Upcoming Exhibitions
Opening 2026
Ode to Diligence: The Art of Jason McDonald
Opens May 16
“Every piece I create, from the humblest tumbler to the most baroque sculpture, makes a statement about isolation, striving, access, perseverance, boundary pushing, and the pursuit of excellence. I believe my presence in the field as a working-class Black man, striving and excelling in a field occupied chiefly by society’s most privileged (whitest), is a powerful artistic and political gesture. “—Jason McDonald
Glass vessels evocative of the highly ornamented Baroque style, black silhouettes embedded in scenes on ancient pottery vessels, and medallion reliefs of Black figures all abide in the deliberate, expansive practice of Jason McDonald. McDonald’s visual language is deeply rooted in research of ancient histories, traditional techniques, and race. Here, contemporary ideas blend and transform tradition with caring attention to detail, precision in thought, and beauty. Motivated by glass—with its magical properties, myriads of endless possibilities and potential—McDonald’s devotion lies in the desire to refine the craft, making his hands more familiar and knowledgeable with each replication. Through his repetition and re-imagination of these historical forms, the objects transform into sculptures and vessels of time, carrying with them the essence of centuries-old traditions, as well as McDonald’s commitment and insertion of the representation and notions of Black identity. With a commitment to the craft that transcends his own work, McDonald diligently carves out space for those who will follow him through mentoring and the creation of his own glass studio, which he has named Ideal Conditions.
Ode to Diligence: The Art of Jason McDonald is Jason McDonald’s first solo museum exhibition. McDonald is the 2026 awardee of The Current, An Artist Award.
Organized by Tacoma Art Museum and curated by Victoria Miles.
The Current, An Artist Award 2026
Opens May 16
The Current, An Artist Award 2026 features a display of work from the three nominees of this year’s award program.
Organized by Tacoma Art Museum and curated by Victoria Miles.
Project NW: Epiphany Couch
Opens May 28
Stories move through time in many forms. They live in the land, in language, in archival collections, and in family photographs. They pass from one generation to the next. They are revealed in dreams. In č’adac (Inheritance), artist Epiphany Couch reflects on a personal desire to know the stories of her ancestors in all their complexity. She grapples with the ways ancestral stories were interrupted by U.S. policies that sought to erase Indigenous life and culture. Through this act of remembering, she explores the fullness of inheritance, belonging, and repair. Drawing on photography, beadwork, weaving, collage, and sculptural forms, Couch weaves family stories, archival research, and dreams into works that consider our stories as our greatest inheritance.
Epiphany Couch (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and writer whose work explores generational knowledge, storytelling, and our relationships with the natural and spiritual worlds.
Working across photography, beadwork, weaving, and collage, she reinterprets traditional forms to create images, installations, and sculptural works that engage ancestral knowledge and invite new ways of understanding. Her practice is rooted in unconventional collaboration—acrosstime, between generations, and with the natural world—recognizing these relationships as vital to sustaining memory, culture, and identity.
Couch is spuyaləpabš (Puyallup), Yakama, and Scandinavian/Mixed European, and grew up in caləłali (Tacoma, Washington). Her work has been acquired for public and private collections and exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs across the United States. Couch lives and works in Portland, Oregon, where she is a member of the artist-run gallery Carnation Contemporary, the Columbia Basin Basketry Guild, and the Cyme Collective.
Decades in the Making: 10 Years of SOLA Awardees
Opens July 18, 2026
This exhibition marks SOLA’s 10th Anniversary and will celebrate the creative legacies of ten years of SOLA Award recipients — mature women artists whose vision, mastery, and resilience continue to shape Washington’s cultural landscape.
“This exhibition is a tribute to the extraordinary women visual artists across Washington selected by their peers as SOLA Awardees — and to Marge Levy, whose support and dedication makes their greater recognition possible,” said Nichole DeMent, Executive Director of SOLA.
“Marge believed deeply in celebrating artists while they are here to witness it, and this anniversary at TAM brings that vision full circle.”
Founded in 2016 by Marge Levy and Ginny Ruffner, SOLA (Support of Old Lady Artists) uplifts and honors the contributions of mature women artists across Washington State. What began as a single $1,000 award has grown into a statewide movement that includes five annual $5,000
awards, professional Video Spotlights, and a growing digital archive dedicated to preserving these artists’ stories.
Project NW: David Hytone
Opens September 17, 2026
“Over the last ten years I have been developing a visual language that grew from a studio practice that employed collage, paint transfer and a methodical construction of images built on a foundation of castoffs and off-cuts from previous work. From that language and the processes through which it was expressed, I found myself returning time and again to the oroboros-like relationship between experience, memory, and the self. A few years back, that visual vernacular began to both broaden and become more specific. New methods replaced previous approaches and thus began the shift to my current practice and the work I’m presently invested in. The ideas behind this new body of work have been, for me, as elusive as they have been revealing, and at this point somewhat difficult for me to wrap words around.
I can say this: the work is more interested in symbolism, more focused on
isolation in these “connected” times, more concerned with endeavor in the face of oblivion. It feels increasingly personal and yet more reflective of the absurdity of the world around us. At times a balm for the soul, at times a cultural ballast anchoring society to an over-idealized past, the double edged sword of nostalgia remains a frequent touchstone.
In the end I’m still figuring it out… and I realize now that those eight words alone are perhaps more effective at describing my current practice than all the words that proceeded them.”
-David Hytone
David Hytone received his BFA in Fine Arts from the Minneapolis
College of Art and Design after studying briefly at the Osaka University
of Arts in Japan. He has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally,
including shows in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Miami,
Minneapolis, Portland, Sun Valley, Brussels and Ghent, Belgium. A
recent visiting artist and lecturer at Penn State and Indiana University,
He has work in numerous private and corporate collections including
Microsoft, Facebook, Capital One, Swedish Hospitals, Hilton, SeaTac
airport and the permanent collection of King County, WA.
A 2024 MacDowell Fellow and 2018 Neddy finalist in painting, David
currently lives and works in Tacoma, WA
.