SEQUIM — The Blue Whole Gallery is “Celebrating the Natural World” in April.
The exhibit that opened Friday features Deborah Harrison, mixed media sculptor, and Susan Trisko, 2D artist in painting.
They are showcasing original work in the front windows of the gallery at 129 W. Washington St., Sequim. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Harrison has created what she calls watersculptures for her exhibit, Sacred Elements.
They were inspired by a dream, she said.
“One morning, just as I was awakening from sleep, the image of an illuminated marble fountain flashed boldly in my consciousness,” she said in a press relase.
”It stayed with me all day, and I could not shake the feeling that it wanted to come into physical form.”
After five years of experimenting, she created the Nautilus Mandala. Designs became more complex, she said but all have as their central element flowing water.
“I find the gentle sound of the water soothes the nervous system, while the dance of water and light delights the eye,” Harrison said.
”Each fountain in the series features classic geometric shapes that promote harmony and a sense of well-being.”
Her newer pieces feature a prcoess she developed of layering stained glass which, she said, brings the sculptures to life, “sparkling and glimmering with luminosity” when sunlight shines on them.
Trisko, who moved to Port Townsend from California in 2003, began making art, drawing wildlife, as a child,
” I love painting fur. I love painting feathers. I love exploring each subject as I paint it, discovering something new with each one,” she said in the release.
As a child, drawing chipmunks or deer or birds around her house “was a way to make them mine, to hold them still,” she said.
She feels that art is a way to share discoveries with others.
“It is to say, ‘Isn’t this beautiful or interesting or magnificent in some way?’”
Her first art lessons were in her 20s with Sacramento artist Carole McNair. Later she studied with Abraham Nussbaum, “the kindest, wisest man I ever met, and a published poet,” and then with Gary Pruner.
“I painted absolutely every night for about 20 years,”Trisko said. “It was obsessive.”
Her work was in three California galleries: The Treasure Trove in Roseville, Delphina’s in Sacramento and an Artists’ Coop in Sacramento.
Then she had to go to work full time in her day job.
“I could not paint much during this next chapter of my life. I was caught up in earning a living and not very happy.”
Now, she is painting again.
“I paint beautiful things because, while there are ugly things in our world worth depicting, I choose to concentrate on the innocent and beautiful.”
For more information, see www.bluewholegallery.com.
