We kicked off the 40th anniversary celebration of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs last week at the opening reception of the exhibition Seattle as Collector: Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs Turns 40. Nearly 400 people gathered at Seattle Art Museum to enjoy the exhibition and live performances.

On view through Oct. 23 at SAM, Seattle as Collector is a retrospective exhibition of artworks from 112 artists showcasing four decades of the city’s Portable Works Collection. The exhibition also highlights the city’s public art program with photos, drawings and proposals for more than 60 permanent artworks.

 
The Portable Works Collection includes paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, glass, ceramics, textiles, mixed-media and video works. Deborah Paine, city curator and collections manager, selected and grouped the artworks in the exhibition by decade, from the 1970s through the 2000s.  See artworks by luminaries such as Jacob Lawrence and Guy Anderson and by contemporary artists such as Margie Livingston and Marie Watt.

The exhibition catalog is free and available at SAM while supplies last. Download a PDF of the catalog and view some of the artworks in the exhibition.

In 1973, Seattle was among the first cities in the country to adopt a percent-for-art ordinance, which helped build the city’s rotating collection of more than 2,800 artworks and nearly 380 permanently sited works.

The Portable Works Collection is made possible through 1% for Art funds provided by Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities. The collection is managed by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Images, top to bottom, left to right: Opening reception of the exhibition Seattle as Collector: Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs Turns 40 at Seattle Art Museum, May 11; Seattle as Collector exhibition; BQdanza performs at the Seattle as Collector opening reception; Mayor Mike McGinn gives opening remarks at the Seattle as Collector opening reception; Greg Ruby duo performs at the Seattle as Collector opening reception; SAM Director Derrick Cartwright, City Curator and Collections Manager Deborah Paine, Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs Director Vincent Kitch, and Mayor McGinn; Seattle as Collector exhibition.

Photos by Robert Wade.