Galleries open for Art Walk

PORT TOWNSEND — Galleries will stay open late on Saturday for the revived First Saturday Art Walk.

The Art Walk, which resumed last month after a hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions, is an informal self-guided tour of art venues in Port Townsend.

Many galleries are open between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. with some hosting featured artists to meet the public and offering refreshments.

Among the galleries that will be on the Art Walk are:

• Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., which this month is featuring printmaker Philip Carrico and creator of Redacted Photography™ Tom Saknit in their show “What Remains to Be Seen: Creation Through Destructive Process.”

The two will be at the gallery between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday along with other resident artists.

Instead of adding media — paint or clay, for instance — Carrico and Saknit each
remove bits from media to create their artwork.

Carrico cuts away the negative space of his image, inks the wood or linoleum block, and prints on each image in the series. For each color, he cuts away what he plans to preserve, and inks again. Cut, ink, print, clean, repeat.

By the time he is finished, all that remains on the face of the block are the darkest lines.

“In this show,” Carrico said, “I have pieces with only one color, up to a piece with 16. It’s all a process. And even when I’m not printing, I’m preparing, imagining, sketching and reading. The artist’s life is a 24/7 discipline.”

Where Carrico removes wood, Saknit removes photographic pixels.

His deconstructed images may remind the viewer of watercolor or pen-and-ink illustration. Saknit’s work is a unique treatment of his photographs, meticulously erased to render only a suggestion of the original view.

What remains to be seen is an impression. A memory.

“With this suite of pictures, Phil and I focused on capturing images of our region, a region of such rich natural and man-made beauty, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to live elsewhere,” Saknit said.

The Port Townsend Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and by appointment.

For more information, phone 360-379-8110 or see www.porttownsendgallery.com.

• Northwind Art, Grover Gallery, 236 Taylor St., has a new show opening on Saturday.

“Spring into Summer” will place a spotlight on jewelry by April Ottey and work by multimedia artist Ellen Reichart, two regional artists whose work is inspired by the natural world, organizers said.

From seedpods to sea urchin, from bark to blossoms, Ottey’s jewelry allows the wearer to keep nature close at all times, organizers said, while Reichart creates with a variety of mediums and often integrates found organic materials in her work.

The show will continue at the gallery through Aug. 29.

Additional 2- and 3-dimensional art works also are available. They include paintings by Max Grover, Marian Morris, digital plein air paintings by Roger Morris and baskets made from ocean findings by Shelby Silver, among others.

The gallery is open from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

• Gallery 9, 1012 Water St., is featuring Sandra Smith-Poling’s watercolors and Michael Kenney’s jewelry this month.

Both are founding members of the gallery, the North Olympic Artist Cooperative, and both are expected to be at the gallery between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday during the Art Walk.

Smith-Poling is one of the founding members of Gallery-9 and has more than 40 years of painting experience. Her subject matter comes from city landscapes and nature, especially those of the marine environments, along with boats and classic sailing ships. She spent 20 years in the Air Force with deployments around the world, which is reflected in her work.

“Around the world in 60 years,” she said.

Kenney’s handmade jewelry showcases the beauty of natural stones. Childhood time spent with his grandfather hunting and digging rocks sparked his interest in unusual stones, he said.

He collects stones and cuts them himself using diamond lapidary equipment, and then creates precious metal settings.

During this exhibit, he will showcase the agates of Mexico.

Gallery-9 is open six days a week (closed on Tuesdays). Masks are optional. For more, see www.gallery-9.com.

• Take 5 Gallery, 1007 Water St., is featuring Gary Peterson this month.

The Port Townsend artist works in oils, depicting scenes in Washington state, and sets them in handmade frames, said gallery owner Mara Ringer.

The gallery will be open for art walk. It also includes art from all over the world, selection of blown glass and Not Your Mother’s Greeting Cards.

• Little Wing Gallery, 924 Washington St., will be open for First Saturday. The gallery features the work of Eric Fanson, an abstract expressionist painter.

“My work is very textural. I pay attention to things that I find visually interesting. I’m not trying to reproduce that. I use it for inspiration.”

• Jefferson Museum of Art and History, 540 Water St., is open only between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, but all visits are free on the first Saturdays of each month.

An exhibit in progress until June 26, having opened on Thursday, is Now & Then.

Throughout the 2022 school year, Port Townsend High School students in David Egeler’s photography and advanced Media classes selected historic images from the Jefferson County Historical Society’s collection, then found the location where the photos were taken and recreated the framing and angle of view in the present day. The photo essays illustrate ongoing evolution in Port Townsend.

Starting this weekend, the Rothschild House will be open for tours each Saturday this summer.

The afternoon tours will be between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the 1868 Rothschild House, 418 Taylor St.

Watercolors by Sandra Smith-Poling are on display at Gallery 9.