PORT TOWNSEND — Textile art artwork, hand crafted jewelry, photography and paintings will be on display Saturday during the Port Townsend Gallery Walk.
During the free event, which occurs the first Saturday of every month from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., art galleries and venues in the downtown waterfront district show off the work of local artists while encouraging participants to explore the many nooks and crannies of the town’s historic center.
Sampling of events:
■ Gallery 9, 1012 Water St., will feature art landscape and studio work photography by Jim Fagiolo and fine woodworking by Robin McKann.
“The show will celebrate Jim’s 40 years of dedication to photography and to the local arts,” said Larry Eifert of Gallery 9.
“Jim’s work explores the advancements of digital technology harmonized with his long career of the study of light and how it translates on light-sensitive materials, to computers, and finally to dye sublimation inks with fine-art inkjet papers.”
Guided by the work of photographers Minor White and Ansel Adams and their developed technique of “previsualization,” Fagiolo said his work brings out tones and shapes that mostly go unnoticed by the human eye, but can be imagined and recreated internally at the scene by knowing the capabilities of filters, light and exposure.
After decades of building custom cabinetry and finish work in Malibu and Los Angeles, McKann moved to Port Townsend in 2000 and began producing fine furniture.
Visit www.gallery-9.com or call 360-379-8881 for more information.
■ Pippa’s Real Tea, 636 Water St., during gallery walk will host a reception for the members of the North Peninsula Chapter of the Surface Design Association, whose textile art will be on display throughout the summer.
The exhibit, Women by Women, will remain on display through Aug. 27.
The artists who contributed to the display will be on hand to greet the public during gallery walk.
Surface design art uses techniques that manipulate or alter the surface of a textile — a natural or artificial fiber, or non-textile element that takes on the properties of fiber, Fallert said.
The North Peninsula Chapter includes about 36 artists from Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Sequim and Bainbridge Island, Fallert said, with many members having received national and international awards.
For more information, call 360-385-6060.
■ The Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., will host the works of sculptor Barbara Ewing and painter Shirley Rudolf during gallery walk.
Starting with a piece of raw clay, Ewing said she makes several impressions which are then colored by under glazes and traditional glazes after the bottle or box form has taken shape. The clay is then fired in a kiln.
The result is a colorful and functional art form, she said.
She began her love of ceramics in high school and went on to study ceramics at Alfred University, a well known ceramic art college in New York state in the early 1970s.
Since then, she has attended many intensive workshops and taught ceramics in both Scotland and in Port Townsend.
After 20 years of painting, Rudolf said she has taken on her biggest challenge — waterfalls, whirlpools, froths, caps and moss on rocks.
Rudolf said she looks forward to day trips in the Olympic Mountains to get more pictures to paint.
Rudolf started watercolor lessons more than 20 years ago and has been painting ever since.
Since then, she had expanded into acrylic painting, and now paints both mediums.
Her peers have complimented her as having a style similar to Georgia O’Keefe. Rudolf’s emphasis is in bold colors and capturing details.
For more information, call 360-379-8110 or visit www.porttownsendgallery.com.
■ Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St., during gallery walk will host an opening reception for the exhibit, “Presence/Absence,” which includes the works of Andrea Benson, Jef Gunn, Deborah Kapoor, Brenda Mallory, Martha Pfanschmidt, Joan Stuart Ross, Andrea Schwartz-Feit and Kirk Weller.
Through their various works, the artists explore the idea of what is and what is not, what remains and what is lost. For some of them this is a metaphor, and for others it is the basis of their practice.
This show will be curated by Martha Pfanschmidt.
For more information, call 360-379-1086 or visit northwindarts.org.
■ Red Dragonfly, 211 Taylor St., Suite B2, will celebrate its grand re-opening during gallery walk.
Formerly the Red Raven Gallery, Red Dragonfly now is owned by husband and wife Peter Messerschmidt and Sarah Nash — longtime Port Townsend residents who said they plan to continue developing the gallery as an “alternative art space” showcasing the artwork of both local and worldwide artists.
In addition, Red Dragonfly will host psychic readings, guest artist visits and interactive exhibits.
“We were very sad to see Red Raven closing down, as there is nothing else like it here in Port Townsend,” Nash said.
“The gallery’s sudden absence after five years in the community left a significant void in the city’s art scene, especially in the area of edgy and alternative contemporary art.”
When the opportunity to “step in and re-open presented itself, we were thrilled,” Nash continued.
“Thanks to the efforts of previous Red Raven proprietor, Laurie McClave, and other very supportive people in the community, we were able get the doors open again with only minimal interruption to the business and the artists.”
Nash invites visitors and artists to stop in and meet the new owners during gallery walk.
Nash is founder and CEO of The White Light Express, a worldwide healing organization active since 2001, and brings to Red Dragonfly 30 years experience in the customer service and event planning fields.
Messerschmidt is an artist who previously spent 15 years as owner and operator of an upscale art and fine crafts gallery in Austin, Texas, before moving to Port Townsend in 2006.
Red Dragonfly is open seven days a week.
For more information, visit www.RedDragonflyPT.com.
