Skip to Content

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.

Click on a column heading to sort the list.

Title Artist Medium Date
Portrait of a Man   Miller, Stan   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Untitled [Hearts and Flowers]   Juvonen, Helmi Dagmar   Watercolor on paper  after 1960 
Untitled [Flower Stalk]   Juvonen, Helmi Dagmar   Watercolor on paper  after 1960 
Untitled [Holly Flower]   Juvonen, Helmi Dagmar   Watercolor on paper  after 1960 
Tatoosh Range   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Kahhoaruk of Noatak   Fejes, Claire   Watercolor on paper  1963 
Oriental Street   Marshall, Fred B.   Watercolor on paper  1969 
Two Fishermen Hauling in Nets   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Watercolor on paper  ca. 1930 
Pinnacle Peak, Tatoosh Range   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Watercolor on paper  n.d. 
Carnation Farm   Countryman, Larry   Watercolor, ink, and oil wash on paper  ca. 1972 
this trembling turf (the shallows)   Peters, Mary Ann   White ink  2018 
The Dorothy K: Small Ether Machine   Implied Violence   Wood, cloth, felt, glass, metal, plastic, twine  2010 
Covid March (after unemployment, the park, then home)   Cerny, Dawn   Wood, drawings, textiles, clipboard, Apoxie Sculpt, polymer clay, paint, found ephemera from studio of Nancy Shaver   2021 
The Edith Wharton you can afford   Cerny, Dawn   Wood, plaster tape, textiles, found ephemera from studio of Nancy Shaver, Apoxie Sculpt, paint   2021 
Deerlegs   Degenerate Art Ensemble   Wood, steel, rubber, PVC pipe, cable, microphone, transmitter  2007 
Berry Pickers   Muñoz, Rie   Woodcut  1970 
Mermaid Legend   Muñoz, Rie   Wool tapestry  1979 


Your current search criteria is: Portfolio is "Pacific Northwest Artists".

View current selection of records as:
CDWA Lite XML LIDO XML VRA Core 4 MODS XML Objects JSON