THE SEATTLE TIMES
Art galleries draw crowds
with tattoos, meditation, owls
Feb. 6, 2025 at 6:00am
By Margo Vansynghel | Seattle Times staff reporter
“In a gallery, people typically eye the art — not the other visitors. But on a Thursday evening at Seattle’s J. Rinehart Gallery last fall, one guest commanded all the attention: LadyBird, a Eurasian eagle-owl who traveled to the gallery for a special meet-and-greet.
Meggan Joy, a local artist who photographs LadyBird and other birds of prey for her digital photo collages of fauna and flora, thought an owl encounter would make for an amusing evening during her show.
“And it was,” said gallery owner Judith Rinehart. “We had a huge turnout of people that would probably not come to a fine art gallery otherwise.”