For the living about dying: artists address the topic through new artwork
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Most galleries and art spots are open from 6 to 9 p.m.
A group show of haikus composed by the Vashon Island Haiku Group will be shown at Café Luna. The haikus address issues of mortality, in conjunction with the festival “A Vashon Conversation for the Living About Dying.” The haikus will be displayed in a large format and written in calligraphy by island artist Kaj Wyn Berry. Berry said that as she writes, she holds “the meaning of the word or phrase in my mind, so that what is written is the graphic image of its meaning. For instance, the word ‘joy’ will look far different from the word ‘silence.’ ‘Joy’ will express exuberance; ‘silence’ will look still.”
Hastings-Cone Gallery will show prints and paintings by island artist Pedro Avarez.
Hinge Gallery will be exhibiting prints related to the concepts of life, death, loss and hope. Participating artists include Quartermaster Press Collective members Suzanne Moore, Brian Fischer, Christina Nichols, Patricia Churchill, Deborah Taylor and Brent Houston.
Island Paper Chase will be celebrating spring with bright and colorful origami flowers, both large and small. Ike Harmon will play and sing his original songs in the gallery.
PSCCU is participating in the “Vashon Conversation for the Living About Dying” event by hosting Linda Lee Lanphar’s Memory Keeper Collection. Lanphar helps to keep memories of deceased loved ones alive through artwork created out of keepsakes.
Also participating in the event, VALISE Gallery will present “Death Vessels,” an exhibit by collective members and other island artists portraying the death vessel as a last resting place. A press release said the show explores the “complex perceptions between life and death and engages with the human endeavor to control our exit from this life by envisioning the last vestiges of our remains in a death vessel.”
VCA Koch Gallery will present a juried exhibition with artists from the multi-craft organization Northwest Designer Craftsmen. Co-chaired by Joyce Hayes and Vashon ceramic artist Gale Lurie, and curated by Janice Mallman, the show includes pieces that range from the traditional to the contemporary in clay, wood, metal, fiber, glass and/or mixed media.
Vashon Intuitive Arts will show mixed media artwork by Jeaneen Bauer, Kathi Ray, Jeffrey Zheutlin and Rebecca Schumacher.
Vashon Senior Center will present a double photography show of Chancy Grace’s evocative images in “Angels, Mermaids and Mist” and Karlista Rickerson’s underwater photos in “Sea Life in Distress.” Grace is a hospice social worker; Rickerson’s work was shot in the waters around Maury Island.
