Frye Art Museum

Frye Art Museum is free thankfully.We made a special trip over after it was recommended to us, but beyond a few of the woven Amazon pieces, it wasn't worth the trip.Designing a museum is an art unto itself. Take the Seattle Art Museum, their curation and styling of the porcelain room makes you care about the pieces. It's so well designed that it makes you more interested in what they're showcasing.Frye Art Museum was not well designed. There were poor choices made for where to place each piece - which when added to the under utilized wall space created an extremely minimalistic room that came across as empty. Even the placards were placed far apart from the art in an attempt to fill up the eggshell walls. Which weren't painted brown to match Amazon packaging or black to evoke the emptiness of space. Very much a missed opportunity for the installation, especially since 'Rising Temperature Casualty' would have been much more evocative against a brown, red, or black wall. All in all, I didn't like the curator's style or editing choices and we don't plan to return.

A beautiful museum, with optional admission payment (donations welcome!). The place is super clean, the bathroom is nice, and there aren't too many people. Its a cute hole in a wall!Very close to other museums around the area, although like rest of downtown Seattle, parking is hard to find. But transit commute is super easy. This place is small but big enough to explore for an hour or so. If you aren't actively looking for a museum, you probably wont have noticed that this was a museum. They also have a cute gift shop that my friend and I stopped by for a while.

I was in the area and I had time to kill, so I decided to stop by this art museum that I often walk part. As I walked in, I was excitedly greeted by a front desk worker who let me know the museum was free, and said I didn't need to check in my small drawstring bag as long as I wore it in front. And off I went! There were two major exhibits on display, and both were really well put together and done well. There was also a permanent collection that largely appeared to be closed. They also have a cute gift shop, and a cafe that was open but I didn't stop by. Overall, small and cute museum! I wouldn't go out of my way to visit at this time (maybe once some of the spaces open up again!) but if you're around, it's a good way to spend 45-90 minutes!

For a free art museum, this place is really pretty cool and very much worth a paid entry - I highly suggest donating. There was a pretty diverse range of mediums and artists on display. The building itself is also really interesting architecture. All the exhibits flowed well and were accessible. My favorite room was almost easy to miss because it's all the way in back and is the historical collection that's pretty much always on display. They have free bag check and lockers and the bathrooms were super clean. The signage for the exhibits is also helpful and they have free tours occasionally too for more context. My only critical feedback is that it would have been more helpful to have more visible signage indicating which areas were ok for photos or videos. Generally I don't think video of any kind is allowed in most exhibits (again I didn't see any signs indicating either way), but I was not sure until I asked the docents in each area. Would definitely come back to see more exhibits.

Free admission, but donation is encouraged! Intimate museum with lots of wonderful pieces to view. The outdoor courtyard was spacious and lovely!

Free admission, size and exhibits on the smaller end. Well displayed and quaint. Takes about a half hour to experience the five small exhibits.

Highly recommend The Frye. It's a semi-kept secret in the heart of First Hill and really should be more well-known. For one thing, it's free to visit. Which cannot be said about other, larger museums in Seattle (except for one day a week). Their talks are also free, so far as I can tell. Thus, the diversity of those who visit The Frye is much vaster, imo. They present a multitude of different artists, recently, on the contemporary spectrum, and the works of people of color are becoming more prominent there. You can become a member and support them but you don't have to in order to visit. It's also a relatively peaceful spot. I love the water feature in the front. Enjoy and Learn!

Small, lovely museum. Definitely suggest stopping by if you are in the area. Admission is free and lots of metered parking nearby. Can easily see everything in an hour. We stopped by the café and found it lovely, but disappointing. Coffee tasted like instant and $8 churros & chocolate were tiny.

Art is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. And this place definitely disturbed me. I had no idea that I had become so comfortable. This is a great free admission museum. They specialize in abstract paintings and agricultural paintings. The museum is really small. However, it is worth stopping by if you're in the area. Abstract art is not my favorite but it certainly made me reflect. The video exhibit really disturbed me. It was about this sect that was using many different meditation methods to alter their states of consciousness. It was really weird and reminded me of adult swim's show 'off the air'. Overall, I am glad I came here. The art truly made me experience many different emotions which is all I could ever ask for.

Frye Art Museum is a small art museum located in the pill hill area of Seattle. It is FREE and truly, who can complain about the ability to share the arts with anyone at no cost? So wonderful they are able to do this. Things to know: it's small, so don't go expecting something like the metropolitan. Just keep in mind that the price is right. There is a cute little cafe there if you get hungry (bistro type bites), and it's also close to the international district for other food options.There is a standing historic display, which is seen in my pictures. When you enter the room, head to the back left corner to get a guide with all the painting captions/info. There are also several areas for local art, unfortunately this time I didn't care for these displays (art is subjective so you can take or leave that), but the main gallery room made the trip worth it. The gift shop is cute too and features local art for purchase as well.In all, it's a great way to burn a few hours, especially with the kiddos for no cost.