Special to The Leader
When Wendy Higgins made still life paintings in Santa Fe, New Mexico, her art was exhibited in the city’s Canyon Road galleries.
After a couple of decades, Higgins — one of the new artists at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery — began playing with brilliantly colored ink, and found she couldn’t control it at all.
“It had a mind of its own,” Higgins said. “It showed me a new joy in letting go and being led by the medium, rather than by my mind and my will. I now stand and witness what wants to come into view on the page each day.”
Higgins noted that her current works, made in Port Townsend, are different from her still life paintings back in Santa Fe.
“Mostly now, I enjoy watching the show and staying out of the way of the inks,” Higgins said. “They, in turn, are reflecting the beauty of pure being. No words required.”
For Higgins, art-making is a healing process, and her purple, gold, and aquamarine works have just been installed, placing her among five new artists in the “showcase” space at the Jeanette Best Gallery at 701 Water St., which is open from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays.
Also new to the gallery are sculptor Kim Simonelli of Port Townsend, Gyotaku printmaker Cody Hagen of Port Angeles, and photographers Jeff Sweet of Chimacum and Patrick Slattery of Sequim.
Hagen’s process involves fish, sumi ink and watercolor, which together make prints mixing the Japanese Gyotaku method with his own technique.
Hagen applies bold ink to the side of a freshly caught fish, then presses rice or mulberry paper onto the fish to create a relief image.
“Cody’s large piece titled ‘Fall Return’ is just a stunner,” Northwind Art spokesperson Diane Urbani said. “The gallery is refreshed with a lot of color from 17 local artists.”
For more information on Northwind Art’s gallery shows, as well as its art classes at Fort Worden, visit northwindart.org.
