This is the first book-length account of the world Anne Gould Hauberg both discovered and helped bring into being. A major figure in Seattle’s cultural life, she has been an instigator of ideas for innumerable people and organizations, sometimes when no one else could see the way, and has provided critical support that helped launch many artists’ careers. Author Barbara Johns brings her own intimate knowledge of Seattle’s art and architectural heritage to the story of Anne Hauberg’s life and accomplishments. Johns has an acute ear for an anecdote and a sensibility for context as Hauberg wove her passion for beauty into the cultural fabric of a great city. Anne’s story begins in 1917 on Bainbridge Island. Her mother, Dorothy Fay Gould, was one of the first women to teach at the University of Washington, and her father, Carl F. Gould, was the architect of many of Seattle’s landmark buildings and much of the university campus. Anne took a class from Mark Tobey at the Cornish School and in 1935 enrolled in the University of Washington School of Architecture, in a program that produced such architectural leaders as Victor Steinbreuck, Paul Hayden Kirk, and Roland Terry.

In 1941 she married John H. Hauberg, Jr., grandson of the co-founder of the Weyerhaeuser Company. When two of their children were born with mental disabilities, Anne refused to accept the standard practice of institutionalization and held out hope for the development of alternative care. Her unyielding conviction spawned the Pilot School for Neurologically Impaired Children, today the highly regarded Experimental Education Unit at the University of Washington. Anne Gould Hauberg is legendary for her advocacy of artists, the creative spirit, and the handmade object. Her openness to creative possibility contributed most famously to the beginnings of the Pilchuck Glass School. Hers has been a life of commitment, filled with passion for beauty and for universal access to art.

As Priscilla Beard writes, "The Northwest would be a far less colorful place were it not for the unique personal vision, style, and indefatigable energy of this thoroughly modern Medici.".