Original Art for a Seattle Law Office: Inside Our Corr Cronin Curation

Art for the Corner Office: Curating a Seattle Law Firm’s Downtown Space

When a client gives you creative autonomy, it’s both a gift and a responsibility. Corr Cronin, a prominent litigation firm headquartered in downtown Seattle, did exactly that when they brought us in to curate art for their new office space. No mood boards to match, no preselected palette to work around. Just a stunning, architecturally rich environment and an open invitation to fill it with original work.

We placed paintings by two Pacific Northwest artists — Melanie Biehle and Kippi Leonard — throughout the space. The result is a collection that feels as considered and authoritative as the firm itself.

Reading the Room

The first thing you notice about Corr Cronin’s offices is the architecture. White marble floors, dark structural steel, warm walnut millwork, and floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the Seattle skyline — it’s a space that already has strong opinions. Art placed here needs to earn its position. It can’t be decorative filler; it has to belong.

That guided every selection we made.

Making an Entrance

The reception area is anchored by a large vertical painting by Melanie Biehle — a luminous, atmospheric work in mossy greens, warm ochres, and deep earth tones that hovers between landscape and pure abstraction. Against the white walls and beneath the diagonal slash of the building’s steel staircase, it reads as something organic and alive. A counterpoint to all that precision.

It’s the kind of work that stops a first-time visitor mid-step. Which, for a law firm’s reception area, is exactly the right first impression.

A Collection That Builds

Move deeper into the space and a second Biehle painting anchors the elevator lobby — a natural gathering point where clients wait, attorneys pass through, and the pace of the day briefly slows. This piece works in warmer, more saturated territory: burnt sienna, rust, and deep amber layered over darker grounds, with the same atmospheric quality that defines her practice. Cognac leather chairs cluster below it, and the tonal conversation between the painting and the furnishings feels almost inevitable.

Together, the two Biehle works create a thread that runs through the public-facing areas of the office — a coherent visual language that ties the space together without ever becoming repetitive.

The Room That Surprises You

Kippi Leonard’s large horizontal painting hangs opposite the windows, where it catches the diffused light of the Seattle skyline behind it. The work is deep and immersive — layers of teal, blue-black, and warm umber that shift as you move around the table, suggesting weather, water, and open sky all at once. In a room designed for high-stakes conversation, it’s a bold choice.

And that’s precisely why it works. A conference room where important decisions get made deserves art that asks something of the people in it. Leonard’s painting brings an unexpected emotional depth to a space that could easily have felt sterile. Instead, it feels like somewhere you want to think clearly.

On Creative Autonomy

Projects like Corr Cronin are a reminder of what becomes possible when a client trusts the process. Without the friction of competing opinions or overly specific directives, the curation can follow its own logic — building a collection that responds to the architecture, the light, and the feeling of the space rather than a checklist.

The Corr Cronin team were easy, collaborative, and genuinely open. The art reflects that generosity of spirit as much as anything else.

Looking to bring original art into your firm or office space? Contact us to learn how we work with commercial clients across the Seattle area.