PORT LUDLOW — Kim Thomson is the woman often seen at the Port Townsend Farmers Market wearing a hat adorned with a ball of yarn and a pair of knitting needles.
She’s an artist who makes a lot of things from felted wool, and Wednesday, Thomson will give a presentation on felting at the Port Ludlow Artists’ League meeting.
The 1 p.m. program, open to guests, will be at the Bay Club, 120 Spinnaker Place.
Admission is $5 for guests, although they can instead choose to become Artists League members for $30.
Thomson, who holds a master of fine arts degree in painting from Columbia University, lived in Santa Fe, N.M., selling her art through galleries across the West until 2001.
Then, after becoming chemically sensitive from years of exposure to art materials, she decided to start a new life in the Northwest.
She moved to Washington state, played a fiddle on street corners and lived in the forest.
One winter, with the idea of getting warm, she loaded up her bicycle, fiddle and tent and set out for New Zealand to play on corners in a warmer clime.
While visiting friends on the North Island, she began knitting, and her new career in wool began.
Thomson returned home to Washington and began selling her woolen things — sculptural vessels, hats, gloves and more — at the Port Townsend Farmers Market.
She also has a studio and gallery, Thomson Art Forms, at 833 Water St. in Port Townsend.
For more details about Thomson’s presentation Wednesday and about future Port Ludlow Artists League programs for art lovers and artists of all levels, phone 360-437-0204 or email gramcr@aol.com.
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
