Painter Patricia Hagen’s one-woman show, “Into the Woods,” opens Thursday, May 22, at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery at 701 Water St., only a week after it unveiled its second wave of “Showcase 2025” artists on Thursday, May 15.

Northwind Art’s year-long “Showcase 2025” exhibit had been divided into three waves, each running for four months on display. Its current second wave of 14 artists running from May 15 through Sept. 8. Hagen’s “Into the Woods,” brings together 40 of her most recent paintings and runs from May 22 through July 7.

Many of Hagen’s paintings were done en plein air, in the forest near her home in Port Townsend and on the trail near Tamanowas Rock in Chimacum, so a map in the gallery will show where she started painting them.

Northwind Art spokesperson Diane Urbani explained that “Into the Woods” will be part of the Jeanette Best Art Gallery’s First Saturday Art Walk on June 7, from 5-8 p.m., after which Hagen will deliver a free artist’s talk at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 8.

Hagen, a native of the Northwest who moved to Port Townsend four years ago, has earned two art degrees. Her hope is that her art might help people connect with the natural world, just as she does through her walks on the Peace Mile Trail at Fort Worden State Park, and in Chimacum’s Valley View Forest, among other trails.

Urbani noted that paintings such as “Night Watch,” “The Fawn,” and “New Year/New Growth” reflect this with images of forests, skies, bodies of water, birds, deer, humans and other animals. 

Hagen has said she fears for the survival of trees, but added that she’s been heartened by the Jefferson Land Trust’s work to preserve the forests and farmlands around us, which she’s explored by hiking public trails.

“The essence of my work is an exploration of this delicate dance between humanity and nature,” Hagen said. “Nature reveals itself as both nurturing and commanding, whether viewed from a mountain peak or an ancient forest path.”

Moving onto “Showcase 2025,” Urbani mentioned Tabitha Blackburn, a painter in Quilcene who creates scenes from the Wild West, “with twists that might make viewers laugh out loud,” along with Port Angeles plein-air painter Anne Pfeiffer, Sequim digital painter Roger Morris and Shelley Jaye of Port Townsend, a geology professor who’s made mosaics with local stones and other materials.

“Showcase 2025” also includes ceramics by Ariel Zimman, wild animals in assemblage by Peter Koronakos, linocut prints by Kelli MacConnell, pinhole photographs by Jen Cohen, color-field sculpture by John Bradshaw, paintings by Jani Freimann and David Van Galen, pictograph-inspired artwork by Kathy Fridstein, bandannas by Kira Mardikes and jewelry by Joanna Beachy.

The third wave of “Showcase 2025” artists will begin displaying in mid-September and run through early January.