It’s easy to mix the fine arts with the art of having fun, thanks to a string of art museums located in some of Western Washington’s most vibrant neighborhoods. These small to medium-sized museums are big enough to satisfy art lovers without being overwhelming.
We’ll check out five from Tacoma to Bellingham. Before you go, check out the Web sites for the latest exhibit information.
Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner
Skagit County is home to the Northwest School, one of the most significant art movements of the 20th century. Masters artists such as Guy Anderson, Mark Tobey, Morris Graves and Kenneth Callahan drew on such influences as the natural world, American Indian culture and Asian influences to create a distinctive regional style of art that has endured. The mystic light of the Skagit Valley was an important influence on their work, which is prized by collectors and museums.
So it’s fitting that their work is a prominent part of the Museum of Northwest Art in downtown La Conner.
Since 1981 the museum has showcased the art of the Northwest School while paying attention to the continuously changing world of art, with exhibits by new and emerging artists in a variety of mediums such as video and photography. It’s a hub for the region’s vital arts scene.
The galleries of the two-level museum glow from light cascading through a large circular skylight. Visitors will see significant Northwest art on the second floor and contemporary works downstairs.
Exhibits change four times a year, so there’s always something new to see. MONA has amassed a permanent collection of around 2,500 works, said Director Greg Robinson.
La Conner is a huge tourist draw, and the popularity of the town feeds museum attendance. “People end up being surprised by the experience,” Robinson said.
Tip: MONA has big gift shop with a wide selection.
Where to eat: Seed’s Bistro &Bar on the north end of town near the former home of the historic Tillinghast Seed Co., is a favorite for food and drinks. Nice atmosphere and innovative menu.
Whatcom County Museum of History and Art, Bellingham
We should all age as gracefully as this 1892 Bellingham landmark. The ornate pile of red brick and gray Chuckanut sandstone is situated on a bluff overlooking Bellingham Bay. It’s a great big wedding cake of a building reflecting various architectural styles with the emphasis on Victorian ornate.
The building started life as a city hall, but today is home to 3,000 square feet of gallery space, showcasing an ever-changing range of exhibits and installations reflecting the diverse and vibrant art scenes of the region and its history.
The ambitious exhibit schedule includes art and history exhibits, and the ornate interior of the building is a work of art all its own.
Across the street is the ARCO Exhibits Building, an art annex that is currently hosting a dandy little exhibit titled “American Abstraction: Works from the Washington Art Consortium.”
There are 42 works on paper by such 20th century masters as Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Motherwell and Jasper Johns on view through Nov. 11. It’s a comprehensive introduction to the mystery and mastery of abstract art in America.
Tip: Museum admission is free and parking is easy on nearby streets.
Where to eat: Fairhaven, just south of downtown, offers bookstores, shops and galleries, and there are plenty of places to eat, including Skylarks Hidden Cafe, down a cobblestone path just off the main east-west street. There’s a shady patio for summer dining, and the food is delicious.
Frye Art Museum, Seattle
Three things to remember about the Frye: It’s located at Cherry Street and Terry Avenue on Seattle’s First Hill, admission is free and so is parking. Anytime you can park free on Seattle’s booming “Pill Hill,” home to some of the region’s premiere medical institutions, is nothing short of a miracle.
This gem opened in 1952, a bequest of Seattle pioneers Charles and Emma Frye, as a free public art museum. Through shrewd management, that mission was accomplished. Today, after a 1997 expansion and remodel, the Frye is sleek and elegant, an oasis of art amid the urban clamor.
The entrance is marked by a shallow reflecting pool, which leads visitors into the light-filled lobby. The dark-toned galleries open off this central rotunda where a variety of changing exhibits are shown year round.
Charles and Emma Frye collected 19th- and 20th-century German, French and American art and in the past the museum favored the traditional. But the museum’s artistic focus has broadened greatly over the years, and today it’s a showcase for the contemporary and cutting edge as well as the traditional.
The juxtaposition of the staid with cutting edge is one of its pleasures. The gift shop is small but the selection of art books, decorative objects and jewelry is fine.
Tip: “Yvonne Twining Humber: Modern Painter,” on view through Jan. 6, showcases the hard-edged Realist style of this Seattle artist, who worked as a painter for Boston’s Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1943. The WPA artists created a lasting treasure of art that recorded American life during the Great Depression.
Where to eat: The museum’s Gallery Cafe is our top choice for easy dining. The food is fresh and inviting, the setting casual and friendly and the coffee and the desserts enticing.
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
When the Henry Art Gallery opened in 1927, it was the first public art museum in the state, literally the only game in town. Now 80 years young, it is a showcase of contemporary art and artists, with a permanent collection of more 20,000 works.
The historic building, remodeled and expanded to 40,000 square feet a decade ago, sits gracefully on the western edge of the campus. It’s up-to-date, and there’s a bookstore and a cafe.
Tip: The original red brick collegiate-Gothic building, best seen from 15th Avenue NE, was designed by Seattle’s grand architect Carl Gould, who designed the Everett Public Library, among many important landmarks.
Where to eat: For coffee and a quick lunch, head up campus to the nearby Burke Museum Cafe, renowned for its lovely 18th century French pine paneling. It’s warm, inviting and full of students and staff who are reading, writing and noshing.
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma
In 2003 the new Tacoma Art Museum joined the glossy Museum of Glass and the history-packed Washington State History Museum to make a triumvirate of museum destinations along Pacific Avenue.
New Mexico architect Antoine Predock did a masterful job of fitting the handsome, contemporary museum into Tacoma’s diverse urban core. The building, with its flowing interior of light-filled galleries, has won raves from critics and the public for its beauty and functionality.
Visitors wander through the 12,000 square feet of interconnected galleries via slowly ascending walkways.
The heart of the building is an atrium of rocks, moss and water that opens to the sky. This open-air interior garden is paved in granite embellished with glass and steel.
The museum has an outstanding permanent collection built over the decades, more than 3,000 works, including works by Degas, Renoir, Edward Hopper and John Singer Sargent.
The museum also hosts some of the most adventurous and compelling exhibits in the region. There’s a permanent display of glass by Tacoma native Dale Chihuly, a cafe and gift shop.
Tip: The top floor education center affords stunning views.
Where to eat: Harmon Brewpub and Restaurant across Pacific offers an extensive menu and house brews. The nearby Tacoma branch of the University of Washington is testament to how this campus helped revitalize downtown, something to consider as a UW branch campus heads for a Snohomish County site.
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