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Northwest Perspective Series

Since its founding in 1935, the Tacoma Art Museum has been dedicated to the art and artists of the Northwest. The museum strives to be a community resource for championing and preserving the region’s art history through its collections, exhibitions, and learning programs as well as through research into the life and work of important Northwest artists. One key contribution is the museum’s Northwest Perspective Series of exhibitions and accompanying scholarly catalogues. From its origins in 1992 as the 12th Street Series of mid-career retrospectives, Northwest Perspective has since expanded to alternate between historical and contemporary artists. The Northwest Perspective Series continues to provide important new scholarship about the region’s foremost artists. Our commitment to the series remains central to our mission of supporting the artists of the Northwest.


Exhibitions

Forgotten Stories: Northwest Public Art of the 1930s
February 22 – August 16, 2020

Sun, Shadows, Stone: The Photography of Terry Toedtemeier
October 20, 2018 – February 17, 2019

Captive Light: The Life and Photography of Ella E. McBride
March 17 – July 22, 2018

Zhi LIN: In Search of the Lost History of Chinese Migrants and the Transcontinental Railroads
June 27, 2017 – February 18, 2018

Coast to Cascades: C.C. McKim’s Impressionist Vision
November 12, 2016 – March 26, 2017

Roger Shimomura: An American Knockoff  
June 20 – September 13, 2015
Organized by Museum of Art, Washington State University

A Punch of Color: Fifty Years of Painting by Camille Patha
February 1 – May 25, 2014

Austere Beauty: The Art of Z. Vanessa Helder
July 27 – October 20, 2013

Marie Watt: Lodge
June 30 – October 7, 2012
Organized by the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University

A Turbulent Lens: The Photographic Art of Virna Haffer
July 2 – November 6, 2011

Where Sky Meets Earth: The Luminous Landscapes of Victoria Adams
July 10 – October 3, 2010

Loud Bones: The Jewelry of Nancy Worden
June 27 – September 20, 2009

What Is a Trade? Donald Fels and Signboard Painters of South India
September 13, 2008 – January 18, 2009

Veiled Northwest: Photographs by Mary Randlett
September 1, 2007 – May 18, 2008

Between Clouds of Memory: The Ceramic Art of Akio Takamori
May 27 – October, 8 2006
Organized by Arizona State University Art Museum

The Romantic Vision of Michael Brophy
October 8, 2005 – January 1, 2006

Scott Fife
September 18, 2004 – January 2, 2005

Look Alikes: The Decal Plates of Howard Kottler
September 4 – December 14, 2004


12th Street Series

Never Late for Heaven: The Art of Gwendolyn Knight
January 14 – May 2, 2003

Jack Dollhausen: A 30 Year Start
April 19 – June 16, 2002

Rick Bartow
March 27 – June 17, 2001

Jill Reynolds: Threshold
March 25 – June 11, 2000

Terence Johnson: Commencement Bay
December 8, 1998 – March 21, 1999

Petland: An Installation by Kathy Glowen
June 2 – September 7, 1998

The Jewelry of Ken Cory: Play Disguised
September 16 – November 30, 1997

Merrill Wagner: Works for Walls, Floors, and Fields
June 24 – September 7, 1997

Robert Helm
June 6 – September 24, 1995

Helen Lessick: The Crowning Glory of Tacoma
June 25 – August 21, 1995

Donald Fels: Trading Stories
August 30 – November 6, 1994

Keiko Hara: 100 Gates
June 7 – August 14, 1994

Trimpin: PHFFT-ARRGH
Decempber 18, 1993 – February 27, 1994

Paintings & Drawings by Mary Henry
December 2, 1992 – February 14, 1993