June 3, 2016, First Friday Artwalk: You're Invited

A lovely exhibition will be ready for your enjoyment this coming First Friday, our kick-off to summer!  Be sure to schedule a visit to downtown Winslow for a stroll around the galleries, a sip of wine with friends, and art from some of the finest contemporary artists on the planet.

Here's what we have for you in June:

Dialogues in Fiber

June 3-30, 2016

Suzanne Hubbard ~ Tom Johnson

Suzanne Hubbard, Vashon Island, shows weavings from an ongoing series entitled

Silent Oratory, a Weaver Speaks.

The series explores weaving as language

Tom Johnson, Kansas City and Bainbridge Island, creates geometric fiber sculpture as

wall pieces and furniture

Reception with the Artists:

First Friday, June 3, 6-8 pm

In Concert on the Plaza:

Anne Pell Jazz Trio

Images shown:

Left:  Suzanne Hubbard, Emergence, weaving, 96 x 84 inches

Photo credit:  Rick Dahms

Right center: Tom Johnson, Shadows I, 16" x 16" x 18"

Photo credit:  Courtesy of the Artist

About the Artists: 

Suzanne Hubbard learned how to weave from Swedish master weaver, Marguretta Grandin-Nettles on Nantucket Island in 1971.  Pattern, structure, and texture are elements that feature prominently in Swedish weaving, and this was what attracted Suzanne to this particular technique.  She travelled to Sweden where she continued to study weaving and textile design at two well known handcraft schools, Sätergläntan in Dalarna and Capellagården on the island of Öland. 

Suzanne’s career has included weaving commissions, participating in decorator show houses, and exhibiting in both galleries and museums.  Over the many years of weaving however, her interest in pattern, structure, and texture has persisted.  She has developed a deeper appreciation for the craft, the understanding of which are the themes of her current work.  Weaving’s patterning process resembles a life-patterning process.  Therefore, in addition to its visual aspects, it also creates a non-verbal language that graphically expresses Nature’s world of interdependent relationships.  Pattern, structure, and texture are the elements that she uses in her work and the themes for her tapestries each express something important when seen from the integrated perspective of the whole cloth. 

Tom Johnson:  This body of my work - which is created by taking multiple layers of fabric, manipulating, sewing, cutting, and washing them to make the fibers “bloom” - had a serendipitous  beginning.  I had fabric remnants from a variety of architectural and interior design projects.  I started experimenting with layering, sewing them in lines at close intervals, cutting and washing, in an effort to create a soft, tactile, dog-friendly throw for our sofa.  The results got my creative juices flowing.  I quickly saw lots of possibilities, determined which fabrics worked best and how this newly created “Ridge and Furrow Chenille” could be used.  Benches and ottomans soon followed.  “Ridge and Furrow” designs for the wall, as well as a “quilt,” developed simultaneously.

After seeing quilts at the Modern Quilt Show in Austin that had graphic messages, and wanting to commemorate the death of a couple of close friends, I started creating pillows with a message. The pillows led me to explore color applied in strips to the top layer.  My most recent piece, “Passage,” utilizes this technique as well as washed and unwashed layers. 

The process continues to excite me and take me in new directions.  I am influenced by the tradition of quilt making as well as by modern and minimalist quilts (and on some level by the randomness of Jackson Pollock). I’m inspired by the surprises that come from the layers beneath the surface, the interplay of color, interpreting what I see around me in this medium of fabric and threads, expressing a message that grabs me, and the endless possibilities.

About the Musicians:

In Concert:  Anne Pell Jazz Trio (Bainbridge Island)

A Bainbridge Island resident since 1994, Ms. Pell received her BFA in jazz piano from Cornish College of the Arts in 2005, graduating summa cum laude.   She previously studied piano, voice and music theory at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 2010 Ms. Pell became the music director and conductor of Schola Nova.  Schola Nova is a group of about 20 women who sing Evensong at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.  In 2012 Ms. Pell became the director of the Compline Choir, an a capella choir of about 15 men who also sing at Saint Barnabas.  In the summer of 2013 she founded Amabile, a larger mixed choir group dedicated to expressing love through choral music.

Ms. Pell has worked as a full-time private piano instructor on Bainbridge Island for almost 20 years, specializing in jazz, blues, and classical music, composition/arranging classes, theory, and jazz ensembles.  She performs in myriad gig settings including jazz clubs, private parties, local fundraisers, concerts, and private recitals, playing solo piano or with a jazz trio or quartet.  Ms. Pell has worked as a professional accompanist for over 30 years.  She was the accompanist for The Bainbridge Chorale for 14 years.

Ms. Pell has been composing, arranging and interpreting music for many years: her original works include choral compositions, liturgical chants and hymns, piano duets, Christmas songs, a flute and piano suite, and various jazz tunes.  Her new arrangement of Bach’s Cello Suite in G, for jazz quartet with viola, debuted in 2009.

In November 2009 Ms. Pell instituted the annual “For Our Children” benefit concerts.   All proceeds go to Helpline House’s Children’s Enrichment Fund, a fund created by Ms. Pell specifically for arts and music education for children and teens in our community. 

Event Location: 

The Island Gallery, 400 Winslow Way E, #120, Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Underground parking is available at The Winslow off Ericksen Avenue.