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Fall Arts
Visual arts: Fresh faces, fresh vision

By Sheila Farr
Seattle Times art critic

Masterworks from the Hudson River School include a sumptuous American landscape by Albert Bierstadt at the Tacoma Art Museum, Oct. 2.

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It's been a tough year financially for museums, and fall promises lots of change. The main theme in local art venues this year? How to get people in the door.

Last September, the Bellevue Art Museum closed after just two years in its $23 million Steven Holl-designed building. This fall, if all goes right, BAM will reopen Oct. 30 with a new mission, a new director, new staff and a mostly fresh-faced board.

Director Michael Monroe is ready to forge ahead with a craft- and design-oriented program that he believes will perfectly complement the mission of other Seattle-area museums. Community members said they want a craft-oriented museum, and BAM's board listened.

Meanwhile the Frye, on firm financial footing with its endowment and real-estate holdings, has purged its top staff since last spring. Midge Bowman, acting director since March, was recently chosen as executive director, and Robin Held (outgoing Henry Art Gallery associate curator) was hired to replace Debra Byrne as chief curator.

The staid mission of the Frye, which forbids abstract art, and the Henry's support of risk-taking contemporary art couldn't be more different, so why choose a curator like Held to set the Frye's course?

Bowman says she hopes Held will stretch the definition of representational art and rejuvenate the museum's greying clientele. "Robin seems like a wonderful person to keep the Frye looking forward instead of back," she says.

At the Henry, with Held out the door and assistant curator Pamela Meredith leaving at the end of September, there should soon be new faces in the curatorial department, and that means fresh vision.

As for the rumors flying that the Henry is in financial difficulties: It's just not true, says director Richard Andrews, stressing the Henry will have a bigger exhibition budget this year than last. "I want to underline that we're in very good shape," Andrews says.

CRITIC'S PICKS

Spain in the Age of Exploration 1492-1819. A treasure trove of artworks and cultural artifacts gleaned from some of the world's great collections, including Spain's Patrimonio Nacional and Museo del Prado. You'll see maps, armor, books, scientific instruments and tapestries, but the high point (we hope) will be the paintings: by Titian, El Greco, Hieronymus Bosch, Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya and others. Oct. 16-Jan 2, 2005. Seattle Art Museum.

W.O.W. In a far-reaching, multi-part exhibition, the Henry's chief curator Liz Brown puts us nose to nose with a group of contemporary artworks chosen to create a strong response in the viewer, be it visceral, meditative or just plain upsetting.

"W.O.W" (short for the enigmatic title "The Work of the Work") began in August with Gary Hill's moving video installation "Tall Ships" and expands at two venues later this fall with works by Anne Appleby, Kim Sooja, Callum Innes, Hannah Villiger, Steve McQueen, Olafur Eliasson and others. Nov. 5-Feb. 6, 2005. The Henry Art Gallery and Western Bridge.

The Hudson River School: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. In the 1800s, artists of the Hudson River School set the tone for American landscape painting, creating images that helped shape our identity as a country.

This traveling show, organized by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum in Hartford, Conn., features 50 paintings by the top names of the period, including Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. Oct. 2-Jan. 16. Tacoma Art Museum

"Henk Pander: A Spectacular Requiem" and "Wondertoonel: Paintings by Mark Ryden." Two wildly different shows highlight the Frye's fall lineup: Portland artist Henk Pander's large, dramatic realist paintings and the delectable fairytales of California artist Mark Ryden. Nov. 6-Jan. 16 (Henk Pander) and Nov. 19-Feb. 13 (Wondertoonel) The Frye Art Museum.

Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection. The owner of a chain of hardware stores assembled this unusual theme-based art collection, beginning with Jim Dine's top notch "Tool Box" suite of screen prints and including contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings and folk art. Sept. 18-Jan. 9. The Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma.

ONE TO WATCH

Michael Monroe

	JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES Bellevue Art Museum's new director, Michael Monroe, will focus on craft and design.

What's required to take over a museum that's got no money, no staff, no program and has been closed for over a year?

I'd say courage.

"Yes, I agree with you," says Michael Monroe, who recently demonstrated this by accepting the job of executive director and chief curator of the Bellevue Art Museum. For the museum to reopen Oct. 30 as planned, with a new mission focused on craft and design, Monroe needs to rekindle public trust, assemble a staff, repair relations with former supporters and raise a pile of money. "We fully expect to do it," he says.

"I consider myself quite a good fund-raiser," Monroe says. "My approach is to get people excited."

With a long career heading the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, and a stint as director of the American Craft Council in New York, Monroe's got the credentials for the job. But — more important — he's also got the right kind of ideas. "I want to show the evolutionary aspect of craft, whether it be a humble pot from the caves of Lascaux or a contemporary piece by Viola Frey," he says. "The best art overturns tradition."

— Sheila Farr, Seattle Times art critic sfarr@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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