The creative gifts of the late Seattle-based artist James W. Washington Jr. far exceed what someone might think of when they think of a multimedia maker.

“As people get to know his life, it’s not just that he was multifaceted like an artist, a poet, etc.,” Greg Robinson said. “His impact and participation in the art world is multidimensional.”

Robinson is the chief curator of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, which on July 4 debuted James W. Washington Jr.: Many Hats, One Spirit, a retrospective exhibit he’s leading that surveys the life and legacy of a man who wasn’t merely an artist and poet but, as the museum emphasizes, also a civil-rights activist, gardener, community maker, and spiritual person.

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Image credit: The Dr. James W. Washington Jr. & Mrs. Janie Rogella Washington Foundation