The museum is located at 190 Sunset Avenue in downtown Edmonds, adjacent to the town's ferry terminal and train station. It is located inside a former Safeway grocery store built in the 1960s, sharing the building with several shops and restaurants.[1][2] Once slated for demolition and redevelopment,[3] it was bought by the Echelbarger family in 2012 to be renovated and modernized for new tenants.[4] The retrofit exposed the building's timber frame and added wood elements sourced from the Pacific Northwest as an expression of the region's eco-consciousness.[5]
History
The idea of a museum for Pacific Northwest art was conceived by Lindsey Echelbarger during the acquisition of the Safeway building in 2012; Echelbarger had been collecting Northwest artists' work for decades prior.[1][2] The museum opened on September 12, 2015, with an exhibit from the Northwest Watercolor Society.[6][7] In its first year of operations, the museum hosted six main exhibitions and grew its membership to over 600.[8]
Collection and exhibits
The museum's primary focus is on artwork from the Pacific Northwest from 1880 to 1962,[1] either from artists from the area or related to local places and events.[2] Pacific Northwest art from this period, especially the years prior to 1930, has been largely forgotten by museums and collectors according to art historians.[9] The region's artwork, according to curator David F. Martin, differs from the rest of the United States because of influences from Native American and East Asian culture.[2] The museum features five galleries, which are divided into annual and quarterly rotations, and over 200 works that it leases and borrows from other collections.[10][11]
