Scott Lawrimore, the Seattle gallery owner behind Lawrimore Project, will become the new deputy director of collections and exhibitions at Frye Art Museum, starting Oct. 15. Together, he and Frye director Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker will work on programming exhibits and developing the Frye's collections.

"Scott Lawrimore brings to the Frye Art Museum an unflinching eye for exceptional talent, a penchant for the unexpected and the strong sense of adventure that made him an important figure in the Seattle cultural community," Birnie Danzker wrote in a news release. "He shares the Frye Art Museum's commitment to new concepts of the role of the museum in the 21st century."

Lawrimore Project, founded in 2006 and which closed June 30, was for a number of years a pleasurably cavernous gallery in the International District/Chinatown, before Lawrimore moved it to a slightly surreal window-front in Pioneer Square, where he could be counted upon to be patiently, affably awaiting visitors from day to day. As the Frye's news release notes, "He is widely credited for establishing a daring and conceptually rigorous exhibition program and for supporting ambitious artistic production by leading artists from Seattle and beyond."

A number of his artists have been picked up for museum exhibitions, including 20 solo exhibits and more than 60 group shows. More than 30 museums have acquired their work.

Lawrimore has art history degrees from University of California, Davis, and California State University, Sacramento. He has taught at Cornish College of the Arts and Seattle University.

"The paradigm shift at the Frye in recent years towards greater civic and international relevance has been exciting to witness," he writes. "I am equal parts humbled and emboldened by this opportunity to play a role in establishing the Frye as a leading center of ideas, and as a museum of the future."

Art Klatch, Lawrimore's weekly salon that since 2007 has been addressing issues of both "fleeting urgency and lasting importance" (that phrase is a tip-off to the flavor of Lawrimore's mind), will now move to the Frye.

The newly refurbished Frye, 704 Terry Ave., reopens Saturday and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Admission is always free.

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com