‘The Woman As Visionary and Creator’ at San Juan Islands Museum of Art

Submitted by the San Juan Islands Museum of Art

The three innovative and insightful artists opening at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art in Friday Harbor take their own unique view of the world and bring a feminine perspective to their creations. These varied works interpret the theme of 2018, “The Female Gaze – The Woman as Visionary and Creator.”

In Nicola Wheston’s “Stuff – the Consumption,” Wheston paints penetrating works commenting on consumerist culture.

Lumi Verdugo’s “Of My Hands,” 1962-2018, is a retrospective of a body of work across multiple media reflecting a lifetime of exploration in drawing, high-fire and low-fire reductions and Raku pottery.

April Surgent’s “Portrait of an Ocean” takes items washed ashore on a Pacific island and creates luminous art while commenting on marine ecosystems.

Wheston’s figurative paintings focus on the psychological aspects of our humanity, including all the foibles and eccentricities of our daily lives, as well as the relationships we have with each other, ourselves, our pets and our surroundings. She frequently uses her own body as a model to explore private moments, aging and absurd situations. Wheston, from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, has had numerous solo exhibitions in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Verdugo, from San Juan Island, has had work in solo and group shows, artist studio tours and juried craft exhibitions. She has taught workshops in schools and Pottery Northwest. Lumi was educated at the State University of Chile.

Surgent, from Port Townsend, has been engraving for 14 years and is interested in contemporary approaches to the traditional craft of wheel engraving. In recognition of her work she was awarded a 2009 Behnke Foundation Neddy Fellowship and a 2016 USA Ford Fellowship. Currently, she is working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hawaiian Monk Seal research program.

The exhibitions open Saturday, Sept. 15 and close Dec. 10. Various events associated with the exhibitions will be announced. SJIMA is open Friday-Monday, 11 a.m. -5 p.m. Admission is $10. Members and children 18 and under are free. Mondays are pay-as-you-can days.

SJIMA’s mission is, “At the heart of the Salish Sea, SJIMA enriches the community, arts and artists as we champion authenticity for the islands’ place, expression and connections.”