Tucked back in the winding streets and hills of Spokane's Browne's Addition neighborhood sits a building that sticks out from the English Tudor-style homes that surround it.
It's strikingly modern and serves as a gathering space for children, adults, creatives, and anyone with a curious mind or a desire to learn.
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture is a cornerstone of — well — arts and culture in the Inland Northwest.
Over the years, the museum has hosted regional art shows, huge exhibitions that have traveled the world, benefit galas, school field trips and programming designed to educate the public about art, history and culture. Sometimes, music echoes from the museum's many corridors. On occasion, theatrical performances take place in the outdoor amphitheater. Most every visitor who walks through the front door will leave knowing more about the world than they did before.
And at the helm of the museum's many complex moving parts is Executive Director Wesley Jessup. (But you can call him Wes.)
As an Alaska native, Jessup is hardly displeased with the snow collecting on the windows of the building this early January afternoon.
His office is light and airy, with windows on all sides. Various art books are organized into piles on the ground, and a handmade Mexican dance mask from Michoacán, Mexico, sits proudly on his desk — a memento from a past exhibition.
From his desk chair, he can see the streets of Browne's Addition, the museum's Campbell House, the bright white Finch Mansion and nearly the entire museum campus. An apt location for the captain of the metaphorical ship that is the MAC.
Jessup's love and dedication for his job are certainly fostered by his environment. It's hard not to be inspired while surrounded by natural beauty and the rich past of the historic neighborhood. Jessup's story, however, begins in Florence, Italy.
"I did a junior year abroad when I was studying art history in college," Jessup says. "I spent hours and hours and days in the museums of Florence. And I thought, 'this is how I want to end up,' in a museum somehow."
After graduating from California State University Fullerton with his B.A. in art history, Jessup ventured to the Big Apple for a graduate program in art history and museum studies at the City University of New York.
His first job out of college? A position in museum management at the Guggenheim. It wasn't a high-ranking position, but being able to work at a coveted modern art museum straight out of college wasn't an opportunity Jessup was going to pass up.
"Imagine going to work at a building like that," he says. "It's phenomenal. It's more of a sculpture than a building."
For five years, Jessup worked inside the imposing building designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright and was constantly inspired by the architecture and the people on the museum's team.
"I started low," Jessup says. "Then, I started moving up and got into a bit of an exhibition management position. I had great mentors, and I was working with some very high-profile exhibitions like Robert Rauschenberg."
After his time at the Guggenheim, Jessup jumped around the country working at various museums in Los Angeles, New York and Denver.
This year marks Jessup's 30 years working in museums and seven years as the MAC's executive director.
"I've worked in big museums, small museums and some more medium-sized museums that are comparable to the MAC," he says. "But my favorite cities are the middle-sized cities like Spokane."
"I did a year abroad [and] spent days in the museums of Florence. I thought, ‘this is how I want to end up…"
tweet this
In a perfect world, Jessup would be able to be in five places at once.
On a typical day, he's got places to be and people to see from the moment he sits down at his desk until the second he gets in his car to leave for the day.
Just a few days into the new year, we found Jessup in the middle of organizing the fast-approaching Harold Balazs exhibit opening by meeting with Balazs' family. He was preparing for another show by local artist Reinaldo Gil Zambrano opening just one week after the Balazs show and was also getting ready for the exhibition that opens after the others close.
After his morning meetings, he arrived back at the museum to shoot a video with Don Hamilton.
"Don says I'm getting better at being on camera," he laughs.
Later in the day, he was testifying for the legislative session that had just begun and putting forward a few critical requests to the state for the museum. And, of course, throughout the week he'd been checking in with his dedicated staff, ensuring they're being sufficiently supported and everything is running smoothly.
Phew.
But it's all in a day's work for Jessup.
After a busy day at the museum, Jessup resumes his life as a father of four and husband to his wife, Cynthia.
With only one child left living at home, the family added a puppy into the mix. Jessup takes the dog for long walks at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge every Sunday, one of his favorite places in the area.
"We love to be outdoors," Jessup says. "And I'm also a big reader. I just read the Patrick Stewart autobiography, and I really want to read the Bono autobiography."
As for the future of the museum, Jessup is always aiming to bring unique exhibitions to the museum as well as put a spotlight on Indigenous art.
In the coming year, the MAC is set to showcase Expo '74 memorabilia in honor of the 50th anniversary of the World's Fair, put on a retrospective of Native artist Joe Feddersen's work that will travel to other museums in the country and host its plethora of annual events.
"The MAC has been around for 118 years," he says. "We're trying to keep the community involved and engaged in what we're doing. When I came here seven years ago, the museum was coming out of a period where there had been a lot of different leaders, a tough period. And one of the reasons I think the MAC has succeeded is because of the community. They wanted to see it thrive."
