PORT TOWNSEND — Narrative art is the focus of “Works on Paper and Other Stories: Contemporary Narrative Art” at the Port Townsend School of the Arts Grover Gallery this month.
The show features photography, acrylics, watercolors and drawings from Pacific Northwest artists Ginny Banks, Jenny Doh, Rikki Ducornet and Linda Okazaki that use their chosen medium to tell stories ranging from the simple to the mysterious, organizers said.
Many of the artist-teachers will be on hand at the gallery at 236 Taylor St. to talk about their work during the Port Townsend Gallery Walk from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
“Lightening The Dark” by Linda Okazaki will be on display at the Port Townsend School of the Arts gallery.
Another gallery open for visitors during the walk is the Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., which will highlight jewelry, beads and three-dimensional works from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
At the Port Townsend School of the Arts (PtSA) show, Banks’ pieces are curated from photographs taken at Centrum’s 2017 Fiddle Tunes. She photographs people as characters in a literary sense.
Banks received a master’s of fine arts in visual design from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and an master’s of fine arts in photography from Clemson University in South Carolina. She teaches a variety of photography classes at PtSA.
Doh is a painter who describes her style as “magical realism,” celebrating the essence and not just the likeness of her subjects from both real and imagined life. She is based in Santa Ana, Calif. Her next visiting artist workshops at PtSA are in April, including a one day portrait workshop on April 17, and, on April 17 and 18, painting florals.
Martha Collins’ three-dimensional artwork is on display at the Port Townsend Gallery.
Ducornet is a transdisciplinary artist, whose drawings in this exhibit were originally used to accompany writings by Jorge Luis Borges.
A writer and painter, Ducornet is the author of nine novels, three collections of short fiction, two books of essay, and five books of poetry. Ducornet has received both a Lannan Literary Fellowship and the Lannan Literary Award For Fiction. Exhibitions of her paintings include the solo show Desirous in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and group shows in Coimbra, Portugal, and at the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende in Santiago, Chile.
Okazaki was born in Washington state and has spent almost all of her life in the Northwest. She earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s of fine arts Washington State University, where she also taught color theory, painting and Woman in Art History in the Fine Arts Department.
She has created iconic images for the Port Townsend Film Festival, Centrum’s Jazz, Blues and Fiddle Tunes festivals and the Wooden Boat Festival in addition to cover images for published book and music CDs.
The gallery is open from noon to 6 p.m. every day or by appointment.
For more about the nonprofit PtSA, visit ptarts.org.
Rings by Addy Thornton are among the wearable artworks to be found at the Port Townsend Gallery.
At the Port Townsend Gallery, the featured artists this month are Addy Thornton, Shirley Moss, Kristen Wade, Martha Collins and Andrea Guarino-Slemmons.
Thornton’s kinetic jewelry in pendants and translucent stones will be on display, as well as Moss’ handmade chains, Wade’s “Under the Sea” collection, Collins’ three-dimensional works with hardwoods and colored veneers and Guarino-Slemmons’s handmade glass beads.
Refreshments will be available during the gallery walk as visitors look at the wearable art.
The Port Townsend Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information, phone 360-379-8110 or visit porttownsendgallery.com.
