Earlier this year, 4Culture launched Here and Now, an open call to acquire portable artworks for the King County Public Art Collection, marking the first direct purchase of its kind in nearly a decade.

The response was extraordinary: 353 eligible applications from artists living and working across the region. From this competitive pool, a peer panel recommended 165 artworks by 123 artists for acquisition, each selected for its conceptual clarity and ability to resonate within shared public space.

For more than fifty years, 4Culture (formerly the King County Arts Commission) has stewarded the King County Public Art Collection, placing artworks in civic spaces, including courtrooms, health clinics, offices, and community centers.

Portable artworks play a unique role in this ecosystem. They move between locations as part of an ongoing rotation, allowing them to reach new audiences and occupy different contexts. 

With departments throughout King County actively reimagining their spaces, from Public Defense to Natural Resources and Parks to Metro Transit, the demand for art has grown. Here and Now responds directly to this need, expanding the Collection in ways that both reflect this moment and will remain relevant over time.

Guided by a commitment to equity in process and outcome, the selection panel looked for work that demonstrates:

• grounding in lived, cultural, or collective experience 
• a visual presence that sustains attention 
• the ability to engage a broad public while maintaining depth
• attention to the social and ecological realities of King County

A panel of arts professionals and King County staff brought their perspectives to the review process, balancing curatorial rigor with an understanding of the settings in which the selected artworks will be experienced:

• Katie Kurtz, King County Department of Assessments 
• Esther Luttikhuizen, former curator, King County Public Art Collection and Gallery 4Culture
• Christian Waguespack, Museum of Northwest Art 

Working from digital submissions, they collectively reviewed and deliberated, considering each piece individually and in relation to the evolving Collection as a whole.

Here and Now broadens the range of voices represented in the Collection. As these works are installed in King County facilities over the coming months, they will begin their own trajectories, encountered in passing or returned to again and again, becoming part of the rhythms of public life.

Selections from Here and Now will be on view at Gallery 4Culture from September 3 – October 16, 2026.

Selected Artists

Julie Allen

Coco Allred

Julie Alpert

Tony Angell

Andy Arkley

John Armstrong

Anna Wetzel Artz

Lalitha Bandaru

Gala Bent

Zack Bent

Kelly Bjork

Priyanka Bohra

Nak Bou

Colleen RJC Bratton

Damon Brown

Cris Bruch

Buddy Bunting

Sijae Byun

Mark Calderon

Jaq Chartier

Robert Connell

Sheila Coppola

Timothy Cross

Sue Danielson

Bub Davis

Peter de Lory

Andy DeLapp

Angie Dixon

Nicolas Donatelli

Diana Dvora Falchuk 

Taha Ebrahimi

Donald Fels

Amy Ferron

Adair Freeman Rutledge

Keven Furiya

Mohamed Gabriel

Ellen Garvens

Shruti Ghatak

Nahom Ghirmay

Catherine Gill

Bharati Gorkar

Emma Graham

Robin Green

Aaliyah Gupta

Shelley Hardwick

Victoria Haven

Beverley Hill

Evan Hilsenberg

Soo Hong

Beth Howe

Melinda Hurst Frye

Richard Hutter

Iskra Johnson

Devika Kapoor

Amanda Knowles

Tara Kraft

Stephanie Krimmel

Saachi Kuwayama

May Kytonen

Ollie Levy

Paul Lewing

Hyunjeong Lim

Lucy Liu

Margie Livingston

Morgan Madison

Philip Malkin

Kelda Martensen

Saori Matsushita

Janet Miller

Daphne Minkoff

William Moe

Ben Moreau

Lisa Myers Bulmash

Shubha Nambiar

Jake Nelson

Sarah Norsworthy

Adrian Pacheco

Kelly Paik

Rhonda Pence

Sandra Penney

Clyde Petersen

Maja Petrić

AJ Power

Erin Power

Megan Prince

Rubin Quarcoopome

Lola Reinhardt

Jane Richlovsky

Barbara Robertson

Anakin Saephanh

Suneeva Saldanha

Hannah Salia

Brian Sanchez

June Sekiguchi

Stevie Shao

Juliet Shen

Chris Sheridan

Erin Shigaki

Jeffrey Simmons

Laura Sindell

Susan Skilling

Lisa Snow Lady

Charles Spitzack

Wynonna Susilo

Sharon Swanson

Jessica Sweeney

Miya Tamura

Wendy Thon

Shannon Tipple-Leen

Shubha Tirumale

Kimberly Trowbridge

Carlos Valenzuela

Laura Van Horne

JoEllen Wang

Daniel Wend

Christine Westergaard

Gabrielle Wildheart

Kalina Winska

Suze Woolf

Ko Kirk Yamahira

Junko Yamamoto

Ben Zamora

Susan Zoccola