UW-affiliated Artists
The following artists are all former or current students and faculty of the University of Washington. Visit the link to their artist page to learn more about them and see the works of art in our collection.
Jeffrey Bishop
Jeffrey Bishop is a Brooklyn-based artist who studied at Tufts University (BFA, 1973), at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and at the University of Washington (MFA, 1977). Bishop also taught painting at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle from 1980 to 1988.
See Jeffrey’s artwork and learn more.
Wendell Brazeau
Wendell Brazeau grew up in the “art-impoverished” city of Spokane, Washington, where he was born in 1910. He moved to Seattle in 1928 to enroll in the University of Washington, graduating with a BFA in art in 1933. Brazeau worked a number of odd jobs afterward, including a stint at Boeing during the war, drawing 3-D perspectives from engineers’ plans. Following the war, he returned to UW to complete his MFA and remained there as a faculty member in the Art Department until his death in 1974.
See Wendell’s artwork and learn more.
Kenneth Callahan
Born in 1905 in Spokane, Washington, Kenneth Callahan grew up in Montana and later attended high school in Seattle. He entered the University of Washington in 1924, but soon realized that university life wasn’t for him. He left with several friends to drive to San Francisco in a beat-up Model T, which broke down before they arrived and had to be sold for $2.50.
See Kenneth’s artwork and learn more.
Chuck Close
Chuck Close is one of the world’s leading modern artists. His art focuses on portraits of himself and his family and friends, often produced at a very large scale. Close typically begins with a photograph of a face, creating a painting or print through a complex grid-based reconstruction of the image that he accomplishes by hand through one of many techniques that are unique to Close’s work. His paintings are even more impressive, given that Close had to relearn how to use his hands following a 1988 spinal infection that left him a quadriplegic.
See Chuck’s artwork and learn more.
Allison Collins
Seattle artist Allison Collins is known for her landscapes that are layered with paint and meaning and woven with deeply saturated hues of red, gold, and deep greens and blues. Exhibiting a textural lushness and untethered to any exact places, her work imparts the emotion of traveling through open spaces, fields, sky, and vast expanses.
See Allison’s artwork and learn more.
Imogen Cunningham
Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1883, Imogen Cunningham became one of the major photographers of the last century. Imogen studied chemistry at the University of Washington, where she wrote a 1907 thesis on the chemical process of photography. One of her first photographs was a 1906 nude self-portrait, taken on an isolated spot on the UW campus with a 4″ x 5″ mail-order camera.
See Imogen’s artwork and learn more.
Mabel Lisle Ducasse
Born in Colorado in 1895, Mabel Lisle Ducasse studied art at Central Washington College, the Art Students League in New York, and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Afterwards, she attended UW and received her BFA in 1923. In 1924, she received a Masters of Fine Art degree from UW – the first MFA degree ever granted in the U.S. While in Seattle, Ducasse’s paintings won numerous prizes in local juried art competitions.
See Mabel’s artwork and learn more.
Joe Max Emminger
The paintings of self-taught artist Joe Max Emminger are based on simple scenes, simple lines, and bold colors. Emminger’s work depicts family, pets, and his favorite Northwest landmarks, such as Greenlake, Pike Place Market, and Lopez Island. His paintings are both humorous and touching.
See Joe’s artwork and learn more.
Karen Ganz
The work of Seattle artist Karen Ganz is influenced by 1920s cartoon and comic strip characters. She often works with large canvases and collages, using ink drawings overlaid with bright colors. Her paintings and drawings invoke a sense of nostalgia, humor, and concern for the predicament of the “common man.”
See Karen’s artwork and learn more.
Fay Jones
Fay Jones is one of the Northwest’s most recognizable artists. Her imaginative paintings can be seen around the city in public and private collections and in numerous public spaces (e.g., the mural in the Westlake light rail station). Her work has also been featured on posters for city-wide events, such as Bumbershoot and Earshot Jazz.
See Fay’s artwork and learn more.
Robert C. Jones
Robert C. Jones was born in West Hartford, CT, in 1930. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design, receiving a BFA (1953) and an MS (1959). In 1963, Jones moved to Seattle with his spouse, painter Fay Jones, to join the faculty of the University of Washington School of Art. He retired in 2001.
See Robert’s artwork and learn more.
John-Franklin Koenig
John-Franklin Koenig was an international artist, better known in Europe and Japan than in his native country. Born in Seattle in 1924, he grew up in the Wallingford neighborhood and became interested in art at a young age — particularly the Asian art he found at the Seattle Art Museum. Koenig was drafted into the army in 1943 and fought in Europe until the end of the war. Waiting to return to the U.S., he took a course at the university for American soldiers in Biarritz and fell in love with France and French.
See John-Franklin’s artwork and learn more.
Jacob Lawrence
Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1917, Jacob Lawrence emerged as one of America’s leading figurative artists and the first to document the history of African Americans through widely-viewed and influential artworks. Lawrence and his family moved to Harlem in 1924, where he experienced the vibrancy of black intellectual, cultural, and artistic life in what was seen as the Harlem Renaissance. He became well known at the young age of 21 for his “Toussant L’Ouverture Series” (1937), a 41-painting collection that depicts the successful Haitian slave rebellion. At the age of 24, he became the first African American whose work was included in the permanent collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art.
See Jacob’s artwork and learn more.
Margie Livingston
Margie Livingston’s paintings create geometric, three-dimensional spaces of air and light. Motivated by nature and trees in particular, Livingston chooses branches and leaves that she brings into her studio as the subjects for her work. Hanging those branches from the ceiling, she then builds a string grid around them to help define the containing space. Her paintings provide a perspective on both the objects and the way that light travels around them in the grid.
See Margie’s artwork and learn more.
Norman Lundin
Norman Lundin was born in Los Angeles in 1938 and grew up in Chicago. Following his BA (School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1961) and MFA (University of Cincinnati, 1963), he spent a year studying in Oslo, Norway, on a Fulbright Grant. Lundin joined the School of Art at the University of Washington in 1964 and has been a faculty member since that time.
See Norman’s artwork and learn more.
James Martin
The son and grandson of railroad men, James Martin was born in Everett, Washington in 1928. Martin dropped out of Ballard High School, but finally returned to finish his diploma and later entered the University of Washington, where he received a BA in Creative Writing in 1953.
See James’ artwork and learn more.
Alden Mason
Nationally recognized artist Alden Mason was born in Everett, Washington (1919) and grew up in the beautiful natural surroundings of the Skagit Valley. Alden attended UW, majoring in zoology until he turned to art. Mason received a BFA in 1942, an MFA in 1947, and joined the faculty of the School of Art in 1949. He retired from the art department in 1981 and continued to paint actively until his death in 2013.
See Alden’s artwork and learn more.
Stephen McClelland
Born in Amarillo Texas, Seattle artist Stephen McClelland received a BFA from Indiana University in 1968 and an MFA from the University of Washington in 1975. He has served as a guest instructor at the University of Washington, Cornish Institute, and other local colleges and universities. McClelland uses playful figures, geometric shapes, and vibrant colors to bring life and humor to his large abstract paintings and drawings. His paintings can be found in many Northwest corporate and public collections, including Microsoft, Safeco, Rainier Bank, and the City of Seattle.
See Stephen’s artwork and learn more.
Johsel Namkung
Photographer Johsel Namkung was Born in Gwangju, Korea in 1919 where he grew up with a love for both art and music. He studied voice at The Tokyo Conservatory in Japan, and in fact, won the All-Japan Music Contest in 1940. Following the war, Johsel and his spouse Mineko came to Seattle when they received scholarships to the University of Washington School of Music.
See Johsel’s artwork and learn more.
Ambrose Patterson
Painter Ambrose Patterson was born in 1877 in Daylesford, Victoria, Australia. After studying art briefly in Melbourne, Patterson left for Paris in 1898. There, he became part of the Paris arts scene and exhibited at the first Salon d’Automne exhibitions. The 1905 Salon — at which Matisse and the Fauves stunned the art world — included five of Patterson’s paintings. His work was shown in galleries in Paris, London, and Brussels as well.
See Ambrose’s artwork and learn more.
Viola Hansen Patterson
Viola Hansen, born in Seattle in 1898, attended UW and graduated in 1921 with a degree in librarianship. She also studied art at UW, married artist and School of Art Professor Ambrose Patterson in 1922, and completed a BFA at UW in 1925. The Pattersons traveled the world as artists, including a number of stays in Paris where Viola studied and was highly influenced by the impressionist movement and its followers (in fact, she was the first woman born in Seattle to study art in Paris).
See Viola’s artwork and learn more.
Mary Randlett
The photographs of Seattle photographer Mary Randlett have helped to define the unique qualities of the Northwest’s natural beauty and light. Born in 1924 in Seattle, Randlett was inspired at an early age by the beauty of Puget Sound and the islands. She attended Queen Anne High School and although never finishing, entered Whitman College where she received a B.A. in political science in 1947. But her focus was always on serious photography.
See Mary’s artwork and learn more.
George Rodriguez
Seattle-based ceramic artist George Rodriguez was born and grew up in El Paso, Texas. He received a 2006 BFA in Ceramics from the University of Texas, El Paso, moving afterwards to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, where he received an MFA in Ceramics in 2009. Rodriguez’s Mexican heritage has influenced much of his work, while a 2010 Bonderman Travel Fellowship from U.W. allowed him to travel to 26 countries over 8 months and experience many other cultures and civilizations.
See George’s artwork and learn more.
Roger Shimomura
Roger Shimomura uses painting to explore the relationships and contrasts between Japanese and American cultures. A major theme is the discrimination experienced in the U.S. by Roger (a third-generation American) and other Japanese and Asian-Americans.
See Roger’s artwork and learn more
Julie Speidel
The work of Seattle sculptor Julie Speidel is heavily influenced by ancient forms and monuments. As a teenager, she lived in the British Isles and was fascinated by the pre-historic ruins she saw in England, Ireland, and Scotland, including the stone monoliths at Newgrange and Stonehenge. Her work in both bronze and stone reflects the primitive nature of these structures and others she found on wide travels throughout Europe and Asia.
See Julie’s artwork and learn more.
Akio Takamori
Akio Takamori’s ceramic sculptures evoke an eerie sense of reality and presence. Often drawn from childhood memories of small-village life in Japan, his standing and sleeping figures depict ordinary people going about their day-to-day existence. Another body of Akio’s work consists of ceramic vessels, often painted with erotic images.
See Akio’s artwork and learn more.
George Tsutakawa
Seattle artist and sculptor George Tsutakawa is most widely know for his fountain sculptures that can be seen around Seattle, across the country, and in Canada and Japan. He was a fine painter as well and won many honors, including awards from the Governor of Washington, the University of Washington, the City of Seattle, and the Emperor of Japan. He had solo exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum, the Bellevue Art Museum, and UW’s Henry Art Gallery, among others.
See George’s artwork and learn more.
Art Wolfe
Seattle wildlife photographer Art Wolfe has published over 50 books of his stunning photographs of natural landscapes, animals, and endangered species. Wolf’s artistic photographic compositions have been included in hundreds of magazines. He’s been honored with an Alfred Eisenstaed Magazine Photography Award (2000), with the North American Nature Photography Association’s Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year Award (1998), and was named 1996 Photographer of the Year by Photo Media Magazine. The National Audobon Society presented Wolfe with its first Rachael Carson Award in 1998. The son of commercial artists in Seattle, Washington, Art Wolfe graduated from the University of Washington in 1975 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a minor in Art Education.