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Maryhill ‘all-encompassing experience’

Artworks, activities, stunning views all part of museum

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: March 16, 2018, 6:05am
13 Photos
Steven Grafe, curator at the Maryhill Museum of Art, discusses some small sculptures in the newer Mary & Bruce Stevenson Wing, which opened in 2012.
Steven Grafe, curator at the Maryhill Museum of Art, discusses some small sculptures in the newer Mary & Bruce Stevenson Wing, which opened in 2012. Ariane Kunze/The Columbian Photo Gallery

MARYHILL — It all adds up to what Colleen Schafroth calls “moments of astounding wowness.”

There’s the diverse collection of European and American treasures, from Indian baskets to sculptures by Rodin to chess sets from across the centuries. There’s the stunningly panoramic perch on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge, complete with a sculpture garden to stroll in and an outdoor veranda where you can enjoy lunch, local wines and seemingly endless views. There’s the bizarre, full-scale, concrete replica of Stonehenge, the ancient British monument, just a short hop to the east, as well as other nearby attractions like wineries, hiking trails, massive dams and the city of The Dalles, Ore.

And then there’s the busy schedule of museum activities: lectures and workshops, tango lessons and children’s storytimes, even an overnight star-gazing campout with the Rose City Astronomers and the Goldendale Observatory.

The Maryhill Museum of Art is “an all-encompassing experience,” said Schafroth, the executive director. “It’s a collection of wonderful, beautiful things, inside and out.” Schafroth, who said she’s worked at Maryhill for 30 years, still loves noticing how newcomers’ jaws drop at the combination of natural and human-made art here.

“All they can do is go ‘Wow,’ ” she said. “I feel the same way. I’m still amazed this place is here.”

If You Go

 What: Maryhill Museum of Art.

 When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Nov. 15.

 Where: 35 Maryhill Museum Drive, Goldendale.

 Cost: $12; $10 for seniors; $9 for college students; $5 for youth age 7-18; family admission $30. Annual membership: $50.

 Information: www.maryhillmuseum.org, 509-773-3733

Why here?

The story behind the Maryhill Museum of Art — and the unrealized utopian dream that inspired it — is just as fascinating and unlikely as the place’s offbeat offerings.

In 1907, railroad tycoon, visionary highway builder and globe-trotting eccentric Sam Hill bought up 5,300 acres here and planned a Quaker farming community called Maryhill (named for his wife and daughter), centered around a Beaux Arts mansion that would have looked more at home on a boulevard in Paris.

But the remote location and lack of irrigation scuttled the project, and work on the mansion stalled until Hill’s friend Lo?e Fuller suggested repurposing it as an art museum — an outpost for high European culture in a most unlikely location. Fuller was a modern dance innovator and the toast of Paris; she and Queen Marie of Romania, another Hill friend, helped get the building finished and populated with European artworks and artifacts. Another key patron was Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, who brought to Maryhill a unique collection of miniature fashion mannequins from wartime Paris, called the Th??tre de la Mode. Since then, Maryhill has also built important collections of American Indian artifacts and modern American paintings.

Exploring all that makes for a day stuffed full of artistic surprises. When it comes to Maryhill’s collection, curator Steven Grafe likes to say: “Eclectic is not a pejorative. It’s a compliment.”

Classic fantastic

The remote museum, closed every November, reopened March 15 with a new exhibition focusing on American Classical Realism and a painter named Richard F. Lack (1928-2009).

Lack’s big canvasses are striking combinations of realistic technique and legendary, literary, even fantastical inspirations — subjects from history, the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology and even Jungian psychology. Lack and his mentor, the Boston painter R.H. Ives Gammell, called their approach “imaginative painting,” but Lack later gave it the name American Classical Realism for the way it balanced psychological and mystical explorations with old-fashioned, technical mastery.

“They were champions of the old-school narrative when the art world was heading in a completely different direction,” Grafe said. “They were academic realists at the time of the abstract expressionists.” Because they bucked the trend, Grafe said, Lack and Gammell gained respect in artistic circles but never got the popular attention they deserved. This exhibit is a rare opportunity to explore them, he said.

There’s no better example of Lack’s blend of classical skill and modern thought than the huge five-painting series “The Interior Journey,” which features admirably concrete depictions of figures and symbols — dragon, lion, castle, leaping flames, scary masks — that seem to tumble out of the realm of dreams and unconscious.

“For imagery to be potent it has to be at least somewhat mysterious,” Lack wrote about his work. “The ultimate answers are hidden within each individual psyche.”

Special events

A sample of special events. See website for full schedule and prices.

 “Learning about Lack” opening celebration: March 17.

 Painting workshops (copying the masters): Tuesdays in April.

 Classical Realism painting methods: June 23-24.

• “Starry Night at the Museum” with Rose City Astronomers and Goldendale Observatory: July 14.

 Plein Air paint-out and reception: July 30-Aug. 4.

 Free admission for Clark County residents (with ID): Aug. 18-19.

 Romanian Cultural Festival: Sept. 22.

• Car is King Weekend: Oct. 6-7.

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