From the Archive: The MAC

 

The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, or MAC has been a popular landmark for Spokane for many years. It is a place where art and history enthusiasts can go and spend many hours visiting the different exhibits the MAC has to offer.

The museum was first staged in what is now known as the Campbell House, which was designed by the famous architect Kirkland Cutter, who also designed the Davenport Hotel and the Glover Mansion.

After gaining a vast quantity of artifacts, the museum was moved to the building known as the old Cheney Cowles Museum building. Five years ago, the museum went under a $30 million renovation and was rebuilt into the beautiful structure that stands at 2316 W. First Avenue.

“The MAC is a jewel,” said Marketing Director Coordinator for Downtown Jami Cary,” It’s a great addition to Spokane.”

The three main focuses of the MAC's exhibits are history, art, and works of American Indians and other cultures. In 1990, the MAC acquired much of the American Indian artifacts from Gonzaga University after their exhibit closed, which makes the MAC's collection one of the largest on the west coast.

The MAC's largest exhibit is the Davenport Gallery. Currently, it is showing an exhibit called Mutual Seduction which displays a variety of automobiles and over 60 mannequins wearing different kinds of clothing that date back to the early 1900s.

Another of the exhibit in the MAC is the Walther Gallery. This features a living presentation of Spokane timeline, with many artifacts from the city's past.

One of the American Indian exhibits is showing several photo gravures of Dug Ellis. Photo Gravures are photos made onto a glass plate that are then acid etched onto copper plates. The copper plates are coated with septic-toned ink and placed into a high pressure press that prints the images onto specially printed paper. Many of the photo gravures are on loan from the Spokane Public Library.

The latest exhibit at the MAC is the American Skaters Exhibit. Many of the items featured in the exhibit belong to the United States Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame, but were loaned to the museum to the MAC in honor of Spokane's hosting of the 2007 United States Figure Skating Championships. Items such as Tara Lipinski's gold medal, Brian Boitano's outfit, and the four championship trophies are displayed throughout the exhibit.

Parents and children that visit the museum can spend time at the Activity Room and Education Center. There is also an outdoor amphitheater where the museum hosts movies and weddings.

When Spokane citizens begin their tour of the museum, they step into a past that needs to be remembered and even honored by all.

Note: This story was published in 38.4 of the Communicator. At this point we had never covered the MAC before and I needed a couple of quick story ideas. After talking with Jason and scheduling an interview, I was led to the museum just as they were getting ready to unveil their skaters exhibit. Although I am looking through this story, I'm finding a lot of the mistakes I used to make and have improved over last couple of years.