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The Puget Sound region is rich with educational and studio-based resources for artists. This group exhibition will be curated with nominees selected by more than twenty Craft-based programs and professional groups. These include Pilchuck Glass School (Stanwood), Pratt Fine Arts Center (Seattle), Northwest African American Museum (Seattle), Wing Luke Asian Museum (Seattle), Seattle Metals Guild (state wide), House of Welcome (Indigenous Longhouse arts center, The Evergreen State College, Olympia), Schack Art Center (Everett), Bainbridge Island Artisans Network (BARN, Bainbridge Island), Port Townsend School of the Arts (Port Townsend), Northwest Designer Craftartists (state wide), and Hilltop Glass Program (Tacoma, WA). This exhibition will highlight excellence from emerging craft artists, while exploring traditional definitions and boundaries within and imposed upon the field 

Aimee Lee (Ohio) is an artist who makes paper, writes, and advocates for Korean papermaking practices. Her initial Fulbright research helped her build the first hanji studio in North America and write her award-winning book, Hanji Unfurled. Her second Fulbright award as a senior scholar focused on further research of Korean papermaking tools, and continued her training since 2009 with various national and provincial Intangible Cultural Property Holders.

Lee trains the next generation of papermakers in the Korean tradition from the Korean diaspora and beyond in her private hanji studio east of Cleveland, and in workshops around the world. This solo exhibition will highlight several works from our Cynthia Sears Artists’ Books Collection, in addition to lent artist’s books works by this internationally engaged and recognized artist.

Carletta Carrington Wilson (African American, living in Seattle) is a retired Librarian now devoted full-time to her practice as a poet and visual artist. She describes her work as ‘decorative with a message’ and has exhibited in numerous museums, galleries, and libraries. This retrospective will include her iconic large-scale installation Letter to a Laundress, and other existing series plus new work, which address the history of slavery in the United States, the African American diaspora, the lives of women, and the legacy of the late Dr, James W, Washington, Jr. – a prominent stone carver and Black community and civic leader. Wilson’s work is included in BIMA’s Permanent Art Collection, and the Cynthia Sears Artist’s Books Collection.

Guest Curators Robin Little Wing Sigo (Suquamish Tribe) and Miranda Belarde-Lewis (Zuni/Tlingit) present a survey of Indigenous (Native American and First Nations) craft artists, working in traditional and contemporary forms. Media will include fiber/textiles such as ceremonial regalia and narrative and decorative art; carving; ceramics;  glass; and jewelry art. Artists will be drawn from the Salish Sea area, which includes bodies of water (traditional highways of canoe people) within Washington State and British Columbia.

Miranda Belarde-Lewis (PhD) is an assistant professor, the inaugural Jill and Joe McKinstry Endowed Faculty Fellow of Native North American Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Washington’s Information School. She’s also an independent curator who works with artists and tribal, state, federal and international institutions and organizations to promote Native artists and their work.

Robin Little Wing Sigo, is the Director of the Suquamish Research & Strategic Development Department, which includes the Suquamish Foundation. She is a member of the Suquamish Tribe and sits on the Tribal Council. 

Both guest curators have worked with BIMA on previous Indigenous exhibitions and cultural partnerships. This will be the fourth major Indigenous exhibition that BIMA has produced since opening in 2013.

The Cynthia Sears Artists’ Books Collection includes many examples of textile-based artworks. The include works made from cloth or books embellished with forms of stitching, embroidery, and mixed-media. This group exhibition will include borrowed works as well as some commissioned to further expand BIMA’s collection in this area.

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BIMA is planning a retrospective, and is currently seeking partners for a traveling exhibition of the late master metalsmith, Heikki Seppa. Originally from Finland, this internationally famous metalsmith passed away in 2010. After decades teaching at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, Seppa retired. After the death of his first wife, he married Laurie A. Lyall, a noted jewelry artist who lived on Bainbridge Island. Through a major legacy donation from Lyall, and other collectors, BIMA has acquired more than 45 signature works by Seppa ranging from jewelry, functional hollowware, and decorative art. This retrospective will highlight techniques that Seppa both taught  and invented during his incredible career working forming silver and gold.

Curated by Colette Gaiter

This exhibition presents an expansive view of artists’ books created by Black artists. Some artists specialize in making books, and others work in additional forms. These artists combined words, images, materials, and techniques in traditional and innovative ways. Books that paved the way for current Black book and zine-making show the evolution and pay homage.

Many of the books are specifically about experiencing Blackness. They range from personal stories to historical information illuminated through creative interpretations. Insights within the books’ pages encourage viewers to ponder unfamiliar points of view. “Universality” is a quality seldom applied to Black stories in mainstream Western spaces. Fear of discomfort or unconscious dismissal of alternative points of view can limit engagement. These books invite close looking and reading. Revealing a wide range of creative expression about a range of topics through words and images, the works in this exhibition inform and captivate viewers, extending imagined boundaries for contemporary book art.