At the March 31 board meeting of the Washington State Convention Center Public Facilities District, the board voted unanimously to accept a donation of eleven works from Bank of America. Mara Vostral, the convention center's arts program specialist, walked the board through the collection. These aren't corporate lobby filler. They're works by serious Pacific Northwest artists, many of whom built careers that defined the region's art identity in the 1970s and 80s.
The works:
- Shirley Gittelsohn, Puget Night (1976) — diptych, 72"×120"
- LaVerne Krause, Sognef Jord II (1974) — diptych
- Emily Hall Morse, Early Frost (1976) — collage
- Michele Russo, The Evening Falls to Fragments
- Leland Standley, The Entry
- James Waterman, Timberline — mixed media
- Lucinda Parker, 9 Piece Afghan — polyptych; Abex
- Doug Kyes, Mount Rainier — oil on canvas, 48"×60"
- Otto Fried, Sail #16 (1971)
- Ray Meuse, Seattle from Somerset (1986)
A few names to know: Russo is one of the most important Oregon modernists. Fried showed alongside Tobey, Morris Graves, and Callahan — the Northwest School — and has been collected by the Met and the Centre Pompidou. Krause founded the University of Oregon's printmaking program. Parker had a retrospective at the Portland Art Museum. Kyes spent his career as an artist for Boeing. Waterman was a student of Paul Horiuchi, whose work already hangs in the Arch.
With this donation, the convention center's collection grows to 225 works. Not everything that gets offered gets accepted — Vostral screened for condition, fit, and redundancy. What got through is worth seeing.
The Seattle Convention Center offers free guided art tours, alternating between the Arch and Summit buildings, once a month. Tours are led by staff, limited to 15 guests, and booked through Eventbrite. Dates are posted a few months ahead, scheduled around the convention calendar.
I can't wait to see these up close.