Review: 'Art of Discovery' at BAM lets the rest of us in on the fun of interacting with art

Fifty years ago, the Junior League of Seattle began making short-term loans of its collection of Pacific Northwest art to schools on the Eastside and in Seattle. Since then, the program has offered thousands of children the opportunity to learn about art.

This summer, the museum will exhibit the entire collection — 65 paintings and sculptures — so that those of us beyond our school days can enjoy this important assemblage.

It all began with a donation by famed Northwest School painter Kenneth Callahan. Over time the women's service group added works by such luminaries as Guy Anderson, Dale Chihuly, Morris Graves, Fay Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Alden Mason, George Tsutakawa and many others.

The show is designed to be equally appealing to adults and families with children. Through interactive displays, touch-me panels and signage, visitors are asked to think about artistic design and process as well as the techniques used by artists to achieve their desired effects.

Visitors will be encouraged to study paintings and tease out meanings. For example, in Jose Orantes' acrylic painting "Leopard's Soul," leopard heads and human heads are super-

imposed; they meld one into another. Which do you see first? Why did the artist do it that way?

Children especially love Sherry Markovitz's mixed-media work "Our Father ... " with its sparkling green- sequined background, against which stands an enormous deer. Why the sequins rather than paint? What effect do they create?

In William Cummings' charcoal and pencil drawing, "Rodeo Rider," he captured motion and gesture. How does he convey it to us? Compare that with Michael Spafford's "Three Divers Red" (mixed-media work on paper). We know Spafford's swimsuit-clad figures are moving through the air and into the water. But wait, is the artist playing with us? Is that one person moving through air through time, or are there three different divers?

As Callahan once said, "We can say all sorts of things about painting. It doesn't matter what it means to me, instead of what it means to you."

This is an exhibit to delight your eye and encourage you to find that meaning.

Nancy Worssam: nworssam@earthlink.net