Image: Seattle Asian Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum will open its Seattle Asian Art Museum doors after hours on August 14 for a Friday Night Fun program built around the new exhibition ‘The Kondō Family: Storytellers in Clay’. The event is scheduled for 6 to 9 pm and is presented as an all-ages evening of learning and activities tied directly to the show.
According to the museum, the program will include a curator tour with Aaron Rio, a drop-in art activity, live music from DJs Michael and Clayton, and a live ceramics demonstration by Kondō Takahiro, one of the exhibition’s featured artists. The evening is framed as a chance to experience the exhibition in a more social setting, with the museum describing it as a way to “swing by” after hours and engage with the work through guided discussion and hands-on participation.
The event also highlights the exhibition’s curatorial and interpretive structure. Seattle Art Museum notes that ‘The Kondō Family: Storytellers in Clay’ is based on ‘Transcendent Clay/Kondo: A Century of Japanese Ceramic Art’, originally presented by the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami and guest curated by Joe Earle. The museum’s Friday-night program places that scholarship into a public-facing format, pairing the exhibition with a tour and live demonstration rather than a conventional lecture or opening reception.
The museum’s email announcement identifies the exhibition as a new installation at Seattle Asian Art Museum and pairs it with a broader invitation to visit the institution’s galleries after hours. The program is part of Seattle Art Museum’s Friday Night Fun series, which the museum uses for family-friendly or all-ages programming. In this case, the activities are organized around ceramics and the Kondō family’s artistic legacy, with a specific spotlight on the featured artist’s demonstration.
Seattle Art Museum’s announcement also notes that the exhibition is organized by SAM and acknowledges support from several sponsors and endowments, including the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz gift that made the exhibition possible. Additional support listed in the email includes the Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Endowment for the Decorative Arts as presenting sponsor, Yoshi and Naomi Minegishi as major sponsors, and Amazon as a major sponsor for Friday Night Fun itself.
‘The Kondō Family: Storytellers in Clay’ is presented at Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 East Prospect St., Seattle. Friday Night Fun is set for August 14, 2026, from 6 to 9 pm, with the museum identifying the event as an after-hours program centered on the exhibition and its ceramics-focused public activities.
