PORT TOWNSEND — Gallery 9’s featured artists for October are Ann Arscott with acrylic paintings and April Bedermen with functional fiber arts.
Gallery 9, 1012 Water St., is open six days a week Wednesday through Monday, usually from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On the first Saturday of the month, it is open until 8 p.m. the gallery walk. Masks are optional.
Arscott started drawing and painting as a small child. She was about 5 years old for her first art competition, and used to return old soda bottles for money to buy paint.
Her family loved backpacking in the wild, and always a tiny art kit would go into the bag, organizers said.
Oils, pastels, water colors, ink and pencil are her mediums on canvas, silk and various papers.
She has traveled around the world to 125 different countries.
“I take thousands of photographs on my journeys,” she said. “These are the jumping off places for my art.”
An Asian influence seen in her work shaped by her time at the China Institute in New York.
Her connection to nature developed with studies in geology, and teaching at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, organizers said.
She worked in Sumi-E painting, an ancient art form that translates to “black ink painting.”
It has gained popularity in Japan, as the paintings strive to express the essence of forms rather than their realistic appearance. “I find that influence creeps into most of my other work as well.”
“My Sumi-E work is special because our children have been living in Japan,” she said.
“We came to the Olympic Peninsula about 20 years ago and I still can’t get enough of the astonishing beauty,” Arscott added.
“In Gallery 9 this month you’ll see a couple of my new sunrise and sunset paintings. They tell a lot about this place. October is Orange leaves, pumpkins, flowers, glowing orange rocks, sunsets and warm orange campfires.”
Bederman is a fiber artist interested in functional art.
She grew up in a home of makers, and loves color, texture, nature, dogs and people, organizers said.
“When knowing how a thing is made and who made it, then it becomes a treasure,” she said.
She was introduced to felt while working summers in Alaska, and took to making hats.
Felting is a simple yet time-consuming process which involves applying layers of carded wool to a form or pattern, establishing the color and design sequence.
From there comes water, soap, agitation and elbow grease, shaping the final product.
When visiting friends in Port Townsend she was introduced to ‘nuno’ felting which is felting fine wool into light weight silk fabric for a lighter accessory.
She developed her silk scarves of eco-printing while in Austin, Texas.
For more information, see www.gallery-9.com.
