The History of The Art Institute of Seattle
Contents
Founding
In the late 1930s, the demand for illustrators from all walks of life was on the rise in Seattle. A group of downtown illustrators got together and decided to meet this need by setting up illustration classes at Edison Technical School. Edison Technical School was chosen because of its location and its facilities. Edwin Burnley was one of the selected illustrators to teach a class at Edison Technical School. With the rising deployment of World War II the predominantly male program nearly died off because so many men went off to war. However, Burnley got news of a government program that would change American higher education. Called "the G.I. Bill", it provided financial support, including education tuition, for soldiers returning from the war and future veterans. Burnley saw this time as his opportunity, moving from Edison Tech to open his own school which he called the Burnley School of Art and Design.
Order of events
In 1946, Edwin Burnley founded the Burnley school of Art and Design [1] and opened the doors at the end of World War II in 1947. In the late 1940s, the Burnley school of Art and Design changed its name to The Burnley School of Professional Art. In 1959, Jess Cauthorn bought the school from Edwin Burnley. The school was run and owned privately by Jess Cauthorn and his wife until 1982 when Jess Cauthorn sold the school to the Education Management Corporation and the school's name became The Art Institute of Seattle. Jess Cauthorn also became the President of the school that year. In 1984, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology accredited the Art Institute of Seattle [2]. Also in that year, Jess Cauthorn stepped down as the Art Institute of Seattle's President and on May 23, George Pry became the new President of the Art Institute of Seattle. In fall of 1985, the school became fully accredited by the National Association of Trade & Technical Schools; the school also moved from its address at 905 E. Pine to its current location on the waterfront of Seattle at 2323 Elliott Avenue [3]. In 1986, the Art Institute of Seattle was one of eight schools among the Art Institutes. In October 1989, George Pry left the school and Hal Griffith took his place. Hal Griffith was at the school for a period of thirteen months. In November 1990, David Pauldine became the new school President. David Pauldine left in December 1993 and was replaced temporarily by Lew Bender. In February 1994 Less Pritchard became the President of the Art Institute of Seattle. In 1999, Timothy Schutz becomes the President of the school and The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities grants regional accreditation to the school [4]. In 2003, the Art Institute of Seattle has a new President named Shelly Dubois. In 2006 the school is granted accreditation at a baccalaureate level to offer programs leading to the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 2009, Barbara Singer became the President of the Art Institute of Seattle followed by Elden Monday in 2010
Myths & Legends of the Art Institute of Seattle
In 1946, The Burnley School of Professional Art moved into the building at 905 E Pine St. The Art school operated at that location until 1986. That same year, the building became the Seattle Central Community College south annex building. In 1913, an eighteen-year-old boy was killed during a fight after a basketball game, resulting in him being thrown down the back stairs of the building. The students named his ghost "Burnley". Through the years since that event, various people from both schools using the building have had experiences with Burnley.[5][6][7] At the Art Institute of Seattle, students working in the building alone, regardless of the time of day, have heard unexplainable noises coming from other rooms next door. One student heard someone shuffling paperwork, and walking around in the adjacent room. No one was in that room. A janitor had just entered a dark classroom to drop off his cleaning equipment, which he planned on returning to after turning on the building lights, just as he left the room he heard a loud crash. He quickly returned to find four desks and chairs overturned in the middle of the classroom. Similarly at the Seattle Central Community College other unexplained acts were reported. The college's microcomputer lab is located on the second floor; the lab manager, who was a female, reported that Burnley directed his attention towards women with his acts, totally disregarding the males. When she was in the storage room, completing inventory, a stack of computer disks fell on her head. The disks were always stored on the top shelf in the corner, far from the location where they fell. When the occurrence happened again, the manager told Burnley to stop it. He complied. Today, although the building has undergone numerous upgrades, Burnley still continues to toy with the living.