First Saturday Art Walk set in Port Townsend

Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 2, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend will host the First Saturday Art Walk from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, mostly in the downtown area.

Some of the attractions this month include:

• The Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., will feature “Flora and Feathers,” an exhibit by Beverly McNeil and Margaret Woodcock.

McNeil, an avid birder and nature lover, travels to Costa Rica every year. This year, she spent some of her time at La Selva Biological Station, on the Caribbean slope, to consider a position of natural history and nature guiding.

During her four weeks in the country, she enjoyed close encounters with a variety of birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and insects in the wild.

McNeil will share images from her trip during the Art Walk.

Woodcock will present new mixed media paintings and drawings in soft pastel, charcoal, ink, oil and cold wax medium as well as collage on paper and wood panels.

The exhibit will reveal two themes, growth and vitality in nature and a sense of habitat.

Woodcock has been exploring how the different materials can work together to form a coherent image. It might be the softness of the pastel contrasting the intense black or white of the fluid ink line or the layering of cold wax medium with oil over line or marks to achieve a depth of color or atmosphere.

She also combines collage elements with the other media, carefully cutting or tearing paper images, animal or bird forms, landscapes, graphic elements like maps, handwritten notes, music or charts, allowing color and texture to create relationships.

“Flora and Feathers” will be on display at the Port Townsend Gallery from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily throughout July.

For more information, call the gallery at 360-379-8110 or visit www.porttownsend gallery.com.

• The Jeanette Best Gallery, 701 Water St., will show “Northwest Expressions” from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The exhibit, which will feature 50 pieces from 35 artists, will be on display through Aug. 10. Visitors are invited to vote for the People’s Choice Award.

The gallery is open from noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays.

• Gallery-9, 1012 Water St., will feature Carolyn Doe’s batik and paintings along with Judith Komishane’s jewelry during a reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Doe is a self-taught silk batik artist and oil painter who creates framed silk batiks with scenes of nature and birds and oil paintings of trees.

“I started working in batik on silk fabric over 35 years ago,” Doe said. “Batik has become my voice. When dye touches silk fabric, it spreads like crazy. The wax creates a boundary. It is this dance of control/no control that captivates me for hours. Through this ethereal quality, I try to convey the essence of a place and of the creatures who dwell there.”

She uses silk dyes and beeswax to create images of nature on silk fabric, which she stretches and frames under glass.

When painting with oils, she employs palette knives to show wide horizons with stately trees or the quick pose of a small bird on a slender branch.

Komishane has been making necklaces, bracelets and earrings for more than 16 years. She combs through antique shops, among other places, during her travels to find materials for her projects.

Komishane’s jewelry and Doe’s oil paintings and batik pieces will be on display at Gallery-9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily throughout July.

For more information, visit www.gallery-9.com.