Bellevue Art Museum to close

The Bellevue Art Museum, a Washington venue since 1975 that moved into an architecturally daring Stephen Holl-designed building in 2001, will close. The museum fell victim to a rough economy and a sense that it was more successful as an architectural object than a place to see art.

“We were not successful in getting broad-based community support,” board president Rick Collette told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“We have no bank debt,” Collette said, explaining that salaries and debts will be paid for the next few weeks. “We feel strongly we shouldn’t spend money we don’t have.” He added that he hopes to reopen the building next year as an art museum or other space.

The museum’s new exhibit, “Clay Body,” will open Saturday and close Tuesday night when the museum shuts its doors. The long-running Bellevue Art Fair will continue.