From inside Ina Whitlock’s living room, rainbows can be seen arching over the north end of the island. Step outside and the colorful arcs often curve right over the artist herself.
The nature of a rainbow — the prism of light, the environmental connection, the beauty and ephemeral quality — seems like an apt metaphor for the art and life of Whitlock whose retrospective show “80 Years in Art 1936-2016” opens Friday at VALISE Gallery and whose latest book of poetry, “Moments Out of Time,” debuts at 6 p.m. Friday, April 8, at Vashon Bookshop.
Sorting through a lifetime of artwork, Whitlock, 85, came upon a print of her own five-year-old hand. She chose it as one bookend for the retrospective, with a recent photograph of the same hand — 80 years later — as the other. What lies between the two reveals a richly led life, narrated by her many images.
“Art has been my journal and response to my surroundings,” Whitlock said. “Art pieces have become the souvenirs connecting me to places I have lived.”
Indeed, for someone who has made homes in multiple countries and states, connection takes on a heightened meaning.
Born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, Whitlock brought up her five children in Venezuela, Norway, Aruba, Australia and Connecticut before she and her husband John retired to Vashon in 1985.
Recalling the decision early in their marriage to leave Lincoln, Whiltlock said she and John “both knew what life would be if we stayed, but not if we left.”
That sense of adventure manifests in the media she’s explored — from watercolors to prints to recycled tin sculptures — and pervades her artwork.
With each new move and location, Whitlock embraced and then conveyed her experience —first through visual art and later through poetry and prose.
“The second time we returned to Venezuela in the 1960s, I wanted to express what I couldn’t say in pictures,” Whitlock said, “so I took poetry correspondence courses from the University of Washington and Utah.”
Yet, as is often said of Whitlock’s poetry, she paints a visual and visceral scene with her words. Her assistant, island editor Nancy Morgan, elaborated:
“It became important to Ina that she capture the emotional aspects of her experience. She realized she needed the words.”
With two books of poetry and three of prose published, in 2013, Whitlock was honored as Vashon’s second poet laureate. And while she no longer lives there, it seems appropriate that her first Vashon house once belonged to famed author Betty MacDonald.
For Whitlock, art — visual or literary — brings content and focus, and she finds it transporting.
“You are in a totally different space,” she said. “I forget it is me doing the work.”
She also believes art is a way of seeing relationships and connections, something Morgan echoes.
“Her poetry includes topics and awareness very much along the lines of activism — environmental, political,” she said. “I keep learning from her because she is so aware of the connections between things.”
Whitlock is deeply aware of the gratitude she feels for what life has brought her and for the richness of Vashon’s arts community.
“Through the arts, we find ways of experiencing life more fully,” she said. “We are so fortunate. Vashon has a wonderful arts community. With this show, I hope to give something back to the island in thanks for their support.”
