PORT TOWNSEND — Aquatint etchings, pastels on black paper, house paint on an old quilt: These are some of the mediums the “Lush Language” artists use to express themselves.
These four women, from Quilcene, Port Townsend and Seattle, will discuss their creative processes and the results during a free artists’ talk at 6 p.m. Thursday at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery. The venue at 701 Water St. in downtown Port Townsend is the place where “Lush Language,” a show filled with color and symbolism, is on view through June 30.
Artist Isabel Elena Pérez thought of that title and proceeded to bring her richly hued work in to fulfill it. So did Claire Ragland, a ceramicist and printmaker from Port Townsend, Becca Fuhrman, a painter from Seattle, and Tininha Silva, a Port Townsend artist who makes tapestries on a chicken wire frame.
“Their art is just so luscious to look at,” said Northwind Art spokesperson Diane Urbani.
“I’m looking forward to learning more about what inspires these women — and hearing them reflect on what they have in common.”
Fuhrman, for her part, uses found objects and house paint in artworks such as “You Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine,” a painting on a World War II-era quilt.
Pérez paints the stories of her life in works such as “Wedding Spell,” a giant wood-panel painting made when she married last summer. Pérez, who has lived in Havana, Cuba, also uses her art to reflect on the past, such as in “La Habana, Todavía Pienso en Ti,” a soft pastel on paper with gold mica.
Ragland, who lived in New Orleans for a decade before returning recently to Port Townsend, loves the process of aquatint etching, and has several examples of it in “Lush Language.” She also created a ceramic bust titled “Butterfly Song,” something she said just “felt really good to make.”
Silva, a native of Recife, Brazil, has lived in Port Townsend for six years. She found her muse in weavings, and among the rocks and kelp at nearby North Beach County Park. Her pieces have titles such as “When the Waves Come” and “Correnteza,” Portuguese for current.
For more about Northwind’s gallery shows and art classes, visit https:// northwindart.org.
