PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson Museum of Art &History will open an exhibit today titled “Pat and Peter Simpson: Collectors and Patrons,” based on Pat and Peter Simpson’s art collection.
The museum at 540 Water St. in Port Townsend’s historic City Hall is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, with admission $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $1 for children.
The exhibit will be on display until September. The book of the same name is available at the museum shop, online at www.JCHS museum.org and on Amazon.
The exhibit will present the work of nine artists: Tom Wilson, Jo Ann Alber, Kate Jenks, Anne Hirondelle, Stephanie Lutgring, Stephen Yates, Linda Okazaki, Galen Garwood and Ed Cain.
It will feature pieces from the Simpson collection, which is mostly from the mid-1980s, along with works of the same artists from later points in their careers, said Jenny Westdal, board member of the Jefferson County Historical Society.
Yates created a large painting, “Navigator’s Strategy,” specifically for the exhibit, Westdal said.
The show is curated by Ann Welch.
“By showing some more contemporary work, we get a little bit of a survey of those artists and how their work has progressed,” Welch said.
Pat and Peter Simpson were known for many things: Pat for her work at Centrum and as an avid runner; Peter as the director of the Port Townsend Film Festival, his writing, his work at Community Action and as president of the Washington State Historical Society, Westdal said.
“Unless you’d been to their home or were an artist, you may not have known that they were also serious art collectors,” she said.
The Simpsons donated the bulk of their collection to the Jefferson County Historical Society. Their son, David, loaned the family portraits to the museum for this exhibit.
This exhibit and the Simpsons’ generous gift demonstrate a growing awareness of the museum’s increased focus on Port Townsend’s identity as an art community, Welch said.
“Over the last few years, we’ve made a concerted effort to highlight art, the history of art and even art that’s contemporary to our moment in this town,” Welch said.
The county historical society has collected art since its establishment in 1879 and possesses many pieces from Port Townsend’s early Victorian artists.
But an increased emphasis on the fine arts was encouraged by the bequest of a major art collection from Nora Porter in 2011, followed by the donation of the Simpson collection in 2015 and the designation of a specific gallery space in the museum for the fine arts, Westdal said.
Inspired by the gift of the Porter collection, the Jefferson Museum of History’s name was changed to the Jefferson Museum of Art &History in 2012.
An additional exploration of the role that art plays in Port Townsend history is found in the book that accompanies the exhibit, “Pat and Peter Simpson: Collectors and Patrons,” co-written by Westdal and Mary Coney and designed by Welch.
“The book gives a context for the Simpsons and the artists they collected. It gives a much fuller picture of the Simpsons and their life and times in Port Townsend,” Coney said.
“Because the Simpsons observed and participated in the arts in Port Townsend for 50 years, this was a perfect opportunity to research and record an overview of the art-related history that brought us to where we are now,” Westdal said.
The Simpsons’ gift of their art collection to the Jefferson County Historical Society is an example of the many ways they supported the arts in Port Townsend.
Peter’s support of community was widespread, Westdal said. He either worked or volunteered for the film festival, Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson County Historical Society, Washington State Historical Society and Northwest Maritime Center. Pat was director of development at Centrum.
“One of the things I discovered was that they had their hands and minds and hearts in almost every major organization, and minor organization, that was going on in Port Townsend,” Coney said.
“Over the years, I think they left a big imprint on Port Townsend. If we could imagine what it would have been like here without them, the town would have been quite different.”
“Navigator’s Strategy,” painted by Stephen Yates, was created specifically for the “Pat and Peter Simpson: Collectors and Patrons” exhibit at the Jefferson Museum of Art & History.
“Land of Sunburned Souls” was painted in 1985 by Linda Okazaki and will be displayed as part of the “Pat and Peter Simpson: Collectors and Patrons” exhibit at the Jefferson Museum of Art & History.
