PAN, originally called The Northwest Print Council, was created in 1980 by a group of around 20 established printmakers and teachers from the Portland and Seattle areas, including Glen Alps, Lee Chesney, Gordon Gilkey, David Haidle, Jim Hibbard, Manuel Izquierdo, George Johanson, Liza Jones, LaVerne Krause and Jack McLarty. Their initial vision was to provide a professional affiliation for printmakers, while fostering greater public awareness and appreciation of prints.
A steering committee of 25 members was recruited, a board of directors was formed, bylaws were written, and 100 charter members were accepted. George Johanson was the first president. Since then, PAN has housed, displayed and helped sell many members’ prints.
Our first exhibition, Northwest Prints, was held in 1982 at the Portland Art Museum. Since then, PAN has maintained an active exhibition schedule within the Northwest and beyond. Throughout our history, PAN has participated in exchange exhibitions with printmaking organizations from around the US and the world, including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Norway, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The exhibition Print Arts Northwest: Thirty Years of Printmaking debuted at Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2011 before traveling to five other venues.
In 2017, PAN donated a portfolio of members’ prints to the Multnomah County Library for its permanent collection.