Art and Life at Northwind: Inside an art space, you can choose your adventure, your refuge, or both

[caption id align="alignnone" width="1340"]

Sophie Loubere's "Old Faithful Geyser during Eruption, 1870" is on view at Jeanette Best Gallery in downtown Port Townsend  [/caption]

A Northwind Art Column by Diane Urbani de la Paz

Are you looking for relief and tranquility? Or something that widens your eyes and blows your mind? At Northwind Art’s gallery and school, we strive to offer all of the above and beyond. The coming month brings new gallery shows, free artist talks and more than 30 in-person and online workshops.

The words “art school” may come off as exclusive, connoting a place where only “Artists” with formal art training go. Northwind’s classrooms at Fort Worden State Park are designed to be accessible to anyone who wants to focus on creativity, regardless of previous experience. To see the variety of workshops, visit https://northwindart.org and select Take a Class.

On Oct. 13, teaching artist Meg Kaczyk will offer a 90-minute Art Journaling through Change class online — for anyone interested or already engaged in this practice. This is an informal session with Kaczyk providing guidance to participants wherever they are.

In Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery downtown, the Northwind crew of staff and volunteers keep the doors open to the art-curious. Want blazing, strange photographs? Sophie Loubere’s works are here for you. The Port Townsend artist will give a free talk to illuminate her creative process on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 3 p.m. in the gallery at 701 Water St.

[caption id align="alignnone" width="1800"]

"Flying Above a Sea of Clouds: Altostratus from an Aircraft" is one of Sophie Loubere's works at Jeanette Best Gallery in downtown Port Townsend.   [/caption]

Clare Cornell, an artist and educator who volunteers in the gallery, is an admirer of Loubere’s mystical work. Her printmaking is both experimental and challenging, he said. Cornell added that the current “Showcase 2025” exhibition is among the strongest he has seen in the space. He gestured toward a painting by Sandra Offutt, a longtime Port Townsend painter. With its oil paint and saturated colors, Offutt’s art is a whole other kind of experience.

Also at Jeanette Best Gallery is “Potluck Banquet,” the wildly diverse juried show on view through Oct. 13. Dozens of makers have contributed nearly 100 works about food and drink: stained glass watermelon, a large quilted cupcake, glazed ceramic slices of pie, four forms of chocolate, a stuffed trout. That last piece, a showstopping 4-foot papier-maché fish adorned with a cascade of real fruit, was created by 21-year-old Ali Whitmore.

Following the “Potluck” is a one-woman show starring Spokane artist Sally Jablonsky titled “Sally’s World.” Through a range of media including soft sculpture, drawing, painting and ceramics, Jablonsky's art delves into what it means to have an animal body, and how it feels to be on the Earth. “Sally’s World” will be on view Oct. 16 through Nov. 17 at Jeanette Best Gallery.

Two deadlines are coming up soon for artists wanting to exhibit their work in the gallery: Oct. 12 is the last day to enter “Small Expressions,” the juried show to open Nov. 20 and run throughout the gift-giving season, and Oct. 19 is the final day to apply for “Showcase 2026,” the year-long exhibition of emerging and established artists. Links to both of these calls for art await at https://northwindart.org under the For Artists heading. The jurors for both shows will consider art in all media; all makers are encouraged to submit their work.