Jordan Carter, an artist who just moved to Port Townsend in January, made “Delusive Vortex,” a handwoven aluminum swath that was one of roughly 600 entries in …
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Jordan Carter, an artist who just moved to Port Townsend in January, made “Delusive Vortex,” a handwoven aluminum swath that was one of roughly 600 entries in “Northwest Expressions,” the regional juried exhibition at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery.
“Delusive Vortex” was chosen for inclusion in the show, then won one of its Merit Awards, even though it was Carter’s first foray into the gallery world.
“Northwest Expressions” is on view through this month at the Jeanette Best Gallery, at 701 Water St. in downtown Port Townsend, and the gallery itself is open daily from noon to 5 p.m.
The exhibit had two jurors: Port Townsend-based father-and-son artists Richard Jesse Watson and Jesse Joshua Watson.
“This piece compelled us,” father Richard Jesse Watson said of “Delusive Vortex.”
Along with Carter’s piece, the Watsons selected three other award winners, including “Center of Attention,” a wavy wood sculpture by John Strohbehn of Sequim, which landed the top Jurors’ Choice prize.
Two other Merit Awards went to “Direct Line to Nature,” a photograph taken in Forks by Edmonds photographer Joshua Phelps, and “What Lies Beyond,” a forest painting by Aliza Sáraco-Polner of Port Hadlock.
After going through the entries dozens of times, these works “stayed in our thoughts,” the elder Watson said, as he described how “What Lies Beyond” has a mossy, mysterious feel to it, just like the Olympic Peninsula rainforest.
During their jurors’ talk in the gallery on Aug. 29, the Watsons asked whether any of the award winners were present, to which Carter, Strohbehn and Sáraco-Polner all raised their hands.
The rest of the crowd in attendance applauded for each of them, before the artists spoke about their materials and techniques.
Carter used 10 boxes of tinfoil from the supermarket, plus bamboo yarn, to weave “Delusive Vortex” on a 72-inch-wide floor loom.
According to Carter, the piece is about connection and disconnection with the world around her.
An alumna of the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, Carter is drawn to nontraditional weaving materials, such as tinfoil.
She noted that the material has an unpredictable nature, much like life.
Richard Jesse Watson told Carter, “You are truly an out-of-the-box thinker.”
For more about the “Northwest Expressions” show, and about Northwind’s art exhibits and classes, visit NorthwindArt.org.