 Eastsiders, crafts lovers, and cultural mavens will no doubt swarm to the reopening of the Bellevue Arts Museum, newly reincarnated as a repository of arts, crafts, and design. Admission is free for the opening weekend. After two false starts, countless rumors, and an attempt at comprehensive re-branding, the east side gets back an exhibition space. The New Director: Michael Monroe, who served as curator-in-charge of the Smithsonian's craft wing from 1986 to 1995, is both director and curator of the new incarnation of the Bellevue Art Museum. The focus is on arts, crafts and design. BAM closed Sept. 30, 2003, because of financial problems and disagreements over its artistic mission.
 “This baby is not being born with a Ph.D from Harvard,” Michael Monroe said. “We’re starting from the ground up.”
Starting with a clean slate is every museum curator's dream. The east side of the Seattle metropolitan area is a place where many visions have been wrecked upon the shallow shoals of suburban shopping culture. What BAM has morphed into is simply an upscale boutique for the affluent and affected. No where is this paradigm shift more apparent than in the hiring of a young curator, Stefano Catalani formerly of the now defunct Atelier 31 gallery. There use to be a firewall between museums and commercial galleries but then again BAM is not really a museum anymore.
Executive director Michael Monroe spoke casually at a press preview this week as he delivered another bombshell. Monroe said it was "not an official pronouncement," when he stated that "ultimately, I believe museums do collect." That's a complete about-face for BAM and one that is made more difficult by the fact that the building has no space to store artworks. Yet east side collectors of expensive bibelots need a place to dump last years impulse buys and take a tax deduction in the process.
One exhibition in the newly dedicated Pilchuck Glass School Gallery, Taking Shape: Pilchuck Glass School in the '70s represents predominantly blown glass chosen by guest curator Kate Elliott from private Eastside collections and Pilchuck Glass School's study collection. Another exhibit The Artful Teapot examines the teapot as an inventive vehicle for artistic expression in the twentieth century. The 250 objects on exhibit include teapots by painters Roy Lichtenstein and David Hockney, sculptors Arman and Michael Lucero, ceramists Betty Woodman and Adrian Saxe, as well as works by more than 100 other artists.
Since it closed, BAM has replaced most of its board members and currently has 27. Officials also fashioned a new business strategy and changed their artistic mission to focus on arts and crafts, harkening back to the museum's connection to the Bellevue Arts and Crafts Fair. BAM has raised more than $3 million to reopen the museum, but Monroe expects fund-raising will get a boost once patrons see what's inside of the revamped museum.
`We came to the realization we needed to get the doors open and make a statement and see how people react to it,'' Monroe said. ``It's going to be a special moment for the city of Bellevue. We're excited for BAM to join other art museums in the region.''
One wonders about the exciting possibilities in such possible programming as a "Precious Moments" retrospective or perhaps "Washington Collects Hummel figurines". What about an exhibition of "Nesting Vessels: Past and Present" What remains to be seen is if by adding an S to the name of the institution really heralds a new start or a return to BAM's roots, remember it used to be in the mall.
"Museum" Hours
Monday Closed
Tuesday 10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Wednesday 10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Thursday 10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Friday 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Sunday 11 am – 5:30 pm
Admission
$7 Adult
$5 Seniors and Students
Children under age 6 are free
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