Construction on the renovation project began with a ceremonial groundbreaking on March 13, 2018. The museum closed for three years for the major renovation, from February 2017 until February 2020. The Seattle Asian Art Museum holds a permanent collection of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian art. The museum continues to grow its collection of art "centered around historic, modern, and contemporary Asian Pacific Islander as well as Southeast Asian art, specifically collecting different works created by local Asian Pacific Islander artists within the Seattle area." The collection holds the artwork entitled "Some/One" by South Korean sculptor Do-Ho Suh in the form of a suit of armor made of thousands of military IDs, or dog-tags. South Korean ceramic artist Yoon Kwang-cho is also represented in the collection.