Here and Now: New Acquisitions for the King County Public Art Collection

Published by 4Culture on May 27, 2026

Here and Now: New Acquisitions for the King County Public Art Collection

An illustration of a person with dark hair, wearing a white shirt, reclining on a sofa with their head resting on a peach pillow. A potted plant and a lamp are in the background, with soft blue and beige tones. — Kelly Bjork. Here, 2025. Giclee print. 16 x 20 inches

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.

Abstract painting featuring a vase-like shape in muted green and teal tones centered against a background of geometric blocks in shades of red, purple, blue, and brown on a square canvas. — Brian Sanchez. Bulb, 2024. Vinyl emulsion on canvas. 16 x 12 x 1 ¾ inches

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.

A painted hand holds a bouquet of flowers with cartoon female faces as petals, set against a background of aged book pages. Green paint drips from the stems, and the image is signed in the lower right corner. — Lisa Myers Bulmash. Mixed, 2025. Collage on board. 20 x 16 x 1 ½ inches

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 handwritten chocolate chip cookie recipe on a piece of lined paper with three ring binder holes, written in blue ink and slightly tilted on a white background. — Saori Matsushita. Chocolate Chip Cookie, 2026. Ceramic. 7 x 5 x ½ inches

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.

A stylized illustration of a bird with blue, red, white, and yellow patterns, flying while holding a decorative red and white object in its beak, against a plain white background. — Stevie Shao. Cormorant with Crab, 2026. Acrylic on hand shaped wood. 19 x 24 x ¼ inches

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.

A framed abstract artwork featuring vibrant, blurred streaks of red, green, yellow, and blue, evoking the impression of flowers and foliage in motion, displayed against a plain white wall. — Maja Petrić. Vespers: Burn II, 2024. Lenticular print. 40 x 28 inches

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 Nechama Miller
Daphne Minkoff
William Moe
Ben Moreau
Lisa Myers Bulmash
Shubha Nambiar
Jake Nelson
Sarah Norsworthy
Adrian Pacheco
Kelly Haejung 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
Miya Sukune
Wynonna Susilo
Sharon Swanson
Jessica Sweeney
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