Martha Collins and Margaret Woodcock are the featured artists for November at the Port Townsend Gallery.

Collins creates her work through a process of lamination.

Using the natural colors of sustainable woods from all over the world, Collins pairs them with either natural veneer or dyed maple veneer, much of which she has dyed herself. Through slicing, re-arranging the material, and adding color, she produces a line of small spirit bowls of less than 4 inches in size, as well as jewelry and tableware.

The Port Townsend Gallery presents new pieces by Collins in November, including “Chartres Bowl,” made of Canary wood and the stained glass by different wood species that was inspired by the Chartres Cathedral in France. The creation, though small in size, contains 300 individual pieces of wood. 

Collins has been pursuing her passion for almost 50 years, starting in trade school in Michigan in 1974 as a cabinetmaker. 

Apprenticing in a shop where wood jewelry was made, she learned about lamination of exotic woods and dying veneer. In 2021, she was accepted into the prestigious Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., she was one of five woodworkers presenting there.

Woodcock is a painter who has gotten very interested in trees as a subject matter.

Her paintings on display at the Port Townsend Gallery in November explore tree compositions that she has developed using primarily oil in cold wax applied to a wood panel.

Initially, collage elements are attached to the prepared wood surface and then the painting is developed using first layers of thin acrylic color, completing the painting using oil colors, cold wax medium, glazing, and drawing elements. 

Her goal is to not so much be representative in approach, but to connect the fluidity of paint with the expressiveness of the vertical, cathedral-like structures and her own creative response to the forest light, messiness of branches and undergrowth, and movement within a seemingly quiet forest world.

Woodcock is also exhibiting hand-pulled prints that she develops at Corvidae Press in Fort Worden that utilize tree elements as their subject matter.

The Port Townsend Gallery is part of the Saturday Art Walk from 5 to 8 p.m. Nov. 5, and there will be light refreshments. 

The gallery is located at 715 Water St. and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and also by appointment.

For more information, call 360-379-8110 or go to
porttownsendgallery.com.