NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, April 1.
SEQUIM — As flowers bloom and days grow longer, take a moment to enjoy the finer things in life during tonight’s First Friday Art Walk.
The free self-guided tour leads participants to local art venues in Sequim on the First Friday of every month.
Initiated in 2006, the monthly event is sponsored and produced by Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond.
It will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Visit www.sequimartwalk.com to download a map of participating venues.
The theme of April’s art walk is pink, with all shades of pink from strong burgundy to soft blush representing the arrival of Spring, organizers say.
Pink represents optimism, supportive strength, comforting assurance, sweetness, productive promises and engaging encouragement, organizers say.
Organizers encourage participants to wear pink as they head out on the town to meet artists, enjoy art and soak in the fresh air.
A cross section of events:
■ Blue Whole Gallery, 129 W. Washington St., presents “Visual Symphony” featuring abstract painter Bridget Baker and photographer Karen Rozbicki Stringer.
“I invite the viewer to take away a personal meaning from the composition,” Baker said.
“Non-representational art is much like a symphony, where you are not directed, but simply absorb the beauty — the feeling. The artist and the viewer are tapping into a fundamental, primitive part of one’s self that experiences life without definition.”
As an artist, “this is the experience I want to give you — to evoke a feeling, a time you remember, or maybe a time you look forward to,” Baker said.
Stringer said her photography “is not just a vehicle for artistic expression. It’s a way to experience the world around me quietly, slowly and deeply through observation, contemplation and reflection.”
From that “comes the impetus to conceptualize and refine how to capture as an image my interpretation of the emotions and meanings that arise in the scene or object in front of the camera,” she continued.
The images in this exhibit are part of an ongoing project entitled “Seaside Reveries: Sequim-Dungeness.”
“They were made over three years, during which I walked these beaches several mornings a week in all seasons,” Stringer said.
“I generally found a drift log and simply sat and savored the mystery, magic and drama of a scene before setting up my tripod. Deepening one’s awareness and the overall experience are what is most important.”
■ Hart’s Fine Books, 161 W. Washington St., hosts Tom Darter, founding editor of Keyboard Magazine, who will be playing piano.
Author Russell Cahill also will be there for a book signing event.
Darter started playing piano at the age of 5. He has played keyboards on numerous Jerry Goldsmith film scores, won several composition awards and arranged two albums for the Kronos Quartet.
He has played piano or keyboards in rock bands, jazz groups, chamber ensembles, electronic music groups and symphony orchestras.
He also has taught music theory and composition at Roosevelt University in Chicago where he conducted the school’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, and electronic studio techniques at the University of Southern California.
Cahill served as a National Park Ranger in the 1960s and 1970s and was later director of Alaska’s and California’s state park systems.
He came to Washington in 1980 to serve as supervisor of Natural Resources for the Washington Department of Natural Resources and has been here ever since. He’ll be signing his book, KOLEA: A Story of Hawai’i and Beyond and chatting about a memoir due out in the fall.
■ BirdFest-BirdQuest is a community-wide game hosted by several participating businesses in advance of the 13th annual Olympic Peninsula BirdFest from April 15 to 17.
The game will be conducted during Art Walk from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
To play, get a game card at participating businesses and find ceramic birds created by Jake Reichner’s Sequim High School ceramics class hidden in local establishments.
The grand-prize drawing of the correct BirdFest-BirdQuest game card and the announcement of the top three vote-getters for People’s Choice awards will take place at 8 tonight at That Takes the Cake, 171 W. Washington St.
You need not be present to win.
Participating businesses are Blue Whole Gallery, 129 W. Washington St.; Cedarbrook Lavender, 1341/2 Washington St.; Fieldnotes, 123 Washington St.; Fudd’s Fish & Chips, 173 W. Washington St.; Hart’s Fine Books, 161 W. Washington St.; Heather Creek, 122 W. Washington St.; Olympic Lavender, 120 W. Washington St.; Purple Haze Lavender, 127 W. Washington St.; Rusting Rooster, 154 E. Washington St.; Solar City Boutique +, 135 W. Washington St.; That Takes The Cake, 171 W. Washington St.; and Wind Rose Cellars, 143 W. Washington St.
■ The Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St., hosts Black and White Art Exhibit in the lobby from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The City Arts Advisory Commission reviewed 58 pieces of work from 27 artists before selecting 22 pieces from 19 artists to be included in the show.
The exhibit will include work in photography, carved porcelain, block print, wood engraving, watercolor painting, paper mache, charcoal and mixed media.
The artists represented are Greywolf Photography, Randy Radock, Linda Collins Chapman, Robert Amaral, Kim McBride, Lony Huff, Elanie Salazar, Valerie Henschel, S. Gansert Shaw, Henning Erben, Gina Cox, Kaitlyn Walter and Doug Parent.
The exhibit will be on display until June 30.
Regular business hours for the Civic Center are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
■ R&T Crystals and Beads, 158 E. Bell St., will have sparkling jewelry demonstrations from Paulette Hill and Gail McLain.
■ 1st Security Bank, 114 S. Sequim Ave., will host “Art that makes you smile” by Jean Wyatt until 6 p.m. during the Art Walk.
Wyatt’s acrylic paintings, colored pencil art and journals are colorful, fun, whimsical, unusual and often a little off-beat, organizers say.
■ Wind Rose Cellars, 143 W. Washington St., hosts Farmstrong, who play a medley of songs from the American Song book, such as blues, rock and country.
Artwork also will be displayed, and wine and appetizers are available.
■ The Museum and Arts Center, 175 W. Cedar St., features Upcycled Art and a “Young Artists” exhibition displaying talent of all ages curated by Sarah Tucker.
■ Mia Bella, 130A N. Third Ave., features art by George Zien, Pat Gordon, Pam Kauffman, Pricilla Patterson, Brim Leal, J.P. Lee and Josh “Yeti” Wright.
■ Pacific Pantry, 229 S. Sequim Ave., celebrates its second anniversary with a photography exhibition by Jan Kepley.
■ Cedarbrook Lavender Shop, 1341/2 W. Washington St., is filled with crafts, smiles and scents.
■ Bell Street Bakery, 175 W. Bell St., will showcase artist Patrick Loafman.
