Port Townsend Art Walk steps out from about 5 to 8 p.m. the first Saturday of each month, offering a mixture of styles and media on display as you duck into local galleries and other venues.

Gallery 9, 1012 Water St., will feature the photography of Jim Fagiolo and beaded jewelry of Judith Komishane.

Fagiolo will feature his fine art landscape and studio work while celebrating his 40 years of dedication to photography and to the local arts community, according to a press release. Fagiolo’s work explores the advancement of digital technology harmonized with his long career of studying light and how it translates on light-sensitive materials, to computers and finally to dye sublimation inks with fine art inkjet papers.

Guided by the work of photographers Minor White and Ansel Adams and their developer technique of “pre-visualization,” Fagiolo’s work brings out tones and shapes that mostly go unnoticed to the human eye but can be imagined and recreated internally at the scene by knowing the capabilities of filters, light and exposure.

Komishane began beading 10 years ago to keep her husband company while he watched baseball, and she hasn’t stopped since.

“I enjoy all aspects of beadwork from finding unusual beads such as fish vertebrae, green garnet, green turquoise and petrified wood to creating a wide variety of colors and styles in necklaces, earrings and bracelets,” Komishane said.

Fagiolo and Komishane will be on hand during Art Walk to meet and greet the public.

The gallery is open every day from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St., features “Northwest Impressions II” in the Artist Showcase in November, as well as Russell Jaqua and the “New Iron Age.”

Painter Diane Walker finds creative challenges to be about reconciling opposites: finding the common ground beneath obvious differences and unearthing the potential for unity that lies hidden in diversity.

She is passionate about beauty, color and form and loves to explore new techniques. Her goal is to create abstract art that is accessible and evocative, yet mystical enough to allow viewers to engage their imaginations. Many of her paintings reflect the quiet undulations of sea and sky, but are neither fully representational nor completely abstract.

After a career of working nine-to-five, Louis Hurlbut retired and started thinking about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life and an early desire to make art re-emerged.

Looking for his “niche” he concluded that he wanted to capture his joy of spending time outdoors in his art. Louis says that a perfect day is spent outdoors either fly fishing or painting. In the warm weather months, he and his wife and dogs take off for a month or two with a trailer in tow. When the cold weather forces him into the studio he’ll take his plein air sketches and turn them into studio paintings.

Retired and living in Sequim, Linda Wentz saw a “glorious” watercolor painting of sweet peas that inspired her to study with the artist, attend both classes at a community college and workshops. She also read books and watched DVDs to learn to paint. She says that starting at age 70 gives her a head start on Grandma Moses who was 78 when she began painting. Linda often uses transparent colors layered in washes, and leans towards realism.

While working in New Zealand, sculptor Robert Basta was invited to an introductory sculpture class using Oamaru Stone. He didn’t think his interest would extend beyond this weekend class. Over the next few years he would complete one or two sculptures a year, and ended up shipping Oamaru stone to his home in Washington. Other than this single workshop he is self-taught. Basta carves odd shapes that challenge his ability, creativity and the tolerances of the stone.

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Russell Jaqua arrived in Port Townsend in 1974. He first visited the Olympic Peninsula in 1966 during a road trip he took after learning he was drafted.

He told himself that if he survived Vietnam, he would settle in Port Townsend. A purple heart recipient, Jaqua went to Africa for several years to heal from his wounds and there he was exposed to blacksmithing in Liberia, whose Mt. Nimba, a sacred mountain made of iron ore, gave metalworking a special place in the local culture.

When Jaqua returned to the U.S., he studied blacksmithing at the Penland Craft School in North Carolina, and then moved to Port Townsend as a metalworker and jeweler.

He was one of the first recipients of an artist residency at the newly formed Centrum which granted him access to Building 356 for 17 years. Because of Centrum’s generosity, Jaqua was able to develop a sophisticated metal shop, which he named Nimba Forge, after Mt. Nimba in Liberia.

Nimba became the hub of the region’s artist-blacksmith community, eventually organized into the Northwest Blacksmith Association. The NWBA held many of their conferences at Nimba Forge and in this way, Centrum and Fort Worden played an important role in the development of the artist-blacksmith craft scene in the Northwest.

In 1994, Russell purchased land in the Glen Cove Industrial Park and created a state of the art forge facility that featured industrial sized power hammers, allowing him to work on the monumental scale that he was interested in.

He then opened the Jaqua Gallery on Taylor Street next to the Rose Theatre. The gallery featured Northwest artist-blacksmiths’ sculpture and furniture as well as rotating wall art featuring a different Port Townsend artist each month.

Jaqua’s beautiful metal work represents his greatest legacy to the city of Port Townsend as he created the fire doors for Port Townsend Library’s reading room; the Heron Weathervane for the Haines Street Park and Ride; the Malcolm Bruce Memorial Courtyard at Jefferson Healthcare; the sculpture “Leafwing” along the Larry Scott Trail; the Columbarium Courtyard at Grace Lutheran Church; the railings for the city of Port Townsend’s City Hall Annex and his last monumental sculpture, For Willene, which will be dedicated at the new Gateway Plaza on Sims Way on Nov. 2.

Jaqua died on June 10, 2006 of ALS, one week after the dedication of his piece on the Larry Scott trail.

Northwind Arts Center is open 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays.

Pippa’s Real Tea, 626 Water St., will feature “The Art of the See: Viewpoints of Nature” by seven artists including Marie Amerson and Jason Gunby.

Amerson and Gunby have been painting friends for many years, according to a press release. Both studied art in college before meeting at Diane Ainsworth's studio classes in Port Townsend. Both Amerson and Gunby are life-long oil painters, who share an interest in interpreting local landscapes, each in their own way.

Amerson's work is all about the paint, and quickly getting down the impression of the subject matter, whether it be landscape, portrait or still life, according to the release.

Gunby uses a more methodical approach involving study of lights and darks, thumbnail sketches, and carefully planned compositions.

Over the years, Gunby and Amerson have set aside bits of time to paint together, outdoors in summer and in the studio in winter.

Pippas’ Real Tea is otherwise open from 10 a.m.-5p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.

Port Townsend Gallery, 715 Water St., will feature the works of nature photographer Beverly McNeil, and the fiber art of Ann Norton and Rebekah Cadorette.

McNeil has had a life full of nature exposure, having lived in Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and the Olympic Peninsula the past 16 years. McNeil retired from the medical profession as Community Health Practitioner in a remote Alaska village; Physician Assistant, Primary Care in Oregon and Washington. She now spends as many hours as possible in wild places to experience calm and connection, while sneaking up on birds, bears and elk.

McNeil is also a local Audubon chapter member and trip leader. She travels annually to Costa Rica for four weeks of nature photography immersion, striving to record the beautiful uniqueness of her subjects.

McNeil will be showing a mix of birds, beach scenes, and flora during the month. Observe how she brings out textures and colors of her subjects with her matting and framing choices.

A selection of her images are archival prints from her past 35mm film photography. McNeil thoroughly enjoys telling viewers of stories that go along with her subjects.

Norton showcases versatile garments made from specialty handspun and hand-dyed yarns. Warm and striking, her luxurious wraps are suitable for evening wear or curling up at home with a book. Also featured are a collection of elegant and timeless scarves in sophisticated blends of texture, pattern, and color that delight the hand as well as the eye.

Cadorette specializes in the folk art of temari. In Japan, where temari evolved from children's toys to art, they are highly valued and cherished gifts, symbolizing deep friendship and loyalty. The brilliant colors and threads are meant to reflect a brilliant and happy life for the recipient. Cadorette enjoys the challenge of melding color, geometry, and intricate pattern to create heirloom ornaments.

Having already been awarded Levels 1and 2, she is currently working toward certification at Level 3 proficiency by the Japanese Temari Association.

The Port Townsend Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information, call 360-379-8110.

Port Townsend School of the Arts Downtown, 236 Taylor St., features the works of visiting artist teacher Michael deMeng, resident faculty Dana Weir and artist-blacksmith Russell Jacqua as part of November’s exhibit titled “Sacred.”

The show debuts Nov. 2 and is open daily from noon to 5 p.m.

This exhibit is a testament to the meticulous quality of the work of these three artists, according to a press release. Their three-dimensional art speaks strongly to the way an object can be more than simply beautiful – it can elevate the art forms from the mundane to the spiritual.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., deMeng is an assemblage artist who exhibits and teaches throughout the world, including workshops at Port Townsend School of the Arts. He has three books exploring his methods, Secrets of Rusty Things, Dusty Diablos, and the Art Abandonment Project, published by NorthLight Books.

In his art, he addresses issues of transformation. Discarded materials find new and unexpected uses in his work; they are reassembled and conjoined with unlikely components, a form of rebirth from the ashes into new life and new meaning. Often using myth and legends as source material, deMeng uses his assemblages as metaphors for the evolutions and revolutions of existence: from life to death to rebirth. These forms are examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever changing.

Weir is a multimedia artist who regularly teaches encaustic and assemblage classes at PtSA. She is an art teacher at Swan School and Island School, and brings her wealth of teaching experience to every class she offers at PtSA.

“When engaged in art making, I find I am encountering the world through a sense of wonder and a concern for contrasts,” Weir said. “I am inspired by the tensions between permanence and fragility, wilderness and wasteland, beauty and decay. I enjoy searching for unity among a collection of broken and forgotten things.”

Russell Jacqua’s work is exhibited at PtSA Grover Gallery in collaboration with Northwind Arts Center and the City of Port Townsend, in acknowledgement of the dedication of Jacqua’s “For Willene” at the Port Townsend Visitors Center Plaza on Sims Way at 4 p.m. Nov. 2.

The artists will be on hand to discuss their works during Art Walk.

PtSA Downtown is open noon to 6 p.m. seven days a week or by appointment.

Two Sisters Gallery, 210 Polk St., on the second floor of the Kuhn Building, displays original works by Lisa Allison Blohm who will fundraise for the nonprofit The American Cetacean Society-Puget Sound Chapter and the The SeaDoc Society.

Editor’s note: To be included in the monthly Art Walk feature, please send information to cmcdaniel@ptleader.com no later than the 15th of each month. Include “Art Walk” in the subject line. Photos should be at least 300 dpi and 4x6.