Raven’s Nest
The Raven’s Nest Native Art Gallery & Gifts will hold a grand reopening after an extensive remodeling and expansion, from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3.
The Raven’s Nest has long been a leading Native art business in the town core of Vashon, dedicated to preserving, promoting, and celebrating the artistic and cultural heritage of Indigenous communities.
The gallery features original wood carvings, drums, baskets, limited edition art prints, jewelry, and glass, along with an array of gift options sourced from Indigenous artists both locally and nationally, and companies who represent Native artists from the Northwest Coast.
The remodel and expansion have allowed for a more extensive and diverse collection of art featuring the complete Shotridge Collection.
The gallery’s interior now boasts a new inviting ambiance, designed to enhance the visitor’s journey through the world of Native art.
Raven sculptures, ornaments, and art are featured throughout the nest. The exterior windows encompassing the building will be transformed over the next few months to include a digital display and more Native imagery. A new children’s section and an apparel display have also been added.
“We are excited to welcome our community and visitors back to the Raven’s Nest Native Art Gallery & Gifts,” Sue and Israel Shotridge, the owners and directors of the gallery, said in a press release. “Our commitment to honoring native art and culture has only grown stronger through this renovation.”
Visitors to the grand reopening can expect a festive atmosphere, with live performances, interactions with artists, and more.
For more information, visit ravensnestvashon.com or call 206-567-5826.
Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union
Julie King will be the featured artist in November at Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union (PSCCU).
A native of North Carolina, King has lived on Vashon since 1995. All of her work is made from recycled and salvaged materials she finds on the island. She likes the title of “professional scavenger.”
VALISE
In November and December, VALISE Gallery will present its annual holiday show, this year called “A Snowball’s Chance in Hell” — a term suggesting an unlikely and improbable scenario.
And that’s what visitors will find inside the gallery, said VALISE members. Join them for a show ranging from the wacky to the sublime, with many styles and mediums, all coming together at affordable prices for artworks fitting the size specification of 5 inches by 5 inches, and priced at under $100 each. This year’s show will also include larger but still affordable artwork.
According to VALISE artist Lenard Yen, working in the 5 by 5-inch format is challenging. “It’s so small that it’s suddenly larger than life,” he said.
Other participating artists are George Wright, Robert Passig, Hita VonMende, Pascale Judet, Manuel Alvarez, Rachel Lordkenaga, Bill Jarcho, Sharon Shaver, Jiji Saunders, Dot Cherch, and Gregory Burnham.
“A Snowball’s Chance In Hell” will open from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3. The gallery will also be open earlier that day, from 1-6 p.m. The show runs right up until Christmas. Gallery hours are 1-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and on the occasional Sunday.
Vashon Center for the Arts
A special solo show of artwork by longtime island resident and internationally renowned artist Julie Speidel will fill the gallery at Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA) during the month of November, with the show’s opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3.
Coming full circle to the beginning of her career, and for the first and most likely last time in the Pacific Northwest, Speidel will exhibit a curated collection of her hand-crafted jewelry, which launched her luminous career 50 years ago. As unique works of wearable art, each of the necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry embodies her signature and celebrated, iconic shapes.
From cascading circles and stones to abstract human shapes, Speidel’s work often blends figuration and abstraction. Influenced by an array of cultures, from antiquity to the stone- and bronze-age peoples of Europe, the early Buddhists of China, the Indigenous tribes of the Pacific Northwest, and 20th-century modernists like Picasso and Henry Moore, Speidel also finds inspiration in the environment around her.
“Every time I cross the water from Vashon, I look around me and find inspiration,” she said. “I believe people everywhere and throughout time have shared the basic instinct to represent the world around them using symbols and images.”
Speidel has expressed her chosen symbols and images using a variety of forms and a wide range of materials — from welded metal sculptures to intricate jewelry designs to her most recent oil prints on paper.
Speidel’s works are held in prestigious private and public collections abroad and in the U.S., including the Tacoma Art Museum, three United States embassies, the Oracle Collection, the Boeing Collection, and the Nordstrom Collection.
Her solo and group shows date back to the 1970s. On Vashon, her sculptures can be seen at Ober Park, on Vashon Highway where a commission called “The Gathering” sits outside Courthouse Square, and in front of Vashon Center for the Arts, in work that takes the shape of a glacial erratic.
In addition to the rare jewelry collection on display, Speidel will exhibit a selection of works on paper, including two prints honoring the late Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The prints were created using hand-rubbed ink on Japanese paper.
This collection of Speidel’s works on paper will include some of the last pieces available for public sale as the artist continues to produce fewer and fewer during her retirement.
Speidel’s exhibit is made possible with the support of Cheryl Lubbert and Jim Gerlach of Nashi Orchards. The VCA Gallery is generously supported by Beth de Groen, of Windermere Vashon. Regular gallery hours are 12-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.
VCA Gift Shop
In November, the gift shop of Vashon Center for the Arts will feature Vashon milliner Laura Clampitt’s fall collection of hats. All of Clampitt’s hats are unique and handcrafted, inspired by organic, non-traditional shapes as well as more classic and timeless styles.
Clampitt was raised on Vashon where she now works in her Tahlequah millinery studio when she’s not working as a flight attendant. She studied textile art at the University of Washington but found her true calling when she took a workshop with Wayne Wichern in 1996, and she has been creating hats ever since.
A reception will take place from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3. Find out more here.
