In 2018, Hannah Palin, a Seattle film archivist, received a storage pod filled with work created by her estranged father, Kenneth Showell, a New York painter and photographer who died in 1997. Palin spent five years documenting, researching, and organizing her inheritance of over 1300 canvases, drawings, pastels, and watercolors. The result of these efforts is Unexpected Legacy: Selected Works of Kenneth Showell (1939-1997), the first major exhibit of Showell’s art in almost 20 years.

The show opens September 6th at Slip Gallery in Seattle. Palin will give talks about Showell’s work, his use of media, her experiences connecting with his family and friends, as well as his ties to the vibrant art scene of 1960s New York on September 13th and 17th.  The show runs through September 30th.

The son of a sheet metal worker, Kenneth Leroy Showell was born in 1939 in Huron, South Dakota and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. After receiving his B.F.A. at the Kansas City Art Institute and an M.F.A. from Indiana University he moved to New York City in 1965, setting up a studio in SoHo. Ken’s abstract work with spray paint and folded canvas garnered significant attention. His distinctive approach earned inclusion in the 1967 and 1969 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Showell was also included in the Whitney’s 1971 Lyrical Abstraction exhibition, and many other important group shows and surveys of contemporary painting. His work is held by prominent museums and collectors.  

Unexpected Legacy: Selected Works of Kenneth Showell (1939-1997) will feature a broad selection of paintings from Showell’s thirty-year career.

Opening: September 6th, 6pm-9pm

Belltown Art Walk: September 8th, 6pm-9pm

Artist Talks: September 13th, 6pm-9pm and September 17th, 3pm-6pm

Closing Festivities: September 29h. 6pm-9pm

Open Thursdays – Saturdays 12pm-6pm or by appointment (206) 321-8301

For more information, visit KennethShowellArtworks.com