Community Read art, interesting mediums on display at Port Townsend Gallery Walk

PORT TOWNSEND — Northwind Arts Center will host “Just Passing Through,” a juried art exhibit presented in conjunction with the Port Townsend Public Library’s Community Read, “Whiskey When We’re Dry,” by John Larison.

In the show judged by Sarah Jane, the gallery and program director of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, artists respond “to the determination that drives a sister to search for her brother after losing her father; her resilience to survive desperate circumstances; the various meanings of faith, religion and spirit,” organizers said.

The opening reception at the gallery at 701 Water St., will be from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday during the Port Townsend Gallery Walk.

Exhibit hours are from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Monday. The gallery is closed on Tuesdays.

Also opening during’s Saturday Gallery Walk will be the nonprofit gallery’s 11th Annual Artist Showcase 2020, “Shadows and Light — Elements of Great Photography.”

That reception also will be from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Northwind’s Artist Showcase program returns for its seventh season, with 21 returning artists and 11 new artists in the program this year. Showcase artists work in photography (both color and black and white), oils, acrylics, watercolors, digital media, stone, wood, steel, bronze, clay and other media. More than 100 new works will be on display in the Artist Showcase.

The March exhibit is devoted to photography.

Also on the Port Townsend Gallery Walk on Saturday are these venues:

• Port Townsend School of the Arts Grover Gallery, 236 Taylor St., will present “Encaustic,” with contemporary works by Willow Bader, Victoria Foster Harrison, Dana Weir and Helga Winter.

The range of work in this exhibit exemplifies the versatility of the encaustic medium, organizers said. Encaustic painting is a mixed media technique that involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments have been added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface — usually prepared wood, although canvas and other materials are often used.

The artists and other PtSA teachers will be on hand to talk about their work and the classes they offer from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

PtSA Grover Gallery is open every day form noon to 5 p.m. except Wednesdays, or by appointment.

PtSA is a nonprofit education organization offering curriculum that ranges from providing support for serious artists, new skills and experiences for creative explorers and hands-on art-making for children and teens.

The school is at Fort Worden.

For more information, see www.ptschoolofthearts.org.

• Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., will feature artists Diane Holmes and Nancy Pascoe.

The artists will be at the gallery from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Pascoe draws inspiration for her hand-crafted purses and pouches from Japanese woodblock prints, the natural environment and the patterns of her fabric collection, organizers said.

The exterior fabrics are mostly indigo, and the interior fabrics are either meant to reflect the outside or are a whimsical surprise.

She often uses fabrics inherited from her mother for the linings to add a multi-generational layer. Each is meant to be handled and viewed from all angles. Many pieces are hand-quilted using the Japanese style of embroidery called “sashiko.”

Holmes is a self-taught watercolorist. Most of her paintings come from either her old sketches and/or photos, organizers said.

Her latest creations come from using the Japanese sumi-e technique with watercolor paints. Many of her animal and sea creatures are very whimsical.

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

For more information, phone 360-379-8110 or see www.porttownsendgallery.com.