June 2006

June 2006 NEWSLETTER: “Arty Things To Do”

Announcements

As you know, Northwind operates via volunteer power and through generous donations. The Northwind Arts Alliance’s old (and yes, donated) computer needs to be retired. We are asking for your tax deductible donations to help us buy a new computer. Please send your donations to: Northwind Arts Alliance, 2409 Jefferson St., Port Townsend, WA 98368. A new, or almost new, computer would help us, too. Thank you.
Northwind Arts Center could also use a used bookcase that can be painted. Dimensions can be up to 40” high and 48” long and 10-12” deep. Thank you. Please call Sylvia White at 379-6833.

Gallery Happenings

“Hot Art: From the Frying Pan/From the Kiln”

Works by Joan Stuart Ross (encaustic) and
Liza & Larry Halvorsen (ceramics)

“Oracle Diptych” - Joan Stuart Ross “Odd Pot #1” - Larry Halvorsen “X Group” - Liza Halvorsen

From June 3 through June 26th, Northwind Arts Center presents Joan Stuart Ross’ encaustic paintings of beeswax, varnish and colored pigment in a molten solution, Liza Halvorsen’s hand-built ceramic forms, and Larry Halvorsen’s sgraffito-carved stoneware sculptures and vessels.

Joan may add segments of collage and text to her work. She layers up and digs down with repetitive marks, shapes, and colors that cross the surface of her work. After years of observing rock formations, marine life, shells and seedpods, Liza was inspired to build sculptural forms reduced to a basic geometry. Larry is a self-taught potter with 28 years experience working with clay. For the last 17 tears he has been exploring and refining the sgraffito carving technique which has become his signature style- his “endless line”.

An opening reception will occur in conjunction with Port Townsend’s monthly gallery walk, on Saturday, June 3rd from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.

“Coffee, Talk, & Dessert” Series

On Friday, June 16th, Liza Halvorsen will talk about her and Larry’s work, their techniques, and some history and information about contemporary ceramic artists. She will also present slides of work by the members of the Washington Potter’s Association. The talk begins at 7:00 P.M. at the Northwind Arts Center. There is a charge of $2.00 for Jefferson Arts Alliance members and $5.00 for non-members.

!!! Art Opportunities !!!

- Call for artists for Northwind Arts Center juried show: Northwind Arts Center invites Washington artists to submit entries for the upcoming show, “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water”. Open to all media, this juried show will run from June 30 – July 31, 2006. Art addressing the “elemental” theme will be juried from actual works to be submitted June 25 and June 26. For a prospectus, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Northwind Arts Center, 2409 Jefferson St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 or e-mail: jhkapotso@olympus.net . A prospectus is also available directly here on the web or at www.northwindarts.org .

The juror of the show, Jake Seniuk, has been Director and Curator of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center since 1989. He is a past recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Photography, an Artist Trust Visual Artist’s Fellowship, and the Logan Prize for Critical Writing in Photography. He has taught photography at Cornish College for the Arts and the University of Washington, and, prior to coming to Port Angeles, managed “percent for art” projects for the Washington State Arts Commission.

- Call for artists for 8th annual Art Port Townsend: The Port Townsend Arts Commission and Northwind Arts Alliance are seeking entries for “Expressions Northwest”, the Eighth Annual Art Port Townsend Juried Art Competition which takes place in October. Works in both two- and three-dimensional forms, including photography, are eligible. A total of $2,600 in cash prizes will be awarded. Additionally, merchandise awards will also be presented. Prospectus is available here.

The juror for this show will be Susan Parke, presently Curator of Collections and Exhibitions for the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington. During her tenure as Director of the museum, from 1990 – 2003, the former Valley Museum of Northwest Art left its original home on the second floor of the historic Gaches Mansion to a completely refurbished state-of-the-art museum facility on La Conner’s First Street. In 2003, Parke left the directorship to be Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, returning to the hands-on dealing with art that brought her to the museum field in the first place. Parke’s background includes ten years as the owner of two contemporary galleries in Illinois: Susan Parke Contemporary Graphics and the Susan Parke Gallery.

A non-refundable entry fee of $25 is required for a maximum of three slides or printed image entries (no e-mailed images) per artist. Artists must be at least 16 years of age and a resident of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska or British Columbia. The deadline is August 11, 2006. For more detailed information, including an entry form, please visit www.northwindarts.org for the Art Port Townsend link, call (360) 437-9081, e-mail entries@artporttownsend.org or send a SASE to: Art Port Townsend Juried Show, P.O. Box 65499, Port Ludlow, WA 98365.

- Call for original art: Costco is having a Grand Opening for their new Sequim store for 3 to 10 days in August. They are looking for original art to sell during the event. For additional information, call Rochelle Waller in the Costco corporate office at 425-427-7548 or John Clark or Alan Demers at 360-681-2031.

-Fort Worden Call for artists: It is natural to have wildlife and nature related arts highlighted in one of our most beautiful Washington State Parks. If you are interested in being part of the 2nd Annual Fort Worden State Park Wildlife Art Exposition, call Park Area Manager Kate Burke at (360) 344-4401 or get information from www.fortworden.org/wildart/. This is a 2-day event on October 7th and 8th, 2006. Artists from around the country and Canada, are welcome to participate in the show and there is interest to have art demonstrations and workshops in the following week.

In addition to the Wildlife and Nature Art Expo, there is an opportunity to teach art workshops at Fort Worden on October 9, 10, or 11. The workshops should involve wildlife and nature as subject matter, but can use any medium or mix of mediums. Workshops can be half, full, or multiple days (up to 3). If you have an idea for a workshop, please call Laurie Perrett at (360) 385-6534.

Jefferson Arts Alliance presents the following 2006 workshops:

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

“Encaustic Mixed Media”, June 19 – 20, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Joan Stuart Ross. Participants will create an original palette of encaustic colors, prepare and prime wood panels and other surfaces, paint, collage, engrave, use oil stick techniques, try methods of adhering an encaustic on paper to wood panel, and explore various finishing techniques. Location: Jefferson County Fairgrounds Art Building. Cost: $180 (includes most materials). Contact: Lois James at 437-0422 or loisj@cablespeed.com

“Collage D’Art”, July 10 – 11, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Lori Gordon. This unique creative process, developed by Lori Gordon, incorporates several artistic methods. Students will learn this process that involves pour painting, monotype printmaking, the use of polymer clay, and the selection of handmade papers. The collages d’art are created from this combination of processes. Location: Jefferson County Fairgrounds Art Building. Cost: $120, plus a materials fee of $40. Contact: Pat Stromberg at 385-0863 or quiltpat@cablespeed.com.

[Many people from Port Townsend have generously lent their time, labor, and support to Sister City Bay St. Louis hurricane victims. Now we have the opportunity to welcome a renowned Bay St. Louis artist to our area- Lori Gordon. Lori is a regular contributor to Art Gulf Coast, a magazine covering the arts from Texas to Florida. Her mixed media work may be found in galleries and museums around the country and in public and private collections nationwide. One of her works is included in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.]

“Faux Stone and Bone” (Advanced Polymer Clay), July 25th, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Kate Snow. Create jade, ivory, and bone beads, small sculptures or embellishments with polymer clay. In the class you will have fun learning to mix, antique, carve and finish jade and bone look-alike pieces for jewelry, buttons and embellishments. Location: Jefferson County Fairgrounds Art Building. Cost: $60, plus materials. Contact: Sandy Lizut at (360) 379-1511 or sand@cablespeed.com.

Landscape Painting with Pastels, August 19th (9:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.) and August 20th (10:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.) with Sally McCabe. Beginning and intermediate students will learn basic design, composition principles, and how to use materials and supplies unique to pastel painting. Students will observe demonstrations, working toward finishing a painting of their own. Location: Fort Worden, Building 205 upstairs. Cost: $120. Workshop Chair: Marianna Sullivan - (360) 385-0762 or Mys1011@aol.com .

“Polymer Fiber and Art Doll Class”, September 11 – 12, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Donna Snow. Create a small ball-jointed doll using polymer clay, fiber, and miscellany. You will learn how to make a simple head using a ping pong ball. The first day will be spent constructing all body parts. The second day will be spent making the body-proper, assembling, and time allowing, costuming the doll. Optional third half day studio time available for solo work and free advice included in class price (11 A.M. – 2 P.M.) Location: Donna’s Port Ludlow Studio. Cost: $120, plus materials fee of $25. Contact: Lois James at 437-0422 or loisj@cablespeed.com.

Please watch for dates and complete information on a Chinese watercolor painting workshop with Yu Ming Zhu and a pastel workshop by Sally McCabe.

New class!

“Chinese Watercolor Class”, September 11 – 12, 10:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. with Yu-Ming Zhu. The Chinese watercolor paintings of artist Yu-Ming Zhu (known as Sumi-e) blend the styles of East and West. Besides the art of Chinese watercolor, Yu-Ming will teach the writing of big calligraphy with “Chi” (life force) and you will paint from live blooms in this class. Originally from Shanghai, China, Yu-Ming has taught Chinese painting for several years at local community colleges. In 1998, he was selected to demonstrate the Chinese painting for the educational tape, “Five Thoughts of Asian Arts”, made by the Seattle Art Museum and Channel 9. Location: Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Port Townsend. Cost: $120. Contact: Jeanette Best at (360) 437-9579 or jbest@cablespeed.com

Poetry News

The June 8 reading at Northwind Arts Center features some of the poets whose work appears in the recently published Weathered Pages. This includes: Alice Derry from Port Angeles; Gayle Kaune and Pam Moore Dionne from Port Townsend; Sharon Carter from Silverdale; John Willson and Kristin Henshaw from Bainbridge; and Terry Martin, one of the book’s editors, from Yakima. These poets have all been published in literary magazines, and several will have their books for sale along with the Weathered Pages anthology.

What is Weathered Pages? On a Yakima street corner outside Blue Begonia Press, editor and press operator, Jim Bodeen, planted a six-foot cedar post with the word “POETRY” carved on both its east and west sides. For ten years, hundreds of people used pushpins to leave more than a thousand poems on the Poetry Pole. As more and more poems were added to the Pole, Bodeen collected them, clearing the post from time to time to give room for still more works. Recently, Bodeen enlisted the aid of three co-editors to help him sift through the poems he had gathered from the Pole. Weathered Pages was created to offer a sample (more than 200 poems) of the works pinned on the Pole over a decade. The words of poets from all corners of the country, and from around the world, join those of Yakima residents who have “posted” their work. Some contributors to the anthology are being published for the first time; others are nationally, even internationally, known. These contributors—male and female, young and old, gay and straight, free and incarcerated—have gathered around belief in one of the most democratic, and perhaps most necessary, art forms.

If you are inspired by the idea of the Poetry Pole, or by Northwind’s June reading, remember there is always room on the Pole. No admission is charged, though donations are accepted. The reading will start at 7:00 P.M. at Northwind Arts Center.

Please mark this future-reading date on your calendar –

July 13: Tidepools readers

In the Know

Want to really be in the know? You can find all of the “arty” happenings for Port Angeles, Sequim, and Port Townsend at http://www.olympicartscalendar.org/ Check it out and then bookmark it! Here are a few tidbits:

Printmaking demonstration: June 7^th, 5:30 P.M. - LD Lawrence will conduct an open forum, demo and lecture on “Contemporary Printmaking” at the Odd Art Gallery. The gallery is located at 316 West First Street, Port Angeles. For more information call (360) 775-1132.

Late Breaking News

A letter to the arts community from Gale Wallis: Do you know the origins of the Bare Boards Arts & Entertainment Listserve? It began with the theater group Bare Boards & Passion. We would collect e-mail addresses from our patrons at the door of each performance, so that we could keep our audiences aware of what we were up to. "We" in this case actually means me, Gale Wallis, one of the founding members of the theater group. As the list grew, it became clear to me that this was a valuable resource for the entire Arts Community, and that it was just wrong to be territorial about it. Starting the Key City Players, I started advertising other theatrical productions, and from there it grew. Adding to Listserve at this point is by word of mouth. I would like to change that, with your help.

If your organization uses Listserve, would you please consider placing a small ad in each of your programs, asking folks to contact: bareboards@waypt.com if they would like to be included? Of course, I can't pay for the ad -- but hopefully you will get a return by increased exposure for your events.

I don't know if you know that The Leader is changing their policy about press releases -- they no longer will print every one -- things will get listed, but a full blown press release is no longer guaranteed to be in the paper. Hopefully, this Listserve will fill that gap -- the more on the Listserve, the more that gap will be filled. Thanks for considering this. We can all work together to make a stronger arts community.

Gale Wallis (On behalf of Bare Boards Arts & Entertainment Listserve)