PORT TOWNSEND — Northwind Art is presenting the Showcase Gallery for 2023. The new juried exhibition opened Thursday in the back space at Jeanette Best Gallery, 701 Water St. The gallery will be open until 8 p.m. Saturday during the Saturday Art Walk in Port Townsend. On other days, the gallery is open from noon to 5 p.m.
“Northwind Art supports artists with education, exhibitions, professional development and resources,” said Michael Vince Snyder DuBose, exhibitions director.
“As one aspect of our overall objective of nurturing local and regional art talent, the Artist Showcase program is designed to provide a venue for creative expression within the community.”
Northwind Art’s Artist Showcase 2023 is a curated collection of work by local artists exhibited in a traditional gallery format. Each year, the rotating exhibition features some emerging artists and some returning artists selected by a panel of jurors viewing anonymous submissions.
New artists to the Showcase program include Corinne Humphrey, Marian Morris, Roger Morris, Jadyne Reichner, Jeanne Toal, Diane Walker and the artist team of Craig Britton and Brittany Whitaker.
The artists returning to the program for 2023 are Vivian Chesterley, Larry Crockett, Stephen Deligan, Jeanne Edwards, Brian Goodman, Joyce Hester, Francesca Campbell Hulick, Donna LaHue, Aliina Lahti, Wanda Mawhinney, Evan Miller, Jacki Moseley, Sandra Offutt, Elizabeth Reutlinger, Egor Shokoladov, Kim Simonelli and Linda Tilley.
The art on display in the Showcase Gallery includes work in a variety of media. New work is always being added throughout the year, often featuring themes related to the region.
Gloria Lamson, a Pacific Northwest native and a resident of Port Townsend, was the consulting juror for the show. Various forms of art practice have been central to Lamson’s life beginning in high school, with black and white darkroom photography and jewelry fabrication, organizers said, adding that later she made one-of-a-kind artist books and created acrylic abstract paintings.
Since 1977 she has exhibited her work extensively including at the Bellevue, Tacoma and Oakland Art Museums.
Moving back to the Northwest from the Bay area in 2000, she began creating public interactive installations for galleries and art festivals.
“One from the Art: Celebrating Jay Haskins,” is at the Jeanette Best Gallery through Feb. 26.
Lowell “Jay” Haskins of Port Townsend was nearly 88 when he died last summer. He gave his collage paintings, prints, art books and poems to Northwind Art, the Jefferson County-based nonprofit organization.
The Grover Gallery, at 820 Water St., is closed until March 3 as the exhibit space is updated.