PORT TOWNSEND — Northwind Arts Center will present the sixth annual Northwind Arts Center Artist Showcase juried art exhibition for Puget Sound emerging and professional artists of all disciplines this weekend.
An opening reception is slated for 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at 701 Water St., during the Port Townsend Art Walk.
Work from the 24 2-D and eight 3-D selected artists will be exhibited in the newly remodeled Jeanette Best Gallery throughout the year.
Artists were selected for this year’s showcase by juror Bruce Cody from Scottsdale, Ariz., organizers said.
The featured new artist for March is award-winning sculptor Christine Knapp.
Knapp has been a professional artist since 1990. She is best known for her realistic bronze creations of both animal and human subjects.
“Art is an intimate way of communicating a message, feeling or emotion to others,” she said. “My goal is to spark a fond memory, inspire an idea or enlighten my viewers of the varied subjects I have chosen to portray. Of ultimate interest to me is that special bond that develops between people, animals and each other.”
The exhibition runs through March 31.
Also Saturday during Art Walk:
• Jefferson Museum of Art & History, 540 Water St., will offer free admission until 8 p.m. for its new exhibition featuring the work of Jim Alden.
Alden painted the people and scenes of Port Townsend starting in the 1970s and found his place among other artists, poets and entrepreneurs, with the Town Tavern as his hub.
This retrospective exhibition and accompanying catalogue written by curator Jenny Westdal, who also is president of the Jefferson County Historical Society board, and artist Stephen Yates provide an intimate perspective into an artist’s life lived on Water Street.
Westdal and Yates will be available to sign exhibition catalogues and talk about Alden and his work.
The exhibit will be up until June 24.
For information, contact shelly@jchsmuseum.com or call 360-385-1003.
• Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., will feature the work of landscape artist Sally Pfaff and pastel artist Debbie Harding during Art Walk.
A reception is planned from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
“I enjoy capturing the mood of what I experience in nature, through an effective mix of painterly, impressionistic marks, and building drama with carefully placed details and highlights,” said Harding about her work.
Images of Harding’s work are part of permanent corporate collections including hospitals which chose them for their relaxing qualities. Harding’s pastels have appeared in several galleries in California and Tennessee plus receiving numerous awards in juried shows.
For years her pastel paintings have had wide recognition throughout California. Her recent move to the Olympic Peninsula offers her new themes to explore.
Pfaff paints landscape stories using acrylic medium that is diluted to a watercolor consistency, as well as dry brush and viscous.
While minding the composition, she also accesses her imagination and visual memory while exploring the use of color and shapes to guide the creative process. She hopes that her paintings transport viewers to a memorable place that allows one to pause and enjoy the present moment.
Since moving to Port Townsend in 1991, she has thrived on the beauty and natural surroundings that the Olympic Peninsula has to offer.
For more information, call 360-379-8110.
