Art Seen

What do you create or do in life that brings you happiness? From walking the fine lines of needlepoint to cultivating friendships, witness the spark of artistic inspiration that lives in all of us.

When you step inside a climbing gym, you are immediately surrounded by colorful plastic holds, but who decides where they go? A team of setters at the Seattle Bouldering Project pulls back the curtain to revel the hidden inspiration and motivation for creating aesthetically appealing climbs that challenge the mind and body.

Three prominent conductors unveil the mystery and art behind the gestures that communicate music.

In a small corner room at Seattle Opera, a team of artists devoted to wig making creates complicated hairstyles that some of the world's best performers use to help transform. Wig master Ashlee Naegle and her team of stylists help two operatic performers find their character for a recent production, giving voice and personality to the live performance that audiences see on stage nightly.

From the phones permanently in our pockets and hands to the traffic lights that run the rules of the road, code is all around us.

Melodrama, marvel and masked fighters. ​Lucha Libre, a traditional form of wrestling from Mexico, is an athletic and theatrical feat.

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, artists began painting murals on boarded up windows of businesses in Seattle to deter vandalism and beautify the streets. And as isolation evolved into a social movement protesting the killing of black people in America, the art transformed into messages of anger and hope.

Enter the world of Aaron Ridenour, Seattle Cinerama's lead projectionist, as he threads projectors with classic 70mm films and conducts the delicate dance between celluloid and audience. Most theaters have switched to an entirely digital, and often automated style of film projection, but as Ridenour revels, there's hidden beauty in the analog.

It begins shortly after midnight at Mee Sum Pastry, when bakers in the Pike Place Market shop create over 1,000 hom bows, a traditional Chinese stuffed pastry.

Slow down and hit pause with us, as we re-engage with the people and places around us. Art Seen premieres February 6 at 8:45 p.m. Online soon.