Check out the following array of new art on display at local galleries and art spots in April. Many of the following exhibits are included in April’s First Friday gallery cruise, scheduled to take place from approximately 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 1.
Island Paper Chase: In celebration of spring, Island Paper Chase will open the “Trees and Branches” show on April 1, featuring new origami pieces by gallery owner Alice Larson.
She was motivated to create origami Bonsai through conversation with a visitor to her shop a year ago. Modeled after the miniature living trees, these small-scale artworks are made from wire populated with hundreds of tiny paper origami crane leaves. Each is placed on a piece of weathered beach wood. Larson said she is learning a lot about tree structure by making these creations while finding the bases offers a good excuse for a beach walk.
The branches part of the show is inspired by the blooming fruit trees that announce our Northwest spring. Multiple folded paper blossoms are attached to madrone branches, creating images like the flowering trees around us. Some are in the colors of cherry, apple and similar natural blossoms, while Larson has taken liberty with others to offer a more complete spring-time palette.
Island Paper Chase will be open for the First Friday gallery cruise until 9 p.m. Regular gallery hours are “noon(ish) to at least 6 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said Larson.
Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union:
For the months of April and May, the PSCCU will show the work of John Woodard. The credit union will not be open for April’s First Friday gallery cruise, but hopes to hold a First Friday event in May. In April, check out Woodard’s work during regular credit union hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
A native son of the Pacific Northwest and island resident since 1977, Woodard studied under Jacob Lawrence, his most influential mentor and teacher, at the University of Washington. Like Lawrence, Woodard’s work, regardless of the medium, relies on sophisticated composition and close attention to the tension between the negative and positive shapes.
His work is unified by an enduring passion for understanding how color works in opposition to value. The vistas of Puget Sound and the shrouded, misty woods surrounding his island home serve as his inspiration.
VALISE Gallery: In April, VALISE Gallery will present “Animals in Odd Places,” an exhibit of works by collective member Corinne Lightweaver and guest artist Ted Meyer.
In other work, both artists take on serious topics of advocacy for patients with serious physical and mental health issues, but in this exhibit, their whimsical works of wonder come together in a family-friendly show aimed at delighting all ages.
“I do my own work, and I curate other people’s work about illness and survival,” said Meyer. “In between that serious work, I have always done more lighthearted images … the work in this show often involves animals and people flying about as if breaking the bonds of earth’s gravity.”
“I think [Ted’s] humorous art is just what we need as we emerge from COVID’s shadow or, frankly, at any time,” said Lightweaver. “Ted lives in both Los Angeles and Twentynine Palms, California, where beautiful landscape inspires his desert imagery.”
Animals in Lightweaver’s art are part of her personal lexicon. Her affinity with animals started early. Growing up with chickens is not unique on Vashon, but in Los Angeles, it was quite different. Her father subscribed to a Welsh corgi magazine, her mother to The House Rabbit Newsletter, her sister to The British Hedgehog Society Newsletter, and Lightweaver to The Rat Report. A lifetime interest in animals informs Lightweaver’s work.
During April, VALISE Gallery will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. The opening celebration is First Friday, April 1 from 6 to 9 p.m., and the show may be previewed on Friday afternoon. The show runs through Saturday, April 30. VALISE Gallery is located at 17633 Vashon Highway SW.
Vashon Senior Center: The Photo Club at Vashon Senior Center will present a group show, “Pareidolia and Vashon Sightings,” from April through May. A reception is planned from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 1. The word pareidolia explores “the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus so that one sees an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none,” according to Wikipedia. Vashon Sightings is a collection of unusual and amusing images that often inspire the response “Only on Vashon!”
