The biggest news on the local art museum scene is, of course, the reopening of the Seattle Art Museum downtown. [site] SAM is going all out to celebrate with events like the 35-Hour Grand Opening Marathon! The museum opens on Saturday, May 5, at 10 am and stays open for the next 35 hours. Admission is free all weekend, but you have to go down to the museum and get admission tickets for a specific time. There will be no advance ticketing–it’s all first come, first serve. The opening weekend festival includes live music and dance, a sale on limited edition gifts designed by Olympic Sculpture Park artists, food and refreshments, and photos with Sammy the Camel.

There’s more going on than just SAM’s re-opening, however.

Avoid the long lines at SAM downtown on the 5th and take your kids to the Seattle Asian Art Museum [site] for “First Free Saturday”. There’s an exhibit on scrolls and the chance for kids to make their own, as well as a free showing of the animated film Porco Rosso. Continuing xhibitions through the month include Of Nature and Friendship: Modern Chinese Paintings from the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection (ends in July) and Shirin Neshat: Tooba through the end of May.

May at Bellevue Arts Museum [site] includes Women’s Tales, Four Leading Israeli Jewelers, Turning Wood Into Art: The Jane and Arthur Mason Collection and William Morris: Native Species. May 20 is the final date for Turning Wood Into Art, the others continue through June. A video installation called The Garden of Things opens May 3 for a run through the end of summer. Vi9st between May 5 and June 3 for 2007 Passing the Torch: Washington Statewide High School Jewelry and Metals Exhibition.

The Paul Strand: Southwest exhibit at Tacoma Art Museum [site] ends May 23, but the Frida Kahlo: Images of an Icon exhibit continues through early June. May 17 is the opening of Sparkle Then Fade, an exhibition I’m very much looking foward to see as it is focused on one of my favorite topics as an artist, the use of light. In this case, it’s the use of reflected light as a metaphor for the human condition which is a little deeper than I usually get but should prove to be quite an illuminating collection.

The Henry Art Gallery [site] continues its Paul Strand exhibit (The Mexican Portfolio) through June but both Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light and Carsten Höller: Neon Circle end this month on the 6th and the 13, respectively. Moving in on May 8 is Marie Jager: The Purple Cloud & Other Stories, a film by Los Angeles artist Marie Jager collaged from images and period publications relating to The Purple Cloud, an early (1901) science fiction novel by M.P. Shiel. Also showing Jager’s tribute to genius filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, Machines Also Die. The University of Washington’s School of Art, Master of Fine Arts annual exhibition opens on May 12.

The Frye Art Museum [site] continues Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection through June. Sin and Frye Future run through September.