Mercer Islander’s art collection featured at BAM

Billie Jones Moffitt’s collection is on loan for the Bellevue Arts Museum’s “Maneki Neko: Japan’s Beckoning Cats – From Talisman to Pop Icon” exhibit, which is featured at the museum through August.

By Reporter Staff • March 12, 2013 2:19 pm
Since the early 15th century
Since the early 15th century

Billie Jones Moffitt’s collection is on loan for the Bellevue Arts Museum’s “Maneki Neko: Japan’s Beckoning Cats – From Talisman to Pop Icon” exhibit, which is featured at the museum through August.

Moffitt, a Mercer Island High School graduate, donated the collection to the Mingei International Museum, in San Diego, after 25 years of collecting.

Since the early 15th century, a fabricated cat with an upraised paw has been considered a good luck charm in the Japanese culture. The show features a collection of over 150 cats, all made in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Moffitt’s parents, Jay and Mary Jayne Jones, still reside on Mercer Island.