PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Historical Society will host a member’s preview party for the opening of an exhibit of Lockwood Dennis from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
The show will be at the Jefferson Museum of Art and History, 540 Water St.
Individual memberships to the historical society are available at jchsmuseum.org/Support/MembershipBenefits.html for $50.
Admission also is available for $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $1 for children during operating hours, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Tuesdays.
AKA ‘Woody’
Dennis (1937-2012), known primarily as “Woody,” painted and made prints throughout his life, creating 400 prints with 385 of those in editions of 20 or more, and hundreds of paintings.
Although he lived in Port Townsend and captured many of the local scenes in paint, when he started exhibiting and finding a market for his work in Seattle, the work shifted to urban imagery from his visits to the city and other locales around the world.
Dennis was born in Portland, Oregon. After receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy, he traveled east and earned a master’s degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1968.
He and his wife, Hiroko, moved to Port Townsend in 1975 and raised their son, Tasshi, in the town. They were an integral part of the arts community for more than 30 years.
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, after settling in Port Townsend, Dennis created a series of black and white lithographs in which he explored the area’s imagery.
Some of these are included in the Jefferson Museum of Art and History show.
Woodcuts
The exhibit also features nearly 50 of his color woodcuts.
These prints, with their bold, quirky, simplified imagery, unique vantages and unusual coloring, became his most recognized and celebrated work, organizers said.
The nature of the woodcut medium led to the development of a simplified graphic style which became his artistic signature.
In these pieces his clever use of up to seven overlapping blocks, each with a different color, allowed him to create a single image with a wealth of rich tones.
His inspirations for his woodcuts came from many other artists, including George Herriman’s comic strips, Phillip Guston’s paintings from 1969 to 1973, George Walker’s industrial design of the 1930s and Cezanne.
Most of these prints have never been seen locally even though they were exhibited for his entire career through Davidson Galleries in Seattle, where he is still exclusively represented.
Curation and preview
This exhibition is curated by Stephen Yates and presented in partnership with Davidson Galleries and the Lockwood Dennis Estate.
Sam Davidson, Tasshi Dennis and Hiroko Dennis will attend the member’s preview Wednesday and provide remarks on the artist and his work.
Davidson Galleries in Pioneer Square, Seattle, will published a catalogue raisonné of Dennis’s work in celebration of these retrospectives and will exhibit a simultaneous presentation of Dennis prints, titled “Lockwood Dennis: The Woodcuts,” July 5-27.
The catalogue will be available in the Jefferson Museum Shop for the member’s preview.
This image by Lockwood Dennis will be included in an exhibit at the Jefferson Museum of Art and History.
