PORT TOWNSEND — Enjoy world class art and take a trip to China without leaving Jefferson County on Saturday during the Port Townsend Gallery Walk.
During the free event, occurring the first Saturday of every month from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., art galleries and venues in the downtown waterfront district show off the work of local artists while encouraging participants to explore the many nooks and crannies of the town’s historic center.
Sampling of events:
■ Gallery Nine, 1012 Water St., this month will feature silk batiks and palette knife oil art by Carolyn Doe, and handwoven pieces by Carolyn Silk.
Doe, Silk and other gallery artists will be on hand to discuss their work during Gallery Walk.
Doe has been working in batik — a method of producing colored designs on textiles by dyeing them after having applied wax to portions to be left undyed — for more than 25 years.
When dye touches silk fabric it spreads quickly but brushed wax creates a boundary, she says, adding it is this dance of control and lack of control that captivates her.
Through this ethereal quality, she says she tries to convey the essence of a place and of the creatures who dwell there.
Several years ago, Doe expanded her range of techniques to include palette knife painting in oils to create thick textures and vibrant colors.
Silk creates exuberant handwoven works in a broad range of styles, organizers say.
Many of her pieces, she says, are inspired by the rich, often muted, colors and intricate patterns and textures of nature in the Northwest.
Others pieces are playful, with bright colors and bold geometric patterns.
Evident always is her love of her medium and the joy she finds in weaving, organizers say.
Scarves, shawls, pillows, table runners, place mats and wall hangings is art you can wear and that brings beauty to your home.
For more information, call 360-379-8881 or visit www.gallery-9.com.
■ The Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., will feature artists Mike Biskup and Andrea Guarino-Slemmons today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Biskup is a contemporary watercolor painter of imaginary landscapes and abstractions.
He completed a bachelor of fine arts at The University of California at Santa Cruz, studying with an eclectic mix of accomplished, senior artists including Jack Zajac, Hardy Hanson and Patrick Ahearne.
Since 2002, Biskup has shown widely in Port Townsend, and in 2015 he exhibited at Slow Culture in Los Angeles along with his brother Tim.
Biskup’s work has been featured in The LA Weekly and Monster Children magazine, and he was an artist in residence at The Ace Hotel Palm Springs.
His paintings can be found in the collection of Oscar winning actress Patricia Arquette and many others around the world.
Guarino-Slemmons has devoted her whole working life to the glass arts, starting with stained glass in her teens, she says, but eventually felt the medium too constraining.
Next she tried fused glass, but fell in love with lampworking, a type of glasswork where a torch or lamp is primarily used to melt the glass, while shaping odd glass pieces and stringers to decorate her work, she said.
That was 26 years ago, and she has been making art glass beads ever since.
Guarino-Slemmons has become internationally recognized and has taught workshops all over the world. Lately, she has been working more with metals and stones, creating one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry.
For more information, call 360-379-8110 or visit www.porttownsendgallery.com.
■ Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St., hosts stories by Yiyun Li during this month’s editions of the PT Shorts program presented by Key City Public Theatre and sponsored by the Port Townsend Arts Commission.
The free events will feature readings from Li’s books A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and Gold Boy, Emerald Girl.
The readings will be held during Gallery Walk at 7:30 p.m. and at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
Li is a Chinese-American writer born in 1972 who grew up in Beijing and moved to the United States in 1996.
Her stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The Best American Short Stories.
Two of the stories from A Thousand Years of Good Prayers were adapted into 2007 films directed by Wayne Wang.
Visit keycitypublictheatre.org for more information.
