Judith BirdJudith Bird’s Silk Originals are luscious doubled silk scarves. Bird uses white silk of many jacquard weavings, black fabric and black and white prints; all the silk is hand dyed. Many pieces are shibori, or shape resist dyed. A popular name for this is tie dye, but in her case she it is “fold and dye.” Tiny little packages of folded silk are pressed then dipped either in dye on the edges or a resist chemical.
Bird finds color ideas everywhere in her life. A sunny walk on a leaf shaded trail, sometimes music gives colors, a funky magazine article might give her a push, a fashion shoot with a glamorous elephant, toenails painted to match her sequined eye makeup, windows are frames for the views to her garden which is there in all its moods, seasons and times, even a friend’s painting, as in After Scape III, inspired by Stephen Yates’ Scape III.
Charlotte Watts“Taking still pictures that defy time and space, capturing images that inspire action, all the while daring the viewer to look intimately within his soul,” is what Charlotte Watts’ photography is all about.
Watts was born in southern California but schooled all over the United States, eventually returning to Ventura, CA to practice Emergency Medicine and her real love--photography, having photographed since age 8. She was able to study under Ansel Adams and his colleges, and photographed primarily in B&W. In 1990 she moved to the Olympic Peninsula. In 2000 she retired from the practice of medicine, but this move allowed her more freedom to experiment with the digital process and color. Her work has been frequently shown at the Port Angeles Fine Art Center, in Seattle galleries, and the Ansel Adams and Yosemite Galleries. Recently she has been teaching workshops for the Ansel Adams Galleries in Yosemite.
As artist and physician, she believes that the camera does not stop the moment, rather the image is recorded by humans as a “brain-print” and recurs again and again as déjà vu, or music, or dreams; thus her images almost always contain some motion–a motion that sets the eye and brain going in a continuation of the perceived.
Charlotte lives on the Peninsula in a wildlife sanctuary where she can practice her other passion—raising and releasing Wood Ducks into the wild.
Victoria Maase StollAfter a fifteen year career as a painter and sculptor, during which time she taught college, exhibited frequently, was awarded grants and fellowships, Victoria Maase Stoll's life long interest in rocks led her to take a few basic metalsmithing classes while living in Santa Fe. She continued to teach herself jewelry-making techniques and eventually opened a gallery on Canyon Road, exhibiting her paintings and jewelry, as well as the work of other contemporary artists.
Working with a variety of gems, fossils and often very rare mineral specimens, all of her work is one of a kind and fabricated in mixed metals, often with high karat gold accents. Sometimes subtle and earthy, sometimes large and bold, often the work is quirky and always unique.
Like her work, Stoll's lifestyle is unique. For most of her tenure in New Mexico, she lived in the mountains in a rustic cabin with no plumbing, water or central heating. A real chop wood and haul water existence. A desire to garden led her to Cape Cod where she currently lives in a large Antique home with three large geriatric dogs and extensive gardens. Future plans include a move to Port Townsend to paint, garden and continue playing with stones.
