits, performances, classes, author readings, art walks and more.
‘Earth and Sky’ opens at the Center Gallery
Exhibit through Dec. 31
Center Gallery, Frances Anderson Center, 700 Main St.
The Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation and Center Gallery presents Earth and Sky, featuring photography and digital works by Nathaniel Paust, who also serves as the gallery’s volunteer manager.
A Northwest native, Paust has called Edmonds home for nearly two decades. His fascination with photography began in Alaska and grew from a failed college attempt to photograph a lunar eclipse into a lifelong pursuit that blends photography and observational astronomy into a unique visual language.
Paust’s artistic journey has taken him across the country with each landscape adding depth and perspective to his work. Earth and Sky features photographic and digital artwork across three central themes: the sky, the natural world and the built world.
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Nov. 13 – Dec. 31
Cole Gallery, 107 5th Ave. S.
Art Walk: Thursday, Nov. 20, 5 – 8 p.m.
Cole Gallery presents Inspired Impressionism, featuring artists Jeff White, Mike Wise, Linda Tilley and Joyce Hester. The exhibition celebrates the beauty of nature through luminous landscapes, radiant sunsets and glowing evening scenes.
Join the artists during Art Walk and awaken your sense of wonder.
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Holiday Gift Market
Nov. 15-16; Saturday, 10 – 5 p.m. and Sunday, 10 – 4 p.m.
201 2nd Ave. S. (at Dayton Street)
Celebrate this holiday season with local artists and artisans at the annual Holiday Gift Market, hosted by the Edmonds-based Artists-Connect group.
This two-day holiday market features work from 19 local artists, offering a wide variety of handcrafted items.
A portion of each sale supports the Edmonds Art Festival Foundation’s educational programs (EAFF). In addition, the EAFF funds Artworks and the Holiday Market venue in downtown Edmonds.
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Wednesday, Nov. 19, 6 – 8 p.m.
Graphite Arts Center, 202 Main St.
Cost: $50
Ages: Adults 18+ (children 10+ welcome with an adult; both must register separately)
Taught by Mary Olsen, working artist and founder of Art Start NW and Graphite Arts Center, the beginner-friendly class invites participants to discover the world of mandala dot painting.
Learn simple dotting techniques to create unique designs on a 6-by-6-inch canvas. Using stencils, participants will be guided step by step to design their own mandala masterpiece. This technique can also be used to decorate rocks or greeting cards.
All materials are included (bring your own rock if you prefer to paint one).
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Thursday, Nov. 20, 5 – 8 p.m.
Downtown Edmonds
Printable map and new interactive map
Art Walk Edmonds is a monthly community event where, every third Thursday, participating businesses open their doors to showcase local and regional art, giving the public a chance to meet and mingle with the artists.
Highlight: Angeline Shrike, a classical realism-trained artist and graduate of Gage Academy of Art’s Classical Atelier, will draw a live sitter at ArtSpot, sharing her process for capturing likeness.
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‘Mrs. Dilber’s Christmas Carol’
Showtimes: Nov. 28 – Dec. 21; Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. and Sundays, 2 p.m.
The Phoenix Theatre, 9673 Firdale Ave. (Firdale Village)
In Mrs. Dilber’s Christmas Carol, written by playwright Arthur M. Jolly and directed by Eric Lewis, Scrooge’s long-suffering housekeeper from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol meets Marley and the Spirits of Christmas before visiting Scrooge. Mrs. Dilber sets off on a past, present and future adventure of her own. The result: a subversive and hilarious reimagining of this classic holiday tale.
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Edmonds Bookshop Holiday Book Drive
Sunday, Nov. 30 – Thursday, Dec. 4
Edmonds Bookshop, 111 5th Ave. S.
This holiday season, Edmonds Bookshop will hold a book drive to benefit the Edmonds Toy Shop, a program of the Edmonds Food Bank.
The Edmonds Food Bank, whose mission it is to ensure that no one in the community is food insecure, extends its work to include toys, books and gift cards for families during the holiday season through the Edmonds Toy Shop.
Edmonds Bookshop is participating by providing a way for the public to donate new books to children and teens in our community.
Requested donations:
- Popular books for children and young adults (ages 0–17)
- Books that represent diversity of all kinds
- Books in Spanish or Ukrainian
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‘Christmas in Edmonds’
Performances: Saturday, Dec. 6, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave. N.
Tickets or call the Box Office at 425-275-9595
Presented by North Sound Church and featuring the MOSAIC Choir & Orchestra, Christmas in Edmonds is a concert of traditional and contemporary Christmas music for all ages. From “White Christmas Medley” to “Silent Night.” Proceeds benefit Lahai Health.
*If you would like your event included in future Art Beat listings, email Nahline Gouin at nahline.gouin@gmail.com.
Based in Edmonds, Nahline is a freelance writer, ceramicist and arts advocate with experience in art museums and performing arts centers. She continues to create with clay, homeschool her son and write as a creative practice.
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