SEATTLE, WA.- Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker, Director of the Frye Art Museum, announced the launch of the Frye’s 2010 exhibition season on January 23, 2010 with the opening of Tim Rollins and K.O.S.: A History, an exhibition organized by the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, and The Seattle Project, a series of collaborative exhibitions and projects commissioned by the Frye to celebrate the Museum’s 58 year old commitment to community outreach and art education.

The slate of exhibitions also marks the debut of the Frye’s new curatorial team: international curator and new Frye Art Museum Director Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker and Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Collections Robin Held, who joined the Frye in 2004.

“With Robin’s decision to bring the brilliant Tim Rollins and K.O.S. exhibition to Seattle, “ Birnie Danzker explained,” it was incumbent on us to ensure that the entire museum reflected the same spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration and commitment to those who are, in Rollins’ words, young, a minority, working, or non-working class, or voiceless in society. It was also essential to place the exhibition in the context of the needs of our own community in Seattle, and to acknowledge the superb work being undertaken by partner organizations.”

As a result, key galleries of the Frye, and the Museum Store, will be dedicated to The Seattle Project, three interdisciplinary projects commissioned by the Frye and organized in collaboration with Seattle’s Arts Corps, Path with Art and The Center School:

Public Belongings
Initiated by the Frye in collaboration with Path with Art, an organization that works with formerly homeless adults, Public Belongings presents the work of ten adults who worked together in the Frye Art Studio over a period of twelve weeks with Path with Art teaching artists Regan Doody and Adam Doody. The participants describe and document their Seattle from the perspective of life on the street in photographs, collaged maps, video and texts/poetry.

Public Belongings is a project initiated by the Frye Art Museum in collaboration with Path with Art. Path with Art teaching artists: Regan Doody and Adam Doody. Frye Art Museum project coordinator: Jill Rullkoetter. This project is funded by the Frye Foundation and the Grousemont Foundation and by Path with Art with sponsorship from 4Culture, Washington State Arts Commission, and the Norcliffe Foundation.

I Wish I Knew Who I Was Before I Was Me
Curated by students working with Arts Corps teaching artists, poet Roberto Ascalon and musician/producer Amos Miller, this exhibition and soundscape offers unique insights into the Frye collection as interpreted by Seattle youth. Over the course of several months, students took part in the behind-the-scenes operations of the Frye and created personal responses to the artworks in music, the spoken and the written word. The students also planned opening night events and will participate in a gallery talk on Saturday, January 30 at 2 pm.

I Wish I Knew Who I Was Before I Was Me is initiated by the Frye Art Museum in collaboration with Arts Corps. Curated by Arts Corps students from Youngstown Cultural Arts Center with Arts Corps’ MusicianCorps fellow Amos Miller and teaching artist Roberto Ascalon. Frye Art Museum project coordinators: Jill Rullkoetter, Laura O’Quin, and Deborah Sepulveda. Arts Corps coordinators: Tina LaPadula and Lauren Atkinson. This project is funded by the Frye Foundation and the Grousemont Foundation with support from Arts Corps.

The Center School Connection
The Frye Museum Store invited art teacher Wyn Pottinger-Levy and her class of students in the Graphic Design/CTE program at The Center School to design teen-oriented products to be sold in the Museum Store during the run of the Tim Rollins and Seattle Project exhibitions. In addition to designing the products, the students worked with Frye Museum Store manager Karla Glanzman in sourcing manufacturers, developing a budget, setting retail prices, overseeing the production, and designing the exhibit space in the Store.

The Center School Connection is initiated by the Frye Art Museum in collaboration with the Center School art teacher Wyn Pottinger-Levy and Graphic Design/CTE students. Frye Art Museum project coordinator: Karla Glanzman. This project is funded by the Frye Foundation with support from the Center School.

The Seattle Project is a new Frye Art Museum initiative created through a series of intradepartmental brainstorming sessions with staff throughout the museum and is funded by the Frye Foundation and the Grousemont Foundation with the support of partners and individual exhibition and program sponsors.

Concurrent with the presentation of Tim Rollins and K.O.S.: A History and The Seattle Project will be Tête-á-tête, an exhibition showcasing the Frye Founding Collection. Perennial favorites and seldom seen works, hung salon-style, will recreate the atmosphere of exhibitions in Charles and Emma Frye’s Seattle home at the turn-of-the-last-century and the internationally renowned exhibitions of the Munich artists’ association, the Kuenstlergenossenschaft. Tête-á-tête will open on February 6, 2010 and continue through January 2, 2011.

The Frye Art Museum was founded in 1952 as the legacy of Charles and Emma Frye, prominent early twentieth century Seattle art patrons. Despite restrictions on building materials due to the Korean War, the Frye was given permission to be constructed in 1951 in part because of its commitment to an ambitious arts education program developed by Founding Director, Walser Greathouse.

Arts Corps, the largest nonprofit arts educator in the Seattle area, fosters creative habits of mind in young people through a passionate corps of teaching artists. Active since 2000, Arts Corps brings the lifelong practices of persistence and discipline, critical thinking, courage and risk-taking, reflection and imagining possibilities to the classroom and beyond. (artscorps.org)

Path with Art recognizes the creative potential in all of us and recognizes its power to heal and nurture in times of crisis. The organization honors those who have survived the trauma of homelessness or who are at risk of becoming homeless through offering opportunities to engage with supportive artistic communities, in the belief that art has the power to heal hearts and to foster the personal growth necessary to maintain a self-sufficient and stable life. (pathwithart.org)

The Center School is a small public high school in the Seattle School District with a focus on the arts and community engagement. The school utilizes resources in the heart of Seattle’s cultural, civic and arts communities, to extend learning beyond the classroom walls by using professional venues for drama classes, creating partnerships with local artists, and maintaining involvement in the city. A focus on social justice issues also provides opportunities for students to have an impact on the world outside the schoolhouse.