PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend School of the Arts will host the inaugural Sherry Grover Art Sparks Benefit Sale during Gallery Walk from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.
Since early June, more than 500 painting tiles have been picked up by local artists, faculty, students and others for creation of original works of art to benefit the school and its students.
The exhibit opens at noon Saturday at the school’s downtown Art Experience space, 236 Taylor St.
Each piece will be $40 and sold on a first-come, first-served, buy-it-and-take-it basis. Half of the proceeds go to the artist, and half to the school.
The genesis of the Art Sparks event came from its namesake, Sherry Grover.
According to a news release, Grover was passionate about art, artists and the business of art. She loved learning and teaching and developed a program called Art Sparks to empower artists to take charge of their careers by becoming better business people.
The show will be varied with photography, drawing, painting, mixed media and 3D assemblage among the range of media. No pieces are signed on the front, leaving the identity of the artist a possible mystery.
Some of the tiles are by school faculty and local artists with recognizable styles, and others will surprise with the revelation of the creator.
Many of the school’s artist-teachers will be on hand during Gallery Walk to talk about their work and the classes they offer at the school.
Regular Art Experience hours are noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday or by appointment.
For more information, go to www.ptarts.org.
Other venues on this month’s Gallery Walk are:
• Gallery 9, 1012 Water St., which will host featured artists Carolyn Doe, with paintings and batiks, and Judith Komishane, fine beaded jewelry form 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
Doe presents her latest paintings and batiks as homage to the tree, in which she conveys their grace, and their place in the landscape, organizers said.
“I have always been drawn to trees. To be among them is soothing to me,” Doe said.
Doe draws inspiration from quiet walks in the woods and meadows of Marrowstone Island and during early summer months working as a cook in camps in Alaska, where she paints in watercolors.
Doe’s paintings are created in oils, using a combination of palette knife techniques, and sometimes incorporating ecoprinting for a mixed media effect.
Her batiks are painstakingly applied with an exacting hand and complemented by free-flowing painting on the silk fabric background. Doe will be demonstrating her batik process during the Art Port Townsend Open Studio Tour on Aug. 18-19.
Komishane celebrates tree and leaf in new jewelry pieces unveiled for this show. The one-of-a-kind necklaces include an interpretation of a Japanese pomegranate branch and a chakra tree of life.
Petrified wood, an actual cottonwood branch and various leaves dipped in gold and silver are among the bead and embellishment elements in Komishane’s new collection.
Komishane began beading 10 years ago and has shown her work in various shops and venues on the Olympic Peninsula.
• The Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St., where the Artist Showcase will exhibit the work of artist of the month Joe Wuts from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday.
An opening reception is slated during Gallery Walk at the center.
Wuts has worked his entire career as a carpentry contractor and kayak builder. He is a self-taught artist and learns new skills by doing and observing others, organizers said.
He won Best in Show in his first art show with his “art boat” and has been winning awards ever since. Most recently Wuts won second place in sculpture at the Edmonds Art Show.
