PORT TOWNSEND — One of the featured artists at the Port Townsend Gallery this month has focused a spotlight on Ukraine.
Rebekah Cadorette and Laurna Malkovich are the featured artists for April at the gallery at 715 Water St., which is open from 10 a.m., to 5 p.m. seven days a week, as well as by appointment.
Cadorette specializes in the Japanese art of Temari. She creates ornaments by wrapping successively smaller diameters of string and thread around a core, then adding an embroidered design to the surface.
This month, she is exhibiting a tribute to the artistry and tenacity of the Ukrainian people with a collection of Temari inspired by their famous pysanky Easter eggs.
Many of the Temari incorporate traditional motifs, while others take inspiration from the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
In Japan, where Temari evolved from child’s toy to art form, such ornaments are presented as gifts that symbolize deep friendship and loyalty. The brilliant colors and threads are meant to reflect a brilliant and happy life for the recipient.
”It is a very satisfying form of recycling,” Cadorette has said, since she can use loom waste from her weaving business for the core and much of the wrapping.
Traditionally, the Japanese recycled scraps of kimono or rice hulls for the core.
Rebekah Cadorette’s collection of Temari at Port Townsend Gallery is inspired by Ukraine’s pysanky Easter eggs.
Having already been awarded Levels 1 and 2, she is currently working toward certification at Level 3 proficiency by the Japanese Temari Association.
Malkovich, for her part, is a self-taught painter who draws from her environment and from her fellow artists for inspiration.
From images of the oceans and landscapes of Maui to reflections on the Pacific Northwest, art has been a part of her life since high school.
Her first love was pottery and since then she has immersed herself in airbrushed clothing, pastels, and watercolors — while raising three children.
Watercolors eventually became her favorite.
“You can create a wide variety of textures, colors and luminosity, and watercolors are unlike most painting mediums because you leave the whites alone, plan out the steps and play, I mean pray,” said the artist, who has had her work in the Art Maui invitational for four years as well as island galleries.
Realism is not her focus, gallery show organizers said; instead, vibrancy, texture and emotions fill the paper.
“Laurna’s ability to see the world around her as a means for interpretation and self expression has reached new levels of clarity and beauty,” they said.
For more information, phone 360-379-8110 or see www.porttownsendgallery.com.
