In this podcast Erik Peterson reflects on his approaches to painting and the influences that have shaped his complex and evocative style.

The paintings for the library show are a result of 14 years of loosely focused, highly devoted, daily painting practice and 11 years of formal studio art education provided by Bainbridge public schools, the University of Washington, and American University. Erik also credits his two loving parents who did their best with a sensitive and quietly rebellious kid.

Erik’s exhibit will open during the First Friday Arts Walk at the Bainbridge Public Library on December 6 from 5-7 pm, and will be on display for the month of December.

Credits: Host and Editor: John Fossett; Publisher: Chris Walker

City Manager Morgan Smith and Public Works Director Chris Wierzbicki discuss several important items currently in process with the city including the sustainable transportation plan, roundabouts on 305 and taller water tanks.

Several topics are discussed in this important dialogue and insightful view of key City of Bainbridge governmental activities.  More regarding the on-going evolution of ADU’s and tiny homes is part of the discourse as is the need to build taller water tanks and take the time to do proper engagement with the sustainable transportation plan, hoping for more community interaction. A review and update of the Police Court’s new digs wraps the podcast.

Credits: BCB Host: Joanna Jenkins; Audio Editor: Keith Doughty; Publisher: Robert Ross

Deb Wuensch, president of the Bainbridge Island Modern Quilt Guild, discusses the mission of the Guild, the current yearly challenge and the stirring and informative resulting show coming to the Bainbridge Library in November. She defines some of the modern quilting techniques and explains many different opportunities the Guild offers in supporting this creative element in the community.

The Bainbridge Island Modern Quilt Guild does a lot in our community, having just finished the annual Bainbridge Island Quilt Festival in September and continuing to support the nationally recognized American Hero Quilts project. They offer workshops once a year and are featuring much Guild work in a show at the Bainbridge Library in November. The pieces in the show are from the Guild’s annual challenge, a list of parameters that guide the project. This year it’s quadrilaterals. All the while they continue with their Monthly Business Meetings & Sew-Ins on the second Sunday of each month (except May which is the third Sunday, 11 am to 4 pm).

The Guild’s show opens as part of the island’s First Fridays Art Walk on Friday, Nov 1st @ 5 p.m. in the community meeting room at the Bainbridge Branch of the Kitsap Regional Library.

Credits: BCB Host: John Fossett; Audio Editor: John Fossett; Publisher: Robert Ross

On September 19, AHB will be launching its Arts Education site on Currents Online, featuring organizations, teaching artists, programs, events and activities related to arts education on our island.

 Arts in Education is a network of classroom teachers, teaching artists, school administrators, and community partners working together to provide quality arts education and arts integration in classrooms on Bainbridge Island and in Suquamish.

 The program began in 1999 as a loose association of local artists and school partners figuring out how to introduce dance and theater to fifth- and sixth-graders at Sakai Intermediate School. Now in its 21st year, the program has grown to serve seven schools and more than 2,200 students in grades K-8 offering a broad range of intensive workshops and residencies in poetry writing, storytelling, Native American drumming, fused glass art, cartooning and more.

 In this podcast Inez Maubane Jones, Outreach Manager at Arts & Humanities Bainbridge, and Teresa Marchinek, a Reader's Theatre Teaching Artist, introduce us to Arts in Education, give examples of how it works, and explain how adding Arts Education to Currents will benefit parents, teachers, artists and students alike.

 Come and explore this Arts Education site on Currents Online on September 19 at https://www.bainbridgecurrents.com/.

 BCB Host and audio editor John Fossett; publisher Chris Walker.

Describing her art as traditional Russian Impressionism with a twist of the sublime, Fatima Young has studied the masters since she was a child and has recently returned to painting after a 25 year hiatus.

After her husband passed, Fatima found therapy in hiking and she used painting to help her heal. The beautiful surroundings of the Pacific Northwest blended perfectly with Fatima’s passion for Plein Air painting. Now she studies nature at its purest and simplest.

Using a palette knife and bold colors to create contrast between light and shadow, Fatima changes the complex forms of nature into simple shapes and strokes, allowing the viewer to imagine the rest. She enjoys letting her “subconscious play around on the canvas capturing the essence of her inner feelings.” For her, it’s all about the journey.

Fatima’s show, Capturing the Moment: A Plein Air Passion, opens at 5 p.m. in the community meeting room at the Bainbridge Branch of the Kitsap Regional Library as part of the community’s First Fridays Art Walk on Friday, October 4th. Fatima’s paintings will be displayed through the end of October.

Her work is currently on display at Bloedel through September, and can also be found on her website: www.FatimaYoungArt.com.

Credits: BCB Host and Audio Editor: John Fossett; Publisher: Chris Walker.

The Bainbridge Island Land Trust has produced a glorious new book full of photographs, illustrations and stories celebrating 30 years of protection and stewardship of the natural elements on our island.

Natural Bainbridge: Working Together to Protect Our Island connects information about ecosystems with the roles played by the Land Trust and other stewards as they continue preserving areas for future generations.

In this podcast BILT board members Zan Merriman and Erin Kellogg share their perspectives from the two-year project, as well as thoughts on BILT, stewardship, how each of us can help, and where we can see original artwork from the book, not to mention, information for getting our own copy.

Artwork from the book will be featured in a show in the Community Meeting Room at the Bainbridge Branch of the Kitsap Regional Library for the month of August. The show will open on Friday, August 2nd as part of the community’s First Friday Art Walk. 

Credits: BCB Host: John Fossett; audio editor: Jacque Knapp; publisher: Chris Walker.

How do you capture a storm on canvas? Artist Joanie Klorer grew up in Tornado Alley, and after a career helping others find therapeutic resolution through art she's carried her own awareness of time, place, and storms into abstract paintings she'll share at the Bainbridge Island Library for the month of July.

During her nearly four decades as a social worker, Joanie found art was a great way to help people -- especially non-verbal clients -- express their hearts and experiences. Today she uses her art to achieve the same objective for herself, drawing on her experience of those childhood storms to feed her paintings 

“I think of memory as a shadow which lingers from encounters and places.  Memory, influenced by time, place, and experience forms the catalyst for my paintings.  I believe my paintings are often an attempt at resolution of memories that are stuck like films on continuous replay.” 

Joanie's exhibit, entitled "Where I Come From: Memory and Place," will open during the First Friday Arts Walk at the Bainbridge Public Library on July 5th from 5-7 pm. Don't miss it!

Credits: BCB Host and audio editor: John Fossett; publisher: Diane Walker.

“Mischief & Craft” is the title of Gigi Godfrey’s art show opening Friday, June 7th in the Bainbridge Island Library. The title comes from a chapter in the book Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith (no relation). 

Why did Gigi take the title of her art show from a book about octopuses? She met Eleanora, an octopus, at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center and chose her as a subject.

Gigi, formally trained as a cardiac nurse, is drawn to subjects displaying some sort of rhythm—whether in the way the light patterns form, the shapes link together, or the weaving of color harmony. She’s happiest staying loose with the brush and leaving unfinished work to show through—creating a trail of the evolution.  Color and texture are the real appeal for Gigi. “When searching for the right color value and temperature, I tend to leave all the marks on the final work, showing the decision process, which I call ‘painting out loud’”. 

You’ll see Eleanora and more of Gigi’s work at the upcoming Library Art Show on Bainbridge Island.  Opening reception is Friday June 7th from 5-7 pm.  

Credits: BCB Host: John Fossett; BCB audio editor and publisher: Chris Walker

First presented with oil, brushes and canvas at the age of 10, artist Joan Clark has returned to painting after a long hiatus with charming results. Her paintings of people and animals open at the library on Friday, May 3.

Mainly self-taught, Joan’s influenced by the great Dutch Masters, Rembrandt & Vermeer to name a few. She loves Leonardo da Vinci and likes to paint from photos -- often images she finds in National Geographic Magazine.

But it was a photo of her granddaughter that got her back in the studio. At first it was hard, she didn’t think she was going to be able to do it. However, with perseverance, something she encourages other artists to do in tough spots, she realized she still had the skills, and she’s never looked back.

Joan’s show opens at the library as part of the community’s First Fridays Art Walk on Friday, May 3rd from 5:30-7 pm, and will be on display at the library for the month of May.

Credits: BCB Host: John Fossett; BCB audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker

Curious about the artist behind the new murals in the ferry terminal? Meet Cynthia Lait when her new exhibit opens at the Bainbridge Island Library on Friday Evening, April 5th.

Ever since Cynthia Lait can remember, she’s been creating art. From drawing horses as a child, to rising early as a young mother to get some studio time before getting her kids off to school and herself to work to her current situation of having her studio set up the way she likes it, Cynthia likes to be creative.

She took the occasional art class in high school, but when it came time for college she chose to become a chemical engineer, a degree that informs her creativity process more than one would think. With her children now grown she now has time for a more serious studio practice.

She’s inspired by nature; memories of a walk in the woods, playing at the beach. She’s inspired by movement; the changes in color and shape as an object moves. And she’s inspired by patterns; the evident and not-so-evident, the beginnings, middles and endings.

For her collage work she paints Japanese papers with vibrant colors then cuts, arranges and re-arranges these pieces of paper until it resonates. She likes the definition of the clean edges so that the work takes on more graphical style.

Come meet Cynthia at the Bainbridge Library when her show opens Friday, April 5, from 5:30 to 7 pm. For more of her work, visit http://www.cynthialait.com.

Credits: BCB Host: John Fossett; BCB audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker; social media: Jen St. Louis.

Ars Poetica -- the pairing of art and poetry -- is now coming to Bainbridge. Selected poems are being paired with photos from members of the Bainbridge Island Photo Club and will be on display at the Bainbridge Public Library, opening March 1.

The annual Kitsap County event, which is now in its eighth year, invites poets to submit their work to a panel of judges. Area artists then choose from the winning poems and create art inspired by the chosen poetry.

The end results will soon be visible at Collective Visions Gallery in Bremerton, at the Front Street Gallery in Poulsbo, at the Poulsbohemian Coffee House, and this year, for the first time, at the Bainbridge Public Library.

Listen here as poet and organizer Sue Hylen explains how she managed to coordinate plans for the library and for the Bainbridge Island Photo Club, and tells what to expect for opening night, Friday, March 1, from 5 - 7 pm.

Credits: BCB Host: John Fossett; BCB audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker; social media: Jen St. Louis.