Saturday, Cascadia Art Museum’s founders, Lindsey and Carolyn Echelbarger, along with the museum board and volunteers bid farewell to Elizabeth Martin-Calder, Interim Executive Director. Martin-Calder, a cultural management and branding consultant, joined the museum a year ago to oversee opening plans for the region’s newest arts attraction.

Board President Lindsey Echlebarger thanked Martin-Calder for her contributions in getting the museum launched. “With her experience in museum management and new museum openings, Elizabeth provided the planning skills, resources and engagement we needed to start the Museum off in the right direction. The response to the new museum has been phenomenal with close to 10,000 attending in our first four months.”

For the museum’s opening celebration last September, Martin-Calder and 100-plus volunteers created a three-day event drawing over 2,000 visitors, including a 500 person opening reception and a raise the paddle auction generating $140,000 in a single evening. Sponsors Premera Blue Cross, Carter Subaru and Spuds of Edmonds added to the successful launch of the Museum.

Currently, through May 1, the museum is featuring Looking Back, Moving Forward: A Centennial Tribute to the Cornish College of the Arts, an exhibition focused on the art and history of Cornish College of the Arts. Also on view is a collection of historical paintings by some of the best-known Northwest artists.

The board is actively seeking an Executive Director to lead “one of the Northwest’s most exciting new institutions,” according to Echelbarger.

Cascadia Art Museum opened in Downtown Edmonds in September 2015 and is the first museum dedicated to the art of the Cascadia region from the late 19th century through the 1960s, defined by the waters that flow from the Cascade Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The Museum is part of the adaptive reuse of one of Edmonds’ most iconic mid-century modern buildings and its transformation into an 11,000 square foot space.

Hours for the museum are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wed. – Sun., with additional hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. If you are interested in knowing more about visiting the museum, or becoming a volunteer, see the museum website.