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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
And Now One for You   Stark, Michael A.   Pen and ink on card  1988 
Dog Sled with Musher   Ahgupuk, George   Pen and ink on paper  n.d. 
Palace Guards   Stark, Michael A.   Pen and ink on paper  ca. 1988 
Fall Chores   Stark, Michael A.   Pen and ink on paper  ca. 1988 
Eat Frye's Baby Beef   Steinbrueck, Victor   Pen and ink on paper  1973 
Dogs in Camp   Ahgupuk, George   Pen and ink on paper  n.d. 
Fresh Daily   Stark, Michael A.   Pen, ink, and colored pencil on paper  ca. 1988 
Sketch for The Pig Went Down to the Harbor and Wept #3   Woodring, Jim   Pencil and acrylic ink on paper  2016 
Cordially Yours   Laurence, Sydney   Pencil and ink on paper  1920 
Reindeer Herd   Ahgupuk, George   Pencil and ink on paper  n.d. 
Untitled [Uli figure from New Ireland, Melanesia, early 20th century]   Juvonen, Helmi Dagmar   Pencil and ink on paper  ca. 1967-68 
Salmon Brailing   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Pencil on paper  n.d. 
Vaccination at Bethel, Alaska on the Lower Kuskoquim (1935)   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Pencil, oil and colored washes on Masonite  1935 
Untitled   Layman, Isaac   Photographic construction, inkjet on paper  2011 
Untitled   Layman, Isaac   Photographic construction, inkjet on paper  2011 
To a Flame   White, Anthony   PLA (plastic) on panel  2019 
Hunger is der Beste Koch (Hunger is the Best Cook)   Wiggins, Myra Albert   Platinum print  1898 
Arrival of the Sea Birds   Wallen, R. T.   Pointigraph  1980 
Tree Guard   Simpson, Buster   Powder-coated cast iron  1978/2013 
Santa Clara Dancer   Steinke, Bettina   Reproduction  1977 
Arctic Circle   Wallen, R. T.   Screenprint  1978 
The Dorothy K: Bow Dress   Implied Violence   Silk, satin, lace, steel ring, and cable  2010 
Raven Watchers   Angell, Tony   Steatite (soapstone)  1984 
Chest Harp 1   Degenerate Art Ensemble   Steel, guitar strings  2006 
Chest Harp 2   Degenerate Art Ensemble   Steel, guitar strings  2006 


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