William Traver Gallery turning 30

There wasn't a lot happening in the Seattle gallery scene when the Traver Gallery opened in the Denny Regrade on Sept. 7, 1977, with a show of seven local painters, including some of Bill Traver's former teachers at Cornish. Who knew that the William Traver Gallery would still be around 30 years later to celebrate its long successful run with a public reception 5-8 p.m. Sept. 6?

Not long after it opened, the gallery gained a reputation for focusing on the then up-and-coming medium of glass in addition to other work. Among the artists who show at William Traver Gallery are University of Washington ceramists Doug Jeck and Jamie Walker and glass artists Lino Tagliapietra, Dante Marioni, Preston Singletary and Therman Statom. A show of Statom's work will be on view during September for the anniversary celebration.

For a while, Traver partnered in the gallery with Iris Sutton under the name Traver/Sutton Gallery. Sutton left in 1986 and the name became the William Traver Gallery. In 1992 Traver moved his gallery into a airy second-story space at 110 Union, near the Seattle Art Museum.

Traver also owns the glass showroom Vetri International Glass and in 2002 opened a branch of both Vetri and Traver Gallery in Tacoma, next to the Museum of Glass.

Name shrinks, gallery grows

Capitol Hill's Ballard Fetherston Gallery is getting bigger in size and shorter in name. The gallery, at 818 E. Pike St., was founded in 1997 by Betsy Fetherston and Carmen Ballard and will expand to include the storefront next door. It will reopen Sept. 6 as the Fetherston Gallery. Ballard recently left the Seattle partnership to start RC Gallery in Portland. With construction going on this summer, the gallery will be showing art by appointment only (206-322-9440 or www.ballardfetherstongallery.com).

Sheila Farr, Seattle Times art critic