This month in art: Walk May 6

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Port Townsend’s First Saturday Art Walk takes place from 5:30 to 8 p.m., May 6. Downtown galleries in downtown are stocked with fresh works for the new month, from watercolors evoking a nostalgic era at Port Townsend Gallery to jewelry made from a schooner at Northwind Arts Center. Many of the artists are to be on hand to talk about their work.

Barbara Ewing & Shirley Mercer

Port Townsend Gallery

715 Water St.

Every year for Art Walk at Port Townsend Gallery, ceramist Barbara Ewing focuses on something new for her collection of functional ceramic pieces. This year, it's a selection of footed, square serving platters made in her colorful abstract style. Ewing is also showing several large, slab-built vases and a variety of slab-built table lamps.

A self-taught artist, Shirley Mercer has been painting in watercolor since 2006, and loves pushing the medium of watercolor to its fullest potential, she said. She paints trains, bridges and buildings in pieces that evoke nostalgia of an era that's slowly fading into history, she said.

Seattle Metals Guild & Margaret Woodcock

Northwind Arts Center

701 Water St.

Seattle Metals Guild artists have created jewelry and sculptural work out of wooden pieces from the schooner Wawona for a show at Northwind Arts Center this month.

Launched in 1897, the Wawona was the largest three-masted sailing schooner ever built in North America, and in 1970 became the first ship in the nation to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a press release. After being deemed too expensive to restore, the schooner was demolished in 2009. Three years later, artist John Grade constructed a nearly 60-foot-high sculpture using salvaged wood from the Wawona's hull; the sculpture stands within the atrium of the Museum of History & Industry in Seattle.

The leftover pieces of Douglas fir from Grade’s sculpture were given to the Seattle Metals Guild artists.

Northwind also presents its Showcase Artist of the Month for May, Port Townsend artist Margaret Woodcock, who is set to talk about her work at 1 p.m., Sunday, May 7 and 7-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 10. An opening reception takes place during Art Walk.

"I see my art as an elaborate dialogue between a myriad of elements, not just a landscape or still life scene,” said Woodcock, who is inspired by natural imagery in a variety of mediums. “I am attempting to balance the abstract and the specificity of forms, exploring more the essence, energy, layering, relatedness and commingling that occurs in the natural world physically and psychologically.”

“A Family Affair”

Home Furniture and Art

835 Water St.

Home Furniture and Art presents “A Family Affair” this month, featuring textile art by Tracey Wickline Appleton; graphic design work by her daughter, Kelsey Appleton; and the kinetic sculpture art of Brent Wickline.

Tracey Wickline Appleton, whose work includes weavings of organic materials, with fibers colored with natural dyes, is currently showing her textile creations at the Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz, California. Kelsey Appleton, from Portland, Oregon, displays her graphic design art, while Brent Wickline of Port Townsend has, “under complete duress,” promised more of his kinetic art.

Carolyn Doe & Robin McCann

Gallery 9

1012 Water St.

Gallery 9's featured artist, painter Carolyn Doe, is showcasing new work in multiple mediums: palette knife oils, batik on silk and mixed-media botanical prints with oils. Her work is inspired by the natural landscape.

Also in May, Gallery 9 features the fine woodworking of Robin McCann. McCann’s work often utilizes sustainable harvested wood, including spalted alder, figured maple and myrtle wood. Recently, McCann has also been working on smaller pieces that complement his larger furniture pieces.

Jeff Weekley: “Girl Power”

Simon Mace Gallery

236 Taylor St.

Simon Mace’s grand finale show, “Girl Power,” features surrealist paintings by Jeff Weekley. A percentage of sales is to be donated to nonprofits benefiting women and girls.

Weekley intentionally gives his paintings generic titles, enabling viewers to create their own story behind the narrative scene. “In my own view, the narrative scenes have evolved,” said gallery owner Christina Mace. “The girls have become incredibly strong, even the essence of power. They are confident, adventurous and well read – all ingredients for a powerful human.”

Simon Mace Gallery is set to close its doors Monday, May 29.

Jacqueline Chisick: “The Divine Feminine”

Red Dragonfly

Undertown, Water & Taylor streets

Red Dragonfly celebrates “The Divine Feminine” with a show of new work by fine art painter Jacqueline Chisick.

Her paintings celebrate women at all stages of life, and are loosely based on the archetypal maiden-mother-crone trilogy.

The opening reception offers “world-famous underground cupcakes” and musical entertainment by Port Townsend harpist Shannon Ryan.

Red Dragonfly is located in Port Townsend's Undertown, down the stairs under the green iron pergola at the corner of Water & Taylor streets.

(Compiled by Leader staff writer Katie Kowalski.)