PORT TOWNSEND — Artist Elisabeth Mention was in southern France with her French husband, Michel. They traveled to the coastal locale of Camargue, hoping to see the horses known as the “white angels of the sea.”
But this was a misty autumn day, they were nowhere to be found, and “we were kind of disappointed,” Mention recalled.
“We drove to a field and stopped the car. We didn’t realize the horses were there, because of the fog.”
Then, like an apparition, they appeared.
“It was magical,” the artist said.
Mention took a photograph, which later inspired a painting. Now that Michel is deceased, this piece is a poignant one. This fall, it found a new space: Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center, 834 Sheridan St., where Northwind Art exhibits the work of local artists.
“Camargue Horses,” an oil on canvas, is among 27 paintings freshly installed around the hospital.
Northwind Art, a nonprofit organization that also operates Jeanette Best Gallery in downtown Port Townsend and the Northwind Art School at Fort Worden State Park, brings new installations every four months to the facility, so the current one will stay into mid-January. More information can be found on Northwind Art’s website.
“We have a longtime partnership with Jefferson Healthcare,” Northwind Executive Director Martha Worthley said. “We try to provide artwork that is going to give some kind of comfort, or bright color; something that is a respite for someone who is maybe under duress at the hospital or is just there for a visit.”
Kate Flores, another Port Townsend painter, has a short story to tell about her piece titled “Autumn Soji” that now hangs in the main lobby.
“I was visiting with a friend one day and noticed she had this great red broom, and I asked her if I could borrow it so I could make a painting,” Flores said. “I love brooms, especially handmade ones, so this was a very fun image to develop.
“Just outside my studio window,” she added, “I have a hummingbird feeder, and we have a few resident hummers … One day, one of those little gems just flew into the painting.”
The word soji refers to the work practice done during a zen silent retreat, added Flores, a zen student for many years. The practice often involves sweeping the temple and garden stones. She goes to the San Francisco Bay Area each fall for a retreat; hence the title “Autumn Soji.”
Flores worked in communications for Kaiser Permanente in California for 15 years, and she helped choose artwork for its medical facilities.
“I saw how much that work enhanced the environment, for the patients as well as for the hard-working folks who cared for them,” she said.
“There were works that I would personally make a point of visiting when I left my administrative office to attend a meeting. It was a nice pause in my day, a few minutes to reflect and let my busy brain rest.
“I hope my paintings can do that for others.”
One more artist has her pieces on view at Jefferson Healthcare: painter Rebecca Nerison. From orthopedics to diagnostic imaging to oncology, Nerison’s abstract art adds big splashes of color.
“You just start, and you go step by step … it’s a call and response,” Nerison said of her painting process.
Abstract art leaves you free, she added, to play and do whatever you are inspired to do.
“Hope Abounds,” the title of her 40-by-30-inch acrylic on canvas, sums up Nerison’s approach to artmaking.
“I just finished it last week,” she said. “Perhaps it’s my hope abounding.”
The drips of paint near the top left corner could be seen as tears, “if that’s what is in your heart,” Nerison said.
Yet “even if there are sad elements,” the artist said, “the big picture of this painting is of joy and hope.”
