PORT TOWNSEND — Pineapple upside down cake, a mint chocolate cupcake, fried eggs and bacon, salmon steaks with lemon slices: These are all part of “Northwest Expressions: Potluck Banquet,” an art show about good food and drink.
The exhibition, which will open Thursday at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery, brings together more than 50 Pacific Northwest artists.
The gallery at 701 Water St. in downtown Port Townsend is filled with their creations, which range from quilts to photos to watercolors and glazed ceramics.
The nonprofit Northwind Art invited artists from across Washington state and Oregon to enter “Potluck Banquet” — to bring a dish, artistically — and more than 100 responded. Jurors and artists Suzanne Lamon and Frank Samuelson made their selections based on what would create a well-rounded feast of visual art.
Once the show is installed, Lamon and Samuelson will announce the winners of one $500 Jurors’ Choice award and three $300 Merit awards. Throughout the exhibit’s run, gallery visitors can vote for their favorites for the $150 People’s Choice Award.
“Potluck Banquet” will be on display from noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays until Oct. 13, and soon after that, the People’s Choice Award winner will be announced.
More information about the gallery show as well as about Northwind’s art courses and workshops can be found on the Northwind Art website.
“The artwork celebrating food is gorgeous and, at times, comical,” Northwind spokesperson Diane Urbani said.
“Just looking at glazed ceramic eggs on toast made me laugh,” she added, referring to a “Potluck Banquet” piece by Lucy Congdon Hanson. The Port Townsend-based artist also entered her small ceramic versions of apple, rhubarb, pecan, cherry and pumpkin pie.
“She even made clay salmon steaks, filet mignon, a chocolate tart and a full chicken dinner,” Urbani said.
Two eggs and a strip of bacon appear to be frying on the pavement at a skate park in Joshua Phelps’ photograph.
A pineapple upside down cake glistens in Virginia Ashby’s painting.
A surrealistic scene splashes across Linda Okazaki’s 60-by-40-inch watercolor titled “The Red Table.”
“This banquet covers all of the courses, from hors d’oeuvres to dessert,” Urbani said. “We believe art feeds the soul, and these works are certainly rich in nutrients and heart-healthy fats.
“Most of all, this show is meant to be fun. We invite everyone to come and dive in.”
“Potluck Banquet” is sponsored by Chimacum Corner Farmstand, Finnriver Farm & Cidery, Bonnie Ludlow and Windermere Real Estate of Port Townsend.
“Bacon and Eggs on the Griddle” by Joshua Phelps will appear in the Potluck Banquet exhibition at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery in downtown Port Townsend. (Joshua Phelps)
“The Red Table,” a large-scale watercolor by Linda Okazaki, will appear in the Potluck Banquet exhibition at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery in downtown Port Townsend. (Linda Okazaki)
