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Pacific Northwest Artists

The Frye Art Museum’s substantial collection of works by artists of the Pacific Northwest reflects the Museum’s transformation from a personal selection of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century—predominantly European—oil paintings to a museum dedicated to creative practice in its myriad forms. Since opening in 1952 to the present day, the Museum has remained steadfast in exhibiting and collecting artworks by contemporary artists, especially those living and practicing in the city of Seattle and surrounding region. Walser Sly Greathouse, executor of the Frye estate and founding director of the Museum, ensured Charles and Emma Frye's vision for a free, public art museum for the people of Seattle was brought to life. Beginning in 1952, Greathouse was the first of six directors who expanded the Museum’s collection, acquiring new works to enliven and contextualize the paintings bequeathed by the Fryes. Subsequent leaders sustained the Museum’s legacy within the evolving identity of the Pacific Northwest through the ongoing collection and exhibition of works by artists of the region—from Washington and Oregon up to Alaska. The Museum’s extensive holdings of Alaskan art were initially assembled by the Museum’s second director, Ida Kay Greathouse. Between 1969 and 1993, she acquired over 125 paintings and works on paper. Subsequent Frye directors Richard V. West, Midge Bowman, and Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker added 175 more works by artists associated with the northernmost state. Highlights of the Pacific Northwest holdings range from twentieth-century Alaskan landscapes by artists such as Sydney Laurence and Eustace Paul Ziegler, to evocative works by contemporary artists and artist collectives across a broad range of mediums, including Juventino Aranda, the Black Constellation, Alison Bremner, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Ellen Lesperance, Jeffry Mitchell, Buster Simpson, and Ko Kirk Yamahira, among others.

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Title Artist Medium Date
Dog Sled with Musher   Ahgupuk, George   Pen and ink on paper  n.d. 
Dogs in Camp   Ahgupuk, George   Pen and ink on paper  n.d. 
Eskimo Cache   Ahgupuk, George   Ink on deer hide  n.d. 
Reindeer Herd   Ahgupuk, George   Pencil and ink on paper  n.d. 
Seal Hunters   Ahgupuk, George   Ink on caribou skin  n.d. 
West Seattle Beacon   Erickson, Jean Elshin   Oil on canvas  n.d. 
Sewing Mukluks   Fejes, Claire   Etching  n.d. 
Celestial Carpenter   Fellows, Jack   Acrylic on Masonite  n.d. 
March Sunlight in Hogan's Alley   Fitzgerald, Edmond J.   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Alyeska Mother   Gill, Lunda Hoyle   Oil on linen  n.d. 
El Toro (The Bull)   Grace, Gerald   Pastel on paper  n.d. 
Remembered Place   Grace, Gerald   Oil on linen  n.d. 
Alaska Cabin & Cache   Heurlin, Magnus Colcord   Oil on linen  n.d. 
Ballard Bricks   Jensen, Arne Rudolph   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Captain's House, Mendocino California   Jensen, Arne Rudolph   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Crowned Heads, Ferndale, California   Jensen, Arne Rudolph   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Ocean Harvest, Hoh River's Mouth, Pacific Ocean   Jensen, Arne Rudolph   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Road to Knowledge   Jensen, Arne Rudolph   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Sagebrush Dropout (Eastern Oregon)   Jensen, Arne Rudolph   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
The Last Port, Clam Bay, Kuper Island, B.C.   Jensen, Arne Rudolph   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
San Juan Run   Johnson, Marshall   Oil on canvas  n.d. 
I do not understand   Kickbush, Joan Arend   Oil on Masonite with wax  n.d. 
Ferns   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  n.d. 
The Perkins   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  n.d. 
Cache by the River   Laurence, Sydney   Oil on canvas on Masonite  n.d. 


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