The Evergreen Art Collection (previously known as simply “The Evergreen Collection”) is a public art collection composed of works acquired through various sources of funding. The history of the collection includes several pieces of documentation that are at times contradictory and confusing. With no official documentation surrounding the collection, most of its history is left to be pieced together through a few remaining documents and word-of-mouth recollections by people in the Evergreen community. The following write-up is our attempt at creating a concise history for the collection, with room for possible incorrections. 

Beginning in the early 1970’s patrons of the college, members of the community and some individual faculty and staff members began to donate works of art to the college. These periodic donations were unsolicited, and with no plan for a permanent collection or permanent gallery curator, the works were not reviewed by a committee, sometimes poorly documented, and not always archivally framed (some of the artworks still have backing board made from refrigerator boxes). 

One travelling exhibition, “Washington Printmakers,” was purchased through library funds between 1970 and 1971. This was the “first wave” of acquisitions. The second wave occurred between 1974 and 1975, using lab funds instead. 

From 1976 through 1979, a wide range of 94 artworks were acquired with the “1/2 of 1%” funds through a process of commissions, site-specific agreements, and commercial purchases for the Lab II building. This law mandated that, when state funds were used to construct or remodel buildings, one-half of one percent of the cost of the capital project would be to used to purchase art for that building. It was based on the recognition that having high quality works of art in work spaces enhances the quality of life for users in those spaces. The “1/2 of 1%” funds were administered by the Washington State Arts Commission, under its Art in Public Places program. 

These new artworks were designated the college’s “Teaching Collection.” Evergreen visual arts facility member Paul Sparks and a team of advisors spent over two years selecting these works, intending to both enhance the campus environment and provide a visual basis for learning. Works spanned many artistic media, themes, and styles, being selected from both well-known and developing (at the time) artists who “showed unusual promise.” In all but a few cases the collection represented the talents of Northwest artists from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. A select few other artworks included pieces from San Francisco artists and national photographers. 

From that point, acquisition for the collection primarily shifted to a donation process, with a Glen Alps print being the first donation to the collection in 1975—which helped inaugurate a Permanent Collection Acquisition Program in cooperation with the Evergreen Development Office. 

In 1981 the Permanent Acquisition Program, specializing in invitational donations, acquired 51 further works through 1985. Many artworks began to be stored in the basement of the library, near the Archives. 

From 1979-1990, founding faculty Sid White directed a Gallery Management and Exhibition Design Internship program at Evergreen, a multi-year training which planned, installed, and managed monthly changing exhibits in two campus galleries, and provided curatorial care for the growing Evergreen Art Collection. Through connections with Northwest art luminaries such as Wesley Wehr, Dr. Ulrich and Stella Fritsche, Alfredo Arreguin, and many others, Sid fostered many notable donations, and involved students substantively in planning and installation for dozens of world-class exhibitions. Out of this program and complementary collaborations, Sid and his wife, TESC library staff Pat Metheny-White developed Exhibit Touring Services of Washington State based at Evergreen, to create and circulate several landmark exhibitions, including “Peoples of Washington,” “Chicano-Latino Artists of the Pacific Northwest,” and “World of Sichuan’s Children.”  

In 1988, student volunteer Sean Harrison attempted to create a robust cataloguing system for the collection, which would allow the collection to serve as an instructional tool and resource facility for faculty and students. Since the collection’s formation, there had been no formal or complete system of records to provide such a service, despite a handful of attempts. To design a cataloguing system that would act as a research facility and as a visible collection of art, Sid White consulted with Seattle’s Henry Art Gallery. The Henry generously assisted in explaining how their own cataloguing system operated. A modification of their records and system was created for the Evergreen Art Collection.  

Harrison actively championed for the Collection to have a board of directors, as the collection’s needs could not be properly met by the two-person staff that handled the artwork at the time. 

Through Harrison’s efforts, the Collection received proper storage and cataloguing for a number of years. The catalog card system that was based off the Henry’s system functioned as an analog database, as well as a running ledger Harrison kept. 

From this point, documentation becomes hazy. At some point, storage for the Collection moved to the Evergreen Library’s basement—in unfit conditions for artwork where the area regularly floods. A few artworks were accessioned into the collection during the time of Ann Friedman’s tenure as collections manager, as well as a helpful updating of the accession numbering system around 2004.  

The Evergreen Art Collection currently still resides in the Library Basement, in desperate need of a new storage room.