July 2005 NEWSLETTER: “Arty Things To Do”

NOTE: New hours for Northwind are Noon – 6:00 P.M., Friday – Monday

NEXT MONTH: We will no longer be e mailing complete newsletters, but will instead mail a reminder notice, with a link to this page.

Gallery Happenings

From July 1 – August 15, Northwind Arts Center is honored to feature the art of Clayton James and Joel Brock. New work and pieces from collections will be on exhibit.

La Conner artist, Clayton James, has had a long, distinguished and ongoing career. He began as a painter in the 1950’s and then spent the next four decades working in three-dimensional work, both in wood and then in clay. Since 1990, James has returned to painting and enjoys painting en plein air. Besides local landscapes of the Skagit Valley, James has spent time painting the Washington coastline, the fields of Eastern Washington, and the Mount Baker National Forest. The July exhibit at Northwind will include both new landscape paintings and clay sculptures along with clay vessels on loan from several collectors.

Scenic outdoor settings in the Skagit Valley mark the paintings of Edison, Washington artist, Joel Brock. Working from his studio perched on the banks of the Edison Slough, Brock watches and paints the subtleties of light and weather that alter perspectives on the Skagit Valley landscape. “With landscapes I try to look for peacefulness and calmness,” says Brock. The showing at Northwind will include landscape and still life settings in acrylic and pastels. The pastels show a unique technique to the medium. Brock uses gesso and pumice grounds followed by layers of chalk and transparent gesso, creating a unique surface that allows him to layer color over color.

Next Show – From August 19 – September 26 Northwind features the varied works of Irene Yesley, Mark Allen, and Michael McCollum.

“Coffee, Talk, & Dessert” Series

The “Coffee, Talk, & Dessert” Series will continue with a talk by Joel Brock on Friday, July 15^th, 7:00 P.M., at the Northwind Arts Center. There is a suggested donation of $3.00 for Jefferson Arts Alliance members and $6.00 for non-members. For more information, please call the arts center at (360) 379-1086 or visit our website: www.northwindarts.org

Jefferson Arts Alliance presents the following workshops:

Note- please visit the workshop page or call the Center for more information and registration forms.

· “Sumi & More”, Saturday and Sunday, July 9 – 10, from 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Reni Moriarity. Reni will demonstrate several different background techniques that she has used in her paintings. You will learn how to mount the paper to the board, plus some sumi painting techniques. Location: Port Townsend Yacht Club. Cost: $120. Contact: Jeanette Best at (360) 437-9579 or jbest@cablespeed.com

·“Introduction to Polymer Jewelry”, Tuesday, July 26, from 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Kate Snow. Polymer clay is a fabulous media for creating jewelry with minimal equipment. In this class you will learn how to condition, fire, and finish polymer. Students will produce decorative pins as well as beads for making necklaces, bracelets, or embellishing other artwork. Location: Jefferson County Fairgrounds Art Building. Cost: $60, plus a materials fee of $6 to cover pin backs, blades, and sandpaper. Contact: Lois James at (360) 437-0433 or loisj@cablespeed.com

· “Portrait Painting in Oil”, August 5, 6, 7, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Alexander Rokoff. For beginners or those new to the medium, a gentle directed approach will enhance your comfort at the easel. For experienced painters, this is an opportunity to hone your skills and explore new approaches. This workshop is limited to 8 participants. Location: Port Townsend Yacht Club. Cost: $225, which includes a model for all 3 days and materials. Contact: Sandy Rokoff-Lizut at 379-1511 or sand@cablespeed.com Please visit www.vermilionstudios.com to view Alexander’s work as well as that of his students.

· “Plein Air Watercolor Painting”, August 9, 10, 11, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Nancy Newcomb. A well-known and accomplished artist, Nancy has a special talent to impart her knowledge through her positive critiques and demonstrations. Nancy’s 3-day workshop will emphasize outdoor sketching and how to turn those field sketches into good paintings. Much individual attention is given to each student, encouraging them to develop their own styles. Location: various. Cost: $200. Contact: Jeanette Best at 437-9579 or jbest@cablespeed.com

· “Postcard Magic”, August 25^th, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Deborah Abramovitz. This workshop is aimed at giving you the time and place and inspiration to create art in postcard form. The postcard format surface will be provided, suitable or adaptable to most media. This ties in with the Jefferson Arts Alliance’s Fall Fundraiser, “Postcards to Port Townsend”. Location: Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Cost: $40. Contact: Ginny King at gal4fiber@cablespeed.com

Northwind Fun(d) Raiser! Creative Opportunity! Fun(d) Raiser!

Thank you for supporting the Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend, Washington by creating an original piece of art for the first annual “Postcards to Port Townsend” benefit event Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2, 2005. The event is a sale of 4” x 6” postcard-sized art, with all the proceeds benefiting the Northwind Art Center. Your gift of art will help us continue to present unique arts programming to the community.

Guidelines:

· Use any medium- watercolor, oil, encaustic, graphite, ink, crayon, collage, pastels, photography, print, etching.

· The Northwind Art Center will only accept art that is produced on archival 4” x 6” paper.

· You may submit up to 5 works of art.

· Sign your art on the back of the piece.

· By signing on the back all artists and participants remain anonymous until the sale is completed. This allows buyers to purchase postcards based on their personal attraction to your work.

· Enclose your art in a mailing envelope with appropriate postage or bring it into Northwind Arts Center.

Deadline:

All art must be received on or before SEPTEMBER 15, 2005.

Send to: Northwind Art Center, attention: Postcards, 2409 Jefferson Street, Port Townsend, WA. 98368 USA

Northwind Arts Center Volunteer Spotlight

Northwind could not operate without its volunteers. This month our spotlight shines on Donna Caulton. Here is Donna’s story in her own words-

“During my childhood on the east coast I didn't know yet that I was an artist. I was the one who always asked to make the posters for school events, but that was it. Fortunately, I had an art teacher in high school who

unlocked my imagination which slowly started to unfold over the years of college, family life, raising my two lovely children, divorce, and more education. Then came the flowering!!

For thirteen years of life in Seattle, I worked part-time as a nurse and full time as an artist. I was a WA State-Artist-in-Residence for part of that time and taught watercolor classes in the state prisons. I also taught at Pratt Fine Arts Center for a short time. My work was shown in many parts of the United States and Canada. Those were very productive and defining years for my work. As I became tired of city life, I moved to a very rural part of eastern Washington and went to graduate school to become a nurse practitioner, setting aside my artwork for a time.

I came to Port Townsend three years ago. After my first year here, I began volunteering at Northwind as a way to meet people involved in the arts. In a very short time, I was helping on the committee and next thing you know I had agreed to be donations chair for Art Port Townsend. (I have just begun my second year in that capacity.) This year I have agreed to begin a historic clipping file of the Northwind gallery. During this time I have been redoing my house little by little and have built a studio in my garage. I have begun making my own art again, both watercolors and prints, and have been accepted into the Port Townsend Gallery. Being involved with Northwind has really been my grounding here in Port Townsend. I have met very interesting people, have helped with the process of getting the shows up and running, and have had very good response to my own work through the juried shows. It's great to have art once again be the focus of my everyday life.”

Many of Northwind’s volunteers are not artists like Donna. If you are interested in the donation of a few hours to the arts, and would like to join the Northwind volunteer team, please call Karen at (360) 379-2620.

Poetry News

Northwind has poetry ON LINE from these and past events! Click here to read more.

The next reading at Northwind is on July 14th, with Bill Yake and Jeanne Lohmann, at 7:00 P.M., and there will be an open mike reading after the featured readers. Call Northwind at 379-1086 for more details and to register for the poetry (and/or visual arts) e-mail newsletters.

Jeanne Lohmann, whose writings have appeared in many literary reviews and anthologies throughout the United States, is a graduate of the creative writing program at San Francisco State University. She is the author of Granite Under Water, Gathering a Life, and Between Silence and Answer. She is the 2003 winner of the National Looking Glass Chapbook Award. Her most recent book is Flying Horses. She lives and writes in Olympia, Washington.

Bill Yake’s poetry springs largely from place (the Pacific Northwest), wild nature, and water. After stints as a forest fire fighter, fire lookout in Glacier National Park, and laborer, he worked as an environmental scientist for the Washington State Department of Ecology for 24 years. For the past nine years he has lived with his wife, Jeannette Barreca, just north of Olympia on the verge of Green Cove Ravine- its forest a century into regrowth. Bill’s poetry has received AlligaorJuniper’s national poetry prize 92003) and the inaugural James Snydal prize for Fine Madness (2004). His poems have been published widely in literary magazines and, after three chapbooks, his first full-length collection of poetry- This Old Riddle: Cormorants and Rain- was recently published by Radiolarian Press (2004).

Please mark these future reading dates on your calendar –