Northwest Artists Gallery Opens at Seattle Center

Northwest Artists Gallery officially opens this week with a special ribbon cutting at 5 p.m. Thursday, June 19, in Seattle Center Armory. The gallery space, an initiative of Seattle Center Foundation, displays works by emerging and well recognized Pacific Northwest artists through partnerships with visual arts organizations in the region. The inaugural exhibit, in partnership with Columbia City Gallery (CCG), serves as a pilot project and presents multiple art media by several area artists.

Northwest Artists Gallery provides a platform for Seattle Center to expand its public programs in the visual arts. It is intended to take advantage of the large number of visitors to Seattle Center to highlight the incredible range of visual arts creativity and innovation in the Pacific Northwest.

Through the pilot project with Columbia City Gallery, Seattle Center Foundation will assess the program's process and approach. The partnership will run through the end of 2014. The gallery is open to the public, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays - Sundays, and the artwork is available for purchase.

CCG is an artist-run collective representing diverse artists creating in a broad spectrum of media and styles including representational and abstract painting, mixed media, sculpture, glass, ceramics, enamel and jewelry. Most of its members work and live in Southeast Seattle.

The timing of the gallery's official opening coincides with Seattle's Best Damn Happy Hour, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m., this Thursday. For more information on NW Artists Gallery, visit www.seattlecenter.org, and for details on the June Happy Hour and the range of summer program offerings at Seattle Center, click on www.seattlecenter.com or call 206 684-7200.

About Seattle Center

Since its beginning 50 years ago, Seattle Center has served as an arts, civic and family gathering place in the core of our region. The more than 30 cultural, educational, sports and entertainment organizations residing on the 74-acre campus, together with a broad range of public and community programs, create nearly 5,000 events attracting 12 million visitors each year. At Seattle Center, our purpose is to create exceptional events, experiences and environments that delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities. Activities at the Center generate $1.15 billion in business activity and $387 million in labor income. Seattle Center receives support from Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Worldmark by Wyndham and the City of Seattle.

About Seattle Center Foundation

Since 1977, Seattle Center Foundation has actively inspired the community to support and promote Seattle Center, a thriving 74-acre arts and civic center owned and operated by the City of Seattle. Since its beginning, Seattle Center Foundation has raised over $100 million dollars to enhance the Center, from Marion Oliver McCaw Hall and Fisher Pavilion, to outdoor art and water works such as the Olympic Iliad, Black Lighting and the iconic International Fountain. Seattle Center Foundation planned the 50th Anniversary of the 1962 World's Fair, a six-month celebration in 2012 presenting hundreds of events, activities and attractions in partnership with community organizations across the region.