PORT ANGELES — After giving birth to her daughter, Imogen, six years ago, Amy McIntyre didn’t have a lot of time for art.
But then, running around town with her little girl, she began making black-and-white photographs — Imogen frolicking on City Pier, buying popcorn on a downtown Port Angeles sidewalk — to capture moments simple and sweet.
McIntyre is among 13 contributors to the Peninsula College Faculty and Staff Biennial Art Exhibition, open now at the campus’ PUB Gallery beside the Little Theater on the campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The show, free to the public, is as varied as the people who contributed their work.
Each artist has a story, of course, told in bright paint, silk and cotton, or with a camera and sunlight.
McIntyre, a program assistant at the college, is showing her work for the first time, and there’s a symmetry to it: She named Imogen, now 6, after photography pioneer Imogen Cunningham.
Another staffer, Barbara Van Vorst, took drawing and painting courses from Peninsula College art professor Michael Paul Miller, and like McIntyre, she’s blossomed as an artist.
Van Vorst’s “Little Lady,” an image of her King Charles Cavalier spaniel, Molly, has inspired visitors to ask her to paint their pets’ portraits.
That’s “astonishing,” said Van Vorst, a Student Services administrative assistant.
Also on display are four color-saturated boxes in a series titled “Building Blocks.”
They’re Renne Brock-Richmond’s meditation on the infinite variety of art and people in the world.
The boxes are painted in the same colors, but each has its own three-dimensional features.
One is grooved with Brock-Richmond’s enlarged thumbprint, while another bears a mass of satin rosettes, and another, made of wood and paper, depicts water molecules.
“The gist of the series . . . is that we’re basically made up of the exact same materials. But the infinite combinations make us unique,” said Brock-Richmond, who teaches community courses in art and technology.
The boxes are “unique and united,” she said, like the members of a community.
Others in the community of teachers and support staff showing their art include Reina Barreto, Bonnie Cauffman, Mary Hunchberger, Ed Jaramillo, Steven Lidback, Bill Merrill, Michael Paul Miller, Michael Mills, Getta Rogers and Marina Shipova.
Their creations will stay on display in the PUB Gallery until Feb. 8. The gallery is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
Peninsula College, based in Port Angeles, has branches in Port Townsend and Forks.
For information about the show and other activities and programs of Peninsula College, visit www.PenCol.edu.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
