Poets at the Postmark
Wednesday, November 5, 2025 | 6:30-8PM
All Ages | FREE
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Come to our monthly Postmark Poetry Nights! Doors open at 6:00PM, poetry starts at 6:30PM. Arrive early to peruse artwork by local artists, bring a poem to share during the open mic, and bring a poetry book to swap for a poetry book at our book exchange!
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November's featured poet will be former Poet Laureate of Tacoma, Josie Emmons Turner! Read her bio:
Josie Emmons Turner's book More Blue was published by Cave Moon Press earlier this year. She is a contributing writer to 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦, and her poetry has been well published, including in The Madrona Project: The Empty Bowl cookbook; The Madrona Project: Art in the Public Voice; The Examined Life, A Western Washington Poets Network Anthology; Collateral; California Quarterly, High Shelf Press X; and Poets Choice: Now That You Are Gone From This World.
She served as Tacoma’s Poet Laureate, 2011-2013, and she regularly teaches writing workshops. Turner earned her MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and has worked in the fields of arts and cultural administration for the government and non-profits, as well as in public education. Josie Emmons Turner resides on a salmon spawning estuary that feeds into the Salish Sea.
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Holiday Artisan Market
November 15, 11am - 3pm
FREE | ALL AGES
@ Postmark Center for the Arts
and White River Valley Museum.
White River Valley Museum and Postmark Center for the Arts are partnering in an Auburn holiday shopping experience! Find locally-made edible goods at White River Valley Museum, then hop over to Postmark Center for the Arts for unique hand-made arts and gifts. Visit both spots for an array of one-of-a-kind food and art items!
Arts and handmade items: Postmark Center for the Arts, 20 Auburn Ave
Printmaking Activity with Brian Lane | Live Performance by Allison Preisinger | Cider & Cookies
Artists: Nicole Bennion, Linda Covey-Campbell, Christopher Gerber, Lisa Hasegawa, Pam Hemmerling, Richard Jahn, Molly McCann, Jennifer Oberheuser, Trenton Quiocho, Bridget Ralston, Stephanie Tebrink, Jessica Titus
Food and edible items: White River Valley Museum, 918 H St SE
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Artist Resource Fair
Wednesday, November 19 | 5:30 - 7:30PM
All Ages | FREE
@Postmark Center for the Arts
Join us for an Artist Resource Fair in partnership with the City of Auburn! This free event is designed to connect South King County artists with local organizations, funding opportunities, and resources for their creative practice. Attendees will have the chance to learn about opportunities from 4Culture, the City of Auburn, Artist Trust, Coyote Central, and Shunpike. This event is open to artists of all disciplines and career stages. This event is presented in partnership with the City of Auburn and with support from Artists Up in partnership with City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and 4Culture.
Please register for free here.
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Kiwanis Speaker Series
Thursday, November 20 | 6 - 7:30PM
All Ages | FREE
@ Postmark Center for the Arts
The Kiwanis Club of Auburn will be hosting a speaker series here at Postmark Center for the Arts! Each month will feature a different speaker associated with Kiwanis, including local leaders and representatives of local organizations.
November 20 | Auburn Symphony Orchestra
Join ASO for a talk about their upcoming concert Colors of Sound, exploring the history and emotion behind the music, featuring insights into Wharton’s, Alberga’s, and Schubert’s chamber works. Learn more about the musicians and the orchestra’s commitment to connecting the South Puget Sound community through live music.
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Made possible by 4Culture!
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Intermediate Linocut T-Shirt and Fabric Printing
Expand on your Linocut skills by printing your designs onto t-shirts and fabrics! This 2-day intermediate workshop is geared towards those with previous relief printing experience. In it, we’ll dive deeper into tips and techniques to successfully print your lino blocks onto t-shirts and fabrics. We’ll go over image transferring methods, carving and inking techniques specific to fabric printing, and then printing. Come ready with an image you’d like to turn into a Linocut. You can bring your own shirts or fabrics to print on, or some will be available to purchase from the instructor for $5. Linocut experience necessary.
Dates: This is a two-session course on November 5th & 6th | 11AM-4PM
Ages: 18+
Fee: $95/$119 Resident/Non-Res
Instructor: Patrick Connelly
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Register now!
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Youth Introduction to Watercolor
Visit Postmark after school and learn basic watercolor techniques while exploring a variety of papers and tools for water-based media. Students will work from different source material, including found objects/ still lifes, animals, and personal photographs. No experience is required, but students will need to bring their own supplies. A supply list will be provided.
Date: Thursday, November 6 | 3 - 6PM
Ages: 8+
Fee: $30/$38 Resident/Non-Res
Instructor: Brian Schenk
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Register now!
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Painterly Monotype Printmaking
Working from a photo or drawing, learn how to break down your image into a sketch of basic lines and shapes, identify the values (darks and lights) of each shape, then how to use your sketch as a guide as you apply layers of ink to a plexiglass plate, wipe or draw detail into ink, then print ink onto printmaking paper- building successive layers in order to create an individual Monotype masterpiece!
Materials are provided in this two-session class held on November 7th and 14th.
Date: This is a two-session course on November 7 & 14 | 1 - 3PM
Ages: 18+
Fee: $150/$187 Resident/Non-Res
Instructor: William Cook
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Register now!
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Charcuterie Design
Holiday parties are right around the corner, get prepared with this charcuterie design class taught by Tara Trujillo! Students will be provided with all the ingredients and tools to complete a stunning & delicious snack board. All participants will build a charcuterie board to enjoy at the end of class or take home to share with loved ones!
Date: Thursday, November 13 | 5 - 6:30PM
Ages: 15+
Fee: $70/$87 Resident/Non-Res
Instructor: Tara Trujillo
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Register now!
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Santa Parade Cookies, Cocoa, and Craft
Get your craft on at Postmark Center for the Arts prior to Auburn’s Santa Parade & Tree Lighting festivities!
Alongside all the fun happening downtown on Saturday, December 6, Postmark will be offering three different holiday arts crafts accompanied by warm cocoa and delicious cookies. Register to drop in any time between 12:30-3pm to make and take your crafts.
Each individual must register to craft and have a cookie and cocoa.
Date: Saturday, December 6 | 12:30 - 3PM
Ages: 5+
Fee: $5
Register now!
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Postmark Gallery
Postmark Center for the Arts, 20 Auburn Ave
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Exhibition dates: Through January 21, 2026
UNFINISHED BUSINESS presents a unique challenge to members of Parallax Arts Collective, CLUSTER, and allied individuals: to engage creatively with the incomplete. Every artist has unfinished works in their studio or a collection of raw materials—pieces whose potential remains unrealized. This project invites members to freely give unfinished art or materials to fellow artists, who in turn will respond by creating new artwork inspired by what they receive.
Participation in UNFINISHED BUSINESS requires a spirit of openness and collaboration. Artists must be willing to both give and accept materials freely, without reservation or expectation regarding their use. The emphasis is on trust, transformation, and the generative potential of creative exchange.
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Art on Main Gallery
East Main St between N Division St and Auburn Ave
Windowfront viewable streetside 24/7
Nikita Mehta
Exhibition Dates: October 17 - January 5, 2025
We are eager to host a new artist at the Art on Main Gallery, Nikita Mehta!
Artist Statement: “Everything is Finite” explores the idea of existence and the nature of time. The clocks speak to the limits of a journey, the mirrors return your image as a reminder that you are also part of that same reality, and the photographs of nature show how the same cycles shape the world around us. A sheer fabric hangs between them, acting as a veil that represents the distractions and shifting perceptions that can sometimes blur our awareness and pull us away from what’s important. Together, these elements invite us to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what matters most, because everything is finite.” -Nikita Mehta
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Vault Gallery
Postmark Center for the Arts, 20 Auburn Ave
Gallery viewable during Postmark open hours
Rachel Barnes
Exhibition Dates: October 17 - January 5, 2025
We are excited to host a new artist at the Vault Gallery, Rachel Barnes!
Driven by a fascination with the emotional resonance of color and the narrative potential of texture, Barnes explores themes ranging from dream symbolism and fantastical realms to the untranslatable nuances of language. Her collections often reflect a curiosity about the invisible or overlooked—transforming abstract concepts into tangible, touchable forms.
Barnes’s artistic mission is to weave color and texture into the fabric of daily life, fostering creativity, sparking connection, and embracing the beautiful chaos of shared human experience.
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Auburn Community and Event Center Gallery
910 Ninth St. SE
Rachel Barnes and Weston Lambert
Exhibition Dates: Through November 5, 2025
We are happy to be presenting the work of artists Rachel Barnes and Weston Lambert at the Community Center Gallery!
Rachel Barnes is a fiber artist based in the greater Seattle area who creates rug installations for walls with eye-catching bright colors and varied pile heights to add interest. Intrigued by expressing complex and entertaining ideas through color and texture, She has been inspired to create collections addressing symbols in dreams, other colorful imaginary worlds, and lexical gaps in English that are succinctly explained in other languages.
Weston Lambert’s artwork is about “dualities and the balancing of contrasting forces--a place where transparency/opacity, rigidity/pliability, and ephemeral/eternal coexist, each taking part in creating equilibrium. Through the intense heat of the kiln and days of grinding/polishing, molten glass nestles into the stone’s curves, while mechanical carving simulates eons of erosion. ”
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Cheryl Sallee Gallery
Auburn Senior Center
808 Ninth St. SE
Miles Jordan
Exhibition Dates: Through November 5, 2025
We're excited to showcase the photographic work of artist Miles Jordan at the Cheryl Sallee Gallery!
“My project, 504-907, delves into a visual comparison of two distinct yet intertwined regions—Southern Louisiana and Interior Alaska—through the lens of diptych compositions. Through a fusion of traditional street and documentary photography techniques, I capture the essence of daily life in New Orleans, Louisiana and Fairbanks, Alaska. The diptych format serves as a storytelling tool, juxtaposing ordinary elements and unique characteristics of each locale. People, dwellings, and the minutiae of urban life—like graffiti—converge to reveal underlying connections and distinctions. At its core, 504-907 is a reflection on the profound yearning for connection and the preservation of cultural identity in the face of relentless change.”
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Cheryl Sallee Gallery
Auburn Senior Center
808 Ninth St. SE
Senior Center Watercolor Group Show
Exhibition Dates: November 5 - January 7, 2026
With works ranging in subjects such as landscape, wildlife or abstract textural compositions, this annual exhibition features the artistic talents of Jo Anne Iwasaki’s Senior Center student artists.
JoAnne Iwasaki is a talented teacher who has been sharing her love of painting with students in Auburn for over 14 years. This group student exhibition showcases the talents of JoAnne’s painting students working in watercolor media featuring a variety of techniques and subjects.
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2025-26 Downtown Sculpture Gallery
Main Street, Auburn Downtown
On display through September 2026
The City of Auburn's Downtown Sculpture Gallery showcases outdoor sculptures of various sizes, types and mediums. Primarily located along Main Street, the sculpture gallery changes annually providing different artwork for Auburn residents to experience and enjoy.
Take a walk downtown or view the Downtown Sculpture Gallery webpage to tour the newly installed sculptures and vote for your favorite for the annual People's Choice Award!
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Centennial Viewpoint Park Public Art
DEADLINE: Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 10:59 PM PST
The City of Auburn, WA is seeking a public artist(s) whose artwork would enhance Centennial Viewpoint Park: whether by framing the view, either literally or figurately, or creating a place for visitors to experience this beautiful natural environment in a moment of reflection.
Centennial Viewpoint Park (located at 402 Mountain View Dr., Auburn, WA) was developed by the Auburn Rotary Club during Auburn's Centennial year celebration in 1991. As its name implies, it is blessed with tremendous views of the Green River Valley, the Cascade Range, and Mount Rainier beyond. The 0.7 acre park is tucked into a small spot along Mountain View Drive, across the road from Mountain View Cemetery. This small park functions primarily as a scenic overlook.
Eligibility: Washington State artist(s) working in outdoor public art (non-bronze)
Budget: $80,000 (Budget is inclusive of design, fabrication, installation, travel & inclusive of all taxes)
For more information or to apply, please view the online application.
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A Living Practice: Coast Salish Art Now
DEADLINE: Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 10:59 PM PST
A Living Practice: Coast Salish Art Now is curated by Sam Obrovac, Muckleshoot, Danielle Morsette, Suquamish, and Olivia Bean Johnston, Snoqualmie. We are seeking Coast Salish artists, cultural practitioners, and craftspeople to participate in an exhibition at the Postmark Center for the Arts and the White River Valley Museum in Auburn, Washington. The exhibit will feature modern Coast Salish work along with historic pieces. A Living Practice: Coast Salish Art Now will explore the traditional practices that ground contemporary indigenous art and life, while highlighting the resurgence of Coast Salish culture.
Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled members, affiliated with, or able to show proof of descent from a Coast Salish tribe within Washington State. Eligible applicants from all arts disciplines and indigenous cultural practices are encouraged to apply. Submissions are encouraged to reflect Coast Salish style, design, or cultural practice. Coast Salish creatives from all disciplines are welcome to apply.
For more information or to apply, please view the online application.
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Lights on! Stage set! BRAVO Performing Arts is launching into the Fall season! The City of Auburn is excited to present an incredible lineup of music, comedy, theater, and kids’ programming as part of BRAVO Performing Arts. Check out the full schedule at auburnwa.gov/theater.
Upcoming performances:
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Make & Mingle
Every Wednesday, 10AM - 12PM
Ages: Suggested 18+ | FREE
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Stop by for our Artist Open Studio! Come join us for a cup of coffee with whatever art project you might be working on! This is a free, no-pressure environment for artists and creatives to gather. You can talk with other artists, ask for feedback or critique from on-site staff if available, bring your sketchbook to work out ideas, or just quietly draw in the gallery or work on your art! All are welcome. No need to sign up or register, just drop in!
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Drop-In Drawing
Every Friday, 10AM - 12PM
Ages: Suggested 18+ | FREE
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Come stop by for our new Drop-In Drawing sessions at the Postmark! A free, no-pressure environment for artists and creatives to drop-in. Draw from a still life or the gallery, stay for whole two hours or only 10 minutes! Bring tools to either shade or color with, and your own sketchbook or drawing pad. On-site help for critique/questions/advice. All are welcome. No need to sign up or register, just drop in!
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Drop-In Painting with Amy Sie
Every Friday, 10AM - 12PM
Ages: Suggested 18+ | FREE
Instructor: Amy Sie
@ Postmark Center for the Arts.
Amy Sie is offering Drop-In Gongbi Painting sessions at the Postmark! A free, no-pressure environment for you to start a new painting or work on an old one. Please bring your own tools and materials. On-site help for critique/questions/advice. All are welcome. No need to sign up or register, just drop in!
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White River Valley Museum
Visit the Auburn White River Valley Museum for upcoming events and activities!
Dickens Christmas After Hours
Thursday, December 4 | 7-8:30 PM
21 + Only Event | $25
Join our museum curators for the saucier side of the holidays. We’ll serve-up some mulled wine and sweet treats as we explore Victorian Christmas traditions including food, gender roles, ghosts, and general carousing.
Book Explorers with KCLS - A Boy Called Dickens
Saturday, December 6, 2025 | 2PM
Ages 7 & Up | Free Program
Have you ever wondered how book authors get their ideas? Find out how a poor boy in Victorian London grew of up be one of the most famous authors in English literature, writing A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, and many other books. Then enjoy museum activities and discover how Victorian traditions have influenced winter holidays in many places, including Washington state.
Curator Walk & Talk: Making Merry and Christmas Feasting
Thursday, December 11 | 1PM All Ages | Free program
Join Museum Director Rachael McAlister for an informal tour of our A Very Dickens Christmas exhibit with special attention to the yummy parts of the story!
A Season of Giving and Sharing Family Day
Saturday, December 13 | 10-2PM
All Ages | Free Program
Join us for a fun-filled holiday themed family day with free activities and crafts from all the winter holidays.
Holiday storytelling at 12pm with renown storyteller Karen Haas.
Curator Walk & Talk: A Very Victorian Washington Christmas
Thursday, December 18 | 1PM All Ages | Free program
Join Museum Curator Hilary Pittenger for an informal tour of our A Very Dickens Christmas exhibit highlighting how Victorian traditions show up in Washington State.
BYOB: Bring Your Own Book!
Friday, December 19 | 5:30-8PM
12 & Up | $10
Quiet Reading and Spooky Holiday Stories
Bring your own book, grab a cup of tea or cocoa, and cozy up amongst the Christmas trees for some quiet reading time followed by spooky holiday stories with renown storyteller Karen Haas.
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POSTMARK CENTER FOR THE ARTS
20 Auburn Avenue, Auburn, WA 98002
Gallery and Gift Shop Hours:
Wednesdays 12-4PM
Thursdays 12-6PM
Fridays 12-4PM
Second Saturdays 12-4PM
Stay Connected!
Click the images below and follow us on our Facebook and Arts Instagram to keep up on announcements, events, and classes!
Auburn Parks, Arts & Recreation
253-931-3043 | www.auburnwa.gov/arts
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