Islander Pam Ingalls will offer an oil painting show called “Facing Jamaica” at The Hardware Store Restaurant as part of the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour starting May 3. The idea for the show came last year when she was painting portraits of Vashon Islanders.

“When the Tuvan Throat Singers came to Vashon, bringing their traditional culture to Vashon, I got the idea to go to other communities to paint portraits. I could bring portraits from other places back home to Vashon, and maybe someday I could exhibit some Vashon portraits in other countries,” said Ingalls.

Her first choice was Jamaica because Islander Tressa Azpiri had moved to a little village there.

“It’s a natural place to start, since Vashon is already connected to Three Hills, Jamaica. Tressa was amazing — introducing me to children, store keepers, farm workers — and even a 100-year-old natural healer. I painted quite a few portraits there, then came home to finish the show,” Ingalls said.

“Painting always connects me with myself,” she added, “but this is a way to connect with other people; to connect people with each other by seeing the portraits, or maybe by strangers owning portraits of people from different communities; to connect communities to each other — and of maybe even connecting people with themselves as they see themselves in the faces of people from another part of the world.”

The show opening is from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 2, at The Hardware Store, accompanied by guitarist Daryl Redeker, who’s promised to play some Jamaican tunes. The Vashon Island Art Studio Tour is open Saturdays and Sundays May 3-4 and May 10-11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.