After hosting a show in Sequim during the 2022 Sequim Lavender Weekend, more than two dozen artists with the Artworks2 group are bringing their creativity to Port Townsend this weekend.
Check out their work from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, July 14-15, in The Commons at Fort Worden State Park.
This free show showcases 28 artists in a festival that explores several diverse media, including painting, fabric art, jewelry, photography, blown and fused glass, silk painting, gourd art and wood artistry.
See more about the artists and the evnet at artworks2.org.
Artists include:
Brandy Agun, painter, Woodinville
”I contemplate my recent work and recognize that I have slowly drifted from the more realistic images I used to paint to a broader depiction of the world. There was a time I thought I would merrily march in the direction of the Renaissance masters drawing the figure rigorously and honing my skills as a figure painter. While this subject still intrigues me I found myself growing increasingly attentive to the spaces people occupied, particularly their common, familiar everyday surroundings. I began to understand that what truly interested me in painting was the color, the shapes, the light and the design.
“What excites me is what something looks like far more than what something actually is. And this discovery led me to paint interior and exterior spaces with or without figures and still lifes. And it altered how I painted the figure as well. It is the abstraction of things that I find fascinating and the root of my vision.”
Evette Allerdings, silk artist, Sequim
“I am a silk artist inspired by nature. I love bringing the outdoors in. A walk through my fledgling garden, a park, or even something peaking through cracks in a sidewalk. Recording snippets in time, memories and feelings through my paintings.
“Because my paintings are personal and a part of me and my life, for many years I couldn’t part with them. It is only recently that I learned that sharing my painted moments could spark joy and memories in others. Like when you give a gift of cut flowers from your garden to a friend.
“You may notice that painting in bright colors are my passion. I am a recent transplant from Hawaii where color abounds. It lifts my spirit and is eye catching. I like using as many colors in a piece as I can. When you step closer, the different colors and details reveals themselves. The challenge for me, is to successfully marry the disparate elements together. I hope you enjoy them.”
Ross Brown, sculptor (metal, fiber optics), Diamond Point
“My approach to making art is, research, experimentation, and reflection….but not always in that order.
“I have been an Artist and a Teacher of Art since 1969. Over the past 50 plus years I have had gallery representation in Santa Fe NM, New York NY, Palm Desert CA and Seattle WA. My primary medium was cast bronze for the majority of my career and I ran my own foundry for 25 years. Now that my wife (who is also an artist) and I moved to Diamond Point in Sequim WA, my focus has been using light as my primary sculptural medium along with printmaking.”
Jinx Bryant, painter, Sequim
“I love the initial excitement, when light describes an object, a scene and I can think of nothing else until I sketch the concept, start the painting … set in motion the creative process.”
Martha Collins, woodturner, Sequim
“My passion is to create unique, personal, one of a kind works of art with the natural colors and grains of sustainable hardwoods and maple veneer that has been dyed. The woods come from all over the world. Ebony, Zircote and Zebrawood from Africa, Boxwood and Satinwood from Indonesia, Chatke Viga and Cocobolo from South America, Maple, Oak, Walnut, Beech and Cherry from America. Next to these beautiful hardwoods is placed either natural wood veneer Wenge, Mahogany, or Narra or Maple veneer that has been dyed.
“I have been exploring and enjoying this process for over 4 decades. It involves millwork, lamination, band saw slicing, re-orienting the material, re-laminating and lathe turning.
“hat inspires me is the different patterns that are created by changing the thickness of the laminated material, its orientation, and the use of color in the dyed veneer. The interplay of these elements is revealed and accentuated by lathe turning. The variations are endless.”
Roberta Cooper, gourd artist, Sequim
“I love to see the transformation of a gourd from dirty and messy looking into an elegant work of art. My designs have a simplicity of design–gently curving lines inspired by nature, such as the way a creek makes its way through a meadow. I like using natural materials for embellishing gourds–binding the rim of a gourd with pine needles; placing a pile of Deodar cedar cones or Douglas fir cones inside the bowl of a gourd.
Recently in my studio I wanted to use an entirely new color, something other than “earth tones.” What I selected was a teal transparent ink dye. The gourd was really kind of gunky looking–lots of markings from being out in the fields before being harvested. Well… I was thrilled with the results: It looked like the bottom of the ocean with boulders and coral underwater. So, it really was just another ‘earth tone, but that of the ocean!’ And I have entitled it ‘Into the Depths.’”
Dan and Joi LaChaussee, blown glass, Whidbey Island
Working from their studio Whidbey Island, WA; the highly skilled LaChaussee glass blowing team have enjoyed over 3 decades of success and growth as artist; as family, and as business partners. Within the first two years after being introduced at Pratt Fine art Center, Dan & Joi were married; started a family, and began the LaChaussee Glass studio. The first humble little hot shop was built under an existing carport in 1988. Three children, five acres, and 12 years later; they built a new home, and modern glass studio completed in 1999.
They have continually developed new ideas and are well known in the world of art glass for their skills, innovations and originality. The motivation for creating art glass is inspired by immense joy and satisfaction in the work of glass blowing, their children, and each other. They have found that over time, making art together while teaching their children and assistants to work with glass has made our journey even more exciting. Each day brings new opportunities to explore their potential and create beautiful designs through freedom of expressions and ideas.
Katie Graham, sculptor, Sequim
“Through my fascination with the human form, I strive to infuse my work with a sense of Eros—the desire to be in contact with all of life. I’m constantly exploring the intersection between the sensual, visceral quality of matter and the mysterious, numinous aspects of spirit. As a psychotherapist for almost 30 years, I’ve encountered the underlying tenderness that comes from letting our hearts break open. In my own experience and as a witness to others, honoring the ache of life, the sorrow and the joy, has served as an important bridge to the art I create.
“In my sculptures and paintings, I often gravitate toward the anonymity and ambiguity of the partial figure or fragment. While speaking to the raw, unfinished aspects of us all, the fragment allows for an open-ended interpretation, challenging our beliefs about what is whole and unified. Torn edges and rugged surfaces contrasted with sensitive rendering gives voice to the connection between strength and vulnerability as well as to the dichotomy between natural beauty and the fractured aspects of our humanity.
“My daily Qigong practice also influences my art making as I move with universal energies and feel apart of something much bigger, something that connects everything and everyone.”
Lizbeth Harper, fused glass artist, Sequim
“I am fascinated by the whole process of fusing glass. Opening the kiln after the glass has been fired reveals a treasure. The glass has transitioned from a sharp-edged, cold feeling piece to something soft, sensuous and vibrantly colored. I am always happily exploring the many possibilities fused glass offers.
“My years as a fused glass artist have been one of continual learning and fascination. I make glass display pieces, functional pieces and masks. Selected pieces are mounted on stainless steel and are meant to hang on the wall.
“My new pieces all have hand crafted stands, most that I have designed. My goal is that each glass piece makes a strong, artistic statement that is contemporary, harmonious and balanced. I find each piece is a new and stimulating adventure
“My life involving the creation of fused glass pieces began eleven years ago. I was a member of the Blue Whole Gallery for several years and was involved in a glass guild with many other fused glass artists. My glass has been shown in galleries in La Conner, Port Townsend and Portland. I have taught several classes in beginning fused glass and have worked with beginning glass artists individually.”
Christina Heliker, photographer, Olympic Peninsula
“I find the inspiration for my art in the natural world. When examined closely, our familiar surroundings can yield scenes of great mystery and beauty. The challenge of photography lies in isolating such scenes from their surroundings. When all goes well, the camera can capture images too ephemeral to register in the eye, such as the wave-scattered reflections on sunlit water, or the flight of a hummingbird.
“As a geologist, I am particularly drawn to subjects that arouse my curiosity about the processes that formed them, be it a forest of rime-encrusted trees high in the mountains or the aftermath of a salmon run in a Pacific Northwest river.
“My photographs have been shown in numerous exhibits in Hawai’i, Washington, and at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California. LensWork and B&W magazines have published my work.”
Paulette Hill, jewelry artist, Sequim
“I’ve always had a passionate, insatiable desire to artistically create, be it cooking, baking, tailoring, flower arranging, drawing, singing, and since 2009, jewelry designing. The more time and ways I find to blend these gifts together, the more it lights my fire and soothes my soul.
“In my jewelry work, I love and am inspired by beautiful things from nature and enjoy working with their subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) textures and colors. But I also can’t resist the vivid colors, energy and sparkle of crystals, and I often incorporate them into my jewelry work as well. Bottom line, I GET to work with beautiful precious and semi-precious stones, precious metals, woods, crystals, pearls, and beads, and join them together in creative, fluid ways. Add a glass of fine wine to all that, and life just doesn’t get any better!
“I hope you enjoy my work, and feel the intent and joy I put into my pieces.”
Donna LaHue, painter, Port Angeles
“Until recently a resident of Big Sky, Montana, I now live and work on the Olympic Peninsula near Port Angeles, Washington. Overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca and backed up to rugged mountains I have found new sources for creative work. The visuals and culture of the Northwest are reflected in the abstract landscapes and wild inhabitants that are subjects I choose to explore. Using a palette of intense and contrasting color to describe ruffled feathers against a riotous sky may be followed by a more subtle touch in a quiet landscape. This diversity of approach and application helps to keeps the work fresh and approachable.
“For most of the last decade I have focused on subjects depicted in oil on canvas and, more recently, gold leaf on glass. Applying familiar and iconic forms, I try to describe the essential character of a species or the drama of place in a clean and elegant composition. Shapes are distilled and detail only suggested. My work is an attempt to strike a balance between hard edged abstraction and a softer more figurative representation.”
Mike McCollum, artist/woodworker, Sequim
Mike McCollum has been creating and exhibiting his artwork since 1964. Born in Hoquiam, Washington, Mike is a lifelong artist by nature, training, and practice. Many of his artistic sensibilities were developed while in the San Francisco Bay Area in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s receiving an MA and MFA from UC Berkeley apprenticing with influential ceramicist/sculptor Peter Voulkos. In 1980, Mike was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts individual fellowship grant.
Mike is known for his personal style and competency across diverse mediums from bronze casting and ceramics to drawing, painting, printmaking and currently wood and resin. “I start with a basic idea and then it’s a matter of rescuing that idea from all the contrived directions it may take me. Making art keeps me alive and engaged every day.”
Carol Nielsen, collage, Port Townsend
“I am drawn to contrasting colors, interesting designs on papers that I create or find, unusual textures and am curious and inspired to try new techniques, composition, and color combinations.
“Each piece begins with papers and colors that attract my attention and experimenting with shapes and layout. I set it aside for a brief period, returning with a refreshed perspective and then build a story. The story can evolve in surprising directions, and very seldom has a predetermined ending. Asking the question, ‘What will happen if?’ always leads me to surprising results.”
Stephanie Nead, fiber artist, Sequim
“I move through the world by intuition, emotion, the senses. Thoughts, ideas, emotion have color, image, sensation for me. They are a visceral experience. Fiber is a kinesthetic bridge between my inner life and the outer world.
“My art shares my vision of the physical, emotional, and energetic textures of the natural world and internal experience. It explores the relationship between nature, soul and humanity, and how the threads of this dynamic relationship impact each.
“My designs come to me from dreams and dream-like visions, from nature, from the souls I meet, and from my own healing, evolving, spiritual journey. I seek to express either a deep felt-sense that wells up from inner experience and body-soul memory, or a spirit I sense in an image. I follow that thread, creating a bridge into expression, making visible the inarticulate. Each piece leads me on a journey.
“Poems often emerge to join the artwork, sometimes preceding and inspiring the piece. My use of technique is defined by the needs of the piece — to be ‘heard’ and felt deeply.”
Sharman Owings, painter, Diamond Point
“I didn’t always draw and paint. It began around the fourth grade. My best friend had an older sister. She was planning to be a fashion designer. We would sit as she sketched wonderful, lanky well-dressed figures twisted in strangely unnatural poses. Everyone would ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh.’ It was the praise that got me. I began to draw and paint that year. The subjects were almost exclusively figure.
“Art became the focus of my education. I spent as many hours as allowed in art class. I began to realize that color, not subject was what fascinated me most.
“Over the years I’ve developed relationships with watercolor, pastels, gouache, oil pastels and oil paint. Color remains the mystery and the reward.
“Some years back I became associated with 2 online galleries. It has been amazing how small the internet makes the world. I have paintings in countries I never dreamed of. I am still active with one of the galleries and continue to enjoy that relationship.
“At this juncture my work is heavily weighted to portraiture. I guess in some ways it has come full circle. The human face and figure hold more intrigue than almost any other subject.”
Ric Peterson, woodworker
“I have always had a deep felt love for nature. My earliest memory is seeing Mount Rainier out the kitchen window as an infant, I grew up in the woods or on the water; I learned to cook over a wood fire. Throughout my suburban childhood and urban adulthood, My vacations almost always included a backcountry permit tied to a backpack. My woodworking pursuits are fairly recent, but a great blend of passionate pursuits got me to this point in time.
“I have been a working artist since the early 80’s. If I couldn’t get to the outdoors, I tried to live as though I was; sitting under trees, contemplation of a greater landscape while studying a leaf, reading many of the classic wilderness writers or homesteading books, cooking over woodfires in my backyard, keeping my knife sharp.
”For me woodturning is an art, a craft and an act of recycling. Creating a functional form in a bowl for serving, eating, collecting, storing, is craft. Trying to create beauty in form, function, design, shape, texture and visual aesthetic is art. Utilizing trees that have been downed for numerous reasons and repurposing that wood into a functional art form is recycling and preserving one of nature’s great gifts. This work for me is the intersection of natures beauty being used for function and decoration in everyday life.”
Steve Portner, woodworker, Port Angeles
“I have my shop on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington state exactly halfway between Port Angeles and Sequim. I lean towards the Arts and Crafts style because it has clean and simple lines which lend themselves to variations ranging from the useful and sturdy Shaker, Stickley and Roycroft pieces through the more striking furniture of the Greene Brothers, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The challenge is to create a new vision for this style rather than copy that which is already in the A&C catalogue.
“My other interests are relief carving by hand and marquetry done in the French method. The English, Germans and Italians all had their own way of creating pictures in wood, but the French developed a style and method all their own that was perfected in the mid-1700s. I use the same method and tools that the artisans would have used to adorn Louis XIV and Louis XV furniture. Both methods, carving by hand and French marquetry, are my way of keeping some of the old disciplines alive.
“I’m always amazed at the productivity of my colleagues. I find I can’t quite keep up with them, so the description of an accidental artist seems to fit my spirit.”
Jim Romberg, raku artist, Port Townsend
“For centuries clay has registered the thumbprint of human expression. At times, the response to its plasticity has opened new doors of expression and affected aesthetic perceptions. Two instances of this that have influenced my work are the 14th century advent of Raku Ceramics and Japanese Tea Ceremony, and the 1950’s Abstract Expressionist Ceramics movement in California. Both abandoned previous definitions of function and design resulting in clay becoming responsive to new aesthetic impulses.
“Clay was given a new vocabulary less dependent on representation leading the viewer to contemplation beyond function and purpose.
“My work continues that impulse, presenting instances of form, texture, glaze, fire and smoke that hopefully lead the viewer to new discoveries and perceptions.”
Amy Schmitt, jeweler, Port Angeles
“I am the proud artist and owner of Artisan Sea Glass. I am an avid beachcomber and sea glass collector, having collected sea glass for 15+ years around the Pacific Northwest and California. I am a metal smith jeweler living on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Port Angeles, Washington. I love to experiment using different types of metal techniques hand working all my pieces.
“I work with fine and sterling silver, and occasionally gold. Being the owner and artist of my own small business is such a wonderful experience, especially meeting so many amazing people, and making wonderful new friends. I love the adventure every step of the way!
“I strive to create unique treasures by bezel setting genuine sea glass using something that has been carelessly discarded to design something new and cherished.
“I have always had a deep love for nature and all its wonder, particularly the ocean with its majestic beauty and mysteries hidden beneath her depths. “
Becky Stinnett, nature photographer, Port Angeles
“In 2013 I moved to Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula from the Midwest, and I immediately fell in love. Surrounded by craggy snow-capped mountains, towering old growth forests, and the wild Pacific coast, I found peace like I have never felt before.
“My relationship with the outdoors rapidly flourished and my passion for nature photography was born. I’m extremely fortunate to explore places that few others have the opportunity to, and I want to share these sights with others. My greatest desire is for these stunning landscapes and extraordinary wildlife to prosper for generations to come, so I hope to demonstrate through my photography why they are worth protecting.
“My goal is to capture the scene and reproduce it on print exactly as I witnessed it, to inspire others to appreciate all the beauty our natural world has to offer. I hope you enjoy experiencing these adventures through my camera’s lens.”
Susan Martin Spar, painter, Port Angeles
“The work, for me, boils down to a strong drive to create what I have an emotional attachment to, and to strive to impart some of that emotion into my work so that the viewer can share it. However, my work isn’t about unrestrained emotion and expression. It’s about feeling that is focused and tempered by the knowledge and command of my materials and craft which in turn allows me to bring a vision to life on a canvas or paper.
“The subject is immaterial – it doesn’t matter because it’s the light that I’m painting.
“I’m a romantic by nature. Wildlife and landscapes enable me to express grander feelings and drama wile still life and the figure entertain my nature to look at things closely and fill me with wonder at the beauty of simple things which surround and sustain us in our everyday life.”
Linda Tilley, painter, Port Townsend
“It is amazing the beauty that surrounds us, sometimes going unnoticed. I am inspired by what I see and feel and endeavor to create a frozen moment, a feeling, that allows the viewer to take as long as needed to absorb. Plein air painting has drawn me back to the basics and re-opened the door to involving all my senses.
“Color, atmosphere, design and movement call to me from all angles and awaken that ever present ‘artistic spirit’ that is part of my soul.
“I am native to the Northwest having grown up and lived in Oregon. We relocated to Port Townsend 20 years ago. While pursuing a graphic arts degree, I had the opportunity for instruction and study with Art Director Norm Bursheim, a master of Basic Design and Northwest Artist Leland John who introduced me to the world of oils and plein air painting. Other instruction includes old master artist Charles Blasklee, who had me falling in love with light and shadows.
“Various other studies over the years have included, pen and ink, watercolor and recently pastel. I love sharing my art with others and find it especially rewarding when someone wants to take one home to enjoy.”
Passiko True, jeweler, Indianola
“I began my jewelry career in Florida as I was working as a jewelers apprentice in Miami. Learning about the trade was an immensely important education.
My first real class in jewelry making was a casting class at Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.
“I knew I had found my profession! Realizing I was more interested in making jewelry for juried art shows, I began venturing out on my own.
“After 45 years of selling my work at art shows and galleries, I still love going to work.”
Jennie Truitt, pencil/scratchboard artist, Chehalis
“I reside in Chehalis, Washington with my husband, adorable pets and family, but actually started my art career in the land of Magic, as I call it, ‘Alaska.’
“As a self-taught artist, I am still learning new techniques that help me accomplish my vision, presenting my art in a way that touches those who view it. I have a love of working with Pencil, Color pencil and now Scratch Board. To me they are such unique and amazing mediums.
“I like to create not only the images I see, but to capture them with as much detail and realism as I can.”
Laurie Urbas, urban bags, Seabeck
Janice Wall, pastel artist, Vashon
“When I was in kindergarten, my favorite activity was standing at the easel and painting with a big brush and cups of brightly colored tempera. It took me away from the craziness of the classroom to a world of my own making. I didn’t have an easel of my own until I became an adult, so it was a real treat. I was never encouraged to be an artist when I ‘grew up.’ Life was made of more practical ambitions, so I became an art teacher and worked in the field of graphic design.
“I didn’t devote myself to studio work until I retired and gave myself permission to pursue my childhood dream. I was good at drawing, and felt I had to pick up brushes to be a painter.
A few years ago I discovered pastels and have been on a learning path with the colorful sticks ever since. They form the perfect bridge from drawing to painting. I live and paint on Vashon Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound, a short ferry ride from my birthplace of Seattle.
“I am a Signature Member and Distinguished Pastelist of the Northwest Pastel Society and a Master Circle member of the International Association of Pastel Societies. My work often suggests the commonplace, touched by a sense of mystery.”
