Samantha Best

Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism

Oct 23, 2025--Jan 18, 2026

Seattle Art Museum

Organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Chrysler Museum of Art

Curators: Andrew Eschelbacher, Amon Carter Museum of American Art's Director of Collections and Exhibitions,

and Lloyd DeWitt, Portland Art Museum's Janet and Richard Geary Curator of European & American Art Pre-1930

Exhibition Manager at SAM: Samantha Best

Featuring more than 50 works by artists ranging from Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissarro, to Eugène Boudin, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Victor Gabriel Gilbert, this exhibition looks back at the Age of Impressionism through the lens of French culinary tradition.

Samantha Yun Wall: What We Leave Behind

Feb 5--Oct 4, 2026

Seattle Art Museum

Curator: Catharina Manchanda, SAM Jon and Mary Shirley Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

Exhibition Manager: Samantha Best

Samantha Yun Wall (b. 1977, Seoul) is the 2024 Betty Bowen Award winner. Established in 1977 to honor the legacy of Betty Bowen—an enthusiastic supporter of Northwest contemporary art—the annual award celebrates a Northwest artist for their original, exceptional, and compelling work. Samantha Yun Wall’s new paintings use overlapping silhouettes of female figures as portals to unknown spaces and different temporal realms.

Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest

Mar 5--Aug 2, 2026

Seattle Art Museum

Curator: Theresa Papanikolas, SAM Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art

Exhibition Manager: Samantha Best

At once dynamic and transnational, Northwest Modernism was resonant with artistic developments nationally, yet collectively attuned to the distinct and palpable character of home. Featuring over 150 works by artists ranging from Graves, Callahan, Anderson, and Tobey to Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Salvador Dalí, and Yves Tanguy, the exhibition uncovers the variety of styles, subjects, ideas, and exploits of this exciting moment in American art history.

Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest

Edited by Theresa Papanikolas, SAM Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art

Published by Seattle Art Museum (forthcoming 2026)

Publication Manager: Samantha Best

Forthcoming 224 page hardback catalog to accompany Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest exhibition that will be on view at the Seattle Art Museum Mar 5--Aug 2, 2026.

Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan

Mar 5--Aug 2, 2026

Seattle Art Museum

Curator: Catharina Manchanda, SAM Jon and Mary Shirley Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

Exhibition Manager: Samantha Best

At times reminiscent of biological structures and geological formations, Tara Donovan’s work elevates mass-produced industrial materials, such as tar paper, drinking straws, or the silvery metal rings of slinky toys, into mesmerizing installations. Her cumulative process transfigures the mundane into exalted new forms. Donovan chose one of Alexander Calder’s last works, the distinctive Mountains (1:5 intermediate maquette, 1976), as a touchpoint for this exhibition.