March into Vashon’s First Friday gallery cruise
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Step into March with a lively night of art, community and celebration at Vashon’s First Friday gallery cruise.
Vashon Center for the Arts
Vashon Center for the Arts will present “Claiming the Wall: Women Painters of Washington — A Neighborhood Exhibition,” on view through March 29.
Presented in celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, the juried exhibition features work by 22 artists from Vashon and neighboring communities, including Carolyn Autenrieth, Lea Basile-Lazarus, Rose Belknap, Carol Colin, Julie Creighton, Catherine Gill, Kassana Holden, Lezlie Jane, Jan Koutsky, Amy Lewis, L. Kelly Lyles, Janci Mannington, Susan Miller, Barbara Benedetti Newton, Karen O’Brien, Ilse Reimnitz, Judith Smith, Janice Tayler, Allison Trundle, Laraine Wade, Diane Walker and Reeve Washburn.
Continuing VCA’s longstanding tradition of dedicating its March exhibition to women artists, the show highlights regional members of Women Painters of Washington and reflects the depth and diversity of contemporary painting in this corner of the Pacific Northwest.
Rather than centering on a single theme, the exhibition brings together work representing each artist’s current explorations, resulting in a dynamic mix of styles, subjects and approaches.
First Friday visitors can attend an artist reception from 5-8 p.m. In addition, Stephanie Benson will be featured in the Gallery Shop, presenting her handcrafted jewelry.
Founded in 1930, Women Painters of Washington was created to support women artists and expand exhibition opportunities across the state, and it continues that mission today.
VCA is located at 19600 Vashon Hwy SW, and gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
VALISE Gallery
For March, VALISE Gallery will present “Our Art History: A Retrospective of 11 Artists,” a show drawing from different periods in the artistic lives of the gallery’s members.
The exhibition reaches across decades, featuring work from the past to the present by Gregory Burnham, Dot Cherch, Bill Jarcho, Pascale Judet, Rachel LordKenaga, Liz Maxfield, Robert Passig, Jiji Saunders, Sharon Shaver, Hita VonMende and George Wright.
“There is certainly a lot of wonderful and surprising work here that spans decades, since many of our members are in their 60s, 70s and 80s,” artist Sharon Shaver said. Bill Jarcho added that it was “fun and not totally embarrassing” to revisit work from his college days, “which was only 47 years ago … gulp.”
The show opens on First Friday, with gallery hours extended from 1-9 p.m., and runs through March 28. Regular gallery hours are 1-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
VALISE Gallery: 17633 Vashon Hwy SW
Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union
Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union will welcome First Friday visitors from 6-8 p.m. with a show featuring the work of four photographers: Anne Gordon, Richard Rogers, Nikolas Eliason and Wild Northwest Beauty Photography.
The evening will include art, music, snacks and desserts, with LYFT — Lawson Cannon and Karen Bale — playing Celtic music during the reception.
The featured photographers bring a range of perspectives and experience to the show. Anne Gordon describes her work as an effort to marry photography with painting, with a growing emphasis on content over technique.
Wild Northwest Beauty Photography focuses on capturing the beauty of the Pacific Northwest through patience and technical skill.
Richard Rogers, a longtime photographer and graphic designer, draws inspiration from the natural beauty he has observed on Vashon since moving here in 1989 — from mountains and clouds to wildlife, flowers and sunlight on the water.
Nikolas Eliason traces his love of photography back to childhood, when nature documentaries first sparked his imagination, and now sees the medium as a way to build a relationship between himself, his subject and the viewer.
The show will also be available to view during PSCCU’s regular business hours — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday — throughout March and April.
PSCCU: 9928 SW Bank Road.
Windermere Gallery
Windermere Gallery will feature the work of Annette Messitt, founder of The Old Dockton Press, located in Dockton — a small Maury Island neighborhood known for its thriving community of artists.
After many years as a plein air watercolorist, Messitt began printmaking in 2018, and it has since become her primary medium. Her work focuses on the beauty of everyday objects and the remarkable wildlife of the Pacific Northwest.
Messitt works primarily in the reductive, or “suicide,” method of linocut — a process in which a finite number of colors are overprinted from a single piece of linoleum, with more of the surface cut away before each successive color is applied. By the end of the process, the linoleum is almost entirely cut away, making additional prints impossible. The result is a richly colored, limited-edition print.
Messitt is a member of Quartermaster Press, a Vashon Island printmaking collective, and Swiftwater Gallery. She also teaches printmaking classes.
Windermere Gallery: 17429 Vashon Hwy SW.
Swiftwater Gallery
Swiftwater Gallery will host a First Friday demonstration from 6-7 p.m. by Darcie Beck, who will describe his creative process, from written and drawn journaling to painting.
The gallery is located at 17600 Vashon Hwy SW.
