Peninsula Daily News

Two featured artists for the month of February will showcase their work at Blue Whole Gallery in Sequim.

Barbara Boerigter and Jeannine Chappell will be featured next month in a show called “Taking Chances, Breaking Rules” at the gallery, 129 W. Washington St. A meet-the-artists event is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.

The gallery hours are typically from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Face masks and social distancing are required.

Boerigter, a founding member of the artist-co-op since 1997, discovers the beauty in “discarded things” and revives them into an art form while Chappell is breaking through her well-established comfort zone into the world of abstract.

Boerigter said her husband asked her what she was going to do with another “Dumpster treasure” similar to what she already had in her studio.

The answer, as she shook her head, would be “I don’t know,” she said in a press release.

“There are no boundaries when working with existing objects and this means lateral thinking, no literal,” Boerigter said. “Finding beauty in discarded things that have had a previous life gives me great satisfaction. And I can sometimes give them another one.”

After spending many years doing representational work, especially animals, Chappell said her focus has turned to abstract painting.

“With the representational work, I would start from an idea and perhaps from photographs, and interpret that in the piece,” she said. “With the abstract work — acrylic and mixed media on wood panels — I start from an empty place and follow the images as they build. It requires being comfortable with the unknown and trusting the process as it develops. And it also involves the back and forth between the freedom of play and the analysis of the design elements in the painting, to create a piece that shows both inspiration and structure.”

For more information about exhibits, go to www.bluewholegallery.com.

“When If Becomes Is” by Jeannine Chappell