Current Exhibitions
Harold Balazs: Leaving Marks
February 3-June 2, 2024
Harold Balazs: Leaving Marks celebrates Balazs’ regional impact through thirty new additions to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture’s permanent collection. Comprising a focused selection of Balazs’ later works in sculpture, drawing, and enamel, the exhibition’s three sections: “Constructed Realities,” “Making \ Life,” and “Transcend The…” consider how Balazs’ approaches to making as modes of communication informed, and were informed by, his worldview, background, and relationships.
Harold Balazs, A Dialogue, 2007, copper. Robert Poe Photography.
Harold Balazs: Leaving Marks Exhibition Info1924: Sovereignty, Leadership, and the Indian Citizenship Act
February 17, 2024-February 2, 2025
On June 2, 1924, Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, granting citizenship to all American Indians born in the United States. Shortly after this act, Spokane announced it would host the first American Indian Congresses in 1925. These were some of the first events where tribal leaders, government officials, and community members from around the United States gathered to formally participate in talks on rights and advocacy. 1924 commemorates this 100-year anniversary, centering on early local tribal leadership as they and their people navigated the sometimes-conflicting nature of being both U.S. citizens and citizens of their own sovereign nations.
L-R: Chief William Yallup, Mrs. William Yallup, Tom Yallup - Son of Chief, 1925. Frank Guilbert, Photographer. Photograph from the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture Frank Guilbert Collection (L97-2.3)
1924: Sovereignty, Leadership, and the Indian Citizenship Act Exhibition InfoFrank S. Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland
Extended through June 9, 2024
Frank S. Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland features studio images by Washington-based Japanese photographer Frank Sakae Matsura (1873-1913) alongside period-specific American Indian regalia from the Columbia Plateau. Exploring Indigenous representation through a multi-dimensional lens, the photographs and objects on view detail some of Matsura’s most culturally significant work against a backdrop of regional transformation.
Frank Sakae Matsura (Japanese, 1873-1913), Wapato Smithins Family, c.1903 - c.1913, archival print from gelatin dry plate scan. Okanogan County Historical Society. OCH 6371. Image courtesy of OCHS.
Expo '74: Films from the Vault
January 20-September 8, 2024
In 1974, Spokane hosted the World’s Fair—one of the most memorable events in Spokane’s history. During its six-month run, the fair hosted ten international countries, featured a star-studded event calendar, sponsored three environmental symposiums, and attracted nearly 5.2 million visitors. Visitors will get a blast from the past watching recently digitized film footage from the MAC’s largest archival collection.
For the Love of Paint: Caren Furbeyre
September 2, 2023-September 29, 2024
When I considered painting a mural in the stairwell at the MAC, the scale of the 12 foot wall seemed the overriding challenge. As the project evolved, the application of paint became a choreographed, physical event. I think of the process in musical terms. The flow of paint and color become symphonic compositional elements in the actual making of the piece. I am less interested in a specific image than a sense of vibrancy and resonance of the colors on the surface. I am also interested in creating a sense of expansion and verticality which is so well suited to the large scale of the wall.
Caren Furbeyre, For the Love of Paint, 2023, acrylic. Commissioned by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
For the Love of Paint: Caren Furbeyre Exhibition Info