Dr. Chiyo Ishikawa (Photo by Scott Areman)
The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) announced on Feb. 26 that Dr. Chiyo Ishikawa, Susan Brotman Deputy Director for Art and Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, will retire in summer 2020, after 30 years at the museum.
“It has been my honor and pleasure to work for an institution that so fully embraces its civic responsibility to serve our community,” said Ishikawa.
Mimi Gardner Gates, SAM’s Director Emerita (1994–2009), said, “An engaging person with a rare sense of humor, Chiyo raised the bar at SAM… She’s a cultural treasure who will be greatly missed.”
Ishikawa has been an adjunct professor in the Department of History of Art at the University of Washington in Seattle since 2016. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
The museum’s search for a replacement will begin immediately.