PORT TOWNSEND — The 19th annual Port Townsend Arts Festival aims to connect art and community with special events throughout August.
The month will include fine art, museum education, satire, readings, music and an artist studio tour.
A juried show, “Expressions Northwest,” features 65 pieces by Northwest artists, including several from the North Olympic Peninsula. It’s on display now until Aug. 27 at the Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St.
Today, an awards ceremony and reception will be held at 5:30 p.m.
Lecture
On Saturday, the festival’s 2017 juror Susan Warner will give a lecture at 1 p.m.
She will draw from more than 30 years of management, arts administration and museum education experience in her presentation.
Currently, Warner serves as executive director of the Vashon Center for the Arts. Prior to that, she worked for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, where she had curatorial, education and Hot Shop responsibilities.
In the past, Warner served as director of education at the Seattle Children’s Museum, curator of education at the State Capital Museum in Olympia and assistant curator and curator of decorative arts at the Dayton Art Institute.
Authors are invited to “Expressions Northwest” on Tuesday to view the artwork and jot down their reactions.
Later, on Aug. 24, the authors will be invited back to share their responses during an open mic night.
Reading
The Port Ludlow Village Players will read from their production of Noel Coward’s “Nude with a Violin,” a satire on modern art, on Sunday, Aug. 20, at 4 p.m.
Several original cast members will perform portions of this light comedy of manners that reflects on the nature of art and its value and cost to society.
The performance will benefit the Northwind Arts Center. Tickets cost $20 at the door or online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3047830.
Open mic
An open mic night will invite authors to read their work in reaction to “Expressions Northwest” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24, for an “Ekphrastic Evening.”
Ekphrastic is defined as “the literary representation of or response to visual art.”
Concert
At 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25, Greenlandic guitarist and songwriter Simon Lynge will perform. Tickets cost $15 at the door or online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3050437.
Lynge grew up as a shepherd in southern Greenland in a village of 50 people. He went on to live in Copenhagen and Los Angeles and now lives in Port Townsend with his wife and two sons.
He has toured with Emmylou Harris and Morcheeba, released four full-length albums and seen his songs come to the big screen.
Studio tour
The final event of the festival — an artist studio tour — will take place Saturday, Aug. 26, and Sunday, Aug. 27.
Professional artists working in oil, watercolor, acrylic, sculpture, pastel, printmaking, woodworking, fabric art, glass and a variety of mixed media will open their studios over the weekend for demonstrations and displays of their work.
Mitchel Osborne’s “Port Hole Peaking” photograph will be one of the 63 pieces on display at the Northwind Arts Center’s juried show “Expressions Northwest” through Aug. 27. (Mitchel Osborne)
