The Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS) is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

The society started in 1939 and today is a vital international organization with 900 members across the United States and Canada.

Several events are planned to celebrate the year. Current member and  former president Nancy Axell is working on many of them.

Theresa Goesling, who owns a gallery on Mercer Island, and Cindy Briggs are co-chairmen of the 75th Diamond Celebration.

Many Mercer Island residents have been members of NWWS over the years.

The 75th Annual NWWS International Open Exhibition will be held in Seattle at the Washington State Convention Center from July 1 to Sept. 30. At the adjacent Crowne Plaza Hotel there will be workshops, a vendor fair and a Gala Awards Banquet during the week of July 5 to 12.

Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the celebration is the retrospective history titled, “A Fluid Tradition: Northwest Watercolor Society; The First 75 Years.”

It is authored by David Martin, who is a leading art historian and author of early regional art in this area. Axell worked with Martin and designer Molly Murrah as a researcher and collaborator on the book, which will be available in April at the University of Washington Press and bookstores locally and throughout the country.

A new art museum is opening in July in Edmonds, Wash. The Cascadia Museum of Art will feature a NWWS 75th Anniversary retrospective as its premiere exhibition, and will show paintings seen in the book.

The exhibit has the same title as the NWWS book and is curated by Martin. It will be open to the public on July 11.

For more information, go to www.nwws.org.