Occidental Fine Arts will be open late for the Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk for the first time ever this month. The Occidental Square gallery and home to the Seattle Prize and Love Portrait program in the heart of Pioneer Square will be open free to the public this Thursday from 5 to 8 pm.

The fine art destination will feature finished and in-progress works from the first class of Seattle Prize fellows and Love Portrait on the second floor of the art center. The artists are Emma Garay, Agustina Forest, Diego Glazer, Nick Eisle, Jackson Wrede, Daniel Zalla, Larine Chung, Christopher Remmers, Dominique Medici, Lukas Freudenberg, and Seattle Prize Artistic Facilitator Tenaya Sims.

Thursday’s festivities will also include classic paintings dating back to the 1800’s from Andrew and Nonie Conru’s private collection, some not seen publicly in decades. The paintings will be featured on the second floor of the 100-plus-year-old historical building alongside the works of the Seattle Prize fellows.

Guests can also sneak preview the upcoming “Beautiful Things” exhibit on the second floor of the Occidental Fine Arts Center, in the room adjacent to the Seattle Prize and Love Portrait show. The “Beautiful Things” exhibit will feature antiques and artifacts from the 1850’s to the 1950’s. The exhibit will be completed by mid-June and ready to greet locals as well as visitors, in time for the FIFA World Cup when it kicks off in Seattle.

The Occidental Fine Arts Center also hosts workshops taught by visiting master artists from around the world, as well as Love Portrait artist Chung and Medici. Most recently, the Conru Art Foundation hosted a master class by renowned representational figurative artist Steven Assael last weekend.

Other area galleries featuring new shows:

  • ArtX Contemporary (512 1st Ave S): Mapping the Invisible by multidisciplinary artist Perri Lynch Howard.

  • Gray Sky Gallery (320 1st Ave S): Seattle In Color, a vibrant group exhibition celebrating Seattle’s landscapes and neighborhoods across various media.

  • Shift Gallery (308 1st Ave S): New works, including With Her by Sandra (S.E.) Penney and Chrysalis by Karen Klee-Atlin.

  • Gallery Erato (309 1st Ave S): Freedom in Full Color exhibition.

  • Solas Gallery (118 S Washington St): Colton Rothwell's Shadow Machine.

  • ARTS at King Street Station (303 S Jackson St): Three new exhibitions: This Room is Ours: Centering the Black Figure, Ancestral Future: Taíno Archives, and the 2025 SDOT Bridge Artists in Residence Showcase. The plaza will also feature live dancing to Joe Brazil Legacy and a Mobile Book Fair by Common Area Maintenance.

  • The Metropole (110 S Washington St): Tradewinds Native Marketplace.

  • 84 Yesler (84 Yesler Way): Crown of Color featuring the art of Ruby Barmes.