Introducing American Art: The Stories We Carry at SAM

This week, SAM will enthusiastically reopen its American art galleries, revealing new perspectives on our collection, commissioned work from celebrated Northwest artists, and paintings restored by our conservation team. But the purpose of this update is much more significant than simply presenting a new array of must-see art.

This project, funded primarily by the Mellon Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art, has been an energizing, collaborative, and thoughtful exploration of what American art is today. To execute this examination, we assembled a paid advisory circle of 11 community leaders and artists to provide valuable feedback as we reinterpret our collection to meet the present moment and acknowledge the evolving definition of American art.

“With inclusivity as one of our values, we felt the urgency to take the collection and hold it accountable to that mission,” says Theresa Papanikolas, SAM’s Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art.

The new galleries, titled American Art: The Stories We Carry, will present the collection thematically and across time periods and feature works by nationally renowned local and national artists long overdue for closer examination within the American context. This includes moving objects from SAM’s Native American art collection into the American art galleries—previously dominated by the work of white artists—for the first time.

“We acknowledge that we must change all aspects of our practice as an institution of privilege and one that cares for the belongings of others,” says Barbara Brotherton, SAM’s Curator of Native American Art.

Also on view will be newly commissioned works by Native artists Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke) and Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂), a themed gallery curated by Seattle artist Inye Wokoma, and a dedicated gallery for rotating series of temporary installations exploring fresh perspectives on American art. The first of these installations will feature 15 prints from Jacob Lawrence’s series The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture.

Visit American Art: The Stories We Carry at SAM’s downtown location beginning October 20 and experience a more thorough representation of the past, present, and future of American art.

– Kat Bryant Flaherty, SAM Director of Marketing & Communications

This article first appeared in the July through September 2022 article of SAM Magazine and has been edited for our online readers. Become a SAM member today to receive our quarterly magazine delivered directly to your mailbox and other exclusive member perks.

Image: L. Fried.

Muse/News: Accumulations, Evolutions, and Dogs of The Sea

SAM News

For the new edition of ARCADE, Erin Langner reviews SAM’s John Akomfrah: Future History, which she was able to see just before the museum closed. She focuses on both the content and the technique of the artist’s immersive video essays.

“The film’s visceral urgency builds through a visual accumulation of histories. His technique calls attention to the ways that history converges with the present, often by unearthing and revisiting images that portray the brutalities many prefer not to see.”

The Olympic Sculpture Park is included in this round-up of staycation ideas from Chris Talbott for the Seattle Times; he notes “sunset would be perfect here,” which is exactly right.

Local News

Jasmyne Keimig of the Stranger returns to her “Currently Hanging” series with a snapshot of the art of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), documenting the various murals and objects while they are still in their original context.

Seattle Met shares a powerful series of photographs by Jana Early from the last weeks’ protests.

Our friends down on the waterfront, the Seattle Aquarium, have reopened. The Seattle Times’ Chris Talbott talks with visitors and Aquarium leaders, including director of conservation programs and partnerships Erin Meyer, about how it’s going.

“‘Reopening is about reconnecting with our mission inspiring conservation of our marine environment,’ Meyer said. ‘And we can’t do that without being able to interact with guests.’”

Inter/National News

Artnet’s Sarah Cascone speaks with Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, about the foundation’s reorientation—or “evolution”—of its grantmaking efforts entirely towards social justice issues.

With all the local focus on Seattle public art, let’s take a look at public art in New York City. ARTNews’ Claire Selvin explores everything “from Keith Haring to Dread Scott.”

The New York Times’ David Colman on a prescient augmented reality (AR) public art project by Nancy Baker Cahill that explores six historical sites and monuments across the Eastern seaboard.

“But the greater and more urgent question dangling here is: When is a public artwork an embellishment and when is it an eyesore? Arguments about patriotism and freedom, rights and responsibilities as well as what public art should do, and represent, have been thrown into high relief in 2020.”

And Finally

Swimming with the dogs of the sea.

 Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Installation view of “John Akomfrah: Future History” at Seattle Art Museum, 2020, photo: Natali Wiseman.
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