This former Tacoma mayor doesn’t care if he makes money. He just likes art
When Brian Ebersole held public office in the 1980s and 1990s, he had a hand in revitalizing lower Pacific Avenue in Tacoma.
Now, the former mayor has moved up Pacific to oversee a small rented space near South Ninth Street that contains a gold-leafed cow skeleton.
Ebersole, 70 and retired, is finally indulging in a passion he had little time for in his working life: art.
On Thursday, he opens Art Above.
The gallery is small — about 1,000 square feet — which is just enough for the first-time gallery owner.
“I really enjoy art. I collect art. I go out and I paint,” Ebersole said Tuesday. “I want to show regional artists who are accomplished and need a place to show. If I don’t make any money, that’s fine.”
Art Above also will feature international art collected by Ebersole in his travels around the world.
The gallery space is reached through and above Minka — the one-of-a-kind design and art gallery full of items you didn’t know you need until you see them.
Minka is owned and curated by Lisa Kinoshita and Paula Shields, who have been advising Ebersole on his new venture.
Ebersole came to Tacoma in 1972 and spent 10 years working with the Tacoma Public Schools as a drop-out prevention specialist. In 1982, he won a seat in the state House. He spent more than a decade there, two years as speaker.
While in the Legislature he befriended art experts and artists.
Some of his art collection from those days — wood carvings from Oaxaca, Mexico — is on display in the gallery.
After leaving the Legislature, Ebersole was mayor of Tacoma from 1995 to 2000.
His time in public office saw the renovation of Union Station into a federal courthouse, the siting of the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, the creation of the University of Washington Tacoma campus and other achievements.
After his time as mayor, Ebersole was president of Bates Technical College.
Retirement hasn’t slowed one of his passions: international travel.
His time in Cambodia led to not only increasing his art collection but he also co-founded a charity there. And he owned a seaside resort in the Philippines for a few years with his now ex-wife and current Tacoma City Councilwoman, Lillian Hunter.
“I hope to show art from the various places I’ve visited,” Ebersole said. Some pieces will be from his collection and others he will buy.
Thursday’s opening show, “Golden Age,” features Thorp artist Justin Gibbens. The centerpiece is the gilded cow skeleton.
Gibbens combines his former skills as a scientific illustrator with traditional Chinese ink painting to embellish pages from an ancient Persian manuscript.
The result are expertly rendered birds, amphibians, reptiles and other creatures visually floating on the ancient paper.
At $650 to $800 each — the skeleton goes for $10,000 — it’s art not typically seen in Tacoma’s commercial galleries.
“This could easily show in a high-end gallery in Seattle,” Ebersole said of the current show.
In the same breath, he acknowledges he doesn’t have the well-funded Seattle art crowd at his door.
“I’ve learned that you have to tailor what you have based on the pocket book of your community,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of big spenders of art and the ones that we do often go to Seattle.”
Art Above
Where: 821 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, inside Minka
Information: verticalshout@gmail.com.
Opening: 5-8 p.m. Thursday
Hours: Noon-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday and by appointment.
Current show: “Golden Age” by Justin Gibbens
This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 6:14 PM.