Monumental drawing emerged as an independent art form during the 1980s boom in the art market. Artists of all disciplines and stylistic persuasions eagerly embraced drawing large as a response to market forces leading artists to seek easier and cheaper means of production. Its emergence as a primary medium was established with grand scale, forceful content, technical confidence and disregard for the preparatory sketch. Its sources lie in the utilization of the idiosyncratic line by abstract expressionist painters, printmakers working with crayon on lithography stones, minimalist sculptures using diagrammatic forms, and performance artists using drawings for backdrops. In addition to traditional drawing media such as pencil, charcoal, ink, pastel, watercolor and silverpoint, the works included in the museum exhibition represent works on paper executed in acrylic and oil as well as drawings incorporating collage, photography and printmaking.
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The gallery is wheelchair accessible. On weekday evenings, parking is available in the Fine Arts parking structure, off Stadium Way at Grimes Way, for an hourly fee. Weekend parking is free. Funding for museum exhibitions and programs is provided by Washington State University, the Friends of the Museum of Art, and private donors. This page has been accessed times.