Museum of Art + History Opens 2025 Season with New Exhibitions, Major Accessibility Upgrades, and a Special Free First Saturday Celebration Sponsored by Dogs-A-Foot
- Jefferson County Historical Society
- Mar 31
- 2 min read
We are set to welcome visitors back for the 2025 season at the Museum of Art + History, which reopens on April 3. The season launch will be marked by a special Opening Celebration on Saturday, April 5, featuring free admission and extended hours until 7PM as part of Free First Saturday and Art/Walk.
This year’s reopening marks a major milestone in the Newly Imagined Museum of Art + History project, as significant progress has been made in the construction of new ADA-compliant ramps, heightened doorways, and refreshed gallery walls. These enhancements ensure a more welcoming and inclusive space for all visitors. While this work is ongoing and some spaces will remain closed for renovations for the next few months, the Museum is unveiling two powerful new art exhibitions that explore themes of homecoming, identity, and caregiving.
In the Ferguson Gallery, Jamestown S’Klallam artist Timothy O’Connell III presents yíy̕ yaʔ cn ʔiʔ ʔuʔkʷɬníɬ cn nəsʔáʔɬaʔ (I Was Far Away But Now I’m Here), a body of work exploring Indigenous identity, movement, and homecoming. Raised in Hawai’i and now rooted in the Olympic Peninsula, O’Connell merges Coast Salish design elements with contemporary techniques, creating a striking visual dialogue between ancestral tradition and modern storytelling. His paintings invite viewers to reflect on landscapes left behind, returned to, and reimagined.
In the Wilson Gallery, artist Meg Kaczyk shares an intimate and deeply moving portrayal of caregiving through her exhibition Notes from Next to the Bed: A Caregiving Love Story in Words & Pictures. What began as a daily sketchbook practice during the final months of her husband’s life evolved into a year-long artistic chronicle. Through gouache, charcoal, and oil paintings, Kaczyk explores themes of love, loss, and resilience, offering a profound meditation on the beauty of human connection during life’s most vulnerable moments.
Adding to the excitement, Dogs-A-Foot, located right next door to the museum, is proudly sponsoring this Free First Saturday event and will be cooking up a special 'Historic Hot Dog' to commemorate the occasion. In celebration of both the museum’s season opener and their own, Dogs-A-Foot will be serving these limited-time hot dogs all day until 5PM, giving visitors the perfect way to fuel up before exploring the museum’s new exhibitions and accessibility upgrades.
JCHS invites the community to a special evening event on Saturday, April 5, from 5PM to 7PM. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the artists, enjoy the new exhibitions, and experience the museum mid-transformation -- all with free admission as part of Free First Saturday.
The Museum of Art + History will be open Thursday – Sunday, 11 AM - 4 PM, with extended hours on the first Saturday of each month as part of Free First Saturday.
For more information on the Newly Imagined Museum of Art + History project, current exhibitions, and upcoming programs, click here or contact info@jchsmuseum.com.
Community support makes these projects, programs, and exhibitions possible. Visitors are encouraged to become a JCHS Member for year-round free admission and exclusive programs or to contribute to efforts through donations.