I was surprised and impressed. There isn't TONS here (at least, not the day we came), but the exhibitions were better-presented and more accessible than I expected. The exhibit made collaboratively with a group of teenagers was actually one of my favorite things there.Definitely recommended!

The Henry Art Gallery is on the campus of the University of Washington. The gallery runs exhibitions of contemporary art. Often different rooms are used for whole installations. An interesting feature is that the gallery is built in the collegiate Gothic style and there are quotations about beauty on the walls, which kind of give a canonical backdrop to the more contemporary installations. When I visited, the In Plain Sight exhibition was on. I found the art really thought-provoking, often attractive, sometimes garish, and aligned to progressive ideas. My favorite was Mika Rottenberg's film about Chinese restaurants on the Mexico-US border and the plastics market in a Chinese city. It was a really interesting film about the Chinese diaspora, alienation of workers and where all the plastic throwaway stuff that gets bought comes from. Unless you are a major fan of one of the exhibiting artists, I wouldn't make a special trip just to visit this gallery - instead it's something that is nice to do as part of a wider visit to the University of Washington campus. There is a student-y coffee shop in the basement. Entry is free to everyone on Sundays - on other days it is free to UW faculty and students only.

This museum isn't as bad as people seem to think it is. While it isn't as big as some other galleries/art museums (you can go downtown to the SAM or SAAM for that), it does have a nice collection of artwork and a decent rotating exhibit schedule, and there's usually something here for everyone. It's a good gallery for a great university, and while it might not live up to the university's reputation, it does have a good selection of art.

As a building to hold and exhibit art the Henry Art Gallery is amazing. Unfortunately when we went the exhibition was certainly not to my tastes. I have never got modern art, but, my I went with my wife and her friend both of whom teach. She normally has to explain modern art to me, but even she was stuck for words with the exhibition currently on. It was all very Emperor's clothes and caused me to ask the question was it all one big practical joke!! If the purpose of modern art is to create discussion it certainly did with us - None of it positive!

I am not really sure why it has received such poor reviews. It is a small gallery, sure, and not a very large collection, but it is different than other places I have visited. The pieces are maybe not the ordinary paintings you see somewhere else, but more of conversation pieces. I really liked the Library of Black Lies exhibit and the video installations. I would probably not go to this area just for this, but if you are in the area it might be an interesting spot to visit. I would check their website first if you are interested in the type of things that they have there displayed currently before visiting.