BY KEELIN EVERLY-LANG for WEEKLY VOLCANO 11/14/25 |
Tacoma’s thriving art scene will be on full display at the upcoming Arts at the Armory event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, and Sunday, Nov. 16.
The event will feature more than 130 local artists at the historic Tacoma Armory, located at 1001 South Yakima Avenue, and will be an opportunity to activate collective local spending power, find unique items and gifts, and “directly invest in the people who make our city special,” as the organizers put it.
For these two days, organizers share that guests will experience an event that is “more than a market. It’s a space for connection. For artists to share their work, for neighbors to gather, and for all of us to celebrate the creative heart of our city.”
Artists will be showing and selling work in a wide variety of mediums, including paintings, prints, ceramics, jewelry, textiles, independent literature, performance arts, glass, photography, mixed media, and more.
As part of the Markets at the Armory event series, artists will have items for sale, but the event also doubles as an art show that offers opportunities for connection beyond transactions.
Local artist Mary Mann said she loves being part of the event because of the opportunity to “meet new artists and catch up with those that I already know.”
“I find it so inspiring to see the new work and see so many people come out to appreciate it,” Mann told Weekly Volcano, adding that “Arts at the Armory is a great community-building event.”
Mann has participated for several years and this year plans to do a live oil painting demonstration and show about 20 small original paintings completed at an artist residency in Ireland. She will also have art for sale, as well as cards and prints made from her artwork.
Artist Paige Pettibon has also participated multiple times in the past and told Weekly Volcano she appreciates the event because “it shows how robust our art community is.”
Pettibon pointed out that there are not many art galleries in Tacoma, so local artists depend on markets like this one to gain visibility.
Arts at the Armory is particularly important to artists because there is no market fee, and it is planned to coincide with holiday shopping.
As a vendor, Pettibon said she loves participating because “it gives me a chance to look at everybody’s new stuff, and there’s a ton of vendors,” and because “I really enjoy talking to folks at these markets.”
This year has the potential to be especially impactful for Pettibon and the other participating artists because, as she explained, “as a full-time artist, it’s also been a hard year for financial opportunities.”
Pettibon is a visual artist of Black and Bitterroot Salish heritage whose work “spans painting, public art, digital media, and jewelry, exploring identity, cultural resilience, and human connection through portraiture, place-based art, and Indigenous traditions rooted in storytelling and visual symbolism.”
This year she will be showing her 2026 Salish calendar, a new collection of jewelry, and new digital art prints from the NDNartober challenge, an annual Instagram event for Native artists using the hashtag #ndnartober.
In addition to being an ongoing annual event, Arts at the Armory is also an extension of the Tacoma Arts Month program and one part of Tacoma Arts Live’s effort to solidify the Armory as a key destination for arts programming in the city.
This is the first year that Tacoma Arts Live has launched an official season at the Armory, according to an interview on Cityline with Katie Stricker Lappier, the organization’s CEO for Programs and Education.
“My vision, my dream is that we get to a place where people are saying, ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ ‘I don’t know. Let’s see what’s at the Armory,’” Lappier said on the program.
Lappier also shared that Tacoma Arts Live has introduced a membership program this year to encourage ongoing support and increase access to its programming.
The membership program has two tiers: Individual or Household. It includes a free ticket to all Live at the Eleanor shows (40-plus dates), 10 percent off tickets to Tacoma Arts Live Presents shows, and more.
Arts at the Armory is presented by the City of Tacoma Community and Economic Development Department’s Arts and Cultural Vitality Division in partnership with event sponsor Tacoma Arts Live. For more information, visit Tacomaartsmonth.org/2025-arts-at-the-armory/.
Sponsors for Tacoma Arts Month include KBTC, KNKX, Northwest Public Broadcasting, ParentMap, Pierce Transit, Preview, Showcase Magazine, South Sound Business, South Sound Magazine, and SouthSoundTalk.
