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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
Palace Guards   Stark, Michael A.   Pen and ink on paper  ca. 1988 
Eat Frye's Baby Beef   Steinbrueck, Victor   Pen and ink on paper  1973 
An Eskimo Smile   Steinke, Bettina   Oil on canvas  1979 
Eskimo Beauty Marks   Steinke, Bettina   Pastel on paper  ca. 1979 
Santa Clara Dancer   Steinke, Bettina   Reproduction  1977 
The Redhead   Steinke, Bettina   Pastel on paper  ca. 1979 
Village Dancers   Stephens, Terrill   Pastel on paper  1982 
Bamboo No.19   Struck, Rebecca   Letterpress and print  1994 
Old Maple Tree   Terry, Roy   Watercolor on paper  ca. 1964 
Ode to Octavia Part 12: (Sparkles)...Recollections of the Wraith   The Black Constellation   Digital video (color, sound); 4:49 min.  2012 
Ode to Octavia: Cranium Adornment #5   The Black Constellation   Composited bone, enamel, found goggles  2012 
Ode to Octavia: Neo-Ancient Taliswoman   The Black Constellation   Incantation, repurposed bronze, brass, silver, stainless steel, rosewood, beechnut, abalone shell, ibex and dik-dik horn, precious and semiprecious stones, 1996 GMC truck key  2012 
The Storm   Tillion, Diana   Octopus ink on paper  ca. 1974 
Seated Man   Tobey, Mark   Mixed media on paper  1940 
Bamboo No.23   Tsutakawa, George   Letterpress and Sumi ink  1994 
El Sisifo (The Sisyphus)   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Three-channel digital video (color, sound); 12 min.  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #1   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #10   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #11   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #12   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #13   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #14   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #15   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #16   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #17   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 


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