Art lives on Camano Island.
That’s the motto for the 19th annual Camano Island Studio Tour this Mother’s Day weekend and the following Saturday and Sunday.
Indeed, art is alive in the studios of the more than 40 artists selected for the tour. If you go, expect to see paintings, mixed media, sculpture, photography, ceramics, glass, jewelry and textiles.
The tour attracts more than 5,000 visitors each year.
Camano has long been an enclave for artists of all sorts. In the late 1990s, the Camano Arts Association began talking about offering a free tour that would attract art lovers and collectors to the island to see the work being done. The idea paid off.
It’s been a good deal for the artists and for tourists who don’t spend much time on Camano. Consider taking a picnic lunch to eat at one of the state parks on the island.
New on the tour is watercolorist Nicki Salvin Wight, who also serves as the poster artist for this year’s tour.
Wight, now 70, grew up in Oakland, California, always knowing that someday she would be an artist.
As a child and a teen, she enjoyed drawing pictures of people. Today, her favorite works are people portraits. “I always start with the eyes since they are the windows to the soul,” she said.
Wight attended University of the Americas in Mexico City one summer and California College of the Arts in Oakland, but left in 1966 to sing in a band.
“Those were the ’60s after all,” Wight said.
After marrying Jim Wight and moving to Washington state in 1972, Nicki Wight raised three children in Kirkland and Woodinville.
When she was 34, Wight returned to her studies at Burnley School of Art (now the Art Institute of Seattle) and then was employed in graphic design for years.
“My husband said we could make it work, and we did,” she said.
The Wights retired to Camano Island a few years back and now have 10 grandchildren who like to visit. They can row the family boat out to check the crab pots and enjoy the amazing west-facing view from the huge deck, which is complete with a crab cooker.
Wight’s art studio is just off the deck. Filled with lots of light and custom-made storage for her paintings, it’s where Wight most likes to be. She also teaches painting three days a week, and is happy to watch her students progress.
A member of the Northwest Watercolor Society, she enjoys talking about her technique and the way in which watercolorists paint backward.
“I am really excited for the tour and the chance to meet people who love art,” Wight said.
Also new on the tour this year and must-see people are photographer Jeanne Woflington, plein-air painter Amy Martin, sculptor Rick Klauber, glass artist Stan O’Neil and mixed-media artist Susan Rothschild.
Be sure also to catch the quilts made by Opal Cocke, kiln glass by Mary Simmons and Linda Demetre’s studio in the 100-year-old Mabana Schoolhouse.
Glass artists on the tour include Lee Beitz, Mark Ellinger, Ray Fossum, Merrilee Moore and Hiroshi Yamano.
Photographers include Kathy Hastings, Victor Loverro, Nick Seegert and Christopher Tuohy.
Ceramicists include Yonnah Ben Levy, Sally Chang, Roger Cocke, Susan Cohen Thompson, Joyce Dunn, Margeurite Goff, Dale LeMaster and Naoko Yamamoto.
Jewelry artists include Kathy Dannerbeck, Marie-Claire Dole, Liane Redpath and Dolors Ruscha.
Painters and those who work in a mixture of media include Chaim Bezalel-Levy, Dotti Burton, Ann Cory, Marilyn C. Crandall, Betty Dorotik, Jed Dorsey, Jack Dorsey, Jason Dorsey, John Ebner, Joan Enslin, Jack Gunter, Molly LeMaster, Karla Matzke, April Nelson, Janie Olsen, Robert Paczkowski, Frank Renlie, John Ringen, Michelle Rushworth, Helen Saunders and Rod Sylvester.
Sculptors include James Ellingboe, Roy Johnson, Bill Matheson and Russ Riddle.
And Kathy Edelman Hutchinson and Terri Jo Summer show clothing.
Camano Island Studio Tour
Self-directed and free, the tour is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 12-14 and May 20-21 on Camano Island and nearby in the Stanwood area.
A brochure and map is available for download at camanostudiotour.com.
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