episode 262 | Elizabeth Hawley of Gallery No. 85

This week Miranda speaks with Elizabeth Hawley, owner and director of Gallery No. 85 in Seattle, Washington.

Gallery No. 85 now occupies the historic home of Davidson Galleries, one of the most influential print-focused galleries in North America. After fifty years under the stewardship of founder Sam Davidson, the gallery has entered a new chapter, and Elizabeth is the person carrying that legacy forward while building a vision entirely her own.

Elizabeth's path into the print world is anything but conventional. Trained as an art historian and working professionally as an attorney, she brings a deep appreciation for the stories that surround works of art: their creation, collection, preservation, and eventual place in history. In this conversation they discuss everything from her graduate research on world’s fairs and to art law, estate collections, and the emotional relationships people form with the objects they live alongside.

They also talk about the unique challenges and joys of selling contemporary prints, the educational role galleries play, and what it means to inherit a respected institution while trying to build something new. Throughout the conversation, Elizabeth returns to a simple but powerful idea: that art is ultimately about connection: between artists and audiences, objects and histories, and people and one another.