Ann Morris has become a priestess of sorts, investing her mind and spirit into an ambitious oeuvre of figurative bronzes that speak with a singular and meditative voice. In a comprehensive and insightful essay, Ted Lindberg traces the arc of Morris's artistic development from her beginnings as a mother, philosophy student, and Pasadena printmaker, to her reclusion on the wind-swept bluffs of Lummi Island in north Puget Sound. There Morris has created an extraordinary bronze park that she calls Sculpture Woods, a 15-acre sanctuary of stately forest and highbank waterfront that is home to her studio and to a winding path populated by 16 sculptural tableaus seen through a Jungian lens. Monumental figures emerge from the forest, as if stepping through a rift in time from the mists of classical and Celtic antiquities, to tell their archetypal tales. In a second essay, Jake Seniuk muses on how Morris moved from such overtly mythological themes to a kind of talismanic naturalism when she turned to an ongoing series of more intimately scaled bronzes that trace an ongoing Bone Journey. Unfolding her own creation myth through her work, Morris remains true to the marriage of the Platonic and the aboriginal, where a clear-eyed awareness of mortality is liberating and transcendent.

Sculpture Woods: Studio Grounds of Ann Morris

Arts & Photography

Lindberg, Ted

Seniuk, Jake

History & Criticism

Museum of Northwest Art

This book celebrates noted Seattle sculptor Phillip LevineÕs fifty-year anniversary as the creator of works inspired by the worlds of dance, song, sport, and social commentary. It includes a valuable autobiographical essay by the sculptor. Contributions by fellow sculptor Tom Jay and Norman Lundin, painter and professor of art at the University of Washington, offer an intimate perspective on the artistÕs enduring creative endeavor and accomplishment. Levine has lived, taught, and maintained a studio in Seattle since he arrived in the city in 1959. His sculpture Dancer With Flat Hat has greeted generations of students at the University of Washington. All those who have found beauty and delight in LevineÕs vision will enjoy the comprehensive portfolio of illustrations at the heart of the book, which covers the full span of his career. This fresh look into the artistÕs life work reveals his deep interest in the figure in movement, and the unexpected way the use of bronze, with its density and strength, opened the door to an artistic world of timeless lightness and grace.

Phillip Levine: Myth, Memory, and Image

Lundin, Norman

Jay, Tom

Levine, Phillip

Fishtown and the Skagit River

Moles, Kathleen (curator)

Robbins, Tom, et al.

The art of Paul Havas (1940–2012) is one of natural beauty, formal control, and unusual colors. Havas settled in the Puget Sound region in 1965 and went on to create a body of work dominated by oil paintings and drawings of landscapes and cityscapes, attracting admiring critical attention and considerable acquisitions by important museums. This book draws on Havas's archive of writings, letters, and documentary photographs, as well as accounts and interviews with critics, curators, fellow artists, and friends to set the artist in a perspective of Pacific Northwest and American art history. The result is a lively tale of flyfishing, rural cabins, sophisticated city life, and doggedly consistent work habits in studios in Seattle and the Skagit Valley. Quiet yet friendly, like his appealing paintings, Paul Havas is revealed as thoughtful and witty, with serious ideas about art, culture, and his own position in contemporary art. Readers are sure to enjoy this lavishly illustrated volume with extensive color plates, useful contextual images, and historical documentary photographs.

Paul Havas

Kangas, Matthew

The Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA is proud to announce the release of the Pop-Up book "The Imagination Cycle," by glass and multimedia artist Ginny Ruffner. This beautifully illustrated and crafted pop-up book explores the wonder and curiosity that leads artists young and old to new ideas and creations. Illustrated and written by Ginny Ruffner and designed by paper engineer Bruce Foster, these handcrafted pages take a journey through the "what ifs?" and "why nots!" that challenge anyone who picks up a paintbrush or doodles a sketch. Ruffner surprises and inspires the reader as calligraphic text winds amid starry skies, faces hide beneath flaps and pockets, and wildly inventive pop-ups leap off each page. The book turns convention on its head when the end isn't even the end at all, but reveals more pages on the reverse side! The accordion-style book comes in a handsome cardboard sheath to both protect and display it. Perfect for the budding young artist or the playful and artistic adult in your life! Ginny Ruffner's glass sculpture can be seen in galleries and museum collections the world over. Graduating in 1975 with a Masters degree in painting from the University of Georgia, Ruffner relocated to Seattle, WA ten years later and became a significant addition to the burgeoning art glass scene.

Imagination Cycle

Ginny Ruffner

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Books by Museum of Northwest Art