40th Anniversary Exhibition at SAM

In 2011 the Office of Arts & Culture celebrated their 40th Anniversary with an exhibition at Seattle Art Museum titled Seattle as Collector: Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs Turns 40. Nearly 400 people gathered at Seattle Art Museum to enjoy the exhibition opening.

It was a retrospective exhibition of artworks from 112 artists showcasing four decades of the city’s Portable Works Collection. The exhibition also highlighted the city’s public art program with photos, drawings, and proposals for more than 60 permanent artworks.

Deborah Paine, who was the city curator and collections manager at the time, selected and grouped the artworks in the exhibition by decade, from the 1970s through the 2000s.