PORT TOWNSEND — Anne Schneider and Mitchel Osborne will be the featured artists at Port Townsend Gallery in May.
For the first time since COVID-19 restrictions, the gallery at 715 Water St. will be open for the First Saturday Art Walk next weekend.It will be open until 8 p.m. No refreshments will be served at this time.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day of the week. It is also open by appointment.
Schneider said that as she emerged from the dark of winter and the wearing of masks into the brighter days of spring, she was determined to paint with lighter and cheerier colors to mimic the lightness of her spirit and outlook on the future.
This led to new mixed media paintings aimed at producing a lightness in the eyes and minds of the viewers.
The painting titled “Breaking Away” allowed her to show leaving the past behind and glimpsing a brighter future, she said. To accomplish this, Schneider said she veils darker backgrounds with acrylic paints and uses collage papers in lighter colors.The painting “Soft Landing” tempers geometric shapes with shadows, and whimsy is balanced with dimensionality emerges in her work. Schneider creates collage papers making monoprints, using acrylic paints with stencils, masks, lines, stamps and textures. She layers these and other papers with acrylic paintings on canvas or paper.
A resident of Port Townsend for 28 years, she exhibits her work at the Port Townsend Gallery and teaches mixed media classes at the Northwind Arts Art School at Fort Worden.
Osborne is a professional photographer who has been a contributor to international travel guides, travel magazines, books and major editorial publications. Most of his photography career was in New Orleans concentrating on editorial and travel photography and steamboats of the Mississippi River.
After moving to Port Townsend, he said he discovered the beauty, craftsmanship and preservation of the boats in the historical setting. Featured in his current work are photos that explore the fusion of colors, water and boat details.
His photography displays the marvel of hand-crafted boats from the whimsical to schooners to the majestic Tall Ships. Osborne continues to present his vision of the diversity of maritime subjects and travel destinations.
The May gallery show also includes his signature reflection series and boats of the Wooden Boat Festival. He has self-published books, guides, calendars on New Orleans, the South, Mardi Gras and Wooden Boat Festival calendars.
For more information about the gallery, phone 360-379-8110 or see www.porttownsendgallery.com.