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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
Shining Armor   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1983 
Short-Eared Owl   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1973 
Sixteen Tons   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1984 
Song of the Oogruk   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1982 
Spotted Seals   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1969 
Spruce Roost   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1970 
Standing His Ground   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1981 
Stoowu kaa   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1979 
The Print Maker   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1978 
Three Sea Lions   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  n.d. 
Tsee Xwaa   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1972 
Tsulxan Gowukan, Peace Dancer   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1971 
Turn Head Owl   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1973 
Willow Bull   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1977 
Windfall Fisherman   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1974 
Madrone + Mullan   Wechsler, Sadie   Archival inkjet print in madrone artist's frame  2021 
Mission Capistrano   Weekes, Shirley M.   Acrylic on canvas  ca. 1972 
Sawdust Burner   Weekes, Shirley M.   Oil on canvas  1967 
Spring Daffodils   Weekes, Shirley M.   Acrylic on canvas  ca. 1972 
Storm Approaching   Welman, Val   Acrylic on paper  1981 
Sunday at Latona School   Werrbach, William   Casein on cardboard  1971 
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 
Our Blood Is In These Stones: Ama-Ibi Wokoma   Wokoma, Inye   Digital print  2016 
Our Blood Is In These Stones: Daye Wokoma   Wokoma, Inye   Digital print  2016 


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