Best in Show - Rae Belkin

Northwind Arts Center opens its seventh annual Small Expressions show on Friday, December 5 at noon.  Affordable art and craft under 15” in size is the theme of this show which runs from December 5 to 29. This year eighty-five artists submitted nearly 300 works to be juried, the most the Arts Center has ever received for this show.

This year, the juror is Pat Austin whose career includes work as a painter, printmaker, writer on the arts, poet, lecturer in the humanities, juror, solo exhibitor and twenty-five years of teaching. She holds degrees from the Universities of Michigan, Washington and Alaska in addition to taking thirty-plus master art and writing workshops. Austin’s awards include a State Arts Council Grant, three municipal art commissions, and a sabbatical year touring European museums. Austin helped found Print Arts Northwest and currently is a member of Port Townsend’s Corvidae Press.

She was very impressed by the quality and diversity of the work.  “These artists displayed both craftsmanship and aesthetic quality”.  Selecting nearly 150 pieces was a challenging job.  A wide range of media are represented including  fiber, ceramics, stone, wood, metal, and found objects as well as more traditional painting and printmaking techniques.  Artists from Jefferson, Kitsap and Clallam counties as well as from as far as Tacoma and Seattle were represented.

Merit Award - Leon Crowl

Five award winners were selected. Port Ludlow artist Rae Belkin received Best of Show for her multi-media piece titled “Patterns” which uses collage, painting and (real) eggs. Leon Crowl received a Merit Award for his computer manipulated photograph, “Moraine”. Merit Awards went to Margie McDonald for her found object sculpture “Washerfall”, and to Helen Oakland for her quilt “Hot Flash”.   Another Merit Award was given to Carianna Schreitz for her layered ceramic piece, “Of Poppies and Green Pumpkins”.

Awards will be presented during a Gallery Walk reception on Saturday, December 6 from 5:30 to 8 PM. Come and enjoy our best Small Expressions ever!

There will be a Coffee Talk on Sunday, December 7 at 2 PM with juror Pat Austin at the Northwind Arts Center.

Merit Award - Carianna Shrietz

Merit Award - Margie McDonald

Merit Award - Helen Oakland

Here is the schedule for shows to be held at the Northwind Arts Center in 2009:

• Jan 1 - Jan 15,  Gallery closed for maintenance
• Jan 15 - Feb 22,  Catska and Cory Ench
• Feb 27 - Mar 30,  “Mountains” (juried)
• April 3 - 27. “Skagit Expressions” (invitational)
• May 1 to June 1,  Carrie Rodlend and (to be announced)
• June 5 - 28,  Andrew Martin
• July 3 - 27,  Collage/Assemblage Show  (juried)
• July 31 - Aug 31   Don Tiller and Evan Funderbaugh
• Sept 4 - 27,  Watercolor Show  (invitational)
• Oct 3 – Nov 1,  11th Annual Art Port Townsend (juried)
• Nov 6 - 29,  Corvidae Press Print Show  (invitational)
• Dec 4 - 28,  “Small Expressions VIII” (juried)