PORT TOWNSEND — For Sally Jablonsky, art making is a way to access joy and freedom of mind. Her painting, drawing, sculpture and writing are personal explorations of reality and fantasy.
Jablonsky’s one-woman show, titled “Sally’s World,” will be on view Thursday through Nov. 17 at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery, 701 Water St. in Port Townsend. Gallery hours are from noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays.
On the First Saturday Art Walk on Nov. 1, the venue will be open till 8 p.m. That same day, Jablonsky will give a free artist talk at 3 p.m.
“Sally’s World” is sponsored by the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA). More information can be found at Northwind Art.org.
As the artist sees it, everything — everyone — is a part of nature. Jablonsky’s work explores the experience of being a body and an animal on the Earth — with no separation, and all of us in relationship.
Born and raised by musician parents on a farm just south of Spokane, Jablonsky has been shaped by growing up in wild places and by living with chronic illness.
Today her inspiration comes from many sources: learning about plant science, looking at other artists’ work, going out into the woods and on river walks, playing fiddle music.
Jablonsky believes in mutualism, the mutually beneficial relationships that aid in survival.
“I feel that mutualism is important to talk about to reshape our understanding of reality,” she writes, “shifting from ownership of Earth and ideas to a more nuanced and care-based relationship.”
Jablonsky also delves into the epigenetic inheritance of being Jewish. This inheritance “contains the history of persecution that has created this genetic predisposition for disease in my body, as well as the resilience of the people who survived,” she notes.
“My paintings are a witness to those experiences, a cautionary message showing the outcome of targeted persecution,” Jablonsky writes.
“And they are a call for peace.”
In recent years, Jablonsky’s autoimmune disease has gone into remission, enabling her to finish her large-scale paintings more quickly, and to complete her master of fine arts degree at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Ore. She lives in Spokane.
“I am grateful for this time of better health,” she writes, “and I also am grateful that I could learn from these experiences of my body — giving me a new perspective.”
