SEQUIM — A brand-new art gallery, brimming with 24 exhibitors, opens today, just in time for the First Friday Art Walk: the LARC — Local Artist Resource Center — Gallery awaits at 166 E. Bell St., just across Sunnyside Avenue from the Post Office.
“We’re all excited. The gallery is basically full,” said Shirley Mercer, one of the LARC artists.
She’s inviting the public to partake in the ribbon cutting, refreshments and door prizes at the grand opening from noon to 2 p.m. today. Then come more prizes and more refreshments from 5 p.m. till 8 p.m. during the art walk, which encompasses a number of other galleries and shops downtown.
At LARC are original works, prints and cards, sculpture, collages, jewelry and carvings by Mercer, Mary Leone, Jim Watson-Gove, Sunny Benham, Donna Standerwick, Dee Green, Irene Loghry, Bettye Tabain, Diana Miller, Barbara Van Vorst, Jeanne Engesath, Jim Gift, Karen Rozbicki Stringer, Janet and LeRoy Beers, Jan Canale, Maryann Proctor, Jack and Linda Parcell, Pat Donlin, Wanda Mawhinney, Paulette Hill, Suzy Killins and Carol Yada.
To find out more about the new venue, visit www.LARCgallery.com.
This month’s art walk has a color theme: red, to be observed in any way participants like. Renne Brock-Richmond, an organizer of the art walks, gave each one a color just for fun: green for March, pink for April, aqua-blue for May and so forth. More information and a map of self-guided art tour are found at www.SequimArtWalk.com. To find out more about how to participate in Sequim’s art walks — as a venue or a viewer — phone Brock-Richmond at 360-460-3023 or email renne@uniqueasyou.com.
Among the venues hosting free art shows and receptions with artists from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today:
■ The Blue Whole Gallery, 129 W. Washington St., with February featured artists Janine Hegy and Pam Walker;
■ The Museum & Arts Center, 175 W. Cedar St., with “Art as a Family Affair,” a display of multimedia art by Sherry Nagel and her mother, the late watercolorist Pat Speer;
■ The new Wind Rose Cellars wine bar, 143 W. Washington St., is adorned with Saundra Cutsinger’s mixed-media folk art;
■ Doodlebugs, 138 W. Washington St., opens its Creative Café Art Bar from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for artists and crafters to drop in and work on projects;
■ Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., hosts a reception tonight with Jean Wyatt and other guest artists;
■ Dungeness Bay Wine and Cheese, 123 East Washington St., features acoustic guitar music by Gerald Braude of Port Townsend, plus wine, appetizers and a display of art by Randy and Sallie Radock;
■ R&T Crystals and Beads, 158 E. Bell St., with Gail McLain and D’Ann Gonzales giving jewelry demonstrations.