“Please Touch” the Art in this Exhibition

Tactile art invites you to feel

SEATTLE, WA -Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers challenges the traditional boundaries of art appreciation by inviting visitors to engage with the artwork through touch. After appearing in various venues for the past 10 years, The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) is now bringing this exhibition to ARTS at King Street Station to raise awareness about accessibility for blind and low-vision individuals in the arts.

"Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers questions our expectations of how art is experienced, asking who has access to experiencing art, and how can we broaden our own idea of how we all experience art?" said James Coley, King Street Station Program Lead. "Every work in the exhibition asks us at once to be intensely present and to see beyond the current exhibition to broader possibilities."

Curated by Barbara Oswald, Jessica Ong Carbaugh, Cole Devoy, Laura Ferri, and Susan Springer, the exhibition brings together pieces from A/NT Gallery, 5th Avenue Theater, Seattle Opera, Gray Sky Gallery, Taproot Theater, METHOD Gallery, and The Vestibule.

"Through our sensory lens of tactile delight, Please Touch enhances our appreciation of the real world," said Barbara Oswald, multidisciplinary artist and disability rights advocate. "Together, we break the barriers built by years of ableism and misunderstanding of what is normal. Thank you to the participating artists whose creativity is expanded-allowing their artwork to be touched in this inclusive venue."

Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers runs Oct. 3, 2024 - Jan. 4, 2025. ARTS at King Street Station is open Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., and until 8 p.m. on First Thursdays. 303 S. Jackson Street, Top Floor, Seattle, WA 98104. Admission is FREE.

Join us for the exhibition opening on First Thursday, Oct. 3. Our Station Space neighbors are having a block party in the plaza from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. featuring a lineup from The Jackson Street Music Program, Red Eagle Soaring, The Rhapsody Project and Totem Star. It's also almost your last chance to see our youth-curated exhibition FRESSSSSH! before it closes on Saturday, Oct. 5. Make us a stop on your First Thursday rounds for Pioneer Square Art Walk.

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