Pratt Fine Arts Center's 40th Anniversary Instructor Exhibition at Bellevue Arts Museum.
A 40 Year Legacy
Making our Mark: Art by Pratt Teaching Artists is a commemorative exhibition celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Pratt Fine Arts Center. The exhibition features work from over 250 Pratt teaching artists throughout the organization’s influential history. Founded in 1976 to provide high-quality visual arts training in Seattle’s Central District—one of the city’s most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods—Pratt has been instrumental in shaping the arts landscape of the Pacific Northwest.
There is no application process for classes at Pratt. As a community based organization, the core of Pratt’s mission is the belief that art should be accessible to all. Offering low-cost and free classes in a variety of mediums including glass, sculpture, jewelry, wood, and printmaking, Pratt gives many students their first exposure to making art. Over a thousand artists have taught at Pratt since its creation, sharing their knowledge of these diverse media with thousands more students. Making our Mark celebrates the lasting legacy of these teachers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Many of the teaching artists represented in the exhibition will be familiar to Bellevue Arts Museum audiences. Notable Northwest artists including Preston Singletary, Tip Toland, Cappy Thompson, and Jana Brevick have all been included in group and solo exhibitions at BAM. Most recently, several artists to be included in Making our Mark were featured in BAM Biennial 2016: Metalmorphosis, including Maria Phillips and Nancy Wordon, respective recipients of the Award of Excellence and People’s Choice Awards.